PRESS RELEASE Bissantz & Company GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany

Nuremberg (Germany), April 18, 2007

Sparklines made simpler - SparkMaker 4 released

Bissantz & Company has released version 4 of its established business reporting tool SparkMaker for Microsoft Office®. SparkMaker 4 uses a new "minimized-clicks" approach to automatically depict data as mini-graphs, called sparklines, in Word®, Excel® and PowerPoint®.

Version 4 of SparkMaker implements a completely new creation process for sparklines: a single dialog which minimizes click activity. All variants of sparklines are designed with this dialog, either as dynamic sparkline formulae in Excel or as static sparklines in any Office document (Word, PowerPoint, Excel). The dialog is 60 % smaller than before which ensures more focus on working with the figures and creating sparklines.

Dr. Nicolas Bissantz, General Manager and founder of German-based Bissantz & Company illustrates the benefits of the new user interface: "In our flagship Business Intelligence (BI) suite DeltaMaster we have developed methods to support business users in their daily analytical tasks by helping them to focus on their data instead of focusing on tool usage. Office users, too, can now benefit from our expertise in ergonomics. SparkMaker 4 is another offspring from our extensive research activities, just as sparklines have initially been developed for our high-end BI suite (www.DeltaMaster.net). This approach is very similar to Formula One auto racing, where breakthrough technology is developed and disseminates into the traditional automotive sector."

Some further benefits of SparkMaker 4 are:

1. OLAP and SparkMaker: Every OLAP database which is accessed via an Excel front-end is sparkline capable via SparkMaker, e.g. Applix TM1, Hyperion Essbase, Microsoft Analysis Services, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP Business Information Warehouse, Paris Technologies PowerOlap as well as the Open Source OLAP database PALO.
2. SparkMaker 4 supports the brand-new Office 2007 suite.
3. Technical efficiency: faster calculation of multiple sparklines in Excel sheets and avoidance of unnecessary recalculations.
4. A new preview field provides an exact representation of the forthcoming sparkline during configuration.
5. Ticker feature: export selected sparklines to an HTML ticker which users can easily integrate into Intranets or other web publications.
6. Concurrent license option: A license server can actively provide licenses to users on demand which increases license efficiency significantly.

SPARKLINES - BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The sparkline concept has been invented by Edward Tufte (Professor Emeritus at Yale University, www.tufte.com), the renowned expert for information design. He states that at the heart of the concept are "intense, simple, word-sized graphics".

Sparklines are perfectly suited for management reporting and analysis purposes as opposed to popular metaphors such as gauges and speedometers which are often misused in management cockpits. The later mostly display a single value per gauge while a sparkline easily depicts hundreds and thousands of values without confusing readers of reports or users of dashboards.

A sparkline depicts data in very small diagrams and thus allows for adding space saving context information to help interpret indicators. A main feature of Bissantz SparkMaker which ensures high flexibility in sparkline design are specific TrueType Fonts, the Bissantz SparkFonts. Just like a word consists of letters the Bissantz sparklines consist of SparkFont characters (e.g. bars or line segments). The concatenation of formatted characters results in a "textual image" of the sparkline. This way sparklines can be handled just like normal text. As for all TrueType Fonts an excellent printing quality and continuous scaling are ensured. The concept of SparkFonts and their usage in Office applications has been invented by Bissantz & Company in 2005 and since then is available in SparkMaker.

ABOUT BISSANTZ & COMPANY

Bissantz & Company is a German Business Intelligence (BI) software vendor who specializes in software solutions for Analysis, Planning and Reporting. Patented visualization technology ensures that data patterns are recognized quickly and communicated clearly in reports and dashboards. Innovative sparkline technology is integrated in Bissantz' full-fledged BI suite DeltaMaster and in addition provided to Microsoft Office users as separate products.

PRESS CONTACT

Bissantz & Company GmbH
Dr. Roland Zimmermann, Business Development
roland.zimmermann@bissantz.com
Nordring 98
90409 Nuremberg
Germany
Phone +49 911 935536 0
Fax +49 911 935536 10
www.bissantz.com/en

SparkMaker download:
www.bissantz.com/sparkmaker

Press material (screenshots and examples):
www.bissantz.com/press/2007-04-18/

ABOUT BISSANTZ & COMPANY

Bissantz & Company is a German Business Intelligence (BI) software vendor who specializes in software solutions for Analysis, Planning and Reporting. Patented visualization technology ensures that data patterns are recognized quickly and communicated clearly in reports and dashboards. Innovative sparkline technology is integrated in Bissantz' full-fledged BI suite DeltaMaster and in addition provided to Microsoft Office users as separate products.