Business Objects launches expanded performance management solutions for the CFO

Business Objects, the world`s leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, has announced the release of its integrated planning, budgeting, forecasting, and consolidation solutions on the BusinessObjects XI platform. These new integrated enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions enable finance organisations to create a process for continuous improvement, provide employees with information they can trust, and align corporate resources with overall business strategy.

With this launch, Business Objects has executed on the vision it initiated in 2005 with the acquisition of SRC Software - providing a comprehensive set of performance management capabilities on the BI industry`s most advanced and trusted business intelligence platform. Business Objects now offers more than 30 targeted applications designed for specific industries and financial functions. In addition to strategic and financial planning and operational budgeting, the solutions also cover metrics management and scorecarding, data visualisation, and analytic applications to provide a broad set of performance management solutions for finance managers in industry and government organisations around the world.

"With today`s announcement, we are building on our outstanding EPM momentum and our 70% year over year growth in EPM licence revenue during the first half of 2006," said Mark Doll, senior VP of global services and general manager of EPM at Business Objects. "This announcement underscores the focus and determination we have for delivering a world-class EPM solution for CFOs and finance organizations around the world. Our innovative product plans and continued investment in the development of comprehensive EPM products and services offerings position Business Objects well to serve this fast growing market and help organizations achieve higher performance."

As part of today`s announcement, Business Objects now delivers its entire suite of planning, budgeting, and forecasting applications on the BusinessObjects XI platform. For end-users, this provides seamless integration of financial and operational information delivered through any Business Objects BI application. For IT organisations, the ability to take advantage of enhanced installation and security administration, and Business Objects Universe access, provides a lower cost of ownership and system maintenance costs.

Organisations can now easily combine data from plans, budgets, forecasts, and other applications with reporting, dashboards, scorecards, and data visualization technology that are part of the industry-leading BusinessObjects XI platform. Future applications and innovations will also take advantage of the power of the Business Objects XI platform and continue to be built with the functional and vertical expertise that have characterised the EPM offerings from the company in the wake of the SRC acquisition.

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While planning, budgeting, and consolidation are integral components for the CFO, Business Objects has further expanded its offering with new incentive compensation management applications and an activity based costing solution for the healthcare vertical. Additionally, with the introduction of new operational analytics on supply chain performance, CFOs now have new capabilities to manage costs and reliability across their supply and distribution channels. Key metrics such as product lead time and stock-outs, product quality, and transportation logistics can all be analysed within the same suite of applications.

Customer feedback regarding the updated functionality has been outstanding. One of the early testers of the software was Meridian Health, a leading provider of heath services encompassing 70 facilities and more than 1 400 physicians in New Jersey. Meridian has deployed Business Objects to several hundred users as the cornerstone of its annual budgeting process.

"Our Business Objects deployment provides the foundation to develop an efficient, end-to-end process for gathering feedback from all of our hospitals and delivering the information they need to make decisions on how to run their operations efficiently," said Steve Esposito, corporate budget manager at Meridian Health. "After testing BusinessObjects Budgeting and Reporting Suite XI, we are excited about several key enhancements, including the new active directory integration. This integration eliminates the need to manually maintain a separate security directory for our planning products - saving time and increasing security. We are looking forward to deploying the solution for our next budget cycle."

Another early tester was TETRA Technologies, a geographically diversified oil and gas services company. TETRA is already using BusinessObjects Budgeting and Reporting Suite XI to complete its 2007 budget process.

"Business Objects did an excellent job extending and enhancing the BusinessObjects Budgeting and Reporting Suite, and we have already upgraded our deployment so we can take advantage of the new version for our current budget cycle," said Kelly Bonhomme, corporate reporting and planning manager at TETRA Technologies. "When we tested the new version, we saw a noticeable difference in how the system is administered. This has helped to increase the speed at which we can produce and deliver our reports, and reduced the amount of time and effort required to maintain and manage our user security. These enhancements will let us spend more time on analysis and other value added activities."

Business Objects has also made dozens of improvements to several other solutions across its EPM suite. Highlighted enhancements include:

* BusinessObjects Dashboard Manager - Business Objects has added 12 new analytics to Dashboard Manager that were built using Crystal Xcelsius. These analytics include new data exploration analytics for trend and plotting analysis, and distribution analytics for deeper statistical analysis.
* Supply Chain Intelligence - Business Objects has expanded the reports and dashboards available within Supply Chain Intelligence. In addition, the data model has been enhanced to allow for better data flow and optimized query performance. New modules focused on vendor sourcing and product delivery processes are now on the BusinessObjects XI platform as well.
* Crystal Xcelsius Viewer - Business Objects has integrated Crystal Xcelsius Viewer with its planning, budgeting, and forecasting applications, enabling organizations to easily create dynamic visual models that clearly present complex planning and budgeting data. Crystal Xcelsius Viewer enables customers to turn static information into dynamic charts, graphs, and interactive "what-if" scenarios while maintaining live connectivity to their data.

Enterprise performance management is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. To capitalise on the rapid growth of the EPM business within the company, Business Objects Global Services now provides consulting services to help companies tailor their EPM deployment, as well as services to help companies leverage sophisticated performance management and analytical techniques to gain a competitive advantage. Business Objects also works closely with its network of partners who provide EPM consulting services to leverage their extensive industry-specific expertise.

"Unlike other BI companies that only provide organisations with a blueprint for building an EPM solution, Business Objects goes a step further by delivering both the foundation and materials, and then works with customers to actually build the optimal solution," continued Mark Doll. "We work with our customers to design and implement the optimal enterprise performance management strategy to achieve their performance goals. The release today is not only a milestone for the company, but presents a model for future growth for our EPM business."

The new and enhanced versions of the Business Objects EPM solutions are available today.