BURLINGTON, MA, August 07, 2002—When Hunter Douglas, the market leader in quality window coverings and architectural products, needed a complete solution for planning, budgeting, forecasting, and consolidation, it looked to Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI). Hunter Douglas uses Cognos Finance for financial reporting, profitability analysis, budgeting, forecasting, and to perform monthly closes. A process that previously took several weeks has been reduced to just five days using Cognos Finance.

To measure the profitability and success of 17 separate product lines, Hunter Douglas adopted Cognos Finance to accelerate financial processes and better manage corporate performance, a solution that was implemented by Cognos partner Exinom.

Hunter Douglas needed a financial solution that would consolidate data from 24 separate divisions across North America, including corporate headquarters, and deliver a clear and consistent picture of financial health across the company.

"Cognos Finance enables us to track product profitability across all dimensions including gross margins, division, and product, and to gain an accurate picture on financial health across the entire distribution chain," said Art Lorenz, director of planning and analysis, Hunter Douglas Inc. "We are seeing significant time savings using Cognos Finance. For the first time we're able to coordinate budgets, actuals, and prior-year comparisons and run variance analysis across divisions. This level of detail helps us better manage business operations and more accurately predict future performance. And with Exinom's expertise, we could deploy Cognos Finance very quickly, which gave us immediate value from our investment."

Implementing Cognos Finance has also greatly improved the quality of Hunter Douglas' data. "We used to spend hours checking for data inconsistencies but have expedited that process dramatically with Cognos Finance. We're able to focus more efforts on in-depth data analysis and have complete confidence that we are working with accurate data," added Lorenz.

"In an ongoing effort to offer higher value to our customers' solutions, we focus on delivering new tools that synchronize and analyze key activities in their organization, and provide consolidated intelligence about their complex and diverse business activities," said Suresh Nichani, president and CEO of Exinom. "Cognos Finance allows organizations to strip away the complexities of their financial processes, giving them a view of their business metrics much more quickly and effectively than is possible with standard reporting software."

"Cognos Finance empowers customers with an integrated financial environment that addresses their unique requirements and delivers deep insight into what is effectively the heart of the enterprise—the financial data," said Dave Laverty, senior vice president, global marketing, Cognos. "Organizations are putting a premium on rapid access to their financial performance. With accelerated access to accurate financial data, organizations can better respond to market conditions and more accurately predict corporate performance."

About Hunter Douglas:
Hunter Douglas Window Fashions is part of the Hunter Douglas Group, the world leader in window coverings and a major manufacturer of architectural products. Current press releases, and financial and investment information can be found in the Investor Relations section of the Hunter Douglas Group Web site

About Exinom:
Exinom Technologies Inc. is a 'Systems Integrator' specializing in providing mission critical solutions to the Global 2000 market place and has implemented Business Critical Information Technology Solutions for Fortune 1000 companies. Exinom was founded in 1995 and has grown over 3000% in its 7 year history. It is a leader in delivering end-to-end Business Planning and Forecasting and Business Intelligence solutions. Exinom's financial and analytical expertise helps clients harness financial data to make more informed business decisions. Exinom was recently ranked #61 on the 2001 Inc. 500 list of America's fastest-growing privately held companies.