Business Objects to Support Native OLAP Access to SAP Business Information Warehouse

Business Wire, Sept 17, 1998

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 1998--

Business Objects, SAP Working Together to Provide Certified SAP

BW Solution for Integrated Query, Reporting, and Analysis

Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJY), the world's leading provider of integrated enterprise decision support tools, today announced that BusinessObjects(TM) intends to support native access to data in SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) and is working with SAP on joint development and testing of integration between Business Objects and BW.

Business Information Warehouse is SAP's preconfigured data warehouse system for R/3, the world's most-used standard business software for client/server computing.

Joint customers including Lawson Mardon, a Zurich-based major manufacturer of food and tobacco packaging products, will soon begin testing BusinessObjects access of SAP BW data via the OLE DB for OLAP, or ODBO, interface. Optimized for SAP BW, the SAP-certified BusinessObjects interface will offer customers benefits over SQL-based data queries including: -0-

--   Interactive OLAP analysis -- users of BusinessObjects will be
  able to perform high-speed "slice and dice" and drill-down
  analysis directly against SAP BW InfoCubes. This analysis will
  let users take full advantage of SAP BW's OLAP environment and
  performance-enhancing features.
--   Leverage of SAP BW security and metadata -- by utilizing SAP's
  preferred and supported access method (ODBO interface), users of
  BusinessObjects are able to take advantage of SAP's BW security
  features and can easily access BW metadata.

-0-

"Many early BW sites are seeking to make the business information content more widely accessible by means of additional end user tools that complement SAP's Business Explorer," said Henry Morris, program director at International Data Corporation (IDC). "By working closely with SAP on certification for BW, Business Objects is addressing this market need with a robust tool for query, reporting, and analysis that makes a company's investment in SAP BW even more valuable."

"BusinessObjects builds on the value of SAP R/3 by integrating data from Business Information Warehouse and other sources and delivering it to the end user in the form of business intelligence," said Dave Kellogg, vice president of corporate marketing at Business Objects.

"Together BusinessObjects and SAP Business Information Warehouse offer customers an integrated, enterprise solution that provides the highest level of decision support functionality for R/3 applications."

One of the first decision support vendors to strategically commit to providing R/3 data access, Business Objects will provide customers with a certified, supported alternative to the unorthodox R/3 data extraction methods that some decision support vendors are promoting. Business Objects offers customers numerous ways to access their data including the business application programming interface (BAPI) or through BusinessObjects rapid deployment templates.

Business Objects and SAP are working toward a late 1998 timeline for SAP BW certification, with general availability of a certified solution scheduled for early 1999.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of integrated enterprise decision support tools. Business Objects products provide non-technical business users with access to information stored in data warehouses, data marts, and packaged business applications.

Business Objects provides a complete suite of decision support tools including query, reporting, online analytical processing, data mining, and DSS administration for both client/server and Internet environments. Business Objects has sold more than 870,000 licenses to over 6,700 organizations in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Business Objects may be reached by phone at 408/953-6000 or on the World Wide Web at http://www.businessobjects.com. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbol BOBJY.

Note to Editors: SAP and all SAP product and service names herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG. BusinessObjects is a trademark of Business Objects SA. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

A full-text copy of this announcement may be obtained by calling the company's fax retrieval line at 800/414-2114 and selecting option "two." The announcement may also be downloaded from the Web; access "http://www.businesswire.com/cnn" and search on "Business Objects." Business Objects product inquiries should contact 800/527-0580.