PLEASANTON, CA May 17, 2002 The latest and greatest is out from PeopleSoft Inc. now, who announced the general availability of PeopleSoft Enterprise Service Automation (ESA) 8.4. The release of PeopleSoft ESA 8.4 includes new functionality designed to meet the unique requirements of global customers and customers in the public sector. PeopleSoft ESA has more than 180 customers licensing the product since its introduction in Q3 2001.
PeopleSoft ESA 8.4 introduces key functionality to meet the specific needs of the Education and Government sector, including commitment control, fund accounting and services procurement. New Education and Government customers include Texas Education Agency, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the State of Connecticut.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA), a $35 billion education and funding source for Texas schools, recently deployed PeopleSoft ESA to manage its $50 million annual spend on the procurement of contract workers. "We are starting to have more control of the contract services we manage and are capable of making smarter decisions," said Bill Monroe, TEA's Chief of Operations. "Our goal, one we expect to beat, is to save $1 million per year. That's money that will go back into education, for targeted programs. PeopleSoft had tremendous vision to come up with a solution that spans multiple business areas. This is exactly what all organizations need to focus on."
PeopleSoft ESA 8.4 also introduces European country-specific functionality. The solution now supports Value Added Tax (VAT) in Contracts and European Expenses, including Per Diem, Mileage Reimbursement, and VAT configuration by expense type and country. This new functionality can increase efficiencies for global organizations that operate and manage projects across multiple countries.
"PeopleSoft ESA has revolutionized the way the Office of the Auditor-General of South Africa does business," says Kariem Hoosain, executive manager for Finance and IT at the South African public agency. "Before ESA, our management team received data that was 45 to 60 days old and our 2500 projects each year were managed via paper. Out-dated systems and our semi-manual contract and expense process delayed client billing by up to 60 days. Now with ESA, we have a pure Internet solution that will give us one source of data for all of our projects and resources. We also have an opportunity to expand into a truly real-time environment. ESA was a great fit with our business processes --almost right out of the box."
"At a time when companies are scrutinizing every dollar spent, PeopleSoft ESA can reduce operational costs by bringing key business processes online and providing real-time information to make informed decisions," said Renee Lorton, senior vice president and general manager of PeopleSoft Financial Management and ESA solutions. "PeopleSoft ESA's success illustrates that this industry-leading solution provides all customers -- both public and private sectors alike -- with untapped opportunities to reduce costs and improve performance."
In addition, PeopleSoft ESA 8.4 delivers expanded integration with Microsoft Project 2002 to provide enhanced project control functionality that includes project level budgeting, work breakdown structure support and activity level integration.
