Open Applications Group Publishes Additional Specifications for Enterprise Application Interoperability

Chicago, Illinois, USA -- July 9, 1996

Today the Open Applications Group, Inc., an association of enterprise applications software vendors committed to open applications interoperability, is publishing the next release of its Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS), which specifies how enterprise applications from multiple sources interoperate.

OAGIS 1.009.0 includes specifications for eleven Business Object Documents (BODs) which enable interoperability between enterprise applications. The BODs described in OAGIS 1.009.0 specify how manufacturing applications such as inventory and production control interoperate with financial applications. Also included in this release are the areas of invoicing from logistical applications to financial applications and the synchronization of common files such as trading partners, customers and suppliers.

Today the Open Applications Group also announced in a separate release that many of its members have announced their commitment to deliver products in accordance with OAGIS including many deliveries during 1996. Additional members will be announcing their commitment in the near future.

The Open Applications Group will continue to publish releases of OAGIS with the intent to specify all of the useful integration points between enterprise applications.

"We are very excited about the progress the Open Applications Group is making towards open enterprise integration," said Anil Monga, Senior Project Manager at G.D. Searle, a respected pharmaceutical company. "We plan to implement manufacturing and financial applications from different vendors and we are counting on their compliance with Open Applications Group specifications to make these products work together."

"Our work to date proves that the major enterprise application vendors can work together in the Open Applications Group to produce specifications which will provide customers with the ability to use applications from different sources, " said Paul Margolis, Chairman of the Open Applications Group.

OAGIS 1.009.0 is available at no charge at the Open Applications Group's web site at http://www.openapplications.org. It is also available in print from the Open Applications Group Headquarters at 401 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611 USA Tel: 312 527 6799 Fax: 312 245 1081.

The Open Applications Group, Inc., is dedicated to promoting open application integration which is the interoperability of enterprise applications from different sources. The membership of the Open Applications Group includes some of the largest enterprise application vendors in the world including American Software, Baan, Computer Associates, CODA, Dun & Bradstreet Software, IBM Manufacturing Solutions Unit, J.D. Edwards & Company, Marcam Solutions, NEC C&C Systems Group, Oracle Corporation, Peoplesoft, QAD, SAP AG, Software 2000, and Texas Instruments.

The benefits of open application include the ability to more easily use applications from multiple vendors, to integrate purchased applications more easily with custom-developed applications, and better support for integrating with customers, vendors, banks, governments, and other partners.

The Open Applications Group headquarters is at 401 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611 USA Tel: 312 527 6799 Fax: 312 245 1081.