Preferred Strategies Introduces BI Quick Launch for JD Edwards

New QuickStart Pack for Business Objects Crystal Decisions Helps JD Edwards Users Get Up and Running with Customized Business Intelligence in One Day

Charleston, SC (PRWEB) February 27, 2007 -- Preferred Strategies, a leading software company integrating business intelligence software with enterprise resource planning systems, today introduced BI Quick Launch for JDE℠, a QuickStart Pack for Business Objects Crystal Decisions®.

The solution is targeted at mid-market JD Edwards (JDE) users who need affordable, easy-to-use, customized business intelligence that provides immediate time to value. This announcement is part of the new QuickStart Pack partner initiative from Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ), formally launched today at the Business Objects Americas Partner Summit. For more information on the initiative, please visit the Business Objects Resource Center for Mid-size Companies at www.businessobjects.com/quickstart.

Preferred Strategies has set a new standard in the business intelligence industry, providing customized business intelligence for JD Edwards customers that is up and running in one day - "Plug and Play with JDE in a Day" ℠. JD Edwards customers will realize immediate time to value, as their business managers and financial analysts use the delivered management reports to gain better visibility into business operations and perform "what if" analyses to determine ways to grow revenues and decrease costs.

Preferred Strategies BI Quick Launch for JDE accelerates the development of additional reports and queries with the included report templates and samples. As part of the BI Quick Launch for JDE one day installation, Preferred Strategies will customize Business Objects Crystal Decisions to the customer's organizational hierarchy and chart of accounts so customers can immediately begin providing management reports and ad hoc query and analysis capabilities to users. The customized hierarchical structure will empower managers to immediately start analyzing budget overages and variances with "point & click" drill-down capabilities within the Business Objects business intelligence software, a major time savings and convenience over having to call finance to research or separately logging into the JD Edwards to search on their own.

Edward Kraemer & Sons is one example of a company that has benefited from the Preferred Strategies QuickStart Pack for Business Objects Crystal Decisions. "Preferred Strategies BI Quick Launch for JDE has exceeded our expectations," said Mike Huffar, Information Technology Director, Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc. a diverse general contractor and construction aggregates supplier focused in the construction and repair of structures and industrial facilities. "We had a limited budget, yet the BI Quick Launch for JDE was implemented on time and on budget. End users realized instantaneous benefits with real-time drill down analysis; report development time was reduced five-fold due to Preferred Strategies report templates; reports are published to a production environment in seconds rather than the weekly JD Edwards deployment process; and reports now process five times faster than with JD Edwards Report Writer."

Preferred Strategies BI Quick Launch for JDE provides inexpensive live data reporting and an easy, low cost upgrade path from the live data reporting to a data warehouse strategy. This seamless upgrade path will protect both the customer's software investment and allow utilization of the reports and queries previously developed using the BI Quick Launch for JDE. BI Quick Launch for JDE is available from Preferred Strategies, and Business Objects will also resell the solution.

QuickStart Packs for Business Objects Crystal Decisions are Business Objects certified solutions that help small and mid-sized companies quickly apply business intelligence to existing line of business applications or specific industry needs to gain enhanced return on their BI investments. Each QuickStart Pack includes report and dashboard templates, as well as pre-built data connectors that help speed and simplify the deployment of relevant and results-driven business intelligence.

"Companies looking to gain the benefits of business intelligence need a way to mine existing data sources for complete access to critical information. Preferred Strategies BI Quick Launch for JDE will help ease and shorten that process so JD Edwards users have a jump start on their BI deployments," said Todd Rowe, vice president and general manager of worldwide mid-market business at Business Objects. "We're pleased to strengthen our long-standing relationship with Preferred Strategies and make their QuickStart Pack available directly to our customers."

"We have been working with Business Objects for more than five years, and have leveraged our extensive JD Edwards domain expertise on many successful joint customer implementations," said Adam Crigger, founder and president, Preferred Strategies. "With Business Objects Crystal Decisions, Business Objects created a solid foundation for us to build on top of to provide a total solution tailored to the specific needs of mid-market JD Edwards users. The introduction of our BI QuickStart Pack provides companies with a powerful solution that is low cost, delivers immediate time to value, yet empowers users with full function reporting and ad hoc analysis capabilities. We are excited that Business Objects will also resell the solution as part of their mid-market portfolio."

Preferred Strategies BI Quick Launch for JDE is available immediately through Preferred Strategies and Business Objects.

About Business Objects Crystal Decisions

Business Objects Crystal Decisions offers a flexible and affordable way for mid-size companies to gain the benefits of business intelligence. The portfolio includes all the functionality of the enterprise-class BusinessObjects™ XI platform, but at a lower price and with streamlined deployment options designed for small to mid-sized companies. The solution provides the flexibility to deploy and use BI to complement existing business applications, data sources, and platforms, and delivers insight in a single, affordable package. For more information, visit www.businessobjects.com/grow.

About Preferred Strategies

Preferred Strategies is a leading software company integrating business intelligence software with enterprise resource planning systems, providing on-site training, consulting and support. Preferred Strategies core product, the BI Quick Launch for JDE, provides the most cost-effective, fully-customized Business Objects BI solution for JD Edwards Customers. With Business Objects software as a foundation, Preferred Strategies has set a new standard in the business intelligence industry, providing completely customized business intelligence for JD Edwards' customers that is up and running in one day. Preferred Strategies BI Quick Launch for JD Edwards provides customized content for immediate time to value, as well as report templates and samples, which accelerate the development of additional customer reports and queries. More information about Preferred Strategies can be found at www.preferredstrategies.com.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company, with more than 42,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500. Business Objects helps organizations of all sizes create a trusted foundation for decision making, gain better insight into their business, and optimize performance. The company's innovative business intelligence suite, BusinessObjects™ XI, offers the BI industry's most advanced and complete solution for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and enterprise information management. BusinessObjects XI includes the award-winning Crystal line of reporting and data visualization software. Business Objects has also built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, and offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.

Business Objects has dual headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Paris, France. The company's stock is traded on both the Nasdaq (BOBJ) and Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0004026250 - BOB) stock exchanges. More information about Business Objects can be found at www.businessobjects.com.

The Preferred Strategies logo, Preferred Strategies, and BI Quick Launch for JDE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Preferred Strategies. The Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, and WebIntelligence are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects in the United States and/or other countries. JD Edwards is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

The Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Intelligent Question, and Xcelsius are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects in the United States and/or other countries. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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