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The Best Products of 2003: Page 4 of 6

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
Best Software MAS 90 ($3,500)

Best Software's MAS 90 came out on top of other vendors in the enterprise resource planning category for its ease of use, wealth of features and by excelling in many areas that other ERP vendors find difficult to handle.
Out of the box, MAS 90 arrives with more than 25 modules that are easy to set up and cover everything from accounts payable to time slips. MAS 90 also includes modules for sales/purchase order, general ledger, material requirements planning, office link and work order.
The material requirements planning module is particularly useful for companies that are involved in the manufacturing and distribution of goods. MAS 90 evaluates data from inventory management, sales and purchase orders, bills of materials and work orders to make recommendations on inventory levels.
The product also runs a set of complex calculations to help users make informed decisions about the products they manufacture. This feature proved to be easier to use than those from all other ERP products that CRN Test Center engineers examined this year.
Best Software's multitier channel program offers solution providers sales and technical training, marketing and seminar support. The vendor also includes numerous sales and technical resources on its solution provider Web site. Full article>>

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND COLLABORATION TOOL
Microsoft Live Communication Server ($1,059, with five-client licenses)

This year, two new products from Microsoft represent a great leap forward in knowledge management and collaboration tools. Live Communications Server and Windows SharePoint Services offer, for the first time, real enterprise collaboration capability as they extend the Microsoft Office suite well beyond the desktop.
Live Communications Server provides encrypted instant messaging and archiving and follows industry-accepted SIP/SIMPLE communications protocols. It also offers an integrated presence-awareness feature that can be easily tied to other Office products and other applications. The feature allows users to know who is online, busy or offline.
Along with Windows SharePoint Services and Windows 2003 Server, Live Communications Server forms a robust document-sharing system where users can co-edit documents and communicate in the same environment or workspace. Windows SharePoint Services extends Live Communications Server by including some document management capabilities. Windows SharePoint Services also has a forms library for XML content publishing and specialized templates that allow data-driven sites to be built quickly.
Microsoft's tiered channel program provides technical assistance, sales support and on-site and online technical training.

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