Business Objects Delivers Business Intelligence
for Microsoft Enterprise Portal Customers

Business Objects Offers Web Parts for Microsoft Digital Dashboard Platform; Delivers Portal Integration Kit

San Jose, Calif. - May 2, 2001. Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJ), the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions, today announced the availability of the BusinessObjects Microsoft SharePoint Server (SPS) Portal Integration Kit. The kit will provide Web Parts for Microsoft digital dashboard users to allow them to use business intelligence (BI) capabilities within their enterprise portal applications.

Business Objects integrated BusinessObjects InfoView™, a business intelligence portal, with Microsoft's SharePoint Portal Server 2001, the first Microsoft product to be based on the digital dashboard framework. The integration, via Web Parts, will enable end-users to access, analyze, and share critical business data spanning an intranet and extranet. Web Parts are reusable components that contain any kind of web-based information and are what make up Microsoft's digital dashboard.

"We are pleased with the level of integration Business Objects has delivered to our SharePoint Portal Server customers through the availability of its business intelligence Web Parts," said Jeff Teper, general manager of the SharePoint Portal Server business unit. "We have a shared vision with Business Objects to provide enterprise-ready technologies, products, and services that let companies respond to change quickly, making responsiveness a competitive advantage."

"We are pleased with Microsoft's growing emphasis on enterprise information portal development and look forward to providing our joint customers with the optimal business intelligence technologies," said Mark Tice, group vice president of global alliances for Business Objects. "Our business intelligence Web Parts for Microsoft's portal technologies shows our Open Portal Initiative at work. Our joint customers will be able to deploy BI content and functionality within the robust Microsoft enterprise portal."

The business intelligence Web Parts for Microsoft digital dashboard and SharePoint Portal Server will enable users to receive fast data access to queries and reports within one common user interface and have personalized access to secure and relevant business information. Additionally users will be able to analyze the information, for example by drilling down in more detailed data, as well as easily collaborate with colleagues, partners, and customers.

Business Objects Business Intelligence Web Parts
Business Objects has delivered six Web Parts to enable companies to conduct queries and share business data in a secure, focused, and personalized view to business users. The Web Parts are available in the BusinessObjects Microsoft SPS Portal Integration Kit and can be accessed by end users through Microsoft Internet Explorer or Microsoft Outlook. The BusinessObjects Microsoft SPS Portal Integration Kit is included in the BusinessObjects Developer Suite. The portal integration kit can be accessed via the Business Objects web site http://www.businessobjects.com/ddrk/.

The Business Objects Web Parts include:
* Inbox Document List - Provides a list of all of the documents that have been sent by co-workers or broadcasted to individuals and user groups using BusinessObjects Broadcast Agent™, the integrated enterprise report and broadcast server. To provide easy and timely access to documents, users can filter by category and/or perform a simple or advanced search, from within this Web Part.
* Corporate Document List - Provides a list of all of the documents that have been published to the Business Objects repository, and displays the documents to which the user have access. To provide easy and timely access to documents, users can filter by category and/or perform a simple or advanced search, from within this Web Part.
* Personal Document List - Provides a list of all of the documents that have been saved as a personal document within the Business Objects repository. To provide easy and timely access to documents, users can filter by category and/or perform a simple or advanced search, from within this Web Part.
* View Document - Allows user to view the contents of documents selected from the Corporate, Inbox, or Personal Documents Lists.
* Search - Provides the ability to perform a simple or an advanced search. The advanced search provides the ability to search on the document name, author, keywords, and between a date range. The results of the search are then listed in this Web Part.
* MyFavorite Document - Provides ability to select a document to be permanently displayed when this Web Part is chosen. This web part can be automatically refreshed providing a real time view of critical business information, for example your key performance indicators.

Microsoft Digital Dashboard Resource Kit 3.0
Business Objects Web Parts can be viewed from the Microsoft's Digital Dashboard Resource Kit (DDRK) 3.0, a free developer toolkit available today to enable companies to easily extend SharePoint Portal Server 2001 and SQL Server 2000 digital dashboards. The DDRK contains over 100 Web Parts for use in bringing enterprise content to the portal. The DDRK and Web Part Gallery can be accessed via the Microsoft web site (http://www.microsoft.com/digitaldashboard).

About Business Objects Open Portal Initiative
Business Objects created the Business Objects Open Portal Initiative (OPI) to provide organizations maximum flexibility in deploying portal solutions throughout their enterprises. As the first part of the company's portal strategy, Business Objects provides Infoview that collects and consolidates a company's business intelligence information and presents it in a secure, focused, and personalized view to business users. In addition, Business Objects partners with leading Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) vendors, enabling the rich feature set of Business Objects products to be directly and seamlessly integrated into EIP solutions provided by partners and offering customers a wide array of vendors to choose from as they construct their complete end-to-end portal solution.