Burlington Coat Factory Taps Cognos for Performance Management

Large U.S. retail chain selects Cognos Planning, Cognos Controller, Cognos 8 BI to drive enterprise budgeting, planning, reporting; Cognos Store Operations (P&L) Planning Blueprint plays prominent role in decision

Burlington, MA (PRWEB) September 12, 2006 -- Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, today announced that Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation is moving to a Cognos performance management solution for its enterprise planning and various management reporting needs.

One of the largest retail chains in the U.S., Burlington Coat Factory operates more than 360 retail stores offering current designer and name-brand coats, apparel, shoes, and accessories for the entire family; baby furniture and accessories; toys; home décor; and gift items. Burlington Coat Factory is developing a strategy to streamline its annual budgeting process and is working to improve the way in which the company regularly tracks projected performance against actual performance. As part of this process, Burlington Coat Factory was looking for a robust performance management platform to replace its in-house developed legacy solutions.

We were really looking for a budgeting and planning solution that was current, easy to use and could easily integrate within our Oracle E-Business application environment. Cognos demonstrated knowledge of industry best-practices and financial planning capabilities, which we plan to capitalize on for forecasting sales and budgeting labor and other controllable expenses across the enterprise.

After reviewing the Cognos Store Operations (P&L) Planning Blueprint, Burlington Coat Factory selected Cognos 8 BI, Cognos Planning and Cognos Controller to provide decision-makers with multi-dimensional management reporting dashboards and operational data reports presented together on one integrated platform. The company will initially implement the solutions for corporate financial planning and reporting.

“The Cognos Store Operations (P&L) Planning Blueprint was definitely a differentiator in the selection cycle,” said Brad Friedman, chief information officer at Burlington Coat Factory. “We were really looking for a budgeting and planning solution that was current, easy to use and could easily integrate within our Oracle E-Business application environment. Cognos demonstrated knowledge of industry best-practices and financial planning capabilities, which we plan to capitalize on for forecasting sales and budgeting labor and other controllable expenses across the enterprise.”

SMART and Associates, a Cognos Silver Reseller Partner, worked with Burlington Coat Factory in the selection process and will be completing implementation. “Burlington Coat Factory needed an enterprise performance management solution that would enable them to make informed decisions in all areas of the organization, especially in financial planning,” said Daniel Chirico of SMART and Associates. “Cognos is going to help them build a simplified environment with higher performance across the company,” added Jonas Kumpitch of SMART's Business Consulting practice.

“By working with some of the industry’s largest and most successful retailers, we uncover best practices and incorporate those we believe are most helpful into our Performance Blueprints. Burlington Coat Factory will benefit from our knowledge of best practices to quickly implement an integrated solution to complete financial and operational plans, measure key performance indicators and identify trends,” said Patricia Vekich Waldron, retail industry director at Cognos. “Teaming up with the expertise of SMART and Associates will help Burlington Coat Factory quickly implement an all-in-one solution for their planning and reporting needs so they can make more insightful decisions towards achieving profitable growth.”

Cognos is a recognized leader in delivering business intelligence and corporate performance management solutions for the retail industry. In fact, 25 percent of the world's top 250 retailers, and over 300 retail chains worldwide, are already Cognos customers. In addition to Burlington Coat Factory, retail customers include Amazon.com, American Eagle Outfitters, and 7-Eleven. More information about Cognos solutions for retail can be found at http://www.cognos.com/solutions/industry/retail/index.html.

Note to Editors:
Cognos will be showcasing its solutions for PeopleSoft, Oracle E-Business Suite, Siebel and JD Edwards at the Oracle OpenWorld Conference, October 22-26, 2006 in San Francisco, Booth # 1424, Moscone South.

About the capabilities:
Cognos Controller, Cognos Planning and Cognos Business Intelligence represent the technology layer of the Cognos Performance Management System which aligns technology, best practices and a partner ecosystem to enable organizational agility and improve the decision-making process for organizations by connecting people and goals across operations and management functions with right-time, actionable information.

About SMART and Associates:
SMART is a full-service, premier business consulting and accounting firm serving clients throughout the US and globally. SMART offers innovative solutions to public and private companies in the area of business consulting and advisory, technology, business process, assurance, accounting, tax and financial planning. Contact SMART at www.smartllp.com or 610-254-0700.

About Cognos:
Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance.

Cognos brings together technology, analytical applications, best practices, and a broad network of partners to give customers a complete performance system. The Cognos performance system is an open and adaptive solution that leverages an organization’s ERP, packaged applications, and database investments. It gives customers the ability to answer the questions -- How are we doing? Why are we on or off track? What should we do about it? – and enables them to understand and monitor current performance while planning future business strategies.

Cognos serves more than 23,000 customers in more than 135 countries, and its top 100 enterprise customers consistently outperform market indexes. Cognos performance management solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com.

Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cognos Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Note to Editors: Copies of previous Cognos press releases and Corporate and product information are available on the Cognos Web site at www.cognos.com and at PR Newswire's site at www.prnewswire.com

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