Awards 2003: Mid-range Software

The Microsoft brand is easy to knock because of its well-publicised problems over the years, but the two financial packages that the Redmond-based giant acquired proved to be tried, tested and much-liked software.

Navision is a hugely popular product throughout Europe with more than 34,000 companies using it in more than 30 countries. The judges were clear in their praise, starting with the excellent presentation of the awards entry, which was far and away the best organised of all the awards over all the software categories.

However, it takes more than a well-presented entry to win over the judging panel, and MBS did not disappoint. One judge said he was impressed with the 'major progress that MBS has made in support, on top of which the product development has been really good.' The judges felt that MBS had achieved the most significant change in its products over the past 12 months. It was a combination of a number of points that led the judges to award MBS-Navision the Mid-Range Software Award of the year.

Simon Edwards, general manager UK and Ireland at MBS, said: 'Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision 3.70 builds on the functionality of previous editions and an understanding of the SME market.

'Designed with the most powerful customisation tools in the marketplace, it demonstrates our commitment to providing compelling solutions that not only enable the SME business to become more agile, competitive and productive, but work with and support their unique business processes now and in the future,' he said.

The software includes a number of innovative developments that makes it stand out from the crowd. Its Sum Indexing Technology is a powerful tool designed to provide a much faster online analytical processing performance.

It also includes XML-based Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), which allows companies to standardise their financial reports make better decisions, and use the internet for the exchange of financial information.

The company's dedication to working to agreed and widely accepted standards also impressed the judges. One said that the company showed 'attention to and met standards with a high quality'.

Its 'dimensions' feature allows a sophisticated way of viewing company information, investigating relationships and exploiting opportunities at speed. The feature is fully customisable and allows users to organise data in hierarchies that best reflect their individual accounting and reporting needs.

Finally, its audit trail drill-ability feature allows the most complex transactions to become transparent, and makes it easy to access the financial information a company needs to spot trends in its business activities.

Despite the judges' decision to award MBS-Navision the Mid-Range Software Package of the Year Award, all recognised the strength of the entries in this particular category.

OTHER SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES:

• Access Accounting - Dimensions Client/Server

• Advanced Professional Solutions - APS

• Coda - Dream

• Exchequer Software - Exchequer Enterprise