Western Canada's Largest Owner of Private Forest Lands Installs Lawso

Western Canada's Largest Owner of Private Forest Lands Installs Lawson Financials on Time and on Budget

    Business Editors/Technology Editors

    ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2005--

TimberWest Turns Financial Data into Meaningful Business Intelligence
    Lawson Software (Nasdaq:LWSN) applications are helping forest land management company TimberWest track and analyze financial data and more effectively capture timely, accurate information. The company recently went live on Lawson's Financials software and will move into phase two of its Lawson implementation, including an upgrade to Lawson 8.1 applications, in early 2005.
    TimberWest is the largest owner of private forest lands in western Canada. The company is committed to continuously enhancing its ecosystem management systems, which include a range of activities to protect biodiversity, fisheries and wildlife habitat, water quality and viewscapes. TimberWest's 334,000 hectares provide a sustainable annual harvest of 2.5 million cubic meters of logs, and are located on Vancouver Island. The company predominantly supports the growth of Douglas fir forests, a premium species used for structural purposes. TimberWest also owns renewable Crown harvest rights to 800,000 cubic meters of logs per year and operates a lumber mill located near Campbell River, British Columbia.
    Lawson's business applications enable TimberWest to more effectively integrate core systems used to operate and grow its business. Prior to Lawson, many of TimberWest's business systems, such as accounts payable and general ledger, operated as disparate legacy systems. TimberWest will use Lawson to consolidate a number of its back office systems, eliminating standalone applications and enabling more effective management of operations. Specifically, the new Lawson system helps provide advanced functionality for tracking spending, streamlining purchasing processes and creating detailed financial reports.
    Data sharing and business process standardization across the company also help provide management with greater visibility into enterprise-wide operations, with the goal being faster, more strategic decision-making. Lawson Financials software is also expected to help shift the focus of TimberWest's financial and accounting team from data collection and management to budget strategy and analysis by automating business necessities such as accounts payable and general ledger.
    The largest benefit of TimberWest's Lawson implementation is that it has allowed the decommissioning of many aging standalone legacy applications in favor of an integrated finance system.
    "In order to better integrate disparate processes and data, we sought technology tailored to our specific goals," said Kelly Gilchrist, TimberWest's Director of Information Technology. "We felt Lawson understood our objectives and by integrating our finance systems in one suite, we have simplified our application interfaces and will improve reporting capabilities. This will help decision makers access the information they need to respond to business situations more quickly."

    About Lawson Software

    Lawson Software provides business application software and consulting services that put time on the side of services organizations in the healthcare, retail, government and education, banking and insurance and other markets. Lawson's software suites include enterprise performance management, distribution, financials, human resources, procurement, retail operations and service process optimization. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., Lawson has offices and affiliates serving North and South America, Europe, and Africa.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements that contain risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements contain statements of intent, belief or current expectations of Lawson Software, Inc., and its management. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. The company is not obligated to update forward-looking statements based on circumstances or events that occur in the future. Risks and uncertainties that may cause such differences include but are not limited to: uncertainties in the software industry; global military conflicts; terrorist attacks in the United States, and any future events in response to these developments; changes in conditions in the company's targeted service industries; increased competition and other risk factors listed in the company's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and as included in other documents the company files from time to time with the Commission.

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CONTACT: Lawson Software, St. Paul Terry Blake, 651-767-4766 terry.blake@lawson.com or Weber Shandwick Jenny Myers, 217-649-2965 jmyers@webershandwick.com

KEYWORD: MINNESOTA INTERNATIONAL CANADA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE HUMAN RESOURCES FOREST PRODUCTS SOFTWARE NETWORKING PRODUCT SOURCE: Lawson Software

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