Kscope13, day 1

Introduction

Monday is the first “real” day of the conference.  All very, very cool and for the first three sessions I am also room ambassador.  Alas, this does not mean that I shall be henceforth be referred to as “Your Excellency” although I am totally okay with that form of address in future.  You decide.

And the content is…

I was the ambassador for the first three sessions.  That means I passed out evaluation slips, was a microphone monkey, and got cool pins I get to attach to my conference lanyard.

Essbase and Planning Calculation Basics

What’s worse than having an 8:30 session?  Why it’s having Oracle Essbase development kibitz on your session and offer improvements to your content.  But it was all in spirit of helpfulness and John Booth was able to recover.

Essbase New and Upcoming Features

Super cool stuff.  You really, really, really should have been there.  Maybe I will update with details if allowed to.  Watch this space.  

Btw, if I am not allowed to, then all I can tell you is that Gabby Rubin, Essbase Product Manager, talked about some really interesting futures for Essbase.  And oh yeah, you should have been there.

Introducing the Outline Extractor NG (Next Generation)

I was on the beta for Tim’s latest and greatest version tool and was very possibly the worst beta participant although I did at least find one bug.  It was very exciting to see the tool actually on display for the world to see.

The Outline Extractor that Applied OLAP has maintained throughout the years has been incredibly useful.  I understand that the single largest downloader, based on domain name is none other than Oracle, so it was perhaps no surprise to see Oracle development staff in the room.  

Top Six Advanced Planning Tips

This is a session Jessica Cordova and I gave – she was the senior and I the junior.  And of course we lied – we didn’t actually do six tips, but instead three, which is sort of not what was promised.  We lied (well, we did, didn’t we?) because we had so much awesome stuff that we couldn’t possibly do all of it in a single session and instead have pinky promised to do the balance in an ODTUG webinar.  It took a lot of pressure off and we still had good content.  

Advanced Essbase Studio Tips and Tricks

This is a session given by my not-actually-related-in-any-way-and-in-fact-he-denies-the-whole-thing older brother Glenn Schwartzberg.  Glenn always does quality work and I wish oh wish oh wish I could have been there but unfortunately I got pulled away by other things.  Sorry big bro, but I’m sure I’m the worse off for not being there.

Keynote

This was really quite good.  Doc Hendley, of the Wine Into Water foundation, did a fantastic job.  A very inspiring and humble man who is determined to do good in this all too imperfect world.

ODTUG also announced that Kscope14 will be in Seattle, Washington.  My parents lived there back in the early 1960s in a basement apartment that had constantly moldy walls, no matter what my mother did to clean them.  My mother, who hasn’t returned to Seattle since 1961, also said, “It was a nice little town.”  I wonder if it has grown any since then.  :)

Conclusion

As always, Kscope is great, Kscope is exhausting, Kscope is the place you ought to be if you care at all about your overall knowledge and of course a chance to meet and great all of your fellow Oracle geeks.

Be seeing you in New Orleans.