Cognos teams with BII, PMSI to launch new book on proven performance management practices

~ The Performance Manager provides decision-makers with proven strategies to sharply focus on key ‘sweet spots’ in functional areas and make better decisions about issues that truly drive business performance ~

LONDON, England – January 24, 2007 – Cognos, a provider of business intelligence and performance management solutions, has partnered with BI International and PMSI Consulting to write and produce ‘The Performance Manager: Proven Strategies for Turning Information into Higher Business Performance’.

The new business book is based on the concept of information ‘sweet spots’. It is based on an aggregate view of best practices taken from the most thoughtfully designed and successfully deployed performance management initiatives worldwide.

‘The Performance Manager’ builds on, and extends, the foundation initiated ten years ago when Cognos commissioned and supported the authoring of ‘The Multidimensional Manager - 24 Ways to Impact Your Bottom Line in 90 Days’ and ‘The Multidimensional Organization: How to Deliver the 24 Ways’. Demand led to the printing of more than 400,000 copies and these books remain in use by organisations worldwide today. ‘The Performance Manager’ has extended the reporting and analysis focus of the first book to include enterprise planning, and measuring and monitoring (scorecarding) for each 'sweet spot’.

The body of work is in keeping with the spirit of the Cognos Innovation Center for Performance Management, which joins customers with industry visionaries to advance their understanding of proven performance management best practices and enabling technologies. The content delivers a framework for companies to help leapfrog the ‘gaps’ between first implementation, proven practices and strategic deployment of business intelligence and performance management solutions, on an enterprise scale.

“The authors have done the ‘heavy lifting’ for executives looking to improve their business performance,” said Craig Schiff, President and CEO of BPM Partners. “Organisations will be able to use the ‘Performance Manager’ framework as a head start for aligning departmental initiatives with their overall corporate performance management strategy. This type of alignment is at the core of performance management success.”

Functional and cross functional book chapters cover Finance, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Product Development, Operations, Human Resources, Information Technology and Executive Management. The narrative of each chapter reviews the major challenges and business issues for each function, provides a business solution overview and details specific issues and solutions (decision areas). Templates are also included to illustrate what information is required, and how each function, and which role within each function, needs to see it.

“Ten years ago the focus of business intelligence was better ad-hoc reporting. Today, the pace of change and volume of available information is unprecedented. Key stakeholders are demanding complete performance management systems to help them understand and make real-time decisions about how they are doing, why, and what they should be doing in the future,” said Les Rechan, Chief Operating Officer, Cognos. “The Performance Manager’ sifts through the information clutter to synthesise thousands of best practice performance management initiatives and bring readers to the key decision areas that truly impact performance and help produce sustainable competitive advantage.”

The new book is an extension of Cognos' line of business books which include The Multidimensional Manager - 24 Ways to Impact Your Bottom Line in 90 Days, The Multidimensional Organization: How to Deliver the 24 Ways, and Smooth Sailing on Rough Seas: 8 Principles of High Performance Business. These books detail how organizations have gained competitive advantage and enhanced profitability using performance management solutions.

About the Authors and Availability:
‘The Performance Manager’ is now available for order direct from Cognos. It was authored by Roland P. Mosimann, Chief Executive Officer, BI International; Patrick Mosimann, Founding and Joint Managing Director, PMSI Consulting; and Meg Dussault, Director of Analyst Relations and Corporate Positioning, Cognos.

To order a copy, view a book abstract or read the full author bios, please visit: http://www.cognos.com/pmbook.

About Business Intelligence International:
BI International is a global expert in providing the frameworks, structures, and analytics that allow businesses to properly manage risk and performance.

Since 1995, with The Multidimensional Manager and subsequent DecisionSpeed framework, BI International has pioneered core principles for aligning information needs with roles, decision-making processes, and cascaded goals to drive performance. In 2004, BI International also launched its Aline Platform for on-demand Governance, Risk, and Compliance. These Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions seek to ‘right size’ Fortune 1000 capabilities so they become affordable for small and medium sized companies.

For more than 10 years, BI International has led the development of key business intelligence solutions for companies both large and small across the Financial Services, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, and other industries. Beyond its direct customers, BI International has influenced thousands of companies worldwide through its thought leadership, frameworks, workshops, and design tools. For more information, visit the BI International Web site at www.aline4value.com.

About PMSI:
PMSI provides practical and commercial solutions to drive performance with data-driven decision-making using a combination of business consulting skills, data integration, and analytical capability. The design of a successful performance management solution requires the expert understanding of the business decisions and drivers across various responsibilities and functions.

PMSI acts as a bridge between the insights needed within a business and the potential IT capability and delivery. The focus is to fully leverage the innovative use of technology and create highly repeatable, business-led solutions while reducing cost of delivery.

PMSI’s experience ranges across industry sectors and markets; this cumulative business knowledge and flexibility of solution and approach is of particular value to its clients. For more information, visit the PMSI Web site at www.pmsi-consulting.com.

About Cognos, an IBM Company
Cognos, an IBM company, is the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions.

It provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance.
Cognos was acquired by IBM in January 2008.

For more information, visit http://www.ibm.com/software/data/ and http://www.cognos.com/uk/

For further information about Cognos, please contact:
Katy Lyons or Farimah Saadat at LEWIS, the PR agency

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7802 2626
Fax: +44 (0)20 7802 2627
www.lewispr.com

For sales enquiries call:
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 486 668
www.cognos.com/uk

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Cognos is a world leader in business intelligence, performance management, data integration, enterprise risk management, olap reporting, analytics software, Oracle business intelligence, and balanced scorecarding for the enterprise.