Yup, another South Florida EPM meetup and the best yet

Yup, another one and the best yet

I just attended my sixth (I think it was the sixth but it’s all beginning to blur a bit.  Fifth?  Fourth?  No matter.) South Florida meetup out of the 15 or so meetup groups ODTUG have appleseeded.  Wherever they are, meetups are in one word fantastic.  Why?

1. They’re informal
2. They’re grassroots
3. They’re inclusive
4. They’re free
5. They’re educational
6. They’re awesome

Six reasons aren’t enough?  One would hope so.  If you’re not convinced let me review for you what made the latest meetup on 18 August 2016 in Miami, Florida so special.

The sponsors

While meetups can run on a shoestring – and sometimes these are the best of all – this latest event was a wee bit more organized and thus took money but not to the attendees.  Yup, you read that right:  this mini conference was free, gratis, sans frais, and geen kosten.  Did I mention I like ODTUG meetups?  Why yes I did.

ARC EPM, Secure24, and Top Down Consulting all generously contributed.  Thanks, Jessica Cordova, Monica Gordy, and John Riley.  It wouldn’t have happened without you.

What happened?

Good grief there was an awful lot going on.

The kickoff

Jessica, meetup organizer extraordinaire as well as ODTUG EPM Community meetup lead, kicked it off.  I’ve talked to Jessica in my role as the ODTUG board’s EPM liaison and she’s gone from nervous neophyte to seasoned practitioner.  Let her use her experience to help you set up a local meetup.

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?  ‘Cos there was.  I had the chicken.  It sure beats the PB&J I typically have whilst working at home.

Speed dating without pain

Having once witnessed that as a disinterested observer (they were going through existential angst, I was having a Rob Roy at the bar), I’m entirely happy to relate that wasn’t occurring at the meetup.  What actually was happening was geek speed networking which happily misses the aforementioned exercise’s desperation but shares the notion of enabling EPM geeks to meet fellow EPM geeks.  

There, I’ve probably insulted half of my readers although I think it’s debatable which group I’ve insulted with what.  Sometimes I amaze myself, but almost always in a bad way.  Whew.   

Clawing my way back to relevance, it was a fun and effective way of meeting perfect strangers.  My only complaint is that we didn’t have enough time to do this for everyone (not all of us could meet everyone) but it was a big group (22 not including Yr. Obt. Svt. and two others).  This is a nice problem to have.

Some of us really got into it.  And why not?

The presentations

As noted Yr. Obt. Svt. reprised the Kscope16 presentation Jason Jones and I had on PBCS administration vs. on-premises.  Jason, I mangled the bit about your PBJ API framework for PBCS but I blundered through to the best of my ability.  Here I am rehearsing that morning disheveled, unshaven, and unshowered.  Eeek.  See, Gentle Reader, I do this all for you.

The dog seemed to like it.

Ron Moore and Ludovic de Paz presented their “(Keep) Pushing the Envelope with New Calcs Features”.  I used Ron’s section on FIXPARALLEL directly after the meetup to parallelize a DATACOPY section of an administrative currency conversion fx calc script.  One can’t ask for more than that when it comes to actionable information.  I should note that long ago in another professional life Ron Moore taught me ASO in one of his classes.  I’ve presented with Ludovic as well as Paul Hoch re Calculation Manager usage.  I guess my point is both of them know me, both of them knew I would be there, and both of them showed up anyway.  Thanks, guys.

Do people value these things?

Do you see that upper left photo in the collage below?  That’s Dhaval Shah and he drove two hours to attend the meetup.  He even won my latest book.  That’s hunger for knowledge.

You’re going to be at the next one, right?  

Or start up your own in your area if one doesn’t exist?  Right?  Why not?  Reach out to ODTUG and git a goin’.

Be seeing you.

Kscope16 sessions I want (and maybe even will) attend

Will I?  Will I?  Maybe.

Ah, another year, another Kscope, another series of missed session opportunities.   No, not your opportunity to see better content when you avoid my sessions, but instead my never-ending and quite-likely-never-to-be-fulfilled desire to see all of Kscope all at once.  

For real and for true, even for the technologies I know Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah about, I wish I could attend each and every session no matter the subject.  Kscope16 is the very best place there is to know everything there is to know in Oracle-land except of course for Kscope17 and Kscope18 and so on till the end of time (or at least until I retire – après moi le déluge).

Yes, yes, all Kscope sessions are recorded and yes, yes, you can watch them after the conference but while as wonderful as that may be, nothing beats actually being there.  And that is what I (or you) cannot do.  As I like to quote, Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?.  Robert Browning I’m not, but at least I can appreciate his work and reflect upon the irony of practically failing out of a class on William Blake (mandatory English “elective”, and the professor really did try) and then actually enjoying poetry as an ostensibly adult geek.  Appreciation is an inadequate term – I love Kscope – I will not fail out of Kscope (not actually possible, but you know what I mean), and I will enjoy it to the very best of my ability.

