KScope12 session highlight No. 5

Let’s get exclusive

Over the last four days I’ve highlighted: what I think will be a really important infrastructure session and whitepaper, 10 important ODI presentations, some out of the norm sessions that cover a whole bunch of technologies (and some of which aren’t even particularly technical), and a track for those who are new to the awesomeness that is Essbase.  These are (mostly) all presented by Orcale’s customers and partners.  But what about Oracle employees as presenters?

Kscope12 has an awful lot of people from Oracle at it.  Hardly surprising given that the first letter in ODTUG is “Oracle”.  Don’t let that name lead you to believe that Oracle dictates what is at the conference – I was elbows deep (now there’s an interesting visual metaphor that I leave to you to fill in) in the EPM selection process and ODTUG’s volunteers decide it all.  We figure out what we’d like to have Oracle present and then ask them (politely, mind, we are not dictators) to participate.  Sometimes they say yes, sometimes no, but usually yes.  It’s a collaborative process and it still fascinates and surprises me how open they are.  I imagine I sound like an Oracle cheerleader sometimes, but red really isn’t my color and it is amazing to see how well Oracle’s product development staff works with ODTUG.  How often would the likes of me get to talk to product development senior management?  Never is the answer, except for ODTUG.  Yes, ODTUG is that awesome.

So what’s the Oracle agenda?

Sunday symposium

The Sunday EPM symposium (there are other symposiums as well for Apex, BI, EPM Business Content, Db and Developer’s Toolbox, and Fusion) is one of my favorite parts of the conference.  Lest you think (and really, why would you?) I have some sort of inside track on what Oracle is up to for its next releases let me disabuse you of that notion – the symposium is where I find out what the next release (and beyond) of EPM will be.  Here’s what the symposium will preview with demos, slides, and Q&A sessions:

• EPM Foundation and common services
• Oracle Essbase
• Oracle Hyperion Planning
• Oracle Hyperion Financial Management
• Oracle Business Intelligence
• Data Management & Integration tools
• Other projects in development

It’s very, very, very exciting stuff and is unparalleled access to what’s coming down the pike in our little EPM world.  If there is one session you should attend at the conference, this is it.

Sessions

If the symposiums are the ghost of EPM future, then the sessions are the ghost of EPM present.  This is where Oracle shows we lucky few how the (usually) new products work.  It is pretty cool stuff.

Disclosure Management
Karin Cheung, Oracle Corporation
When: Thursday June 28, Session 18, 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Topic: EPM Business Content - Subtopic: EPM Business Content

Implementing Financial Close Management & Custom Integrations
Janette Kosior, Oracle Corporation
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 11, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Topic: Hyperion Applications - Subtopic: Reporting and Other Hyperion Apps

Customizing Planning interfaces via ADF
Prasad Kulkarni, Oracle Corporation
When: Monday June 25, Session 4, 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm
Topic: Hyperion Applications - Subtopic: Planning

Exalytics and Planning
Prasad Kulkarni, Oracle Corporation
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 13, 9:45 am - 10:45 am
Topic: Hyperion Applications - Subtopic: Planning

Oracle EPM/BI Development Panel
Al Marciante, Oracle Corporation
When: Monday June 25, Session 1, 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Oracle Exadata Technical Features Overview
Dan Norris, Oracle Corporation
When: Monday June 25, Session 3, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Topic: Database - Subtopic: Infrastructure/Management/Security

Exalytics and Essbase
Gabby Rubin, Oracle Corporation
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 6, 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Topic: Business Intelligence - Subtopic: BI Applications

Essbase 11.1.2.2 New Features
Gabby Rubin, Oracle Corporation
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 14, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

A Forward Look at Essbase
Gabby Rubin, Oracle Corporation
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 16, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Enterprise Projects Financial Planning - An Integrated Approach
Shankar Viswanathan, Oracle Corporation
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 9, 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm
Topic: EPM Business Content - Subtopic: EPM Business Content

Deep Dive into the New Features in Planning 11.1.2.2
Shankar Viswanathan, Oracle Corporation
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 13, 9:45 am - 10:45 am
Topic: Hyperion Applications - Subtopic: Planning

Intro to HFM 11.1.2.2: Working with Almost Unlimited Custom Dimensions, and Intro to an Entirely New User Interface
Rich Wilkie, Oracle Corporation
When: Thursday June 28, Session 18, 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Topic: Hyperion Applications - Subtopic: HFM

Intro to Oracle Financial Management Analytics (HFM pre-built dashboard for OBIEE)
Rich Wilkie, Oracle Corporation
When: Thursday June 28, Session 17, 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Topic: Hyperion Applications - Subtopic: HFM

Customer Panel (Aramark, Experian and General Dynamics): Better Together - Oracle EPM and ERP Solutions
Neela Chaudhari, Product Development
When: Monday June 25, Session 3, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Topic: EPM Business Content - Subtopic: Case Studies/Panels

That is a lot of direct-from-Oracle goodness.  Where else are you going to find this scope and breadth and geekiness?  Nowhere else is where.  Are you coming to San Antonio?

