BURLINGTON, MA, September 8, 2004— Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management (CPM), will host Cognos Performance 2004 - a series of conferences in 26 cities worldwide this fall. Beginning September 9th, the conferences will showcase best practices and practical strategies for businesses to achieve greater organizational success through advanced business performance management techniques.

Attendees will learn how to move from solving problems to advancing performance during the half-day seminars.

In the general session, senior Cognos executives will show attendees how they can advance their business performance to increase planning accuracy and transparency, shorten reporting times and gain greater visibility, corral and go beyond disconnected spreadsheets, and flexibly monitor performance to ensure it's on track across the organization.

World-class customer representatives including AT&T, Canadian Blood Services, CB Richard Ellis, Diageo, Farmacias del Ahorro, Huhtamaki, Kennametal, and PMI Mortgage Insurance will also share their performance management insights, as will Accenture, with whom Cognos has an alliance relationship.

Geoffrey Moore, one of the world's pre-eminent thinkers on technology and business performance, will deliver "Leveraging Market Dynamics into Advance Performance" to audiences in Los Angeles on Oct. 7.

Don Tapscott, one of the world's most influential thinkers, writers, and advisors on business strategy headlines Boston on Sept. 23, Chicago on Oct. 5. and Atlanta on Oct. 21 to share insights on "Naked Performance: How Greater Transparency can Strengthen Your Organization".

Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company that is committed to delivering innovation, will address "Performance Management at High-Performance Businesses" to illustrate how these organizations outperform and differentiate themselves through strong performance management practices.

David Axson, author of the popular "Best Practices in Planning and Management Reporting" will cover "Ideas in Action: From Data to Decisions" , providing attendees with strategies to cope with volatile markets and best practices for planning and decision making.

Lance Secretan, responsible for building Manpower Limited into one of the largest employers worldwide and author of 13 books on business management will speak to European audiences about "Inspiring Higher Performance: Strategies to Engage Emotions and Stir the Soul."

"Cognos Performance 2004 serves as a catalyst for attendees to hear from industry thought leaders and engage in active discussions with their peers on building an advanced business performance strategy," said Rob Ashe, President and CEO, Cognos Inc. "We've built the program with the goal of inspiring and energizing attendees to advance performance through an exchange of viewpoints on successes, challenges, and innovative thinking."

Performance 2004 dates and venues are included below. Further information is available at: www.cognos.com.