PeopleSoft Announces Comprehensive OLAP Strategy; Integrated Desktop OLAP, Data Mart, and Data Warehousing Solutions Offer Customers a Tailored Approach to Business Intelligence

Business Wire, April 15, 1996

PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 1996--PeopleSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSFT) a leading supplier of client/server business solutions, today announced a comprehensive strategy that will enable customers to perform on-line analytical processing, or OLAP, on data from PeopleSoft and other applications for the purpose of decision support.

The company's technology strategy is based on the seamless integration of leading OLAP tools with PeopleSoft applications. PeopleSoft will offer customers OLAP capabilities from the desktop to the enterprise, including data mart and data warehouse solutions, through a combination of software development and integration with products from select software vendors. In addition, to complement its already strong suite of reporting tools (PS/Query, Crystal Reports Pro, PS/nVision, and SQR), PeopleSoft will publish an Open Query API to allow reporting tools from other software vendors to produce reports on data in PeopleSoft applications more effectively.

PeopleSoft is the only major vendor to offer enterprise client/server applications tightly integrated with OLAP tools at the desktop, data mart, and data warehouse levels. This application-based OLAP integration has broad implications for data warehouse and other decision support projects.

"OLAP is not simply a matter of connecting multiple databases," said Henry Morris, manager, Applications and Information Access research, IDC. "To provide analysis of questions critical to business, it must enable the integration of data from strategic applications. As an enterprise application vendor, PeopleSoft has both an understanding of the urgent business questions asked by customers and the detailed knowledge of the application needed to transform the data captured into a structure optimized for analysis. The result creates added value for PeopleSoft's customers and new markets for decision support and OLAP tools."

By offering integration with different analysis tools, PeopleSoft enables customers to select the appropriate OLAP solution for every need. "We let our customers pick the right tool for the right job," said Jim Hopp, PeopleSoft manager of technology strategy. "Different users have different requirements for analyzing data. Our applications will support a variety of OLAP solutions that complement the production and ad hoc query reporting tools delivered with PeopleSoft applications, enabling each customer to pick the tool that's right for them."

Desktop OLAP

To support desktop OLAP, PeopleSoft will deliver the Cognos OLAP tool, PowerPlay, with all PeopleSoft applications. PowerPlay will be tightly integrated with PeopleSoft meta-data. PeopleSoft and Cognos will also deliver a series of application-specific OLAP reports for decision support in such areas as human resources, financial planning, distribution, and manufacturing. The decision to offer PowerPlay to its customers, including application-specific OLAP reports, clearly demonstrates PeopleSoft's belief in the importance of OLAP and its commitment to keeping PeopleSoft applications at the forefront of business technology.

PeopleSoft has also expanded its partnership with Business Objects, a market leader in decision support software, to enable customers to leverage BusinessObjects 4.0, the company's latest product release. To this end, Business Objects will tightly integrate its query, reporting, and desktop OLAP technology with PeopleSoft applications and meta-data. Business Objects will also develop application-specific OLAP reports for decision support, and will develop a Business Objects/PeopleSoft Starter Kit for PeopleSoft customers.

Data marts

To support multi-dimensional planning, analysis, and management reporting on multi-user, server-based data marts, PeopleSoft will integrate its suite of enterprise applications with Arbor Software's Essbase multi-dimensional database server. Meta-data in PeopleSoft's applications will be automatically synchronized with the contents of an Essbase data mart and will enable users to immediately leverage the powerful, multi-user read-write and calculation capabilities of Essbase. PeopleSoft is planning to develop and market analytical applications on the Essbase server in the future.

Data warehousing

To provide enterprise-scale OLAP solutions for relational data warehouses and data marts, PeopleSoft and PLATINUM technology will jointly develop and market an integrated technology solution. The two companies will provide shared meta-data between PeopleSoft applications and PLATINUM's InfoBeacon and Repository software products. PLATINUM's InfoBeacon provides high-performance on-line analytical processing capabilities for data warehouses based on relational technology. PLATINUM Repository is a true client/server repository tool set for managing enterprise wide meta-data.

Open Query API

In addition to its third-party integration efforts, PeopleSoft will publish its Open Query API, which will allow software developers to give their query tools the same PeopleSoft meta-data integration as PeopleSoft's own query tools, PeopleSoft Query and Crystal Reports Pro.