Actuate Reporting Instrumental in Franklin Institute's Soaring Attendance Records.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTU), the leader in Business Intelligence, Performance Management and Reporting Applications, today announced its Enterprise Reporting software has been instrumental in restructuring the way The Franklin Institute (TFI), Philadelphia's well known non-profit science museum, does business. With over one million visitors through its doors in 2006 - and with attendance expected to increase by fifty percent due to hotly anticipated exhibits such as Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, TFI with Actuate in place can now efficiently and immediately measure attendance and adjust its operations accordingly.

Eighteen months ago TFI could not predict the number of expected daily visitors with accuracy, which led to staffing, crowd management and food service issues. Weekly and daily attendance reports took days to produce, and were out of date by the time they were processed. This, in turn, affected the marketing team's ability to respond and act quickly with a plan to attract visitors.

Prior to TFI selecting Actuate, reports were being run manually. The process in place utilized Crystal Reports integrated with the VISTA (point of sale) ticketing system. According to TFI, the legacy reporting software was difficult to manage and required lengthy and tedious inputting. The potential of Actuate to provide insight into attendance levels, measuring marketing initiatives and in adjusting museum operations was clear. In the fall of 2005, TFI implemented Actuate to improve forecasting capabilities, provide object-oriented design, allow for flexible development and deliver proven security features to provide remote access to data.

"Actuate has changed the entire way that The Franklin Institute approaches the sales function by allowing us to forecast attendance and revenue," said Karen Corbin, vice president of Marketing and Visitor Relations for The Franklin Institute. "Our business can now operate in a more flexible and dynamic manner in order to be as efficient as possible. Our marketing department can execute programs targeted at the forecasted low attendance days and our operations team can control costs by adjusting staffing levels to match projected attendance levels."

The Franklin Institute's management team now receives clear and specific data about its visitors, including the number of school groups, individual sales, TFI members and discounted tickets. Actuate reports show shortfalls or increases in these segments compared to historical data, enabling the marketing team to adjust programs accordingly.

For example, Actuate's Enterprise Reporting Application Platform helped improve The Franklin Institute's profitability during Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibition. Because of Actuate reports, the Institute's executive team was able to recognize that almost 20% of visitors were attending the show after 5:00pm, when the team originally forecasted that 12% of visitors would attend after 5:00pm. By recognizing this increase in after-hour visitors, the Institute was able to increase its evening hours, increase staff and produce marketing campaigns specifically targeted toward attracting evening attendance. Over a six month period, 30% of the exhibits' revenue was derived from evening ticket sales. Overall, Body Worlds had higher attendance and was more profitable than any previous traveling exhibition at the Institute, and TFI surpassed its goal of 600,000 visitors for the exhibition's run.

The Franklin Institute's senior staff uses the 'revenue versus budget' Actuate report to measure performance against goals. Executives are now able to access dashboard reports that compare weekly or daily attendance against budgeted levels. Also, a 'visual thermometer' report was created to track the total number of visitors versus the goal for blockbuster exhibits. This report helps highlight any shortfall in visitor attendance in time for marketing to create promotions to drive the appropriate amount of traffic.

On February 3, the blockbuster exhibit Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs opened at The Franklin Institute. Actuate reports will enhance and expand the exhibition's potential in terms of planning, forecasting and development. By combining information from disparate systems into a single view of ticketing and attendance information, The Franklin Institute will maximize the number of visitors able to view an exhibit. This information in turn can be immediately analyzed for planning purposes.

"The Franklin Institute is a prime example of how presenting a unified view of disparate information in a secure, easy-to-use fashion can dramatically improve corporate performance," said Pete Cittadini, CEO and president of Actuate. "We are proud to be the technology behind such a world-class example of marketing effectiveness and operational efficiency."

About The Franklin Institute

Founded in honor of America's first scientist, Benjamin Franklin, The Franklin Institute is a renowned and innovative leader in science and technology learning, as well as a dynamic center of activity. It is dedicated to public education and creating a passion for science by offering new and exciting access to science and technology in ways that would dazzle and delight its namesake. For more information please visit www.fi.edu.

About Actuate Corporation

Actuate Corporation, the leader in Business Intelligence, Performance Management and Reporting Applications, enables organizations to develop solutions that optimize corporate performance. Applications built on Actuate's open source-based platform provide all stakeholders inside and outside the firewall, including employees, customers, partners and citizens with information that they can easily access and understand to maximize revenue, cut costs, improve customer satisfaction, streamline operations, create competitive advantage and make better decisions.

Actuate has over 4,000 customers globally in a diverse range of business areas including financial services and the public sector. Founded in 1993, Actuate has headquarters in South San Francisco, California, with offices worldwide. Actuate is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol ACTU. For more information on Actuate, visit the company's web site at www.actuate.com.

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