10 Years Before the Mast with ODTUG

10 years, and counting

10 isn’t quite as impressive as 20 – more like half as impressive – but a decade is a long time in technology and even in a geek’s life.  Time to see real changes in his knowledge, work, outlook, contributions, and personal life.  I won’t bother any of you with the latter except to note that I still have four cats as I did in 2008.  The rest I owe, without exaggeration, in large part to ODTUG.

I’ll make a note that this post is one of my more philosophical ones.  If you’re looking for technical advice, go read someone else’s blog.  If how you can better yourself and make a difference in your professional and personal world, read on.  

Think of this post as a love letter to a user group.  Yeah, I’m weird but what I relate is true, I promise you that.

Just what is ODTUG, Cameron?

OMG, you read my blog and don’t know?  I am (heh, I flatter myself but still), one of that august gaggle of geeks’ greatest cheerleaders.  And why not?  Through ODTUG’s Kscope (nee Kaleidoscope and the Oracle Developer Tools User Group), I’ve seen and presented (more anon on that subject) countless sessions, laughed, occasionally gritted my teeth in frustration (although that had more to do with personalities than the organization itself; I can only imagine what they thought of me), slept way too little, learnt more than I could possibly have imagined, and, most importantly of all, met fellow geeks and geekettes that have utterly transformed my life.  That’s just the conference.  There’s also six years on the board of directors, rising from a n00b with the wettest of ears to finishing on the Executive Committee, and most importantly, two years acting as the EPM liaison to the board.  I’ve written articles for the ODTUG newsletter, presented webinars, helped organize and present at meetups all over the country, interviews at conferences, promotion any which way I can – the list goes on and on.  I have been called lazy.  I don’t know why.  All of this work, all of the time, all of the sacrifice is because I love ODTUG.  I’m not the only one as ODTUG thrives because there are many just like me.  You’d have done the same given the opportunity.  You still can.  You should.

For the record:  ODTUG is the bestest, most awesomest, greatest Oracle technical conference in the world, full stop.  Join and it’ll change your life.  Don’t believe me?  Read on, Gentle Reader.

Where it all started

Although it amazes, astonishes, and dismays me (it has been quite a passage of time) to write this, I have worked in the EPM space since the day I got out of school starting with Comshare’s Commander EIS (think standard reporting via touchscreens and mainframe OLAP  ‘cos executives couldn’t handle keyboards), Arbor’s Essbase, Hyperion’s Essbase, Planning, and Financial Reports (HAL too I suppose but with great reluctance because it was an ETL abomination), and then Oracle’s Essbase, ODI, Planning, PBCS, Oracle Analytics Cloud, PL/SQL, and I’m sure a few other technologies I’ve forgotten.  

But that latter list of technologies that I have (barely) mastered would never have happened without ODTUG.  Let’s address the four Ws and one H of what today passes for journalism.

When and where?

Who amongst you remembers this?

As an aside, does anyone still use the term, “Middleware”?  That’s as obsolete as HAL.  Yeah, I hate that product.

Who?

I can think of a handful of EPM friends and colleagues whom I first met in New Orleans that are still active in ODTUG:  Joe Aultman, Gary Crisci, Natalie Delemar, Glenn Schwartzberg (Although I think at the time he viewed me as an annoying gadfly.  Come to think of it he still does.), and Tim Tow (I’ve known him since 1995 but it would be churlish not to mention him).  The list has since expanded many, many, many times.

How?

NB – I have no idea why I hung on to the program schedule from 2008 nor why I was able to find it for this post.  Blog Kismet, perhaps?

See Napoleon (my favorite insane dictator, actually the only one but only because of his many aphorisms) A1-A3?  That was just a largeish conference room with space for no more than 100 people.  And that was all there was for the whole conference.  The only subject:  Essbase.  For EPMers, Kaleidoscope 2008 was small, intimate, and utterly mind-blowing in the quality of content, depth of knowledge, the chance to put faces to message board handles, the meeting of like minds, and feeling of excitement.  There was literally nothing to touch it and we knew it was special.  ODTUG have moved from strength to strength and the conferences have grown enormously but in my mind the best one was the first.

