Business Objects Launches Expanded Performance Management Solutions for the CFO; New Integrated Applications on BusinessObjects XI Help Organizations Align for Higher Performance

Business Wire, Sept 12, 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, has announced the release of its integrated planning, budgeting, forecasting, and consolidation solutions on the BusinessObjects(TM) XI platform. These new integrated enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions enable finance organizations to create a process for continuous improvement, provide employees with information they can trust, and align corporate resources with overall business strategy.

With this launch, Business Objects has executed on the vision it initiated in 2005 with the acquisition of SRC Software -- providing a comprehensive set of performance management capabilities on the BI industry's most advanced and trusted business intelligence platform. Business Objects now offers more than 30 targeted applications designed for specific industries and financial functions. In addition to strategic and financial planning and operational budgeting, the solutions also cover metrics management and scorecarding, data visualization, and analytic applications to provide a broad set of performance management solutions for finance managers in industry and government organizations around the world.

"With today's announcement, we are building on our outstanding EPM momentum and our 70% year over year growth in EPM license revenue during the first half of 2006," said Mark Doll, senior vice president of global services and general manager of EPM at Business Objects. "This announcement underscores the focus and determination we have for delivering a world-class EPM solution for CFOs and finance organizations around the world. Our innovative product plans and continued investment in the development of comprehensive EPM products and services offerings position Business Objects well to serve this fast growing market and help organizations achieve higher performance."

Business Objects Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting Integrated with BusinessObjects XI

As part of today's announcement, Business Objects now delivers its entire suite of planning, budgeting, and forecasting applications on the BusinessObjects XI platform. For end users, this provides seamless integration of financial and operational information delivered through any Business Objects BI application. For IT organizations, the ability to take advantage of enhanced installation and security administration, and Business Objects Universe access, provides a lower cost of ownership and system maintenance costs.

Organizations can now easily combine data from plans, budgets, forecasts, and other applications with reporting, dashboards, scorecards, and data visualization technology that are part of the industry-leading BusinessObjects XI platform. Future applications and innovations will also take advantage of the power of the Business Objects XI platform and continue to be built with the functional and vertical expertise that have characterized the EPM offerings from the company in the wake of the SRC acquisition.

New applications focused on the needs of the finance department

While planning, budgeting, and consolidation are integral components for the CFO, Business Objects has further expanded its offering with new incentive compensation management applications and an activity based costing solution for the healthcare vertical. Additionally, with the introduction of new operational analytics on supply chain performance, CFOs now have new capabilities to manage costs and reliability across their supply and distribution channels. Key metrics such as product lead time and stock-outs, product quality, and transportation logistics can all be analyzed within the same suite of applications.

Customers Praise Business Objects Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting Applications

Customer feedback regarding the updated functionality has been outstanding. One of the early testers of the software was Meridian Health, a leading provider of heath services encompassing 70 facilities and more than 1,400 physicians in New Jersey. Meridian has deployed Business Objects to several hundred users as the cornerstone of its annual budgeting process.

"Our Business Objects deployment provides the foundation to develop an efficient, end-to-end process for gathering feedback from all of our hospitals and delivering the information they need to make decisions on how to run their operations efficiently," said Steve Esposito, corporate budget manager at Meridian Health. "After testing BusinessObjects Budgeting and Reporting Suite XI, we are excited about several key enhancements, including the new active directory integration. This integration eliminates the need to manually maintain a separate security directory for our planning products -- saving time and increasing security. We are looking forward to deploying the solution for our next budget cycle."

Another early tester was TETRA Technologies, a geographically diversified oil and gas services company. TETRA is already using BusinessObjects Budgeting and Reporting Suite XI to complete its 2007 budget process.