Microsoft Updates Accounting Wares

Microsoft

The new releases from the company's Business Solutions group offer tighter integration with Office XP and more flexible reporting and budgeting capabilities from FRx Software, Microsoft said.

Microsoft is evolving Dynamics and eEnterprise from accounting offerings for small and midsize businesses to a full-fledged enterprise resource management (ERM) lineup, the company said.

These two new products will also integrate with the upcoming Microsoft CRM product, due by year's end, according to the company. (See related story.) Last week, Microsoft set pricing for that much-anticipated product.

An end-user license for the standard sales and service modules will be $395 each, Microsoft said. Users wanting back-office integration and workflow capabilities will pay an additional $1,295, according to David Thacher, general manager of Microsoft CRM. MS-CRM will require the use of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or later and Windows 2000 or later, Thacher said.

In related news, Microsoft's $1.45 billion buyout of Navision, the Danish ERP vendor, closed last week. Navision will be part of Microsoft Business Solutions, which already includes Microsoft's Great Plains products.