| State of Mississippi Rolls Out Domino-Based Help Desk System |
| ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 16, 2000 -- The Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) recently completed the roll-out of a new help desk system that runs on a Lotus Domino server. ITS is a catalyst for effective planning, deployment, and operation of innovative information technologies for Mississippi state government. The department forms partnerships with internal clients and the private sector to optimize the use of available resources for enhanced delivery of government services. Developed by GroupSoft Systems, a Lotus Development ISV Business Partner, the new Automated Services and Support for Information Systems and Technology (ASSIST) help desk system replaces a variety of mainframe-based call tracking tools and spreadsheets with a unified source of support information. It is used by three groups within the agency: Data Services, Voice Services and Information Systems Services. Each group logs requests into a custom form optimized for its mission, but it can easily transfer a request to another division. The ASSIST system is a customized version of the GroupSoft ServiceDesk, a customer service package first offered by GroupSoft Systems in 1997. To develop the customized version for the State of Mississippi, GroupSoft Systems worked with a team composed of representatives of each division and led by Cheryl Gordon, an ITS consultant. ITS was responsible for the roll-out and user training. When fully deployed, the system will have over 150 ITS users in over 120 state agencies. The GroupSoft ServiceDesk installation at the Mississippi ITS follows the successful roll-out of the product last year at a unit of the state's Department of Finance and Administration. This implementation, called the Mississippi Management and Reporting System (MMRS), provides sophisticated financial reporting and analysis services to all state agencies, using a variety of custom applications and packaged software. They use GroupSoft ServiceDesk to track incident reports and help requests from users throughout the state. Mississippi ITS has installed the ASSIST system on Compaq Proliant 7000 running Domino Release 5.0 (R5). Users generally access the system with Notes Release 5.0 (R5) clients, although separate Web browser interfaces are available for both the ITS technicians and the state employees that rely on ITS. "The challenge of the project was defining a means that would allow three different divisions, each with different operating procedures, to perform a specific type of work in the same manner," said Cheryl Gordon of ITS. "ASSIST will improve communication agency-wide, sharing of information across divisions, responding to customers in a more efficient and timely manner, and building a knowledge base of information for faster problem resolution." Carl Fink, president and CEO of GroupSoft Systems, feels that these customized implementations benefit both parties. "This roll-out caps our successful partnership with the State of Mississippi. Both projects have challenged us to adapt and extend our product into a true enterprise-class support tool. Mississippi has benefited by getting exactly the systems it needs at a reasonable cost, and our other customers have benefited as the product has become more robust and feature-rich." About GroupSoft Systems, Inc. GroupSoft Systems, Inc. develops help desk and customer relationship management software for Lotus Domino, Lotus Notes and the Web. The company, founded in 1993 and based in Newton, MA, is a Lotus ISV Business Partner. http://www.gsft.com 617-454-1115. ### GroupSoft ServiceDesk is a trademark of GroupSoft Systems, Inc. Lotus and Lotus Notes are registered trademarks and Domino and Notes are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. |
| GroupSoft Systems, Inc. | (617) 544-7687 | www.groupsoft.com |