Baan E-Procurement Solution Lowers Operational Costs, Shortens Cycle Times and Enhances Supplier Relationships

BARNEVELD, The Netherlands and HERNDON, Va. (PROTEXT) - BaanE-Procurement(TM) Solution Streamlines Corporate Procurement ByProviding Intranet-based Self-Service Requisitioning for IndirectPurchases / Packaged Integration to Back-Office Systems OptimizesImplementation Time Baan Company N.V. (Amsterdam: BAAN; Nasdaq: BAANF) todayannounced its entry into the electronic procurement space withits Baan E-Procurement(TM) solution, an Intranet-based self-service requisitioning software solution for indirect purchasingthat complements the purchasing module of BaanERP. Based on theMicrosoft(R) Distributed interNetwork Applications (DNA)architecture with packaged integration to BaanERP, Baan E-Procurement streamlines procurement for companies encumbered withcomplex, hard-to-control, costly procurement procedures. Baan E-Procurement enables customers to delegate routine purchases toindividual requisitioners within their company, thus freeingprocurement professionals to focus on more strategic activitiessuch as supplier selection and negotiations. In today's business environment, current processes forpurchasing non- production goods and services are often manualand paper-driven, take weeks to complete, and cost up to hundredsof dollars just to process each order. These purchases accountfor 30-60 percent of a company's total spend and clutterpurchasing departments, distracting professional buyers from morestrategic activities. Often as much as 30 percent of thesepurchases are made outside of existing contracts -- increasingthe cost of these purchases by up to 50 percent. Baan E-Procurement solves these challenges, while reducing cycle timeand overall order-related costs by providing a controlledframework for corporate purchases. Developed using Microsoft'sSite Server Commerce Framework, the Web Based Baan E-Procurementsolution can be quickly implemented alongside existing ITsystems, reducing implementation risks, and speeding time-to-benefit from the system. "Baan E-Procurement streamlines operations, shortens cycletimes, cuts costs and helps businesses better control theirpurchasing processes to contain maverick purchasing, leveragesupplier relationships and improve productivity," says NathanPieri, Product Line Manager, E-Enterprise Suite of Applications."Our customers want single-source, integrated eBusinesssolutions. With the addition of Baan E-Procurement, we aredelivering an easy-to-use, low-cost-of-ownership applicationsuite that extends the value of their ERP investment." By integrating with existing back office systems, such asBaanERP, businesses can streamline PO matching processes,eliminate the need to re-key data, improve accuracy andtimeliness of data and enhance supply chain visibility andplanning. Baan E-Procurement provides a single-source solutionwith packaged ERP integration to simplify and speedimplementation. In addition, Baan E-Procurement can link multipleERP installations to support centralized and de-centralizedpurchasing models for large multi-site organizations. The five main components of the Baan E-Procurement solutioninclude: * Electronic Catalogs and Content Management: Baan E-Procurement supports the use of both buyer and supplier-managedcatalogs and third party marketplaces in order to mosteffectively distribute vendor and product information. Thecatalog component of Baan E-Procurement enables buyers toaggregate, host and maintain approved vendor, product and priceinformation and provides flexible attributes and categorizationto accurately describe and organize items. * Requisitioning: Employees can create controlledrequisitions by browsing or searching catalogs, copying previousrequisitions, entering a part number and quantity, or using aWizard tool to request an off-contract item or spot buy. Userssubmit their requisitions for approval routing and can track theapproval and order process within the Baan E-Procurementapplication. * Approval Routing: The Approval engine builds approval listsby checking each line item against user spending limits, budgetavailability, contract limits, and any number of flexibleapproval rules to meet unique organizational needs. Flexibleapproval rules can be based on commodities, suppliers, purchasingoffices, etc. * Order Management: Approved requisitions are either sent toan existing back office system for purchase order creation andmanagement or sent directly to suppliers in XML format from theBaan E-Procurement system for procurement card purchases. * Decision Support: The availability of additional integratedsolutions for OLAP-based decision-support provide analysis toolsand flexible reporting options to track usage and capturespending history for better supplier negotiations. "Our research indicates that enterprise wide electronicprocurement automation can help buying organizations reduceprices paid for material and services, shorten order andfulfillment cycles, lower administrative costs, enhance inventorymanagement, increase control over purchases, and improve leveragewith suppliers," said Tim Minahan, research director of e-business for Aberdeen Group, Inc. "However, high license fees andsystem-maintenance requirements made most early e-procurementsolutions impractical for all but the largest companies. With itsBaan E-Procurement solution, Baan delivers the benefits ofprocurement automation while effectively addressing the cost andIT resource limitations of the midmarket." Other analysts agree and approve of Baan's direction with itsE- Procurement solution. "Mid-market companies want and need e-procurement solutionstailored to their requirements," said Joshua Greenbaum,principal, Enterprise Applications Consulting, Berkeley, Calif."The Baan E-procurement offering gives the company a solid placein an increasingly important market." "Baan's approach for supporting various content strategiesoffers customers a choice in accessing and distributing content,"comments Mitchell Kramer, senior consultant/analyst for PatriciaSeybold Group, E-Business consultants and thought leaders."Coupled with Baan collaboration and decision support tools, theBaan E-Procurement solution can make Baan a player in the e-procurement space." Availability Baan E-Procurement is a stand-alone application within theBaan E- Enterprise suite, a series of products focused onproviding eBusiness solutions. Baan E-Procurement will begenerally available in December 1999, offering multi-currency(including the Euro) and multi-lingual support. Baan E-Enterprise will be available through Baan's directsales force, VARs, and solution integrators. For a completelisting of Baan's sales partners, visithttp://alliances.baan.com. Baan Company will showcase the complete e-enabled procurementsolution, integrated with the back office and data analysisprocesses at BaanWorld'99, its global customer event to be heldon November 10-12, 1999 in Vienna, Austria. About Baan Company Founded in 1978, Baan Company (Amsterdam: BAAN; Nasdaq: BAANF)is a global provider of enterprise business solutions. BaanCompany offers a comprehensive portfolio of integrated servicesand best-in-class, component-based applications that span anorganization's entire value chain including E- Business and WebCommerce, Customer Relationship Management, Enterprise ResourcePlanning, Supply Chain Management, and Corporate KnowledgeManagement. Deployed at more than 13,000 customer sitesworldwide, Baan Company solutions enable organizations to drivestrategic business growth, improve business processes, reduceoperating complexity, and increase corporate flexibility. Baan Company has dual headquarters in Barneveld, TheNetherlands and Herndon, Virginia, USA and can be found on theWorld Wide Web at www.baan.com. Statements in this press release using the words "believes,""expects," "anticipates," and the like are forward-lookingstatements within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of1934, as amended, and as such are subject to a number of risksand uncertainties that could significantly affect outcomes.Actual outcomes, therefore, may differ materially from theexpectations, estimates, or assumptions expressed in or impliedby any such statements. Typical risks and uncertainties may bereviewed in the Baan Company's public filings on file with theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including its mostrecent Form 20-F and 6-K). "Baan" is a registered trademark of Baan Company, and anytrade, product, or service name referenced in this release usingthe name "Baan" is a trademark and/or property of Baan Company.All other company, product, and service names may be trademarksof their respective owners. Microsoft and NetMeeting are either registered trademarks ortrademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/orother countries. ots Original Text Service: Baan Company N.V.Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Andrew Hoerner ofBaan Company PR, 408-654-3464, or press@baan.com Web site:http://www.baan.com

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