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Knowledge Solutions Delivers Global Financial Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Capability to Duff & Phelps

-- Global Enterprise Resource Planning for the 21st Century --
Bridgewater, N.J. - May 31, 2006

Knowledge Solutions, LLC, a leading provider of information management and Lawson ERP Solutions, today announced the completion of the Duff & Phelps, LLC, Lawson Financial ERP for international processing that includes multi-currency and multi-company capabilities.

Duff & Phelps, an independent financial advisory firm offering a broad range of consulting and investment banking services, recently expanded its operation by acquiring their corporate valuation consulting division from one of the world's foremost providers of risk and valuation services.

"Immediately after the acquisition, our firm had plans to grow the business globally and therefore we needed to expand the capabilities of our Lawson Financial ERP," said Ed Podwin, director of operations for Duff & Phelps. "The foundation of our financial systems had to be adjusted to reflect a global chart of accounts, global locations, international currencies, inter-company transactions along with consolidating and rolling up monthly results into a single company for reporting purposes."

"We globalized the Lawson ERP structure by expanding the firm's Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and General Ledger applications which are integrated with their existing Professional Services Automation (PSA) applications," said Chet Godleski, vice president of Business Practices for Knowledge Solutions. "The expanded structure will enable the firm to add new country locations to the ERP as their business expands internationally."

Knowledge Solutions worked closely with Duff & Phelps Finance, Operations and Technology teams in defining the requirements, changing the configuration of the ERP, creating a new financial reporting structure, developing test plans, and implementing the new global process. Godleski added, "We ensured that the firm understood their new roles and responsibilities so they could maintain and support the global structure."

Today Duff & Phelps is successfully doing business in the US, London, Netherlands and Japan and expects to open more international offices in 2006-2007. Their Lawson Financial ERP now includes new international companies and their global financial results can be consolidated by running a few automated processes.

Podwin remarked, "The benefit we achieved is a cost effective and efficient use of our existing ERP Package. All changes were introduced through setup within the ERP. Customizations or modifications were not added, therefore, protecting the firm's cost of ownership of the ERP and impact on future upgrades." Podwin added, "Knowledge Solutions is a company that is easy to work with and can work under tight time constraints. Their Professional Services Team was very experienced and delivered our solution on time and on budget."

Other areas of value delivered by Knowledge Solutions included the automation of key month-end closing programs, the use of Excel add-ins to automate integration processes, and training of personnel so the firm is self sufficient to operate and maintain their systems in the future. Duff & Phelps has also engaged Knowledge Solutions on an on-going basis to maintain and support UNIX and Oracle functions for their Lawson Applications, as well as assisting with re-locating their UNIX application servers from New Jersey to their data center in Chicago.

"Our practice focuses on increasing the value of our customers' investment in Lawson Applications while improving their information delivery capabilities," said Ron Parks, president of Knowledge Solutions. "Our goal is to reduce the overall complexity of information technology and make a positive contribution to the intelligence of growing organizations around the world."

Knowledge Solutions ERP practice helps clients manage and enhance their ERP applications. This often requires version upgrades, customizations, and integration with leading edge business tools. The results are more efficient and effective processes for Finance and HR across Financial, Retail, Government, and Healthcare business sectors. Knowledge Solutions professionals possess extensive business and technical experience across all computing platforms.

About Knowledge Solutions LLC:

Knowledge Solutions is a leading provider of information management services delivering strategic solutions that address the complex business needs of its clients. With focus on integrating technology, business processes and policies, Knowledge Solutions delivers business-driven and user-centric capabilities that add continuous and measurable value. Core Services include business intelligence, ERP planning, implementation and support, and Complete IT. For additional information visit the company's website at www.ksols.com.

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