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Business Objects SA and SAS Institute Inc. have rolled out offerings designed to help companies get a better handle on how their business is performing.
Business Objects new Performance Manager software includes goal management, scorecards and strategy maps and enables customers to align goals and performance with enterprise strategy, said company officials, in San Jose, Calif.
Separately, SAS, at its European User Group conference in Vienna, Austria, in June, announced a host of products, including Activity-Based Management 6.0. The software, based on the Oros technology that SAS acquired from ABC Technologies Inc. last year, provides cost and profitability analysis of customers, products, services or business processes.
Version 6.0 includes advanced business modeling capabilities, a Web-enabled analysis and reporting interface, and data integration tools for retrieving and transforming data from any system, said SAS officials, in Cary, N.C.
This version supports distributed use throughout an organization via the Web and integration into the day-to-day operations of the business.
Pricing models can be integrated into an enterprises systems, allowing the models to incorporate business changes as quotations are done.
Business Objects Performance Manager is designed to close the loop between corporate strategy and daily tactical performance, officials said.
It provides a wizard-driven workflow for defining, modifying and distributing goals based on employees roles. Users can set an accepted margin on the desired target and assign ownership to individuals or groups in any department or function.
Scorecarding is also role-based and includes trend and stoplight indicators, giving users updates on metrics and performance relative to goals. Users can sort goals by relevance, status or strategy and drill down into additional details on the scorecard.
DataLan Corp., a White Plains, N.Y., systems integrator and Business Objects partner, is using Performance Manager internally to manage goals across its sales and marketing efforts, said President John Arnold. The company tracks employees sales performances by role and allows employees to track their progress toward sales milestones.
“We can define strategy and goals that ultimately map to our corporate strategy,” said Arnold, adding he likes that goals can be mapped to particular employees roles.