Business Objects Announces BUSINESSOBJECTS 4.0 User Module; Advanced, component-based architecture provides the ultimate integration of query, reporting, and OLAP; Enables mainstream users to surf through all data in corporate databases and data warehouses

Business Wire, March 25, 1996

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 1996--Business Objects, a leading provider of enterprise decision support tools, today announced version 4.0 of the BUSINESSOBJECTS User Module, the single, integrated tool that provides mainstream business end users with query,reporting, and advanced online analytical processing (OLAP) capabilities on top of relational, OLAP server, and flat file/personal databases.

A key part of the overall BUSINESSOBJECTS 4.0 announcement (Editors Note: please see related releases dated March 25, 1996), the new User Module provides an industry-unique, component-based architecture; the introduction of two new product components (EXPLORER and DOCUMENT AGENT); and major enhancements to its popular core query and reporting component (REPORTER).

Component-Based Architecture Provides Integration

BUSINESSOBJECTS 4.0 is built around an industry-unique, component-based architecture that integrates all major DSS functions into a single tool. Rather than building the solution as a series of separate products that must be integrated later, BUSINESSOBJECTS 4.0 is built as a single tool, using a single executable and single user interface, that is composed of a series of components that can either be enabled or disabled according to the needs and skills of various types of users.

This makes the product easy to use and easy to learn for end users, eliminates the need for complicated and cumbersome hypercube transformation utilities, and provides a basis for supporting the object-based operating systems of the future.

"Integration between query, reporting, and multidimensional analysis is very important because it maps directly to how end users want to work," said Teresa Wingfield, senior industry analyst at Giga Information Group, a leading information technology and consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. "Users want to be able to perform slice and dice and drill analysis directly on reports, and distribute those reports to others, without having to involve IS every step of the way. BUSINESSOBJECTS 4.0 is a new breed of decision suppor tool that will dramatically affect the marketplace."

EXPLORER Component Delivers Integrated OLAP

The BUSINESSOBJECTS 4.0 EXPLORER component is a new product that delivers OLAP functionality to mainstream business users, including both "slice and dice" and "drill anywhere." EXPLORER enables users to perform on-report analysis, meaning that users can simply toggle a BUSINESSOBJECTS report to "drill mode," and then drill down through dimension hierarchies to get greater detail, drill across hierarchies to look for new dependencies, or drill up to get a summarized view of data. To maximize ease of use, EXPLORER relies on unique "navigation tooltips" to lead the user through the analysis process.

The EXPLORER is an invaluable tool both because it lets users see "the numbers behind the numbers" as well as letting users easily shift their view on database information.

Dynamic Microcube Enables Local OLAP

The enabler for these OLAP functions is an innovative technology known as the dynamic microcube. A microcube is a local multidimensional data structure that acts as a dynamic, persistent cache. Microcubes can integrate data from one or more data sources, and reduce network traffic by keeping a store of data on the user's PC. Microcubes enable mobile computing because users may analyze data in their local microcube regardless of whether they are connected to their corporate network. In addition, microcubes deliver high-performance OLAP by providing a local, desktop-resident hypercube, eliminating the need to generate network traffic on drill down.

Microcubes are dynamic, meaning that they can be either refreshed or reshaped at any time by the user, through a simple user interface. Dynamic refresh ensures that users are always making business decisions based on the latest available data. Dynamic reshape means that users can easily "data surf" through all of the information in an organization's databases and data warehouses without having to master complicated and cumbersome hypercube transformation utilities, or bother IS to run such utilities on their behalf.

"We believe BUSINESSOBJECTS' unique dynamic microcube technology and query technique will offer us the OLAP capabilities we need to drill down from our reports and analyze data -- while running directly against our datawarehouse," Vince Benenati, Simon and Schuster.

DOCUMENT AGENT Component Provides A Third Processing Tier

The BUSINESSOBJECTS 4.0 DOCUMENT AGENT component is a new product that provides server-based report processing, scheduling, and distribution. Using DOCUMENT AGENT, end users can specify that reports be automatically run periodically at certain times, and that the resulting report (and its microcube) be automatically distributed to a predefined distribution list through the BUSINESSOBJECTS document exchange facility or through a standard mail interface. Acting in this capacity, the DOCUMENT AGENT provides an additional tier where reports can be processed (and microcubes generated) on either the backend database server or a middle-tier application server. This three-tier architecture enables users to offload complex reports to dedicated, powerful servers. In addition, it reduces network traffic between the database server and the client application. Finally, it provides the performance benefits of precomputed hypercubes, which can then be used by end users directly or dynamically reshaped and refreshed as users see fit.