VANCOUVER, B.C., Canada, October 3, 2005

	Joost Douwes, VP/GM, Chinook Lumber (left) and Len Williams, President & CEO, Progressive Solutions.

Progressive Solutions Inc. announces today that Chinook Lumber Inc., of Snohomish, WA, has purchased a 55-user bisTrack™ building materials supply management software system to replace an obsolete Dimensions system. Progressive Solutions will also supply Great Plains® and Crystal Reports® to Chinook Lumber for complete financial management and business intelligence.

Chinook has six locations in some of Washington State’s fastest growing communities. They pride themselves on exemplary customer service and were honored as WBMA’s 2004 Distinguished Dealer of the Year.

“Chinook Lumber immediately saw the potential benefits from using bisTrack software,” says Nancy Bloch, Senior Account Manager for Progressive Solutions. “Chinook is a very well-run organization with a lot of experience using information technology to improve their business and their bottom line.”

The bottom line for Chinook: “These productivity gains will allow us to grow without adding FTEs,” says Joost Douwes, VP/GM of Chinook Lumber. He explains that bisTrack will help them grow by giving them a competitive, strategic advantage in the marketplace because of the contractor services bisTrack will allow them to offer. Further, the IT investment is part of their process re-engineering program to boost productivity and minimize the number of FTEs required to support their growth.

bisTrack enables contractor job analysis, other services
Chinook plans to use bisTrack’s unique capabilities to attract contractor business. “bisTrack is a platform we can build on to be a better partner in our contractors’ endeavors,” says Joost. “We’ll provide them with more than just sticks of wood. Services and special orders are a growing part of the business.”

He describes how bisTrack’s outstanding reporting and business intelligence tools will benefit a contractor’s operations as well as their own: “With bisTrack, we can keep our customers better informed and give them access to our system. We’ll be able to give them credible reports on their jobs, which would lead to analysis of their projects. That’s the information that they need to make their decisions.”

bisTrack speeds daily tasks, “pushes” info to users
Joost also recognizes the architectural strengths of bisTrack, and its powerful functionality designed specifically to meet the needs of building materials suppliers. Automated workflow management will reduce the “paper shuffle”, eliminate redundant data entry and reduce errors. “The time it takes us to do our daily processes will be drastically reduced. We’ll take less time to process sales orders and POs, less time in AP, and decision-making will be faster at all levels,” Joost comments.

“The concept of pushing real-time information to users is an enormous advantage,” he adds, referring to bisTrack’s built-in instant messaging system that automatically notifies appropriate users in real-time of events, transactions or communications so that personnel can respond and react more quickly. “It’s a radically different approach. Everything is at your fingertips.”

About Progressive Solutions
Progressive Solutions Inc. is the international leader in business software solutions for the lumber and building materials industries. Founded in 1989, the company is headquartered in Richmond, BC, with sales offices across the US, UK and Canada. Its main products, Lumber Track™ and bisTrack™, address the procurement, sales, inventory and logistics management needs of wood products manufacturers and wholesale/distributors and building materials distributors/dealers with domestic and export markets.