LOS ANGELES — HITEC 2005 — June 22, 2005 — Epicor Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC), a leading provider of integrated enterprise software solutions for the midmarket, today announced from the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) at the Los Angeles Convention Center a new release of Epicor iScala Hospitality, now available worldwide.  Epicor iScala is an end-to-end enterprise software suite designed for divisions and subsidiaries of global enterprises, with systems installed in over 140 countries and vertical expertise in the Hospitality, Pharmaceutical and Industrial Machining industries.

 

Based on a service-oriented architecture utilizing Microsoft .NET and Web services technology, the new release of Epicor iScala features improved inventory management through Central Warehousing; secure control of requisitions with Requisition Management; enhanced view of customer information with the addition of service information to iScala CRM; more efficient management of purchase invoices through recharging and matching to multiple purchase orders; and, straightforward upgrades using a data converter wizard.  Epicor obtained the iScala suite through its acquisition of Scala Business Solutions NV in June 2004.

 

Global Hospitality Management Capabilities

For hospitality customers, the new Epicor iScala release offers a multitude of enhancements including a number of additional reports to support efficient business processes in the hospitality industry.  Epicor iScala Hospitality, part of the Epicor for Hospitality and Entertainment offering, enjoys an eight-year history as a global hospitality solution with installations in over 14 of the world’s top 20 hotel chains and in over 300 hotels in more than 60 countries worldwide.  iScala Hospitality provides a fully integrated solution for financial management, material management, reporting and budgeting, with customers that include the world’s leading hotel chains such as Sheraton, Radisson SAS, Four Seasons and Hyatt Intern ational, and many leading local and independent hotel chains.

 

For hospitality organizations, integrating the back office with Point of Sale (POS) and Property Management Systems (PMS) can mean the difference between profit and loss.  The new iScala POS/PMS integration module provides everything needed to integrate front office POS and PMS, and synchronize information about recipes, cash and sales, city ledger and menu mix as often as needed. 

 

In the new release, Requisition Management is fully integrated into iScala Material Management and enables a user to raise a Stock Requisition using a requisition template without needing to know whether it will be delivered from stock or supplier, and manages the approval and fulfilment process.

 

“We’re excited to bring so many new features to our hospitality customers with this latest iScala release,” said Nader Nemati , Global Director of Epicor’s Hospitality Industry Practice.  “With enhanced CRM, global capabilities and vertical functionality, the new release provides maximum ease of use and integration, with a low total cost of ownership to our customers.”

 

Global Capabilities Expanded

Global enhancements are a significant part of the latest iScala release.  The solution is now available in the Thai language, bringing the number of supported languages to over 34 worldwide.  Additionally, a generic partner languages import has been added which provides the ability to support/import non-standard languages.  For European countries, support for the localized depreciation methods, European EC value added tax (VAT) handling and European cash discounts have been added.

 

Latin America was an important focus of this release with an emphasis in localization improvements and specific functionality for this market, the most significant being the iScala Advanced Tax Engine which supports the calculation of the many different taxes required in Latin America as well as other parts of the world.  The iScala Advanced Tax Engine is extremely flexible and can calculate the following tax types: VAT, advance tax, withholding tax, VAT surcharge, internal tax, advance turnover tax, withholding turnover tax, withholding income tax, and self-withdrawing income tax. 

Additionally, iScala supports tax retention certificates which in some Latin America countries are calculated at the time of recording the invoice and must be supported by a special certificate.  In other Latin America countries, invoices must be printed on special pre-printed, pre-numbered forms issued by regional authorities.  With Epicor iScala this process is automated.