And so we are done

I’m not entirely sure why I thought writing a blog post every day this week was a good idea.  I tend to have these great (ahem) ideas that then proceed to eat up my free time – this week’s blitz is yet another example.

The thing is, I really haven’t covered all of the cool things at Kscope12:  the volunteer day, EPM Midnight Madness, the Special Event, the networking, the lunch n learns, the labs, etc.  I’ve had multiple people tell me that they wish they could split in two (mad scientists working on cloning, here is your target market) so they could attend simultaneous sessions.  It really is that good.  I hope that this series gave you a taste of what to expect but really the only way to know is to go.  See you in San Antonio!

KScope12 session highlight No. 4

Back to the beginning

Ah, the start of a romance, when you and your paramour are eagerly discovering each other.  Anything and everything seems possible.  You feel as if you are on cloud nine and the world is your oyster.  Of course you felt this way about Essbase, right?  I know I did, although I can be somewhat…odd in my enthusiasms.

One of the benefits (?) about aging (other than the alternative, which is being dead) is that you can watch others go through the same experiences as you.  (Sorry, I have to insert this if you clicked on the previous link.  One day I will have to write a blog about Canadian humor, alas not today.)

Silliness aside, not everyone knows Essbase.  In fact, there are (thankfully) new customers of what is surely the most awesome analytical tool there ever has been all the time.

And to reach those Essbase newbies, Kscope12 has a track exclusively dedicated to the basics of Essbase.  It’s the brainchild of MMIC, and is a pretty interesting group of sessions.  Remember, if you are an advanced Essbase developer, these sessions are probably not for you, although I am sure there is interesting and unique content.

Essbase Beginner Track

Hyperion 101: An Introduction to the Oracle EPM/BI Suite
Andrew Jorgensen, Reportinq
When: Monday June 25, Session 1, 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: Introductory content for new users

Dimension and Data Loading
Alice Lawrence, LSG Sky Chefs
When: Monday June 25, Session 4, 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: Introductory content for new users

BSO Calculation Basics
Alice Lawrence, LSG Sky Chefs
When: Monday June 25, Session 5, 4:15 pm - 5:15 pm
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: Introductory content for new users

Beginning Calculation Manager for Essbase and Hyperion Planning
Jeff Richardson, Edgewater Ranzal
When: Thursday June 28, Session 17, 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: Introductory content for new users

Essbase Application Design Considerations for Beginners
Edward Roske, interRel Consulting
When: Monday June 25, Session 3, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: Introductory content for new users

Introduction to Essbase Studio
Glenn Schwartzberg, interRel Consulting
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 14, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: Introductory content for new users

Beginner's Guide to Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting
Mehmet Sevinc, Bank of the West
When: Thursday June 28, Session 19, 11:45 am - 12:45 pm
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: Introductory content for new users

Why Can't I Look at an Essbase Cube?
Angela Wilcox, BI Architect – MedAssets
When: Monday June 25, Session 2, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: EPM Beginner Track

Note – I have revised this post to include sessions shared with other tracks.  Now there is a home for yr. obdnt. srvnt.

Managing an EPM Project Successfully - A Client's Perspective
Natalie Delemar, Ernst & Young
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 6, 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Topic: EPM Business Content - Subtopic: Case Studies/Panels

Don't Do This! Effective Strategies to Avoid Building Ineffective ASO Cubes.
Martin Slack, Ernst & Young
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 8, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Oracle Essbase Worst Practices - Lessons from a Moron
Edward Roske, interRel Consulting
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 9, 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Script or Die!
Cameron Lackpour, CL Solve
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 10, 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Intro to MDX + ASO
Gary Crisci, Morgan Stanley
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 11, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Getting the Most From Oracle EPM Product Support Presentation & Panel Discussion Part 1 & 2
Robb Salzmann, Accelatis
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 12, 8:30 am - 9:30 am & Session 13, 9:45 am - 10:45 am
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Introduction to Essbase Studio
Glenn Schwartzberg, interRel Consulting
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 14, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Topic: Essbase Beginner - Subtopic: Introductory content for new users

So Many Tools, What Do I Use?
Glenn Schwartzberg, interRel Consulting
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 15, 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Essbase 11.1.2.2 New Features
Gabby Rubin, Oracle Corporation
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 14, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

And so to conclude

Kscope12 is not just for ultra geeks and Oracle ACE Directors, but we mere mortals as well.  I’m happy that ODTUG has recognized that some of the advanced content might be leaving new developers by the wayside and has provided sessions that brings everyone under the conference tent.

Less than a month away…so awesome/so scary.

