Business Objects Software Boosts Operations and Research at Leading Cancer Center.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 2003

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Turns to Business Intelligence to

Improve Patient Care Flow and Research Data Collection

Each year, tens of thousands of patients visit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for cancer care, and now the Institute can provide higher quality services with the help of Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions. Business Objects has equipped Dana-Farber with business intelligence software to support efforts to improve safety, efficiency, and staff satisfaction at the institute's 20 cancer clinics.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It employs more than 2,000 people, and many managers, nurses, and researchers view Business Objects reports packed with the latest information about patient flow, staff schedules, service volumes, and clinical trials. The reports are compiled using BusinessObjects(TM), the integrated query, reporting, and analysis solution for the enterprise, and distributed to employees using BusinessObjects Broadcast Agent(TM), the integrated reporting and broadcasting server from Business Objects.

"We like to think that our employees have a 'dashboard on their desktop' so that they can individually gather the necessary information to run our clinics," said Joe Elliott, project specialist for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "Crowded clinics not only lead to increased patient wait times and stressed staff, but also make it harder to provide safe care. Business Objects gives us the ability to ensure that patient volumes are manageable and thereby allows us to provide better and more efficient care."

With Business Objects, Dana-Farber monitors the number of patients scheduled into each clinic on a daily basis. Reports alert workers when the volume is at capacity, so schedulers know to move appointments to different days and times. This evens out patient flow, which leads to improved safety, shorter wait times, and higher staff satisfaction. In addition, Dana-Farber uses Business Objects reports to track and analyze the type of services provided to patients, and whether those services have increased over time. This helps Dana-Farber management predict future staff, equipment, and space needs.

Dana-Farber also uses Business Objects to support a wide variety of clinical research activities. "Patient volume reports by cancer type, sex, and other demographics are essential for obtaining millions of dollars in grants from government agencies, private foundations, and corporations," said John Orechia, the reporting team leader for Dana-Farber. Business Objects also helps researchers recruit research participants, manage study operations, monitor data quality, and generate research papers.

"Business Objects is pleased that it has provided the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with the ability to access its wealth of patient information in order to share data and make decisions more quickly," said Bernard Liautaud, chairman and CEO of Business Objects. "Time is of the essence when treating a disease such as cancer. Business Objects has given Dana-Farber immediate insight into both its clinical operations and research -- which in turn lets its employees easily analyze and make decisions themselves. As wonderful as this is, the ultimate benefit is to the most important customer of all -- Dana-Farber's patients."

About Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.dana-farber.org) is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. It is also a federally designated center for AIDS research.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions. Business intelligence lets organizations access, analyze, and share information internally with employees and externally with customers, suppliers, and partners. It helps organizations improve operational efficiency, build profitable customer relationships, and develop differentiated product offerings.

The company's products include data integration tools, the industry's leading integrated business intelligence platform, and a suite of enterprise analytic applications. Business Objects is the first to offer a complete BI solution that is composed of best-of-breed components, giving organizations the means to deploy, end-to-end BI to the enterprise, from data extraction to analytic applications.

Business Objects has more than 17,000 customers in over 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and Euronext Paris (Euroclear code 12074). It is 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 and BusinessObjects Broadcast Agent are trademarks of Business Objects S.A. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.