Business Objects Helps Improve Efficiency for University of Illinois

Leading University Enhances Data Integrity and Provides Access to Timely, Reliable Information

DALLAS – EDUCAUSE 2006 – Oct. 10, 2006 – Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ; Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 - BOB), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, has been helping the University of Illinois manage itself better through accessible, reliable, and timely information. Seeking improved administrative efficiency, the university deployed solutions from Business Objects four years ago. The result is richer information about registration, financial aid, grades, grants, purchases, staff compensation, and more.

The University of Illinois, with 70,000 students on three campuses, is one of the largest research universities in the United States. Business Objects lets university staff immediately access standard reports that track student enrollment, operational budget status, and payroll. More than 1,000 users create custom queries and reports for a variety of tasks, such as tracking student recruitment, retention, financial status, and performance. In the four years since Business Objects solutions have been deployed, university users have grown to about 1,600 from 300. This five-fold increase reflects a combination of the tool's ease-of-use and the active training and education provided by the university's own Decision Support group.

"Business Objects serves the information needs of our diverse university population, which includes data analysts, institutional researchers producing campus-level statistics and front-line staff working directly with students and faculty," said Andrea Ballinger, director of data warehousing in the University of Illinois decision support department. "As we look to expand our Business Objects deployment, we will transition to more sophisticated analytics and dashboard capabilities, which will increase our effectiveness and performance in many areas including business process, quicker decision making, and ability to do more predictive analysis."

Before using Business Objects, the university relied on hundreds of reports from disconnected legacy systems. Without a single source of integrated data, administrators often created similar reports that generated inconsistent results. Reconciling these reports wasted valuable time. When the university upgraded its operational systems to SunGard Higher Education's Banner® ERP, the business intelligence team built an enterprise data warehouse that was the basis of their BI environment. The university deployed Business Objects solutions on top of the data warehouse, which provided a gateway for less-technical users with immediate access to standard reports and easy-to-use, web-based analysis and query capabilities. Business Objects is also used for the creation of a large number of standard reports.

"Business Objects provides universities with the ability to respond to both tighter budgets and increasing public scrutiny regarding financial operations, student performance, and admissions processes," said Jay Johnson, vice president of government at Business Objects. "With Business Objects, universities have given administrators, faculty, and staff immediate access to the trusted information they need to improve efficiency, gain visibility into finances and operational processes, improve student retention, and enrich academic programs."

About University of Illinois
The University of Illinois ranks among the preeminent public universities of the nation and works hard to enhance its quality in teaching, research, public service and economic development. It enrolls about 70,000 students on campuses in Chicago, Springfield and Urbana-Champaign in hundreds of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs taught by an internationally respected faculty. For more information, visit www.uillinois.edu.

Business Objects: Improving Performance in Higher Education
Business Objects is the leading provider of business intelligence solutions to colleges and universities. Hundreds of higher education organizations worldwide use business intelligence, enterprise information management, and enterprise performance management solutions from Business Objects. Business Objects provides a simplified, powerful way to manage student, alumni, academic, grant, and financial data.

About Business Objects, an SAP company

Business Objects has been a pioneer in business intelligence (BI) since the dawn of the category. Today, as the world's leading BI software company, Business Objects transforms the way the world works through intelligent information. The company helps illuminate understanding and decision-making at more than 46,000 organizations around the globe. Through a combination of innovative technology, global consulting and education services, and the industry's strongest and most diverse partner network, Business Objects enables companies of all sizes to make transformative business decisions based on intelligent, accurate, and timely information.

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.

Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects and Crystal Reports are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects in the United States and/or other countries. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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The Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Intelligent Question, and Xcelsius are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects in the United States and/or other countries. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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