KScope12 session highlight No. 3

Introduction

It’s Wednesday, which means we (I am of course hoping that someone actually reads these posts – so here we are, you and I) are halfway through my week long blitz of ODUTG Kscope12 sessions.  I’m going to take a somewhat different take on sessions today and focus on a few of the more atypical sessions that I think are worth looking at.

Where oh where is my Organizational Psychology book?

A political beast

When I took that class, oh, forever ago, my callow youth prevented me from realizing that essentially, people are crazy (and I am including myself in this category), organizations are a reflection of the people that inhabit them, and that means there’s a whole body of study that looks at crazy organizations because heaven knows, those organizations need help.  Gary Crisci must have been paying more attention in class than I, because he has come up with a subject my OP professor would have given her eye teeth for.  This is a repeat (I think) from three years ago when I cleverly decided it would be awesome to work 90 hours in a week on a project AND be involved in multiple presentations AND give a presentation of my own.  I will not comment on what that says about my psychological state, then or now.  In any case, that level of insane busyness meant I missed this presentation and will try my darndest to get there this time.

Politics of Essbase
Gary Crisci, Morgan Stanley
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 15, 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Topic: EPM Business Content - Subtopic: EPM Business Content

Team building

Continuing the psychology theme, Martin D’Souza has a session on how to grow a development team so that developers aren’t at each other’s throats/they actually produce whatever they’re working on.  I’ve been on a lot of project teams – some were beyond awesome, most were okay, and a few were spectacularly dysfunctional.  I’d prefer to avoid the last category for, oh, the rest of my life, so if you’re in charge of putting together teams, please attend this session.  Although Martin comes at the issue from a APEX and PL/SQL perspective, the lessons he teaches should be applicable with slight modification to our narrow little world.

Building a Better Team
Martin D'Souza, ClariFit
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 8, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Topic: Application Express - Subtopic: Team Development, Testing, Debugging, Load Testing

Why would anyone want to do that?

Humor, as in a sense of

I believe the 28^th amendment to the US Constitution states that I have to hate him because I used to work for him, but I don’t, and he is an excellent speaker (so much so that his presentations are often SRO).  Who am I talking about?  Just the Kscope12 conference chairman, aka, Edward Roske who, in what I imagine will be a somewhat lounge in cheek approach, will outline the things you should NOT do in Essbase.  One note – I think some people are off put or puzzled by his dry sense of humor – if so, this presentation is probably not for you.  OTOH, if you have a pulse and a brain, you might find it entertaining and instructive.

Oracle Essbase Worst Practices - Lessons from a Moron
Edward Roske, interRel Consulting
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 9, 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase

Will there one day be a Dan’s Blog for Financial Reports hackers?

Dan Pressman always but always has a different take on tools.  Once you accept that FR reports are really XML objects, and that XML isn’t scary, changing them for fun and profit becomes a more than acceptable approach.  This session is a hacker’s dream (you are after all reading a blog all about hacking Essbase amongst other products so this shouldn’t scare you) and the fact that what Dan imparts is almost surely 100% unsupported by Oracle makes it that much better.  

Financial Reporting: I Didn't Know it Could Do THAT
Dan Pressman, nTuple, LLC
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 14, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Topic: Hyperion Applications - Subtopic: Reporting and Other Hyperion Apps

Once again, Kscope12 offers unique content

C’mon, think about it – where else are you going to find a mix of content like the above?  

Organizational Psychology – yes, Kscope12 attendees have brains, work in organizations (hey, even a one-man band like yr. obdnt. srvnt. has corporations as clients and I don’t exactly work alone in a Fortress of Solitude), and aren’t afraid to admit imperfection in this physical world.

Humor?  Oh, I’d say so.  I happily cannot find the video of me singing “Everybody Loves Somebody” but perhaps that is one of those coping mechanisms my brain has employed to keep the trauma at bay.  I am told it was…excruciating.  I can believe that although I am somewhat puzzled as I sound great when I sing it in the shower.  One of the imponderables of life, I suppose.

I hope you check out these presentations at the conference.  It’s just a short month away (gasp) and promises to be the best yet.  I can hardly wait.

KScope12 session highlight No. 2

Introduction

Ah, Oracle Data Integrator.  From the first time I opened up your nearly incomprehensible documentation (much better today, oh, you should have seen it with “SUNOPSIS” sprinkled all over it and nary a mention of Essbase, Planning, or HFM to be found) I knew you were special.  Powerful, obscure, chock full of technologies I had (and still have) almost no idea about, and with really unhelpful error messages.  How could I not love it?  And I do, although it sometimes drives me almost to tears of frustration.  When I get it (whatever “it” is) working, I want to dance a reel.  That is pretty sad, isn’t it?  No matter.  Excelsior!

