Information Builders Introduces Ad Hoc Reporting Without Individual User Pricing; WebFOCUS Quick Query Will Provide Rapid and Customized Ad Hoc Analysis for Multi-Level Users.

NEW YORK, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Information Builders, the leader in enterprise business intelligence (BI) solutions and real-time Web reporting, today announced that WebFOCUS Quick Query, the industry's first ad hoc reporting tool for business users, will be made available with no per-user fee.

   (Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020619/IBLOGO           http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020904/IWAYLOGO )  

Unlike many business intelligence tools that are geared toward advanced users with complex information requirements, Quick Query was designed to meet the needs of more novice users. The product is the first of its kind to offer users the source code for a completely customizable ad hoc tool that can be deployed for an unlimited number of users, so that customers no longer need to buy a seat-based license for an ad hoc solution.

WebFOCUS Quick Query is tailored to quickly run and display a WebFOCUS report in any desired output such as HTML, Excel 2000, or PDF. With user-friendly drag-and-drop functionality, users can rapidly select columns and run sorts specific to the task at hand. WebFOCUS Quick Query gives a nontechnical user the ability to quickly access any data source and generate reports complete with data visualization, conditional styling, subtotals, filtering, and corporate logo.

"WebFOCUS Quick Query makes it simple for even the most novice users at Air Canada to quickly create, run, and display a WebFOCUS report," said Elaine Burgess-taal of Air Canada, Canada's largest airline. "When I introduced our customer invoicing manager to Quick Query, he reacted as if I had just saved his life. Prior to Quick Query he was totally dependent on internal/external IT resources. Now he is able to run queries and respond to information requests on the same day rather than days later."

WebFOCUS Quick Query has a thin-client architecture, which enables users to build and save new reports via the Internet, without the requirement for additional desktop software, plug-ins, or Java. With multiple selection criteria, finished reports contain only the information the user needs to see, avoiding more functionality than is necessary. WebFOCUS Quick Query also allows for optional scheduling and distribution capabilities for reports configured under Managed Reporting and saved as a custom report. Users can deliver reports to e-mail, printers, fax machines, or their personal folder.

"Customers are requiring more flexible business intelligence solutions that can be customized to fit their individual needs," says Gerald Cohen, CEO of Information Builders. "We designed WebFOCUS Quick Query to expand the capabilities and functionality for custom reporting environments. This product now allows multiple levels of users to get quick answers to their queries, without all the sophisticated features of full ad hoc reporting."

About Information Builders

Information Builders, a $300 million company, is the leader in enterprise business intelligence and real-time Web reporting. The company's WebFOCUS product -- the industry's most secure and flexible -- is able to meet all the reporting needs of the extended enterprise, ranging from analysts to power users to the widest deployments for hundreds of thousands of users. Additionally, WebFOCUS' empowerment of organizations seeking to leverage all their data by accessing it all -- from legacy to data warehouse -- is unmatched.

Information Builders' award-winning technology has successfully provided quality software and superior services for 29 years to more than 12,000 customers, including most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,750 people, and has over 350 business partners. For more information, go to http://www.informationbuilders.com/.

CONTACT: Kathleen Moran of Information Builders, +1-212-736-4433, kathleen_moran@ibi.com; or Samantha Smith of Horn Group, Inc., +1-781-356-7139 ssmith@horngroup.com

Web site: http://www.informationbuilders.com/