Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN) (TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, today announced that MassHousing, the leading provider of affordable housing for both individuals and major developments across Massachusetts, has standardized on Cognos 8 Business Intelligence (BI).

MassHousing needed a flexible and robust BI solution capable of generating an integrated portal reporting system for its Executive Information System (EIS), which bridges six separate business divisions: Home Ownership, Rental Development, Rental Management, Corporate, Mortgage, Insurance and MassHousing Overall. MassHousing selected Cognos BI over competitive products because of Cognos' ability to adapt to changes that occur within the data, as well as its simplified maintenance and administration. By combining Cognos BI solutions with the EIS, MassHousing employees can gain an accurate and integrated view of key information across the entire organization, for a complete, holistic view of the agency's key information.

As MassHousing's EIS has matured, so have the requests and needs of its 300-plus users who require more reports, increased customization, enhanced security, and better visibility into the agency to better manage the business. In addition, new departments such as human resources and compliance and diversity have requested access to Cognos reports to meet regulatory requirements. To continue to meet these evolving demands, MassHousing has migrated to Cognos 8 BI. The agency created an internal portal referred to as ?My MassHousing? that provides access to agency news, timesheets, and the Cognos 8 BI solutions, including budget information and trend reports. With the portal, users see the relevant information they need to drive their organization's performance at the start of, and throughout, every day.

In addition, Cognos' consulting and training services have helped MassHousing build its BI Competency Center (BICC), a dedicated team of six people in its Business Intelligence and Corporate Reporting department officially designated in 2006 and separate from the traditional IT department. The MassHousing BICC is tasked with making sure that both existing and new systems do not affect the overall reporting needs of the agency

?Cognos is the lifeblood of our agency, and we continue to evolve our business practices with Cognos business intelligence,? said Carl Richardson, BI project manager at MassHousing. ?As executives' needs continue to grow, they're pushing us to implement smarter and more efficient Cognos solutions rather than the other way around. This has helped us become a leader among our peers, as managers from other agencies ask to see what we're doing with Cognos. By taking our implementation to the next level, we can meet the specific needs of our individual end users and at the same time, get a complete picture of our overall performance. This is priceless.?

?MassHousing is a shining example of a performance management implementation that started with departmental functionality and has since expanded to encompass a broad set of users across several functions and levels within the organization,? said Terence Atkinson, director of government and education solutions at Cognos. ?As a result, the organization can gain increased efficiencies of business reporting and a unified picture of the overall business, and yet deliver a highly customized experience to meet the unique needs of its diverse users.?

Cognos is a leading provider of business intelligence and corporate performance management solutions for state and local governments, helping them deliver timely, high-quality programs and services to their citizens. Leading customers include State of Utah, State of Mississippi, City of Albuquerque, City of New York Police Department, and State of New York. For more information about Cognos solutions for state and local governments, please visit http://www.cognos.com/solutions/industry/government/state-local.html.

ABOUT MASSHOUSING:

MassHousing is the leading provider of affordable housing for both individuals and major developments across the state of Massachusetts. Since 1970, MassHousing has provided more than $9.9 billion in financing for more than 88,000 units of mixed income rental housing and 55,000 loans for home owners and home buyers throughout the state. . As a quasi-state agency, MassHousing is self-supporting, independent public authority. For more information, please visit http://www.masshousing.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 3,000worldwide 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.

Note to Editors:

Copies of previous Cognos press releases and Corporate and product information are available on Cognos' Web site at http://www.cognos.com.

Media Contacts:
Cognos, Inc.
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david.derosa@cognos.com
or
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Melissa Lane, 781-782-5755
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or
Investor Relations:
Cognos, Inc.
John Lawlor, 613-738-3503
john.lawlor@cognos.com