The College of New Jersey Standardizes on BusinessObjects XI; College Will Rely on Business Objects for Reporting and Analysis Capabilities and Improved Data Integrity

Business Wire, March 13, 2006

SAN JOSE, Calif. & PARIS -- Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ)(Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 - BOB), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that The College of New Jersey has selected BusinessObjects(TM) XI as its BI standard. The College of New Jersey is currently implementing a Student Administration System that will include all student data related to admission, student records, academic advising, student accounts, and financial aid. BusinessObjects XI, the industry's most advanced and complete BI platform, will be fully integrated with The College's PeopleSoft Student Administration System and will provide academic and administrative staff an easy way to access and analyze student information. The College also selected BusinessObjects Data Integrator XI, the industry's most productive and scalable enterprise data integration solution, to improve data integrity and enable better decision-making across the organization.

"As a smaller organization, it is important for us to standardize on one business intelligence platform and Business Objects provides us with a scalable solution that can grow with our evolving BI strategy," said Dawn Willan, assistant chief information officer at The College of New Jersey. "Some of our staff are very technical and have been onboard with our plan to make BI an integral part of the Student Administration System. We are excited about deploying Business Objects because we expect it will decentralize some of our reporting and allow our academic and administrative staff to be more productive. With a consistent version of the data, our staff will be able to make better-informed decisions and better serve our students."

The Student Administration System is based on PeopleSoft technology and will track student data across all seven schools within The College of New Jersey. Business Objects reporting and analytic capabilities will be integrated with the PeopleSoft system so that administrators report on and identify trends from student data. For example, improved access to enrollment information will enable administrators to better manage course scheduling.

During the selection process, BusinessObjects XI stood out against competitors for its simplified user interface and metadata configuration and maintenance. Unlike other BI solutions, BusinessObjects XI presented a more intuitive interface for power users. Also, as the College developed their BI strategy they identified a need for an Extract Transform and Load solution. Because Data Integrator is fully integrated with the BusinessObjects XI platform, The College of New Jersey chose Business Objects as its BI standard. The College also purchased Crystal Reports(R) XI and BusinessObjects Web Intelligence(TM).

Data Integrator XI will enable The College to consolidate data from across the Student Administration System and provide trustworthy data to administrators and academics. Previously, reporting solutions at The College were cumbersome and staff were building "shadow systems" in Excel and Access. But the data in these "shadow systems" became outdated quickly and sometimes led to conflicting reports. The College of New Jersey expects that Data Integrator, along with Web Intelligence and Crystal Reports, will ensure administrators work from one, trustworthy version of student data and decision-making capabilities will improve.

"Many colleges and universities have invested heavily in ERP deployments but critical data remains locked in those systems," said Jay Johnson, vice president of the Government Business Unit at Business Objects. "That's where Business Objects comes in -- the BusinessObjects XI platform integrates with all major ERP systems and allows universities to use that data to improve performance. Higher education budgets are continually pinched and Business Objects enables these organizations to optimize their technology investments."

Corporate Technologies, a leading systems integrator, will partner with Business Objects to provide guidance for The College's business intelligence and data integration strategy.

"Corporate Technologies is excited to work with Business Objects, a company that shares our commitment to developing solutions that help state and local organizations improve efficiency," said Harry Kasparian, President of Corporate Technologies. "The College of New Jersey is a great example of how our partnership with Business Objects helps our joint customers to continually evolve their IT architecture to address new challenges, while adding value to prior IT investments. We recognize that state and local organizations face the same issues as businesses: bringing together isolated data silos, ensuring data accuracy, and gaining better insight into their organization. Working with the leader in business intelligence allows us to develop creative solutions that pinpoint our public customers' pain points, and move them to the next level of performance."

About The College of New Jersey