That’s all a very long way of saying:  Kscope is awesome, Kscope is cool, if you don’t go to Kscope then you’re a fool.  ←Yes, I just made that up, and based on the quality of that ditty I won’t be OTN’s ACE Director in the Poet Laureate area.  Alas.

What am I really interested in?  Carnac knows.

So, silliness aside, below are the sessions I’m most keenly interested in separated by topic.  If you’re not already going to them, give them some consideration.  I think they’re going to be the highlights of the conference.

Cool titles

Not Just Budgeting Coffee: 10+ Years of Hyperion Planning at Dunkin' Brands

Michael Bender    , Performance Architects

Co-presenter(s): Beth McLaughlin, Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc.

When: Jun 29, 2016, Session 17, 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm

Topic: EPM Applications - Subtopic: Planning

Coffee?  ‘Nuff said.

Swipe Your Way to Better Analytics on the Cloud with Senior Lifestyle

Sarah Katz, Huron Consulting Group

Co-presenter(s): Celvin Vincent Kattookaran, Huron Consulting Group

When: Jun 29, 2016, Session 18, 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Topic: EPM Applications - Subtopic: EPM Reporting

PBCS and BICS – who would not want to be there?

Accounting for Users Who Are One Sandwich Short of a Picnic

David Fouts, SC&H Group

Co-presenter(s): Nick Scott, SC&H

When: Jun 29, 2016, Session 16, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Topic: EPM Applications - Subtopic: Planning

Sandwiches, yum.

Cloud

There are lots and lots of sessions on this, too many to note, and two of which I am co-presenting.  Okay, I lie:  there’s over 50.   Take your pick but know that Cloud is the future.

Tuning

ASO Tuning and Calculations

Tim Faitsch, Sears Holdings

When: Jun 27, 2016, Session 4, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

Tim does brilliant, painstaking work which is just the sort of approach to figure this all out.  I’m particularly interested in his Hybrid session.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Hybrid But Were Afraid to Ask

Tim Faitsch, Sears Holdings

When: Jun 27, 2016, Session 2, 10:15 am - 11:15 am

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

Ibid.

Hybrid

Hybrid in Production Panel

Tim German, Qubix

When: Jun 28, 2016, Session 10, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

People ask, “Is Hybrid for real?”  This panel ought to answer the question.

Case Study: Converting a Multi-Cube Solution to a Single Cube Using Hybrid Mode

Dennis Hogan, Finit Solutions

When: Jun 29, 2016, Session 15b, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

More Real World Hybrid.  Good stuff.

Data integration

Triggering Focused ODI Jobs from Planning on an Entire Ecosystem

Dmitry Kryuk, Independent Consultant

When: Jun 28, 2016, Session 12, 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

Focused aggregations for Planning, but far more dynamic and far cooler.

Incredible ODI Tips to Work with Hyperion Tools

Ricardo Giampaoli, TeraCorp

Co-presenter(s): Rodrigo Radtke de Souza, Dell

When: Jun 27, 2016, Session 6, 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: EPM Data Integration

The two Crazy (Brilliant) Brazilians.  They love ODI and you will too if you attend their session.

Two unfortunate men

Will Jason and Tim ever learn?  

On-Premises Planning vs. PBCS: Common Administrative Tasks Compared, Contrasted, and Recommended

Cameron Lackpour, ARC EPM

Co-presenter(s): Jason Jones, Applied OLAP

When: Jun 27, 2016, Session 3a, 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm

Topic: EPM Applications - Subtopic: Planning

This session is aimed at two different audiences:  on-premises Planning administrators who wonder what all the fuss is about PBCS from their perspective as well as PBCS admins who are looking to go beyond the in-built tools.  It’s a very practical and pragmatic approach to figuring out what the best way to manage your Planning apps and why PBCS is just better and easier to manage vs. on-premises. 

Essbase, the Cloud, and Why You Should Care

Cameron Lackpour, ARC EPM

Co-presenter(s): Tim German, Qubix

When: Jun 29, 2016, Session 17, 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

If you’re in any way, shape, manner or form interested in Essbase in the cloud, you should come to this session.  You’ll hear Oracle’s take on EssCS at the Sunday Symposium.  Come to our session to see what it’s really like.

Extensibility

Essbase CDFs: A Microscope and a Dremel at the Same Time

Dmitry Kryuk, Independent Consultant

When: Jun 28, 2016, Session 9, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

Dmitry is brilliant.  This is seriously good stuff when it comes extending Essbase.  

Awesomeness, and Its Name Is Calc Manager!!!!!

