Indiana PERF Selects Information Builders as Its Business Intelligence Standard for Enterprise Reporting

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - October 17, 2007) - Information Builders, the leader in production business intelligence (BI) systems, today announced that the Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund (PERF), a government agency that serves the needs of more than 220,000 public employees and retirees throughout Indiana, has standardized on Information Builders' WebFOCUS software for reporting, business intelligence, and information delivery throughout its organization. WebFOCUS helps employers process retirement applications and deliver pension checks to Indiana citizens more quickly than ever before.

Indiana PERF first started using WebFOCUS in April 2007 to provide greater visibility into the multi-step process of reviewing retirement applications and qualifying retired workers for pension checks. PERF's former reporting system was rigid and cumbersome, which made it difficult to manage and prioritize requests in a timely fashion. Now, with WebFOCUS, PERF can spot missing information immediately and contact workers promptly. This has enabled PERF to cut down the time it takes to issue checks to eligible workers, from as many as 180 days to as little as 30 days from the date of retirement.

Additionally, now that WebFOCUS is delivering relevant information, PERF can process 10 percent more retirement applications with the same staff and for the same amount of money as before. According to David Huffman, deputy director and chief technology officer at Indiana PERF, his organization could not have made these gains without the visibility that WebFOCUS gives them into the underlying data and workflow processes.

PERF now plans to use WebFOCUS for all enterprise reporting throughout the organization, and is training 30 people to develop new types of reports. "WebFOCUS is our tool of choice not just for retirement reports, but for all administrative, financial, and operational reporting going forward," said Huffman. "Our business is now driven by direct access to current information, which is something that never happened here before."

Before selecting Information Builders, PERF asked several leading BI vendors to demonstrate their Web-based reporting tools. PERF selected WebFOCUS because it connected readily to their data and users unanimously agreed it was the easiest reporting environment to use.

PERF hired Information Builders Professional Services to replace 25 existing reports with WebFOCUS reports. The fixed-bid project was completed in 12 weeks. The new WebFOCUS reports are parameter-driven, enabling users to easily modify report dimensions, calculations, measures, and other variables. This flexible reporting environment has enabled PERF to replace multiple legacy reports with a single WebFOCUS report.

In addition to its internal operational reporting initiatives, PERF plans to use WebFOCUS to create external-facing reports for Indiana employers. About 1,200 such organizations use PERF's pension system, and WebFOCUS will allow them to access their own data through a secure reporting portal.

"Indiana PERF is demonstrating how BI technology can optimize every facet of the business by extending current, actionable information to employees throughout the organization -- and beyond," said Gerald Cohen, CEO and founder, Information Builders. "There is a lesson here for other government agencies that want to simplify access to a burgeoning base of public and private information."

About Information Builders

Information Builders' award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world's most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders subsidiary, iWay Software, provides state-of-the-art, multi-purpose integration engines that address all SOA, application, data, and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders' customers the ability to live up to the company motto: Your business. No barriers.

Information Builders' customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,600 people and has more than 350 business partners. More information is available at www.informationbuilders.com.

About Indiana PERF

The Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund (PERF) is a $17.2 billion retirement fund headquartered in Indianapolis. PERF serves the needs of more than 220,000 public employees and retirees throughout Indiana. Since 1945, the organization has provided secure, long-term pension benefits for Indiana citizens who choose careers in public service. PERF helps members and their families fulfill their retirement goals and attain financial security.

Contact Information: Press Contacts: Kathleen Moran Information Builders (917) 339-6313 Samantha Smith EmergePR (617) 729-3178