Business Objects Delivers Business Intelligence For Microsoft Enterprise Portal Customers.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2001

Business Objects Offers Web Parts for Microsoft Digital

Dashboard Platform; Delivers Portal Integration Kit

Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ), the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions, today announced the availability of the BusinessObjects Microsoft SharePoint Server (SPS) Portal Integration Kit. The kit will provide Web Parts for Microsoft digital dashboard users to allow them to use business intelligence (BI) capabilities within their enterprise portal applications.

Business Objects integrated BusinessObjects InfoView(TM), a business intelligence portal, with Microsoft's SharePoint Portal Server 2001, the first Microsoft product to be based on the digital dashboard framework. The integration, via Web Parts, will enable end-users to access, analyze, and share critical business data spanning an intranet and extranet. Web Parts are reusable components that contain any kind of web-based information and are what make up Microsoft's digital dashboard.

"We are pleased with the level of integration Business Objects has delivered to our SharePoint Portal Server customers through the availability of its business intelligence Web Parts," said Jeff Teper, general manager of the SharePoint Portal Server business unit. "We have a shared vision with Business Objects to provide enterprise-ready technologies, products, and services that let companies respond to change quickly, making responsiveness a competitive advantage."

"We are pleased with Microsoft's growing emphasis on enterprise information portal development and look forward to providing our joint customers with the optimal business intelligence technologies," said Mark Tice, group vice president of Global Alliances for Business Objects. "Our business intelligence Web Parts for Microsoft's portal technologies shows our Open Portal Initiative at work. Our joint customers will be able to deploy BI content and functionality within the robust Microsoft enterprise portal."

The business intelligence Web Parts for Microsoft digital dashboard and SharePoint Portal Server will enable users to receive fast data access to queries and reports within one common user interface and have personalized access to secure and relevant business information. Additionally users will be able to analyze the information, for example by drilling down in more detailed data, as well as easily collaborate with colleagues, partners, and customers.

Business Objects Business Intelligence Web Parts

Business Objects has delivered six Web Parts to enable companies to conduct queries and share business data in a secure, focused, and personalized view to business users. The Web Parts are available in the BusinessObjects Microsoft SPS Portal Integration Kit and can be accessed by end users through Microsoft Internet Explorer or Microsoft Outlook. The BusinessObjects Microsoft SPS Portal Integration Kit is included in the BusinessObjects Developer Suite. The portal integration kit can be accessed via the Business Objects web site http://www.businessobjects.com/ddrk/.

The Business Objects Web Parts include:

-- Inbox Document List -- Provides a list of all of the documents that have
been sent by co-workers or broadcasted to individuals and user groups using
BusinessObjects Broadcast Agent(TM), the integrated enterprise report and
broadcast server. To provide easy and timely access to documents, users can
filter by category and/or perform a simple or advanced search, from within this
Web Part.

-- Corporate Document List -- Provides a list of all of the documents that have
been published to the Business Objects repository, and displays the documents
to which the user have access. To provide easy and timely access to documents,
users can filter by category and/or perform a simple or advanced search, from
within this Web Part.

-- Personal Document List -- Provides a list of all of the documents that have
been saved as a personal document within the Business Objects repository. To
provide easy and timely access to documents, users can filter by category
and/or perform a simple or advanced search, from within this Web Part.

-- View Document -- Allows user to view the contents of documents selected from
the Corporate, Inbox, or Personal Documents Lists.

-- Search -- Provides the ability to perform a simple or an advanced search.
The advanced search provides the ability to search on the document name,
author, keywords, and between a date range. The results of the search are then
listed in this Web Part.

-- MyFavorite Document -- Provides ability to select a document to be
permanently displayed when this Web part is chosen. This web part can be
automatically refreshed providing a real time view of critical business
information, for example your key performance indicators.

Microsoft Digital Dashboard Resource Kit 3.0

Business Objects Web Parts can be viewed from the Microsoft's Digital Dashboard Resource Kit (DDRK) 3.0, a free developer toolkit available today to enable companies to easily extend SharePoint Portal Server 2001 and SQL Server 2000 digital dashboards. The DDRK contains over 100 Web Parts for use in bringing enterprise content to the portal. The DDRK and Web Part Gallery can be accessed via the Microsoft web site (www.microsoft.com/digitaldashboard).

About Business Objects Open Portal Initiative

Business Objects created the Business Objects Open Portal Initiative (OPI) to provide organizations maximum flexibility in deploying portal solutions throughout their enterprises. As the first part of the company's portal strategy, Business Objects provides InfoView that collects and consolidates a company's business intelligence information and presents it in a secure, focused, and personalized view to business users. In addition, Business Objects partners with leading Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) vendors, enabling the rich feature set of Business Objects products to be directly and seamlessly integrated into EIP solutions provided by partners and offering customers a wide array of vendors to choose from as they construct their complete end-to-end portal solution.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions. The company coined the term e-business intelligence in 1998 to describe the intersection of business intelligence and the internet. Using e-business intelligence, organizations can access, analyze, and share information in intranet, extranet, and e-business environments. In intranets, the company's products provide employees with information to make better business decisions, and are used in environments ranging from workgroups of 20 users to enterprise deployments exceeding 20,000. In the extranet environment, the company is pioneering the use of e-BI in applications that allow organizations to build stronger relationships by linking customers, partners, and suppliers via the internet. In addition, the company's products can improve the performance of an e-business by providing reporting and analysis against the ever-expanding amount of transaction and profile data that is collected each day throughout the world wide web.

Founded in 1990, Business Objects pioneered the modern business intelligence industry by inventing and patenting a "semantic layer" that insulates users from the technical complexity of database systems. Today, the company has over 12,400 customers in more than 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and Euronext Paris: code Euroclear France 12074, and included in the SBF 120 and IT CAC 50 French stock market indexes. Business Objects can be reached at 408/953-6000 and www.businessobjects.com.

Note to Editors: BusinessObjects is a trademark of Business Objects SA. BusinessObjects InfoView is a registered trademark of Business Objects SA. BusinessObjects Broadcast Agent is a registered trademark of Business Objects SA.