In a bid to boost its retail offerings, SAP AG said late Monday it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Campbell Software Inc. Campbell, based in Chicago, specializes in workforce automation software, in particular time and attendance management. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed other than to say that SAP America, and not its German parent, is making the purchase. Under the agreement, SAP will acquire Campbell Software applications, StaffWorks and Time and Attendance, as well as work force optimization knowledge. SAP and Campbell are already partners. Its products are used by major retail chains to keep an executive level view of labor costs, one of the more costly and controllable costs in the industry. For the time being, Campbell’s products will be sold as standalone components alongside SAP’s existing retail and human resource systems. In the meantime, SAP and Campbell developers will be working to closely integrate the products while still maintaining them as independent components. The deal is subject to regulatory and stockholder approval.
