BusinessObjects Edge Planning Features

Ad Hoc Reporting, Query, and Analysis for Business Professionals
With BusinessObjects Edge Standard, your decision makers benefit from flexible ad hoc reporting, query, and analysis via the web-without relying on IT. Through an intuitive web interface, any business professional can access company data (presented in business-friendly terms), analyze it using simple point and click, and format it to meet personalized requirements. Users have complete flexibility in how they access, format, and interact with their data. "Gut-feel" decisions are replaced by accurate, data-driven decisions!

"Live" Data Access within Microsoft Office for Business Analysts
Incorporating data into presentations, spreadsheets, and documents is often a time-consuming task-especially when you need updates. With BusinessObjects Edge Standard, users can conveniently access and use "live" company data directly in familiar tools like Microsoft Office and SharePoint. Because the data is "live", it can be instantly updated while retaining all formatting and calculations in the Office document. Plus, the information is secured to ensure colleagues can only view and access the data they have the rights to access.

Interactive Dashboard Viewing for Executives and Managers
For executives and managers, BusinessObjects Edge Standard lets you deliver personalized business dashboards and visualizations built using Crystal Xcelsius, an award-winning dashboard design tool. With simple point-and-click, users can interact with visual sliders and gauges to easily identify new opportunities and challenges. Plus, "what if" analysis lets managers proactively understand the impact of their decisions before they are made.

Flexible Deployment that Leverages Your Current Investments
BusinessObjects Edge Standard is designed for flexible deployment on a single Linux or Windows server. Its open architecture lets you leverage the data sources, business applications, and platforms you have already invested in. If your development platform of choice is Java, for example, our solution includes a software development kit (SDK) that allows you to customize your system to meet your specific needs. Or, if your corporate portal is built using SharePoint, you can easily integrate business intelligence (BI) from Business Objects and let business users view interactive BI content within a single environment. Regardless of which applications you use today for customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), financial planning, and other operations, BusinessObjects Edge Series gives you the flexibility to leverage and extend these investments.

Secure, Easy-to-Understand Data for Rapid Decisions
Information is useless unless you can access and understand it. With BusinessObjects Edge Series, business users don't have to spend time trying to understand the complexities of their data environment. They can benefit from the robust data abstraction which presents data in standardized business terms that are easy to understand and trust. End users are empowered with self-service reporting and analysis based on relevant, easy-to-understand information.

Rapid Deployment Options for Faster Time-to-Value
BusinessObjects Edge Standard is designed for rapid deployment so you can quickly start realizing the benefits of business intelligence. Its affordable "all in one" package gives you everything you need to get started with your BI needs-from software licenses to technical support to software updates and maintenance services. Choose from a variety of QuickStart Packs for access to a tailored collection of templates and data connections that help you quickly apply BI to your existing line of business applications or industry needs. Built by Business Objects and our experienced BI partners, our QuickStart Packs will help you get up and running with relevant BI in no time!

Planning for Mid-Sized Companies

Many mid-sized organizations view budgeting as a necessary evil. Time-consuming, costly, multilayered, and complex, the budgeting process is prone to errors and often disconnected from corporate strategy. However, when executed correctly, budgeting is a critical step in planning and controlling day-to-day operations.

Designed for mid-sized organizations, BusinessObjects Edge Planning provides a low cost, easy to use, and quick implementation for growing companies to adopt more sophisticated budgeting and planning tools. BusinessObjects Edge Planning reduces planning cycle time, increases reporting accuracy, and improves transparency across your organization. The solution is easily accessible through online and offline options, letting you foster bottom-up and top-down collaboration, ensure organizational buy-in, and drive accountability.

Powerful Access to Live Data

BusinessObjects Edge Planning gives you the power and flexibility you need to make confident business decisions-decisions based on the most up-to-date and accurate data available from every corner of your business. You can easily share this information with thousands of employees across your company. Embedded reporting allows real-time views of your plan or forecast, and you can deliver reports over the web, in PDF, or live within Microsoft Excel.

Unlike static, unmanaged spreadsheets, the data that BusinessObjects Edge Planning presents is always managed, current, and secure. Your key decision-makers easily monitor areas of importance and see at a glance which ones are performing as planned and which ones require attention. With the ability to drill down into the details of your data, you gain a better understanding of underlying business issues and root causes of any given result.

A Tailored Solution

BusinessObjects Edge Planning provides the foundation for a complete set of tailored planning applications, supporting specialized process, reporting, and industry requirements. Especially relevant to mid-sized organizations, these prebuilt packages reduce implementation cost and time by offering integrated and customized planning based on best practices.

Additional applications from Business Objects include:

• Industry solutions tailored for healthcare, banking, insurance, retail, hospitality, and leisure
• Strategic planning
• Payroll planning
• Capital planning
• Forecasting
• Consolidations
• Productivity management
• Scorecarding
• Sales planning