Landmark and Strategic Sourcing were also of interest to Sandi Klos, business project manager for materials management at HealthPartners Medical Group & Clinics. The St. Paul, Minn.-based health services provider currently runs version 8.x of Lawson's procurement, payroll and human resources applications but is interested in upgrading to the Lawson System Foundation 9 by next year.

The Strategic Sourcing application, expected to ship sometime during the current quarter, could help automate contract management processes, said Klos. It would also allow suppliers to come in through a portal to access RFPs and submit bids without being directly solicited. Additionally, there is a built-in audit trail that would assist with Sarbanes-Oxley Act reporting compliance, she said. The company has already started deploying Lawson Business Intelligence 9 to deliver role-based dashboards to executives.

'Business intelligence is starting us on the road of bringing the applications together,' Klos said, adding that Landmark's composite applications capabilities can further that goal.