Fresno Unified School District Signs Multi-Suite Contract with Lawson Software

Fourth-largest California school district to use Lawson system to help simplify workforce management and enhance decision making

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lawson Software (Nasdaq: LWSN) today announced that Fresno Unified School District licensed the Lawson Human Resource Management Suite and the Lawson S3 System Foundation, Enterprise Performance Management, Business Process Management and Learning Accelerator Suites. The district will use the software to help support data-driven decision making and improve its ability to recruit, retain and develop highly skilled teachers and staff. The contract was signed during Lawson’s first quarter of fiscal 2009, which ended Aug. 31, 2008. Lawson Professional Services will provide implementation support for the project.

“Our Board of Education wisely invested in the Lawson system to help us improve workforce management and enhance our data-driven decision-making. This will bolster our efforts to provide the kind of education that our students and our community deserve.”

Fresno Unified School District is the fourth-largest school district in California and the 39th-largest district in the nation. It educates more than 73,000 students at 106 schools.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to streamline our management system with the help of Lawson,” said Michael Hanson, superintendent, Fresno Unified School District. “Our Board of Education wisely invested in the Lawson system to help us improve workforce management and enhance our data-driven decision-making. This will bolster our efforts to provide the kind of education that our students and our community deserve.”

The Lawson Human Resource Management Suite will help the district automate formerly manual processes, such as those associated with benefits, administration and personnel transactions. These improvements will help increase efficiency and allow human resource managers to focus on recruitment and retention initiatives. For example, the Lawson eRecruiting application will help the district more quickly assess and hire the best candidates with automated applicant scoring and more intuitive features.

“District administrators need modern IT systems to help boost efficiencies and control costs in light of ongoing budget constraints,” said Cheryl Turk-Peterson, marketing director, Public Sector, Lawson. “Lawson helps school districts simplify administrative tasks so they can focus more of their resources on staff development and student achievement.”

Lawson serves more than 140 public sector customers, including three of the top seven digital state governments and four of the 25 largest school districts in the United States. State governments, cities, counties, school districts, publicly owned utilities/authorities and special districts rely on Lawson solutions to help meet the needs of key stakeholders – constituents, employees, students, vendors and communities – while helping to maximize limited budgets.

About Lawson Software

Lawson Software provides software and service solutions to 4,500 customers in manufacturing, distribution, maintenance, healthcare and service sector industries across 40 countries. Lawson solutions include Enterprise Performance Management, Supply Chain Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, Manufacturing Resource Planning, Enterprise Asset Management, Human Resource Management, and industry-tailored applications. Lawson solutions assist customers in simplifying their businesses or organizations by helping them streamline processes, reduce costs and enhance business or operational performance. Lawson is headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., and has offices around the world. Visit Lawson online at www.lawson.com.

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 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; uncertainties as to when and whether the conditions for the recognition of deferred revenue will be satisfied; increased competition; general economic conditions; global military conflicts; terrorist attacks; pandemics, and any future events in response to these developments; changes in conditions in the company's targeted industries and other risk factors listed in the company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lawson assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release.