Cognos Ships Impromptu 3.0.

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 1995--Cognos (NASDAQ:COGNF; TSE:CSN) Business Intelligence business unit today announced that shipments of the general release version of Impromptu 3.0, the company's enterprise-wide interactive database reporting tool will begin on May 31, 1995. Impromptu's intuitive user interface gives "self-service" database querying and reporting to all levels of users in an enterprise. Its new features benefit users by giving them fast and simple access to corporate data, and "instant" reports.

Impromptu 3.0 provides several new benefits to database administrators including:

o a true object-oriented architecture that treats Impromptu's information catalogs as database-independent objects. Catalogs are LAN-based repositories of business knowledge and database access rules. This enables companies to develop catalogs on a single local database and deploy them across the entire organization regardless of the target databases. Any changes in business rules or user permissions made to a master catalog, are carried automatically to all sub-catalogs and reports;

o database-independent templates that greatly speed the deployment of report generation. Templates range from formatted headstarts to sophisticated logic based reports. Administrators simply create standard report formats for the entire enterprise. Users can add data easily by pointing to the target database and clicking, then dragging data columns to the report, such as dragging name and address data to a mailing label template;

o complete Windows integration as an OLE 2.0 client and server, including OLE automation, allowing users to automate cross-application functions.

Impromptu 3.0 also incorporates a number of new features for end-users including:

o support for any combination of lists, crosstabs or graphs in the same report;

o the ability to run queries in background while accomplishing other tasks;

o advance notice of how long it will take a report to run and, a report scheduler for running reports at selected times; and

o instant multidimensional data analysis access via an Explorer launch button, for one-button transfer to Cognos PowerPlay, where Impromptu reports and data can be explored and further analyzed.

"The new features in Impromptu translate directly into faster and better decisions, improved competitiveness for its users, and significant cost and time savings for MIS management," said Alan Rottenberg, senior vice president, Cognos Business Intelligence products.

The executive information services group of the National Securities Clearing Corp. (NSCC) has chosen Impromptu 3.0 as its standard environment for data access for end users in its marketing and finance groups. The NSCC provides clearance, settlement, and information services for the transactions of equity, bond, and mutual funds around the world.

"The amount of data we deal with on a daily basis is staggering," said Arthur Phidd, the NSCC vice president, executive information services group. "We are implementing a data warehouse project, combining the data from several different databases, Oracle, DB2, Sybase and the NetWare NLM for SQL Server included. Using Impromptu we can easily interact with our data on an enterprise-wide basis. Impromptus ReportWise templates will provide us with virtually every form we need. The precise administrative control and password security is especially important in our business.

"The concept of treating forms and Frames as objects is what really won me over," he continued. "Impromptus object paradigm provides us with the efficiency we desperately need in an access and reporting tool."

Impromptu 3.0 is available in two versions. The user version is available for $495, and the administrator version is $595. Significant discounts apply for volume purchases and enterprise licensing. Impromptu 3.0 requires a minimum of Windows 3.1, an IBM PC or compatible 386, and 6 MB of RAM. A 486 is recommended.

Cognos is uniquely positioned to deliver business intelligence software to satisfy enterprise-wide data access and reporting needs. With over 100,000 seats in thousands of companies, PowerPlay and Impromptu consistently service the widest range of users across corporate, department, workgroup, personal, and mobile applications. The products support over 100 relational and OLAP data sources and are translated in eight languages. Cognos Business Intelligence products are available through the company's 45 sales offices and over 250 resellers worldwide.

Cognos develops, markets and supports -- both directly and through resellers world-wide -- advanced client/server development and reporting tools on a wide range of open and proprietary platforms, including UNIX and the Microsoft Windows desktop. Cognos is a publicly-held company with dual headquarters in Ottawa, Canada and Burlington, MA.

COGNOS, IMPROMPTU, and POWERPLAY are registered trademarks of Cognos Inc. REPORTWISE is a trademark of Cognos Inc. Other products mentioned in this document are registered, trademarked, or service marked by their respective owners.

CONTACT: Roberta J. Carlton, Cognos

[phone]

or

Rich Nagle, LNS Communications

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