ODTUG’s KScope is here to help you dance

I’m not the only one who has seen the power and possibility of ODI.  Kscope12 has 10 presentations on the subject including one from yr. obdnt. srvnt. and if you have any interest (and if you don’t, you should) in this powerful and exciting tool, I strongly suggest you make time in your convention schedule to attend a few of the sessions.

Here’s a list of the ODI sessions that I consider important:
Extending ODI - Hyperion Automation and Error Trapping
Opal Alapat, TopDown Consulting
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 11, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Data Management

ODI 11g for OWB Developers
Holger Friedrich, sumIT AG
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 15, 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Topic: Business Intelligence - Subtopic: Business Intelligence

Financial Data Quality On-demand - Seamlessly Integrate Hyperion FDM and Oracle Data Integrator
Matthias Heilos, MindStream Analytics
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 10, 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Data Management

Oracle Data Integrator - Best Practices That You Should Be Aware Of
Matthias Heilos, MindStream Analytics
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 14, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Data Management

Implementing ODI and OGG 11g to Maximise Performance and Scalability in a BI Enterprise
John Jeffries, Spirotek Limited
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 10, 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
Topic: Business Intelligence - Subtopic: Business Intelligence

Slay the Evil of Bad Data in Essbase with ODI
Cameron Lackpour, CL Solve
When: Monday June 25, Session 2, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Data Management

Essbase/Planning Metadata Management with ODI Across Environments
Terry Ledet,
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 15, 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Data Management

Hand Free HFM Automation
Alex Mathew, Oil and Gas
When: Tuesday June 26, Session 6, 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Topic: Hyperion Applications - Subtopic: HFM

Beginners Guide to Oracle Data Integrator for Oracle EPM Developers
Markus Shipley, interRel Consulting
When: Wednesday June 27, Session 12, 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Data Management

Moving Beyond the P&L: Essbase for Bank Planning and Technology Reporting
Evan Thayer, E*TRADE Financial
When: Monday June 25, Session 4, 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm
Topic: EPM Business Content - Subtopic: Case Studies/Panels

Isn’t that awesome?

10 sessions for ODI – where else are you going to find that many presentations with a scope as wide as shown above?  Not anywhere else is where.  And that is why Kscope is the singlemost best place to go for all of your EPM/BI education.  See you there. 

Kscope12 session highlight No. 1

Introduction

This week I’m going to try something new – daily blog posts where I highlight a session or two at Kscope12 that I think you ought to know about.  You are going, right?  ODTUG’s KScope is, at least in my mind, really the best educational opportunity there ever has been for Oracle EPM.  Nowhere else can you find an august gaggle of Oracle EPM geeks like you can at KScope.  Yes, that is somewhat tortured sentence structure but it’s true, every word of it.  And to prove it, I’m going to give you (well, you aren’t exactly paying for it, right?) five days of Kscope awesomeness.  Enjoy.

Without further preamble, let’s dive right into the first session I’m going to highlight, Jake Turrell’s session on Running Hyperion Planning on Your Laptop.

Can it be done?  Oh yes it can.

So those of you who have read my whines/insane rants/desperate pleas for help on running 11.1.2.x on a laptop know that I’ve gone to the Amazon Web Services cloud for my EPM jollies and really, it works just fine.  But of course I’m (hey, how big do you think the mighty CL Solve is?  And who exactly is that “CL” guy?) paying for computing time and storage.  I was a happy VMWare user in the 11.1.1.x world but had to abandon it when 11.1.2.x came out because of memory constraints.  Don’t believe me?  Just read through my blog and you can see this subject has…interested me.  Maybe frustrated immensely is a better way of describing it.

In a perfect world, I would have the choice of switching between AWS (which really is pretty awesome and is how the Kscope EPM labs are being run) when I wanted POWER and my lowly yet thrifty 8 gigabyte (it is hard for someone who started on a VIC-20 to write that but it’s now true) laptop running VMWorkstation the rest of the time.  John Goodwin blazed the trail here and here when he wrote about the EPM compact deployment shortly after it became available on 11.1.2.1.

Why you should go to this session

Jake Turrell has carried the educational  mission further by writing a white paper (I have only seen the white paper, not the presentation) that gives step by step installation instructions so clear, so simple, and so comprehensive that even an infrastructure idiot like yr. obdnt. srvnt. can do an install on his laptop.  This presentation covers everything, from required software to installing VMWare to what 11.1.2.2 binaries to download to configuring each and every component.  

It’s really excellent stuff and I am going to do an install on my laptop after Kscope.  I would do it before but with two presentations of my own to write and rehearse I’m fully booked.  

Jake’s presentation on installations is going to be Important Stuff because it will give us application EPM geeks a leg up on quick installs (it’s not that I don’t enjoy messing about with computers, it’s that I don’t have the time) and because it is a guide even for people installing on something rather larger than a laptop.  I highly recommend Running Hyperion Planning on Your Laptop.