SAP Public Sector and Education Announces Federal Prison Industries as Early EnjoySAP Customer

Business Wire, May 18, 1999

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 1999--

FPI Expects to Compete More Effectively with Private Sector Manufacturers Using SAP(TM); Day-to-Day Factory Operations Made Easier

for Inmates, Civilians with EnjoySAP(TM)

SAP Public Sector and Education, Inc. announced today that Federal Prison Industries (FPI) has chosen the SAP(TM) R/3(R) business software solution and become one of the first SAP customers to take advantage of the new EnjoySAP initiative.

To realize the benefits of EnjoySAP (SAP R/3 Release 4.6), including making R/3 easier to learn, faster to operate and more adaptable to specific work requirements for end users, FPI will begin its implementation later this year. FPI expects SAP R/3 to boost efficiency and enable federal prison inmates to produce `built-to-order' office products in more than 100 factories across the country.

Created in 1934, Federal Prison Industries is part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons within the U.S. Department of Justice. The FPI mission is two-fold: to provide inmates with marketable skills training while simultaneously instilling a solid work ethic, and to produce quality products and services for sale to the Federal Government. The $560 million corporation, under federal mandate, employs 20,200 inmates in 101 factories at 73 different sites across the United States.

"SAP functionality and integration will greatly benefit our organization," explained Tom Phalen, chief of information systems for Federal Prison Industries. "The different pieces of SAP meld together easily. This integration will save us time and money, and allow us to make more effective decisions. For example, R/3 will allow all of our factories across the country to communicate inventory data in real time, saving hours of paperwork."

In addition to implementing the SAP R/3 financials, materials management and production planning applications, FPI will increase its ability to satisfy its customers needs by using SAP Supply Chain Management(TM) and SAP Business Information Warehouse(TM) in each of its factories. FPI produces furniture, metals, clothing, textiles, electronics, plastic products and various graphics and services for the federal government. These SAP applications ensure that FPI can most effectively analyze its manufacturing business to provide a quality product in a timely manner.

FPI implementation is scheduled to be complete by May 2000. More than 20,000 inmates and nearly 2,000 civilians who work at FPI will be trained on the SAP solution, which will accommodate 1,500 concurrent users when fully productive. FPI has named the SAP implementation project "Millennium," demonstrating its commitment to be productive in the year 2000.

Phalen expects that EnjoySAP will make day-to-day operations for inmates and civilians easier, more enjoyable and consequently more effective.

"We will be training thousands of inmates and staff on SAP R/3, and therefore, anything that makes interaction with the software easier is very appealing," Phalen explained. "EnjoySAP makes everything much more user friendly. We recognize the many benefits of EnjoySAP, and that's why we decided to hold off implementation for almost six months."

SAP Public Sector and Education, Inc.

"More and more, public sector organizations are focused on improving efficiency of their business operations so they can better fulfill their public service missions," said Bob Salvucci, president of SAP Public Sector and Education, Inc. "In an increasingly interconnected digital world, software solutions must be in place to enable more efficient and effective communication and information exchanges among employees, as well as with external suppliers, vendors and customers."

SAP Public Sector and Education is a subsidiary of SAP America, Inc., a market leader in client/server enterprise application software. SAP Public Sector and Education provides leading-edge business software solutions to public sector organizations from federal, state and local governments as well as higher education, K-12, utilities and non-profit organizations. SAP Public Sector and Education has more than 200 employees and is headquartered in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. More information about the company is available at http://www.sapamericapublicsector.com.

SAP Public Sector and Education, Inc. is a subsidiary of SAP America, Inc., the U.S. division of SAP AG, the market leader in client/server enterprise application software.

SAP, R/3 and all SAP products and services named herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG. A Better Return on Information is a service mark of SAP AG. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. (c)Copyright 1999. SAP AG.