Ernst & Young Announces New Tools and Strategies to Enhance Benefits of SAP Business Information Warehouse and Data Warehousing Solutions for SAP.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 1999--

Plans Include a Doubling of SAP Business

Information Warehouse Consultants in 1999

Ernst & Young LLP today announced a suite of proprietary Data Warehousing Solutions for the SAP(tm) R/3(R) solution to help clients realize strategic value from the business information made available through implementing SAP R/3 and the SAP Business Information Warehouse(tm) (SAP BW(tm)). In addition to traditional executive reporting, the Ernst & Young tools include client-proven Balanced Scorecards, Executive and Manager Performance Dashboards, Cause and Effect modeling, and the firm's leading strategy management tool, StratMax. Ernst & Young plans to double its team of dedicated, certified Data Warehousing consultants by the end of the year.

"Our experience with clients shows that data warehousing solutions can maximize the benefits of an R/3 implementation by providing better information access for making decisions," said Todd Swift, partner and leader of Global Data Warehousing Solutions for SAP at Ernst & Young. "To help our clients accelerate their ability to use and benefit from enterprise information, Ernst & Young is working closely with SAP and leading hardware vendors to make data warehouse implementation easier. By using our accelerators in conjunction with SAP BW, we provide improved access to transaction data within existing legacy systems and external sources in ways that improve clients' overall decision-making capabilities and maximize the return on their investment."

Since June of 1998, Ernst & Young committed significant investments in people and solutions to support its Data Warehousing Solutions for SAP R/3. The group has designed and field-tested Balanced Scorecards, Executive Dashboards, and Cause and Effect models, all linked to the drill down capabilities of the SAP BW solution, to help companies gain analytical insight that is often lacking in their current business reporting, performance management, and decision support solutions.

"Ernst & Young has proven its leadership capabilities around SAP Business Information Warehouse and demonstrated how it is much more than a simple R/3 transaction reporting tool," said Bill Mayor, assistant controller, Anheuser-Busch Companies. "They are offering a more strategic focus on the effective use of this product."

To accelerate the process of identifying new opportunities for value creation, Ernst & Young recently installed SAP BW at their SAP Solution Centers, and incorporated a SAP BW-focused DesignShop(tm) within their Accelerated Solution Environment. In this environment, clients are able to see the full capabilities of their future data warehouse, and design an accelerated approach for implementing a strategic solution for their business that delivers rapid, measurable returns. Highly trained BW and SAP specialists give first-hand insight into customized solutions that will deliver rapid competitive advantage.

"The hands-on experience and in-depth knowledge of BW and data warehousing provided by Ernst & Young are invaluable and critical to our successful and timely implementation of BW," said Charlene Mathias, BW project manager at Eli Lilly and Company.

Ernst & Young LLP (www.ey.com) provides assurance and advisory business services, tax services and consulting for domestic and global clients. The firm has 30,000 people in 87 U.S. cities. Ernst & Young LLP is a member firm of Ernst & Young International (www.eyi.com), a global organization whose member firms have more than 85,000 people working in 675 cities.

SAP, R/3, SAP Business Information Warehouse, SAP BW, and all other SAP product and service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG.