Dubai World Center Selects Adaptive Planning to Help Manage $33 Billion Budget

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - January 27, 2009) - The Dubai World Center (DWC), one of the most important development projects in the history of the United Arab Emirates, has selected Adaptive Planning to establish a new foundation for financial planning and reporting. With a $33 billion budget and an urban land development area of 140 square kilometers, Dubai World Center had a critical business imperative of developing a world-class financial planning and analysis function. The organization chose Adaptive Planning to streamline their budgeting and forecasting processes, improve financial reporting and analysis, and ultimately deliver the financial management infrastructure necessary to support the unprecedented pace of growth and scale of development associated with the DWC project.

The DWC is intended to create a new benchmark in urban planning and destination living, designed to support Dubai's aviation, tourism, commercial and logistics requirements until 2050. Given the high stakes, officials from DWC spent months evaluating solutions before ultimately selecting Adaptive Planning's on-demand planning and reporting solution, which would allow them to spend less time managing spreadsheet-based processes and more time driving strategic business planning.

"It was a nightmare to create meaningful forecasts within Excel. Too many linked spreadsheets and broken formulas meant that frequent re-forecasting was impossible," said Ahmad Lutfeali, Budgeting and Finance Manager for Dubai World Central. "Using Adaptive Planning to improve our budgeting, forecasting, and reporting process will not only make our lives much easier in the short-term, but will also allow us to scale our financial planning and analysis function to support the long-term growth of the development project."

Planning for such a complex project is no easy task. DWC is comprised of 5 distinct business units, and receives input from finance and business managers within each division during the budgeting process. Adaptive Planning proved to be the best solution in part because of its on-demand architecture, which allowed DWC to get up and running rapidly without installing new hardware or software, and its intuitive web-based interface, which required minimal training and led to quick adoption by managers throughout each business unit.

Ensuring that the Dubai World Central is developed as quickly and efficiently from an operational and financial standpoint is critical to the success of the project. According to HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman, Dubai Aviation Corporation, "Dubai World Central will not only cater to the region's economic growth, but will be a strong catalyst for our next level of development as a truly global commercial, trade and logistics hub." Adaptive Planning will allow DWC to create the financial management foundation to support this next level of global development.

"The high level of sophistication required to plan and develop the Dubai World Central is unparalleled by other projects in the world today," says William A. Soward, CEO of Adaptive Planning. "We're delighted to play a key role in supporting DWC's growth and development, and their choice of Adaptive Planning further validates our position in the market as the most powerful and easy-to-use planning and reporting solution for companies and organizations of all sizes."

About Dubai World Central

Dubai World Central (DWC) is a 140 square kilometer urban aviation community centered around the world's largest international airport. Currently being built 40 kilometers from the existing Dubai International Airport, the project is almost twice the size of Hong Kong Island. DWC creates a new benchmark in urban planning and destination living designed to support Dubai's aviation, tourism, commercial and logistics requirements until 2050, and represents one of the most important developments in the history of the United Arab Emirates.

Eventually home to 900,000 people, DWC will be true 'city-within-a-city,' with all the amenities that make up a world-class residential destination. DWC, with infrastructure costs estimated at $33 billion, comprises six specialized clustered zones: Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai Logistics City (DLC), DWC Commercial City, DWC Residential City, DWC Aviation City and DWC Golf City. DWC is endorsed by the Government of Dubai and is chaired by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai City of Aviation Corporation - Dubai World Central, Government of Dubai.

About Adaptive Planning

Adaptive Planning is the worldwide leader in on-demand planning and reporting solutions that streamline financial processes, strengthen collaboration, and drive better-informed, more strategic business decisions in companies of all sizes. Adaptive Planning makes it easy to move beyond spreadsheets and automate budgeting, forecasting, and reporting, without the cost and complexity associated with traditional business intelligence and BPM software. With free software, free trials, and both on-demand and on-premise deployment options, Adaptive Planning provides the fastest and easiest approach to streamline and elevate your financial management. Adaptive Planning is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. and can be reached at 650-528-7500 or www.adaptiveplanning.com.

Contact Information: Media Contacts: Derek Kober GlobalFluency 650-433-4233 Greg Schneider Adaptive Planning 650-810-0525