Profitbase demonstrates Retail Business Intelligence Solution at NRF Annual Convention and Expo

YORK, Penn., Jan. 8, 2008 -- Profitbase, a technology leader in easy-to-use configurable data warehousing, announced today that it will be demonstrating its retail business intelligence solution, which supports the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) data standard, at the National Retail Federation's 97 th Annual Convention and Expo, January 13-16, 2008 in New York City.

Profitbase has teamed with Microsoft Corp., to deliver this out-of-the-box, standards-based business intelligence solution for the retail industry, which will be demonstrated in Microsoft's booth, No. 818. The solution includes standard key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics and dimensions tailored for the retail industry. By working with the ARTS Data Model, defining standard retail KPIs and easily linking operational data sources to a data warehouse, Profitbase and Microsoft bring a cost effective, functionally rich BI solution to the retail marketplace.

The solution was built using the Profitbase 2007 configurable data warehousing and Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Cubes software and the Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 technology stack. The Profitbase 2007 software, which takes advantage of the capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, is used to develop and deploy the ready-to-use point-of-sales data source connector and OLAP Cubes templates enabling fast and easy deployments for retailers. Microsoft PerformancePoint is used to display KPIs and metrics in dashboards, scorecards and reports, and to perform advanced ad-hoc analysis and planning. Information is easily visualized and distributed throughout the organization with Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007, which provides retailers with increased control and insight into day-to-day performance.

“The Profitbase solution, combined with Microsoft technology, provides people across various retail job functions with standard ARTS-based analytics and much more,” said Jan de Jong, industry solutions manager, merchandising and real-time analytics, Worldwide Retail and Hospitality at Microsoft. “With PerformancePoint technology, users of this solution are able to use dashboards, reports, scorecards and analysis tools that can deliver the right information to different users in ways that make the most sense to each of them.”

According to Borre Tharaldsen, managing director of Profitbase AS, Profitbase and Microsoft are committed to helping retailers increase productivity throughout the retail organization. “This solution demonstrates our complementary strengths, which provide powerful capabilities that can help any retailer drive results,” Tharaldsen said. “Profitbase offers retailers a proven ready-to-use, ARTS-based solution that is easily and rapidly deployed so they realize the benefits very quickly.”

Profitbase solutions leverage the power of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to deliver performance information to scorecard, dashboard, and reporting systems, such as Microsoft PerformancePoint Server 2007 to provide decision-makers with one consolidated view of information for quickly analyzing performance and for making better, faster decisions.