BURLINGTON, Mass., June 19, 2000—Foster Parents Plan of Canada, a leading child-focused international development organization and a member of Plan International (PLAN), has received the award of Public Sector Excellence from the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA). PLAN won the award for their implementation of a business intelligence solution from Cognos^® (Nasdaq:COGN; TSE:CSN), the world’s largest and most successful business intelligence company. The non-profit organization, which helps children and families in developing countries build better lives, was the only winner from North America selected for this award.

"PLAN is honored and excited to accept this prestigious award from WITSA," said Carol Wilding, National Director, Foster Parents Plan of Canada. "As a non-profit organization, we are constantly challenged to make maximum impact on minimum budget. Cognos’ technology is helping us to better track sponsors, more effectively target campaigns and streamline processes. We can now make better, more informed business decisions, and can therefore allocate our funds to their full potential."

Foster Parents Plan was awarded the honor for implementing an outstanding enterprise business intelligence solution that provides reporting and OLAP (online analytical processing) capabilities to employees within its Canadian headquarters. The basis of Foster Parents Plan’s solution is a series of data marts built to deliver sponsor, communication, retention, foster child, and financial data. A data mart is a repository of data gathered from other sources that is designed for use by a specific community of users. Today, Cognos business intelligence enables users across the enterprise to access that data quickly and easily, giving managers a more complete picture of the organization. Financial managers at Foster Parents Plan can get answers to questions such as, "Where do donations come from?" and "What is the breakdown of contributions by source?" Marketing managers also access that information to better target their efforts.

Since the Cognos solution was first deployed, users have seen a significant increase in the level of readily available information. Employees no longer need to send all of their reporting requests to IT and wait days or weeks for responses from the transactional system. The enterprise business intelligence solution allows each department to find and analyze their own information.

"Foster Parents Plan is a great example of how non-profit organizations can use Cognos business intelligence to improve operational efficiency while making a major impact on our global society," said Ron Zambonini Cognos president and chief executive officer. "Foster Parents Plan proves that the value of business intelligence is not restricted only to large, private sector corporations. It is heartening to see the work we are doing at Cognos contribute to an organization that is bettering the lives of millions of children and their families around the world."

"Foster Parents Plan’s award submission underwent a thorough examination by experts spanning the entire 41-country WITSA industry network," said Harris N. Miller, President of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). "The Award gives credit to Foster Parents Plan’s efficient deployment of technology solutions, which has greatly enhanced its operations."

The award was presented in a ceremony during the World Congress on Information Technology held June 13 in Taipei.

WITSA
WITSA consists of the national information industry representative bodies from around the world. Its role is to develop public policy positions on issues of concern to the information industry and present these positions to governments and international organizations.

PLAN International
Founded during the Spanish Civil War in 1937, PLAN International (www.fosterparentsplan.ca) is one of the largest child-focused development organizations. PLAN International strives to make a lasting difference in the lives of children, families and communities in more than 40 developing countries. Through community development programs such as skills training, literacy centers, health clinics and well and bridge construction, more than 11 million people worldwide benefit from PLAN’s work. PLAN has no political or religious affiliations.