What

That’s all on an emotional level.  From a technical level, at least personally, it was a train wreck.  Why?  Because it showed me how complacent I had become with my technical skills.  I liked to pretend that I had a solid technical skill set but sitting there in the audience showed how wrong I was when it came to design (what the Hell is a hockey stick?), calculations (heh, will this MDX thing stick around?), VBA (okay, I knew that pretty well but as the saying goes:  Complacency, shattered), on and on and on.  I’m still running to catch up.

IF self-awareness is the first step to improvement, then having a way to actuate that change is vital; Kscope has been that mechanism.

Even my lousy memory recalls this:

And this:

Yeah, one room, but there were a few more than a hundred people there.  

And that one room at Kaleidoscope 2008 for sessions?  Try 11 rooms with five timeslots per day.  Yes, really.   And that’s just EPM.  

That’s an awful lot of expertise, freely given, and if you’ve got two brain cells to rub together and ability to swallow your ego, an amazing chance for you to learn and contribute right back to the EPM community.  Re the ego bit:  some people (mostly consultants) are a bit hopeless when it comes to this but I like to think that yr. hmbl. & obt. svt. is smart enough to adopt the position of, “Huh?  Duh.  Help.”  which then leads to The Knowledge.  My father likes to say I have two ears and one mouth and it’s best to use them in proportion.  Most Kscope attendees do.

Again, for those in the Oracle EPM space, there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, like ODTUG’s Kscope.

Virtue is its own reward aka Why

That bromide is true.  At ODTUG there are as I noted many ways to give back from the Saturday service day to presenting to volunteering to buying me a cup of coffee.  Okay, I made the last bit up but you get the idea of generosity.

Professionally, the knowledge that I’ve gained in attending, presenting, networking, and volunteering have been rewarding.  Truly, without ODTUG I’d be unemployed or at least never reach my potential such as it is.

I like to joke that I couldn’t sell death during a plague and for the most part that’s true, but when it comes to encouraging people to volunteer, run for the board, present, write articles, you name it I have been successful.  That’s not because I’ve suddenly become Dale Carnegie, it’s because the opportunity and value and comradeship that ODTUG is simply draws geeks in.  I’ve watched others grow as they become involved and while the hard graft is all theirs, it’s incredibly satisfying to be there at the start.

Beyond the real satisfaction that comes from giving back to our community, ODTUG recognizes achievement.  I’ve been beyond lucky to be recognized for this but I’m most certainly not alone.  

We even get nice gongs.

NB – Yes, the below is “Look at me!  I’m awesome, aren’t I?”  Cf. my earlier comment about ego, I have one too although I do try to throttle it down.  But that’s not the point.  I highlight the below because it’s both a way of illustrating that ODTUG recognizes achievement and the way in which it does it.  And yeah, a bit of self-praise.  So sue me, I’m an American and that’s what we do.  At least I don’t have a Facebook account.

How

Best new speaker, 2009

This one was a surprise to put it mildly.  I worked for a consulting company on what I am sure was the 2nd worst project I’ve ever been on – the contention for 1st switches between two others that I will not bore you with – and I stupidly tried to save it.  That meant literally working 100 (yes, really, working till 3 am and then waking up at 5 o’clock) hours on the project, manning a booth, and presenting a session at 9 am on Thursday.  I think by that point I was so tired and annoyed that whatever few filters I have were dead and buried.  I got lots of laughs (who gets laughs after the Wednesday night event and when the subject is MaxL?) so I think that was largely the reason.  Or ODTUG recognized a geek at the end of his tether and pitied me.  A word to the wise:  Don’t Be That Guy.

In any case, I was beyond amazed to get this in the mail:

I’m still not sure I deserved it but as Gary Crisci once said, never argue with good fortune.  The kaleidoscope is pretty cool.

