New Analytic Application for Analyzing and Optimizing the Supply Chain from the Supplier's Suppliers Through to the Customer's Customers
San Jose, Calif. - February 6, 2002 -- Business
Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJ), the world's leading provider of business intelligence
(BI) solutions, today announced BusinessObjects Supply Chain Intelligence,
a new analytic application that enables companies to analyze the entire
supply chain from the initial source through to the final destination.
Supply Chain Intelligence helps managers to assess delivery performance,
manage inventory, and reduce costs, leading to the most effective and
cost efficient supply chain, which in turn improves business performance.
BusinessObjects Supply Chain Intelligence is composed of a series of modules
that will provide a complete view of a company's supply chain, including
orders, procurement, production, delivery, and returns. The first two
modules, announced today, are BusinessObjects Source Analytics and BusinessObjects
Deliver Analytics. BusinessObjects Source Analytics enables companies
to analyze their inbound supply chain to manage supplier relationships,
optimize the procurement process, and monitor inventory levels and costs.
BusinessObjects Deliver Analytics is designed to help companies analyze
the outbound supply chain to improve delivery costs, optimize inventory
levels, and deliver on customer demand in the most cost effective way.
Business Objects is a member of the Supply-Chain Council (SCC), an independent,
not-for-profit corporation comprised of companies and organizations interested
in applying and advancing state-of-the-art supply chain management systems
and practices. The council consists of many leading industrial companies,
logistics and distribution companies, and supply-chain application software
companies. SCC has developed the Supply Chain Operations Reference model
(SCOR), a recognized cross-industry standard that is targeted at advancing
the next generation of supply-chain management.
Business Objects has incorporated the Supply Chain Operations Reference
model into BusinessObjects Supply Chain Intelligence. The SCOR methodology
ensures that companies have standard terminology, common metrics, associated
benchmarks and best practices for supply chain management and enables
members to build inter-enterprise integrated supply chains. BusinessObjects
Supply Chain Intelligence is the first enterprise analytic application
to be built on the SCOR methodology.
"The primary objective of the Supply Chain Council is to assist practitioners
in improving their supply chain performance. One way we do this is to
help organizations develop software systems built on best practices that
will lead to better customer-supplier relationships," said Scott
Stephens, chief technology officer, Supply Chain Council. "Our SCOR
model - which has been carefully researched by experts and tested in the
field - was designed to provide a basis for supply chain improvement for
global projects, as well as site-specific projects. We're pleased that
Business Objects has adopted the SCOR model."
BusinessObjects Source Analytics
BusinessObjects Source Analytics enables procurement, warehouse, and supply
chain managers to monitor the inbound supply chain to optimize procurement.
With Source Analytics, managers can monitor the receipt of goods, analyze
inventory levels and stock spending, and measure product quality over
time. Source Analytics helps managers to analyze the sourcing cycle time
and measure procurement costs. Source Analytics also enables managers
to analyze suppliers' performance in relation to each and monitor contract
compliance to ensure the receipt of the most cost efficient, quality supplies.
Source Analytics provides fast analysis of purchase orders, supplier spending,
and delivery histories. For example, when planning for new product production
levels, a supply chain manager can analyze their suppliers' delivery histories
to see which suppliers had the lowest percentage of late deliveries. In
addition, the manager can use Source Analytics to perform contract compliance
analysis to identify which suppliers have the highest product rejection
rate, and analyze the average fill rate to identify suppliers who frequently
ship partial orders. This helps companies avoid late orders and delays
in production, which could translate into a costly delay to market. With
Source Analytics, supply chain managers are able to identify and use the
best suppliers who can guarantee accurate and timely deliveries to meet
production plans. This consolidation leads to an overall reduction in
procurement costs.
BusinessObjects Deliver Analytics
BusinessObjects Deliver Analytics enables transportation, customer order,
and supply chain managers to analyze the outbound supply chain to deliver
on customer demand in the most cost-effective way. Deliver Analytics helps
managers to analyze the cost of lost stock, monitor inventory levels and
deliveries, and measure order fulfillment. With Deliver Analytics managers
can optimize performance by understanding the order-to-deliver cycle time
and cost, and use this analysis to determine potential cost cutting opportunities.
Deliver Analytics also helps users optimize inventory management by providing
an inventory breakdown analysis, which includes inventory deterioration
information such as, end of life and shrinkage.
Deliver Analytics provides greater insight into questions that directly
impact customer satisfaction. For example, a warehouse manager can analyze
order fulfillment and delivery timelines for a specific period, such as
the holiday season, to see if they have complete and timely deliveries.
The manager can analyze the results from the previous season to identify
where additional steps, such as ordering more inventory or leasing more
trucks, might be needed to meet seasonal customer demand. In addition,
managers can perform delivery performance analysis to monitor how they
are meeting their delivery targets over time, for example, seeing if they
have improved their invoice accuracy and lowered the number of free deliveries
that were needed to compensate for damaged or late goods.
"Companies are looking to meet rising customer expectations at a
manageable cost, and to do so must look in depth at the entire supply
chain to identify the weak links and identify areas for improvement,"
said Charles Nicholls, group vice president of the Business Objects analytic
applications division. "BusinessObjects Supply Chain Intelligence,
built using the Supply-Chain Council Supply Chain Operations Reference
Model, gives supply chain managers the keys to reducing supplier costs,
improving the delivery of products, and increasing overall customer satisfaction."
Availability
BusinessObjects Source Analytics 1.0 and BusinessObjects Deliver Analytics
1.0 are generally available on Windows NT and Windows 2000.
CONTACT: Business Objects
Melissa Biel, 408/953-6105
melissa.biel@businessobjects.com
or
Eastwick Communications
Erin McCabe, 650/480-4016
erin@eastwick.com