- Leading restaurant chain taps Cognos to drive better performance, improve decision-making across 440 + restaurants - SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 2006 Oracle OpenWorld, Booth #1424 -- Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, today announced that Steak n Shake, one of the largest and oldest restaurant chains in the U.S., has selected Cognos 8 Business Intelligence (BI) as its enterprise standard for performance reporting, scorecarding and dashboarding. With more than 440 restaurants across the country, Steak n Shake executives recognized the importance of delivering accurate and timely performance information to all store managers to help them make quicker and more accurate decisions about their operations. The challenge was finding a centralized performance management platform that was robust enough to deliver a single version of the truth across the chain via a flexible set of standard and customized reporting capabilities. Steak n Shake chose Cognos 8 BI because it delivers the complete range of business intelligence functionality -- including reporting, analysis, dashboarding and scorecarding -- through a single product, simplifying deployment and use. Specifically, executives will capitalize on Cognos scorecards and dashboards to measure such key performance values as leadership, guest satisfaction and operational margins. A consolidated set of daily reports will also be circulated to help store managers gauge latest operational results and compare company-wide rankings. "Our decision to migrate to Cognos 8 BI was hinged on a number of influencing factors, but first and foremost was the solution's ease-of-use," said Steve Pruden, senior project manager at Steak n Shake. "Given the critical nature of supporting more than 440 restaurants, we had to ensure that the system would deliver value to our store operators. With Cognos, managers can get in to the system fast, get the information they need, make the appropriate decisions with full confidence in the data, then get back to doing what they do best -- serving guests, leading associates and managing the day-to-day operations of the restaurant." JCB Partners, a Cognos Platinum Partner and leading provider of business intelligence and analytics consulting and services to retailers, is managing the Cognos implementation at Steak n Shake. "JCB is committed to working closely with Steak n Shake so they could quickly begin to capitalize on the higher performance capabilities found in Cognos," said Erik Duffield, managing director at JCB Partners. "We are pleased with how smoothly the implementation is proceeding, and are proud to be playing a key role in mobilizing Steak n Shake to better align their business processes to deliver outstanding results, outpace their competition and, ultimately, improve the customer experience." Cognos 8 BI is a groundbreaking product that provides decision makers at all levels of the enterprise with a consistent, accurate view of information to better manage performance. As a single product that easily integrates into existing infrastructures with multiple systems and data sources, Cognos 8 BI is a robust technology foundation for BI standardization and performance management. "Leading retail organizations worldwide choose Cognos because they know it will help them improve store performance, protect profit margins, and improve customer service," said Patricia Vekich Waldron, retail industry director at Cognos. "Steak n Shake's decision to use Cognos 8 BI as its enterprise standard is a testament to Cognos' reputation for delivering the industry's broadest and most complete, enterprise-scale performance management solution." Cognos is a recognized leader in delivering business intelligence and performance management solutions for the retail industry. In fact, 25 per cent of the world's top 250 retailers, and over 300 retail chains worldwide, are already Cognos customers. In addition to Steak n Shake, retail customers include Burlington Coat Factory, Amazon.com, American Eagle Outfitters, LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics, and 7-Eleven. More information about Cognos solutions for retail can be found at http://www.cognos.com/solutions/industry/retail/index.html. ABOUT STEAK N SHAKE: Steak n Shake is a full service, casual dining restaurant serving a core menu of its famous Steakburgers, thin 'n crispy French Fries and old fashioned hand-dipped Milk Shakes. Menu variety includes sandwiches, such as the Turkey Melt and the Grilled Chicken Breast, as well as Chili, home style soups, fresh salads, a variety of desserts and breakfast. All of the food is prepared to the guest's order and served by friendly, well-trained associates. Steak n Shake restaurants feature full-service dining areas, counter service and drive-thru windows. Restaurants are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information, visit the Steak n Shake Web site at http://www.steaknshake.com/. ABOUT COGNOS: Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance. Cognos brings together technology, analytical applications, best practices, and a broad network of partners to give customers a complete performance system. The Cognos performance system is an open and adaptive solution that leverages an organization's ERP, packaged applications, and database investments. It gives customers the ability to answer the questions -- How are we doing? Why are we on or off track? What should we do about it? -- and enables them to understand and monitor current performance while planning future business strategies. Cognos serves more than 23,000 customers in more than 135 countries, and its top 100 enterprise customers consistently outperform market indexes. Cognos performance management solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com/. Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cognos Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Media Contacts: David DeRosa Cognos, 613-738-1338 ext. 3317 Kristen Orfanos Lois Paul & Partners, LLC, 781-782-5852 Investor Relations: John Lawlor Cognos, 613-738-3503 DATASOURCE: Cognos CONTACT: Media: David DeRosa of Cognos, +1-613-738-1338 ext. 3317, ; or Kristen Orfanos of Lois Paul & Partners, LLC, +1-781-782-5852, ; or Investor Relations: John Lawlor of Cognos, +1-613-738-3503 Web site: http://www.cognos.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/107867.html

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