University of Notre Dame Standardizes on Business Objects; Business Intelligence Solution Helps Top University Improve Performance

Business Wire, Sept 7, 2004

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ) (Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250-BOB), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that the University of Notre Dame has standardized on a BI solution from Business Objects. A customer of Business Objects since 1998, the university is in the process of upgrading and expanding its current deployment, which includes WebIntelligence(R) and BusinessObjects(TM) Dashboard Manager, to better track, understand, and manage performance.

Notre Dame will use Business Objects to access and analyze performance data across operational areas, including finance and human resources, student demographics and performance, financial aid, and fund raising, as well as academic programs and research. The university will also create customized dashboards to enable top administrators to view relevant key performance metrics, receive automatic alerts regarding pre-defined events, and click on individual metrics to explore underlying data.

"Notre Dame is expanding its use of Business Objects solutions to provide access to information that is accurate, timely, consistent, and of strategic value," said Gordon Wishon, CIO at Notre Dame. "The implementation will give Notre Dame a set of analytic tools that allow decision makers to detect trends and explore the effects of changing parameters in multiple scenarios."

"Notre Dame is breaking new ground in adopting business intelligence to manage enterprise performance in every area of an academic institution," said Greg Lorden, vice president of Government for Business Objects. "Business Objects solutions are directly contributing to the improved operation of one the nation's most admired educational institutions, in a way that has far-reaching implications for the way universities operate."

About Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame, founded in 1842 by a priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, is an independent, national Catholic university located at Notre Dame, Indiana, adjacent to the city of South Bend and approximately 90 miles southeast of Chicago.

Admission to the University is highly competitive, with five applicants for each freshman class position. Sixty-five percent of incoming freshmen were in the top five percent of their high school graduating classes.

The source of the University's academic strength is its faculty, which since 1988 has seen the addition of more than 200 new members and the establishment of some 80 new endowed professorships. Notre Dame faculty members have won 16 fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities in the past four years, more than any other university in the nation.

With 1,250 acres containing two lakes and 136 buildings with a total property replacement value of $2 billion, Notre Dame is well known for the quality of its physical plant and the beauty of its campus. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the 14-story Hesburgh Library with its 132-feet-high mural depicting Christ the Teacher, and the University's newly renovated 124-year-old Main Building with its famed Golden Dome are among the most widely known university landmarks in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.nd.edu.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company. Business intelligence enables organizations to track, understand, and manage enterprise performance. The company's solutions leverage the information that is stored in an array of corporate databases, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

Popular uses of BI include enterprise reporting, management dashboards and scorecards, customer intelligence applications, financial reporting, and both customer and partner extranets. These solutions enable companies to gain visibility into their business, acquire and retain profitable customers, reduce costs, optimize the supply chain, increase productivity, and improve financial performance.

In December 2003, Business Objects completed the acquisition of Crystal Decisions, the leader in enterprise reporting. The combined product line includes software for reporting, query and analysis, performance management, analytic applications, and data integration. In addition, Business Objects offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.

Business Objects has more than 26,000 customers in over 80 countries. The company's stock is traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0004026250 - BOB). It is included in the SBF 120 and IT CAC 50 French stock market indexes. Business Objects can be reached at 408-953-6000 and http://www.businessobjects.com.

Business Objects, the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, and WebIntelligence are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects S.A. or its affiliated companies in the United States and/or other countries.