Software AG Practices What It Preaches: First Software Vendor to Build Data Warehouse for Its Own Use; New Financial Data Warehouse Empowers Employees With Access to Dynamic Information for Business Analysis

Business Wire, August 14, 1995

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 14, 1995--Software AG, the first and leading provider of data warehouse solutions, today announced that it has developed and implemented an internal financial data warehouse for all of its U.S. Operations. This Data Warehouse delivers timely information critical in tracking business patterns and trends and facilitates forecasting and planning efforts -- enabling Software AG to respond quicker to market demands.

A data warehouse frees up data that's traditionally locked in operational systems to create an overall understanding of one's business. Prior to implementing the Financial Data Warehouse, Software AG, like most companies, delivered information to U.S. employees through static reports. These reports were generated from month-end financial reporting. With the Financial Data Warehouse, employees can access information from their desktop. This data provides a dynamic view of Software AG's business -- promoting interactive analysis in making decisions.

"Prior to implementing our data warehouse, we had the applications to store the data, but we needed MIS help to retrieve it," said Gary Hayes, vice president and controller of Software AG and executive sponsor of the project. "Today, with our data warehouse, we are able to access the data ourselves -- the day after close -- and download into Lotus and Excel for quick financial analysis."

Software AG began the financial data warehouse planning by determining what information was needed by employees to perform strategic business analysis. The Software AG team defined and described business data and metadata -- establishing common company-wide business terms. The architecture of the data warehouse is designed to capture the most timely information for end-users. Software AG worked with partner, Earl Hadden, to develop an implementation plan.

"Our internal financial data warehouse demonstrates our partnership with Hadden & Company is a truly synergistic one," said Bob White, manager of Software AG's Professional Services Division and director of the Internal Data Warehouse Implementation. "While Earl Hadden's methodology provides the `what,' or high-level tasks required for a data warehouse project, Software AG provides the `how-to' or detailed task listing."

The Financial Data Warehouse uses Software AG's Open Data Warehouse Program's products, available at the time of implementation, in an HP UX environment: PREDICT CASE for data modeling, NATURAL for source files; Carleton's Passport(TM)(a) for data extraction; ADABAS D for database management; and ESPERANT for end-user queries. File transfer and communication connections are handled through TCP/IP and FTP with ODBC for file transfer and communication connections. These products were implemented through the use of a comprehensive and open methodology.

For more information on Software AG's Open Data Warehouse Program and for a free copy of "The Keys to the Data Warehouse," a reprinted article from American Programmer (May, 1995 by David Wells and Dr. James Thomann, call 1-800-843-9534 ext. 725.

Software AG is the first major software vendor to offer an open, comprehensive data warehouse program that includes a complete set of integrated products and services. The Open Data Warehouse Program offers developers a choice of off-the-shelf, custom, and semi-custom integrated products and service components to build a high quality data warehouse at a lower cost and with less risk than if the developer were to purchase the products separately and do the integration in-house.

Today, Software AG's Open Data Warehouse Program products include: NATURAL Engineering Workbench for data modeling; NATURAL and Passport(TM)(a) for data extraction, mapping and transformation; ENTIRE NET-WORK and ENTIRE ACCESS for data access; ADABAS for data management; SourcePoint for warehouse management and automation; ESPERANT for end-user queries; ESPERANT MetaLinc Browser for Passport for meta data access and browsing; NETMAP(R)(a) for data mining; DSS Agent(TM)(a) for multidimensional analysis, and a complete range of services, training and coaching for end-users and implementors.

Software AG, with primary locations in Reston, Virginia and Darmstadt, Germany, is one of the largest independent software firms in the world. The company develops and markets open, multi-platform product solutions and programs including: ENTIRE middleware for data access and data transfer, NATURAL(c) for application engineering, ESPERANT, a state-of-the-art SQL query and reporting tool, ADABAS for database management, and the Open Data Warehouse Program(d).

Founded in 1969, Software AG has customers in over 80 countries, and reported revenues of $533 million (U.S.) dollars in 1994. -0-

(a) All starred products are available through Software AG by agreement of their respective owners: Passport from Carleton Corporation, DSS Agent from MicroStrategy Inc., and NETMAP from ALTA Analytics Inc. ADABAS, ENTIRE and NATURAL are registered trademarks of Software AG. ESPERANT is a trademark of Software AG. DSS Agent is a registered trademark of MicroStrategy Inc. NETMAP is developed by and a registered trademark of ALTA Analytics Inc. Passport is a trademark of Carleton Corporation.