Celvin Kattookaran, Huron Consulting Group

When: Jun 27, 2016, Session 5, 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

My younger, smarter, taller brother from other parents keeps on teasing that this is cool stuff. The Calc Mgr team does sterling work with the developer community so I’m anxious to see what this is all about.

cubeSavvy Utilities: The Missing Essbase Tools

Harry Gates, Cox Automotive

Co-presenter(s): Philip Hulsebosch, Trexco

When: Jun 29, 2016, Session 16, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Topic: EPM Platform - Subtopic: Essbase

This is some cool $hit.  Yes, I really went there.  And yes it really is that awesome.

Smart View

The two G’s are the two Greats.  Or Geeks.  Or Great Geeks.  Or Geek Greats.  You decide.

There and Back Again: An Epic Journey with the Smart View API

George Cooper, Gap

When: Jun 28, 2016, Session 9, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Topic: EPM Applications - Subtopic: EPM Reporting

I love it:  George is bending Smart View to his will for (hopefully) the Forces of Good.

Put Your Own Ribbon on Smart View

Gary Adashek, General Electric

When: Jun 29, 2016, Session 15b, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Topic: EPM Applications - Subtopic: EPM Reporting

Gary is a sucker who fell for my pitch valued and generous EPM Community leader.  Gary, strangely, loves Smart View and is dedicated to making it better and better.  I’ve heard about, but have not seen, this add-in.  It’s supposed to be The Berries.

See you there

It’s going to be GREAT!  Content, content, content is king and Kscope is the place to see it.  There’s tons more than I’ve outlined above.  

Join us, won’t you?

The Compleat Idiot's Guide to PBCS No. 9 -- The A to Z of EPM Automate

The sum of more than its parts

In the on-premises Planning world we have access to a variety of EPM script languages:  Essbase’s MaxL (probably the most commonly used), Shared Services’ LCM utility, and the many Planning utilities.

In the PBCS world we have precisely none of that.  No MaxL, no LCM utility, no suite of Planning utilities.  How oh how oh how are we supposed to manage PBCS except through Workspace or the Simplified Interface?  The answer is EPM Automate.

Death of a thousand cuts aka Yet Another EPMA Rant by Cameron

I am happy to relate that the first four characters of EPM Automate do not in any way, manner, or form refer to some kind of zombie-like continuation of EPMA.  That product, as worthy as its genesis may have been (and I do actually think the idea of a single metadata editor across multiple products has quite a bit of merit), its execution has been an unending source of pain, confusion, and anguish since the first day I (and practically everyone else I’ve met) set eyes on it back in 2008.  Whew, that was quite a rant and whoever owns it at Oracle, I’m sorry, but your product has caused quite a few of my grey hairs.

#NoAccess

Pointless but deeply satisfying rants aside, there are several problems wrt PBCS automation:  there’s no way to actually connect to the server OS – no terminal, no OS user id, no OS password, no view of the server file system, the lack of live connectivity means that automation has to run from a client machine, not the server itself, and lastly and most importantly the suite of automation tools we use on a regular basis doesn’t exist.  

What are we trying to do

If we are to consider a typical Planning administrative use case of a monthly load of actuals into a forecast scenario it will require the following steps:

• Partially clearing a Plan Type of a forecast out month(s).
• Loading metadata, pushing out a refresh
• Loading data
• Running a calculation uses,

Those steps in turn require:  

• MaxL to clear via a calc script,
• outlineload.cmd to load metadata,
• REFRESHCUBE.cmd to refresh the Planning application
• MaxL again to run an administrative calc script (yes, you could do this with a Calc Mgr rule but I’ve never seen it).

All of that can be done in EPM Automate and you’ll see this bit by bit over the next few weeks but first we (or at least I) need to understand some kind of mapping between the on premises and cloud world.

The universe of commands in the other tools is too large to manage or even comprehend – I’ve been working with Planning since 2001 and I’d guess at least 30% of the command line grammar is still terra incognita to me – I’ve never used SortMember or TaskListDefUtil or DeleteSharedDescendant – let alone all of the many, many, many commands in MaxL.  Instead what we’ll do is look at what EPM Automate can do and match it to the commands that exist in the on-premises world.  From that I’ll have another post on what it actually takes to follow that use case with a few surprises along the way.

With that, let’s do that compare and contrast exercise.

EPM Automate commands

A quick note about documentation – Oracle has done sterling work with their PBCS documentation and EPM Automate is no exception.  I encourage you to peruse Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud in addition to the genius (ahem) below.

Applicable across all services

NB – These seem awfully PBCS-specific despite the documentation’s claim otherwise.  Having said that, as I’ve never used anything other than PBCS, I could yet again be 100% wrong.  Those who take glee in correcting me, please write a comment to this blog.

NB No. 2 – If I only RTFMed, I’d have seen that there’s a whole section on Account Reconciliation Cloud that does have commands of its own.  Okey dokey, that means these are global commands.

