-- Activity-Based Costing in the Public Sector --

14 September 2005
DUBLIN, IRELAND (14th September 2005) - FÁS, the National Training & Employment Authority of Ireland, has after successful tender, selected SAS Activity Based Management (ABM) software to enable them to automate their European Social Funding (ESF) claims and to improve their National Development Plan (NDP) reporting systems. Under the Employment & Human Resource Development Programme of the National Development Plan, a percentage of FÁS's training costs can be claimed back from the European Social Fund where these costs can be tracked to an individual client.

SAS ABM was chosen after a lengthy solution assessment including a proof of concept. "We chose SAS because it is the most effective software to provide an automated solution that can integrate with the other FÁS systems," says John Lee, senior European finance accountant, FÁS. "One of the key differentiators of the SAS solution is the ability to manage and structure the data in a repeatable fashion using easy-to-use interfaces."

FÁS is working to a fully automated process of analysing actual training costs down to the individual client level. Users can easily analyse the information, drill down into the data and produce web-based reports for senior management and external organisations. FÁS is now investigating extending their use of SAS to other areas of the business.

"It is important for FÁS to be able to accurately cost its products and services at a strategic level. SAS software enables us to do this as well as giving us a sound basis for the preparation of E.U. claims and NDP reporting," says Gerard Gasparro, director of finance.

"I am delighted that FÁS have been able to generate a quick and tangible return from their investment in SAS," comments Damien Peat, head of performance management, SAS Ireland. "It is a key priority for public sector organisations to accurately apportion costs, deliver full financial transparency and manage the Key Performance Indicators that drive operations. SAS ABM and related Performance Management Solutions are designed and packaged to help those organisations get the information they need - fast!"

About FÁS
FÁS is the National Training and Employment Authority of Ireland. It was established in 1988 to increase the employability, skills and mobility of job seekers and employees to meet labour market needs, thereby promoting competitiveness and social inclusion. This is achieved by a wide range of services to the labour market of Ireland including: training & re-training, recruitment, apprenticeships, employment schemes, assistance to community groups, advice for people returning to Ireland, those seeking employment elsewhere in the EU. Visit their website at www.fas.ie.

About SAS
SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 40,000 sites - including 96 of the top 100 companies on the 2003 FORTUNE Global 500^® - to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organisations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For nearly three decades, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know^®.

For further information, please contact Tara McGivern on:
Tel:01-6136406 or e-mail tara.mcgivern@irl.sas.com
For more information on SAS, please visit www.sas.com/ireland

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ^® indicates USA registration. Copyright © 2005 SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.