State of Washington Office of Financial Management Standardizes on Business Objects; BusinessObjects XI Improves Insight and Management of Financial Data for State Agencies Across Washington

Business Wire, Oct 19, 2005

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 State of Washington Office of Financial Management (OFM) has standardized on Business Objects. A longtime customer of Crystal Reports(R), the OFM continues to expand their BI deployment and most recently purchased BusinessObjects XI(TM) to better track, understand, and manage financial data drawn from state agencies across Washington. Standardizing on Business Objects enables the OFM to provide staff at state agencies with the financial data they need to make decisions about how to run their organizations.

With the deployment of Business Objects software, OFM is providing non-fiscal managers with direct access to current financial data regarding budgets, expenditures and revenue, and with reports that these audiences can easily understand.

With Business Objects, program managers and finance staff can monitor data for their agency or program daily, and manage their departments more efficiently. For example, a program manager at the Department of Fish and Wildlife may rely on Business Objects to access the latest financial data, analyze the budget versus expenditures, and make better decisions about how to administer their program. The software enables the OFM to help agencies comply with the Washington State Government Management Accountability and Performance (GMAP), which requires agencies to evaluate their performance and report key measurements to the governor.

"Business Objects has provided the software that allows us to help our agencies access financial data they need," said Ann Bruner, enterprise reporting project manager for the Office of Financial Management. "I'm pleased with the integration of Crystal Reports and Business Objects platforms. With BusinessObjects XI, all authorized staff can go to one, self-service portal for budget reports, daily financial snapshots, or federal reports."

The OFM has been using Crystal Reports since 1998 and originally selected the product because developers were able to create reports that integrated seamlessly with the OFM SQL database. As the deployment has grown, developers use Crystal Reports to help them easily address the wide variety of reports required by Washington State agencies from simple "canned" reports to more detailed reports with diverse criteria.

"Business Objects understands that the current fiscal reality requires state and local government organizations to have better financial insight than ever," said Jay Johnson, vice president of Government at Business Objects. "Increasingly, our government customers are standardizing on Business Objects so they can oversee financial data from disparate agencies' applications and databases. Business Objects provides a single, trustworthy view of the most current data to organizations like the State of Washington Office of Financial Management, and enables state and local governments to increase their financial effectiveness and responsiveness."

About the Office of Financial Management

The Office of Financial Management provides vital information, fiscal services and policy support that the Governor, Legislature and state agencies need to serve the people of Washington State. The Office of Financial Management plays a central role in budget planning, policy development, and fiscal administration for the executive branch. The Office of Financial Management provides strategic leadership through "Priorities of Government" (POG), a budget approach that identifies results as the basis for budget decision-making. This strengthens government's ability to achieve its results efficiently and effectively. For more information see: http://www.ofm.wa.gov/.> Business Objects: Improving Performance in State & Local Government

Business Objects is a leading provider of business intelligence (BI) software to state and local governments across the United States. BI improves the ability of government agencies to manage budgets, cases, procurement, and human resources, as well as financial and operational performance. For more information about Business Objects business intelligence solutions for the government, please visit: http://www.businessobjects.com/govt/.> About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company. With more than 30,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, Business Objects helps organizations gain better insight into their business, improve decision making, and optimize enterprise performance. The company's business intelligence platform, BusinessObjects(TM) XI, offers the BI industry's most advanced and complete platform for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and data integration. BusinessObjects XI includes Crystal Reports(R), the industry standard for enterprise reporting. Business Objects has also built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, and the company offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.