Michigan Department of Human Services Wins Award From National Association of State Chief Information Officers

Business Wire, Dec 15, 2006

Business Objects Customer Honored for Use of Business Intelligence to Reduce Fraud and Maximize Resources

SAN JOSE, Calif. & PARIS -- The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has selected Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ) customer, Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS), as a winner of their 2006 Recognition Awards. Michigan DHS won in the "Information Communications Technology (ICT) Innovations" category for its fraud detection capabilities, which have saved Michigan taxpayers millions of dollars while ensuring that services are delivered only to qualified, needy state citizens. Business intelligence solutions from Business Objects are the foundation of this program.

"To deliver top-notch health services in a tightly-controlled fiscal environment, we must maximize each dollar spent and identify areas where we can save," said George Noonan, manager of the central data unit at Michigan DHS. "Business Objects has helped the Michigan DHS establish a national model for pin-pointing and battling service fraud. For example, during 2005, Business Objects helped us identify more than $9.2 million in documented day care program fraud to be recovered, almost tripling the amount of savings realized in 2004."

NASCIO honored 12 state IT initiatives in 10 categories with the 2006 Recognition Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology in State Government. In its 18th consecutive year, the NASCIO's Recognition Awards Program reflects the wide range of IT projects currently under development within state governments. Emphasis was placed on recognizing programs that exemplify best practices, support the public policy goals of state leaders, assist government officials to execute their duties, and provide cost-effective services to citizens.

Michigan DHS manages approximately $4 billion in funds for many of Michigan's critical welfare programs. More than 1.2 million Michigan residents depend on these programs, including child day care, food assistance, and the federal TANF grant, for everyday necessities. In an effort to maximize program budget allocations, the Michigan DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), in partnership with the Department of Information Technology, implemented cutting-edge fraud detection methods by using enterprise information management (EIM) and business intelligence solutions from Business Objects.

To combat fraud, DHS links provider and recipient data with wage and national food assistance data. In fiscal year 2005, the efforts identified more than $9.2 million in documented day care fraud to be recovered. This was up from $3.3 million in 2004, the first year of the data match. In addition, DHS identified Food Assistance savings of $3.2 million.

"Business Objects understands that public agencies need to be constantly vigilant against fraud," said Jay Johnson, vice president of Government at Business Objects. "That's why we work closely with our customers to develop business intelligence strategies that help monitor resource usage in welfare programs. In the end, everyone benefits - the state agencies, the tax payers and, most importantly, the people who rely every day on health and human services."

For more information on Business Objects solutions for federal, state, and local governments, please visit http://www.businessobjects.com/government. For additional details on the NASCIO Recognition Awards, please visit http://www.nascio.org/awards/.> About Michigan Department of Human Services

The Michigan Department of Human Services administers the federal TANF grant and Food Assistance Program and is the state's child and family services welfare department. The Office of Inspector General in Michigan's DHS is a national leader in using decision support and analytics to combat fraud in the day care, cash and food assistance arena. For more information on the Department of Human Services go to www.michigan.gov/dhs.> About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company, with more than 39,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500. Business Objects helps organizations of all sizes create a trusted foundation for decision making, gain better insight into their business, and optimize performance. The company's innovative business intelligence suite, BusinessObjects[TM] XI, offers the BI industry's most advanced and complete solution for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and enterprise information management. BusinessObjects XI includes the award-winning Crystal line of reporting and data visualization software. Business Objects has also built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, and offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.

Business Objects has dual headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Paris, France. The company's stock is traded on both the NASDAQ (BOBJ) and Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0004026250 - BOB) stock exchanges. More information about Business Objects can be found at www.businessobjects.com.