Five months after it launched the thing in North America (CI No 1,822), Ottawa, Ontario-based Cognos Inc has announced the establishment of its European Desktop Software Division in Bracknell, Berkshire, which has been spun off specifically to focus on PowerPlay and Impromptu, two desktop executive software systems developed originally in conjunction with Procter & Gamble Co. PowerPlay is now two years old and has sold between 8,000 and 10,000 copies; Impromptu is relatively new, its latest release currently in beta test. PowerPlay is a reporting and analysis tool for middle managers which runs under Windows 3.0, Macintosh and Hewlett-Packard Co’s NewWave environments; Impromptu is a very easy to use Windows-based desktop SQL query tool. According to the company, PowerPlay is the product you buy when you don’t know what data you want to analyse; Impromptu is for those that know exactly what they’re looking for. The former costs between UKP600 and UKP800, the latter UKP370 to UKP575. Currently the products are available directly from Cognos, and from distribution and value-added reseller partners that the company has already put in place, such as Dun & Bradstreet Corp and Ross Systems Inc.
