Epicor Delivers Retail Integration in Record Time

Epicor Service Connect Facilitates Integration of Epicor Enterprise Financials Suite and Epicor|CRS Retail Solutions

Epicor Software Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise business software solutions for the midmarket and divisions of the Global 1000, today announced availability of Epicor CRS Retail Integration, an integrated offering of its Epicor Enterprise Financials Suite and Epicor CRS Merchandising Suite.  Epicor obtained the Merchandising Suite, a complete merchandising management solution for the specialty retail chain, with its acquisition of CRS Retail Systems at the end of 2005.

Designed to bring added value to Epicor|CRS specialty retail customers, the new solution provides for seamless sharing of information across the merchandising and financial modules including all related elements of the vendor, customer and account information.  For example, the integration enables a retailer to receive invoices in the Merchandising system and then match, process and pay the vendors directly from the Financial system without any manual intervention thus streamlining operations and achieving auditable integration across the companys business cycle.

Web Services Business Integration Platform

Using Epicor Service Connect, a Web services-based business integration platform, the integration of the two solutions was completed in record time.  Epicor began integration to its core financial accounting suite in May 2006, completing the strategic integration of the applications in less than three months.  Service Connect functions as the central integration point for implementing secure workflow orchestrations within Epicor applications and with third-party applications to enhance collaboration and automate business processes, significantly reduced the development time required to integrate the two product suites.

The seamless integration achieved through Service Connect provides specialty retail customers with a complete retail and enterprise business software solution.  With its service-oriented architecture, Service Connect also offers customers increased flexibility for extending and implementing the integrated solution.

According to Jim La Shell, senior director of Retail Operations for the Seattle Mariners, the new integrated solution will help improve accuracy and reduce costs.  The Seattle Mariners currently uses Epicor Financials and Epicor CRS Merchandising and POS software to manage its extensive retail operations which include ballpark and malls stores, as well as kiosks.  By integrating the applications, information will only need to be entered once as a transaction travels from the original merchandise order to the accounts payable group, said La Shell.  There is no need to input the information multiple times, thereby reducing human error, saving time and increasing staff productivity.

Comprehensive Enterprise Business Solution for Retailers

The Epicor Financials Suite is a proven, award-winning collection of highly adaptable, totally integrated finance and accounting applications.  With advanced allocations capabilities, including full inter-company and multi-currency processing support, the Epicor Financials Suite complements Epicor CRS Merchandising a sophisticated and integrated system powering the retail enterprise, from managing items, purchase orders and prices, ensuring accurate receiving and efficient distribution to stores, sales audit functions to allow exception-based controls that ensure data integrity, through to detailed sales analysis that provides the information to build and broaden sales through the customer base.

 The delivery of Epicor CRS Retail Integration is a key milestone following our acquisition of CRS Retail Systems, said John Hiraoka, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Epicor.  Our innovative SOA technology coupled with strong product synergy accelerated the integration process, enabling us to bring our retail customers integration to our award-winning financial applications in record time ultimately optimizing their software investment.

Epicor CRS Retail Integration is now generally available.  Customers can also continue to purchase Epicor CRS Merchandising and Epicor Financials solutions separately.