EPM Automate	On-premises equivalent	Comment
help	Most if not all utilities offer some kind of terse help.	Command help is what it is.  MaxL is pretty bad at this.
encrypt	Planning has its own PasswordEncryption utility, MaxL has for ages had it’s approach.	Whatever you do, if there’s a plain text file that is used to create the encrypted password, move it off the server/client to some secure place.
login	Again, duplicated in Planning utilities and MaxL.  There’s but a single password for EPM Automate.	In on-premises it’s possible – likely even – to have different passwords for Planning and Essbase.  That isn’t the case with PBCS.  You’ll have to decide if that’s a good or bad thing.
logout	A lot of the Planning utilities are run-from-a-command-line and there is no logout after the process is complete.	MaxL requires either a logout or exit command.
uploadfile	Load metadata via outlineload.cmd, data via Essbase/MaxL.	The concept of uploading data or metadata to a folder for further processing doesn’t apply to on-premises.  One could look at OS file system folders to do the same functionality but they are not intrinsic to Planning.
downloadfile	DATAEXPORT BSO calc command, LCM utility	Again there is no concept of a folder in the on-premises world.  Up to three different utilities are required to duplicate EPM Automate’s functionality.
listfiles	OS folders only.	You could use file system folders in the OS to sort of, kind of duplicate this functionality but really there is no direct analogue.
deletefile	LCM utility, OS deletes.	Again, not a great match between the two worlds because of the folder construct.
exportsnapshot	LCM EPMExportAll utility.	This is a pretty tight match in functionality.
importsnapshot	LCM EPMImportAll utility.	Again a pretty good match.
recreate –f	CubeRefresh utility, sort of	Cuberefresh can recreate the Essbase outline whilst getting rid of any hard-earned calc scripts, load rules, etc. (Why would anyone ever want to do this beyond the first go round?).  What it can’t do is delete the app as recreate –f can.
feedback	N/A	Call your friendly Planning Product Manager (not much chance of that really) or submit an enhancement request to Oracle Support.
resetservice	Bounce the Planning service.	This is a complete PITA in on-premises because it will affect all Planning apps.

PBCS-specific commands

NB – Now we really are getting to functionality that only makes sense within PBCS.

Two notes

A note about the oft-referred to Jobs.  Jobs are actions that are used to support EPM Automate functions, e.g. a job to import data into an application.  This concept just doesn’t exist in on-premises.

As with on-premises Planning, Calculation Manager Business Rules are used to perform all calculations.  Essbase calc scripts are not available in PBCS.  There’s no reason to use MaxL to call a script as there are no scripts to call.

EPM Automate	On-premises	Comments
importdata	MaxL, outlineload	The on-premises (and PBCS) native data load functionality is so brain-dead it beggars belief.  Really, it’s just awful.  At least the two are at parity.  :)
exportdata	MaxL, outlineload	Ibid.
refreshcube	CubeRefresh	There are far fewer options in EPM Automate, e.g. there is no ability just refresh filters in EPM Automate.
runbusinessrule	CalcMgrCmdLineLauncher	The functionality is at parity, right down to ways to pass RTP values.
runplantypemap	PushData	The functionality is at parity.
importmetadata	Outlineload	The functionality is at parity except outlineload.cmd can read from SQL.
exportmetadata	OutlineLoad	The functionality is at parity except outlineload.cmd can read to SQL.

Data management specific commands

As you may have noted in my rant on importdata, to state that the native data load to Planning is flawed is to be excessively kind.  I can’t think of one system I’ve ever come across that uses it and I’ve been working with Planning since 2002.

To that end, and because FDMEE is the data integration tool of choice for EPM, PBCS uses FDMEE.  The EPM Automate commands reflect that approach.

EPMA Automate	On-premises	Comments
rundatarule	loaddata	EPM Automate cannot load metadata through the loaddata command.  FDMEE’s on-premises loadmetadata can.
runbatch	Runbatch	On-premises requires a username and password in addition to the batch name.  This isn’t required in EPM Automate because batch execution takes place within an already-logged in session.

That’s just the beginning

You now have yr. obt. svt.’s take on EPM Automate.  I rather like it because I no longer have to mash together a bunch of tools to get a common Planning automation working.  I really like the fact that I don’t need to run the Planning utilities from the Planning server itself.  Explaining that to a very skeptical/hostile IT department is not one of my favorite Planning tasks.

I’ll walk through some, but not all, of these commands in my next post as I do a compare-and-contrast approach to my on-premises version of PBCS’ Vision application and the real PBCS deal.  

One note:  pity my younger, smarter, not-in-any-way-from-the-same-parents brother and fellow ACE Director Celvin, as I asked him to confirm a few statements.  I did warn you that I am a Compleat Idiot when it comes to PBCS but I thought it’d be nice if I didn’t spread misinformation.

Be seeing you.