Business Services Industry

Great Plains Software Teams With ECPartners To Offer Electronic Commerce Services; Leading Financial Application Vendor Expands Internet/Electronic Commerce Offerings; Automates Bill Payment Process

Business Wire, Sept 24, 1996

FARGO, N.D.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 1996--Great Plains Software today announced its partnership with ECPartners, a leading provider of electronic commerce solutions, to integrate electronic bill payment features into its client/server financial management solutions--Dynamics C/S and Dynamics. The service, e-CHECK, significantly reduces time and costs associated with the bill payment process.

"Today, paying vendor invoices is a time-consuming process that includes printing checks, addressing envelopes, applying postage and sending the bill through the postal system," said Ray August, chief technology officer and group vice president of Client/Server and Internet Solutions at Great Plains Software. "By adding support for e-CHECK, we've streamlined by the bill-paying process adding electronic payment features directly into the Payables Management system. Our customers will find paying bills will be as easy as clicking a button."

Great Plains Dynamics C/S and Dynamics customers will be able to transfer electronic bill payment information from their current bank through ECPartners' private network ensuring the highest level of performance and security. When customers send data to the processing center electronically, they receive instant on-line confirmation that the transaction has been received. e-CHECK enables customers to pay multiple invoices with one payment and pay any vendor anywhere in the United States.

"ECPartners' mission is to team with leading accounting software vendors to offer electronic commerce services in a manner that makes sense to business customers," said Dan Drechsel, general manager of ECPartners. "We are pleased to work with Great Plains, one of the leading client/server accounting vendors, to provide its customers an electronic method for automating some of the cumbersome and time-consuming tasks associated with paying vendor invoices."

Great Plains will be discussing its comprehensive suite of Internet and Electronic Commerce solutions during its Stampede conference in Fargo, ND on October 2-5.

About ECPartners

ECPartners is the premier provider of commercial electronic banking and payment services in the United States. Founded in July 1995, the company is a non-equity joint venture of ADP, a $3.3 billion corporation specializing in computerized transaction processing, and CheckFree (Nasdaq CKFR), the nation's leading electronic commerce company that processed more than 75 million transactions having an aggregate value of more than $15 billion last year. Currently, ECPartners provides electronic banking and payment services for the commercial clients of more than 50 major banks and has development agreements with 12 of the leading accounting software vendors in the United States.

About Great Plains Software

Great Plains Software develops, markets, and supports accounting and financial management software worldwide. The multinational company--with more than 200 international VARs serving 50 countries--offers solutions ranging from midrange client/server systems to small business integrated accounting software. International Data Corporate (IDC) ranks Great Plains among the top 15 vendors of client/server enterprise applications worldwide. Great Plains also received national recognition for service excellence being named as the 1996 Inc./MCI Grand National Positive Performer Award winner. Great Plains was founded in 1981 and is privately owned.

Great Plains customers interested in receiving more information about the service can call 800-456-0025.

All other products mentioned in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: For Product Information:

Sales

Great Plains Software

800/456-0025, Info@gps.com

http://www.gps.com

For Editorial Information:

Great Plains Software

Pam Rose

701/281-6539

prose@gps.com