National Weather Service Sees Clear Skies Ahead with Business Objects
SAN JOSE, Calif. – April 20, 2004 – Each year, the National Weather Service (NWS) manages millions of dollars in federal funding in its effort to gather the latest information on hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, and other severe weather conditions. To make sure they spend their resources wisely, the NWS relies on a business intelligence solution from Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ; Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250-BOB) to provide improved analysis and reporting on accounting and budgeting data.
Working closely with Business Objects Professional Services, the NWS created a system that integrates data stored in the Commerce Administrative Management System (CAMS) with data from their in-house budget application. CAMS is the financial and administrative system used by nearly all Department of Commerce bureaus. By using business intelligence to track, understand, and manage agency performance, the NWS keeps operational costs at a minimum while remaining focused on its core mission – to provide the most accurate and up-to-date weather information for the country.
The business intelligence system, built using BusinessObjects™ and WebIntelligence®, provides web-based access to detailed, customized reports matching actual spending to specific NWS programs. Furthermore, the system improves the agency’s ability to manage budgets, prioritize spending, and report to Congress. In addition, Business Objects Professional Services is assisting the NWS in developing a cost-management system that will use business intelligence to improve the organization’s overall performance management.
“Every government agency is faced with the challenge of managing mountains of data while still spending taxpayer money wisely,” said Greg Lorden, vice president of Government for Business Objects. “The National Weather Service is meeting this challenge with a very progressive approach, and has become a model of how government agencies can leverage business intelligence to optimize organizational performance, enhance mission effectiveness, and improve operational readiness.”
The National Weather Service, a line office of the U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters, and ocean areas. Budget officers in 12 Financial Management Centers manage the budgets for over 360 weather service locations. The business intelligence solution, which has been rolled out to employees throughout the agency, saves the NWS significant time by providing immediate access to a variety of standard and customized reports. Moreover, the ability to run ad hoc reports enables users to access additional information as needed, without relying on IT staff to develop these new reports.
The initial introduction of CAMS created several challenges for the NWS regional Financial Management Centers, as there was no ability to create ad hoc reports and it provided no integration with their in-house budget application. Now, with Business Objects, the NWS is able to quickly create an easy-to-use front end with data integration, very specific, customized reports, and ad hoc queries. As a result, the NWS can utilize its resources more efficiently and allocate funding for its forecast and warning systems with greater precision.
With the business intelligence system, which aggregates data from both CAMS and the in-house budget application, spending reports can now be created by specific NWS budget codes, enabling the agency to more precisely prioritize the spending of limited dollars and better justify spending to Congress. The BI system also increases the agency’s ability to comply with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) and meet U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and Congressional recommendations. This helps to further align the National Weather Service with the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) for improving financial performance.
Business Objects: Improving Performance in the Federal Government
Business Objects is a leading provider of business intelligence software to the U.S. Federal Government. Business intelligence improves the federal government’s ability to track, understand, and manage projects, budgets, procurement, human resources, and reporting to Congress. The Department of Defense and every major U.S. federal cabinet department use Business Objects software to help improve performance. Key customer deployments include the Army, Navy, Air Force, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Business Objects and its partners are helping federal professionals exceed the requirements of the President’s Management Agenda for competitive sourcing, strategic management of human capital, improved financial management, citizen centered e-Government, and budget-performance integration. For additional information on Business Objects BI solutions for the government, please visit: http://www.businessobjects.com/govt/.
About Business Objects
Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company. With more than 35,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, Business Objects helps organizations gain better insight into their business, improve decision making, and optimize enterprise performance. The company's business intelligence platform, BusinessObjects™ XI, offers the BI industry's most complete and trusted platform for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and data integration. BusinessObjects XI includes Crystal Reports®, the industry standard for enterprise reporting. Business Objects has built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, and also 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.
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