Volunteer of the year

Even more of a surprise was being included in the 2010 Volunteer of the Year award.  This one I’m positive I didn’t deserve because I was on the SIG for three months or so when it was awarded.  I did in fact argue with YCC on this one because truly it was the work of others but I was told to embrace the non-suck.  I did but again, it’s a bit embarrassing.

Sorry for the bad photography.  Robert Capa I’ll never be.

2017 Essbase best co-speaker

Last, and definitely not least, I won the Essbase best co-speaker award this year.  I’m 100% positive that this was due to my co-speaker, Pete Nitschke, but again, who am I to argue with deluded and mistaken judges of great taste and discernment.  

Here we are, Pete and I.  I’ve got the schnozzola for Uncle Sam and Pete is quite a bit thinner than John Bull and to be fair not exactly British but, as I like to remind him when I take the piss out of him after he’s indulged in what is undoubtedly a cathartic session of anti-Americanism, he’s got a Queen on his currency we Septics don’t.   Regardless, it was tremendous fun working with this Antipodean and it was beyond nice to be recognized. While the below is as near to 100% accurate as damn it in its depiction of the two of us, I’m not sure steamships were our subject (Hybrid Essbase and Planning was the subject and Oracle, would you please bring Hybrid support to PBCS as it really does revolutionize Planning?).

I think the inclusion of Columbia and Britannia was a nice gesture too.  See, Women in Technology is as old as the hills.  Or is that Women in Battleships?  Women With Flags?  

Here’s the award.  The kaleidoscope even works despite its fragility.  Seemingly anticipating my clumsiness, ODTUG provided a spare wheel.

Yes, it is nice to be recognized.  Yes, it is very American to brag.  Sorry, but all of this is in way of proving another point, to wit, if I can do this, so can you.  

You can attend, present, blog, Tweet, write books, volunteer, run for the Board of Directors, run meetups, & c..  Really.  All of this and more.  And you’ll even get nice doodads for your office credenza although that really isn’t the point.  Why not?  If a lazy bore like me can do it, why can’t you?  Exactly.

10 years

It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long since 2008 but indeed it has and the years have flown by.  As Monty Latiolais once said, our time in the sun is complete.  It has been a fantastic run, a spectacular one even.  I couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it without ODTUG.  I encourage you to invest blood, sweat, and tears into ODTUG because that hard work will pay you back a thousand fold as it has for me and so many others.

Be seeing you.

Drill to Detail Ep.37 'How Essbase Won the OLAP Wars' With Special Guest Cameron Lackpour

Drill to Detail, just what is it?

It’s Mark Rittman’s take on (I am just going to crib directly from the site) on the business and strategy of analytics, big data, and distributed processing in the cloud in the form of podcast interviews with the geeks (I may have added this descriptor) who make it all happen.  I particularly like the way his interviews and interviewees contextualize technologies within markets, companies, and across history.  There’s nothing else like it.

If this sounds overly ambitious, know that the execution exceeds the vision.  Why?  Because Mark interviews the Great and the Good of our (and many other) professional spaces to get their take on technology, products, markets, trends, and futures.  Some of the luminaries most of us should recognize are Stewart Bryson, Dan McClary, Graham Spicer, Robin Moffatt, Vasu Murthy, Chris Webb, Gwen Shapira, Adrian Ward, and Donald Farmer who speak on tools and subjects as diverse as Gartner groupings, Big Data, Kudu, Hadoop, various forms of BI, Cloud (of course), DI, OLAP, and now… Essbase.

Yeah, Essbase.  And yeah, yr. obt. svt.  But don’t let that last bit put you off.

I could write all kinds of (un)funny jokes about how Mark made some sort of mind numbing mistake bringing me on (and would likely get many to agree) and could write all kinds of quite truthful remarks about how many others could have done better.  Instead I’ll just shut up for once and be grateful.  

You can subscribe to the series on iTunes or listen in via your browser:

https://www.drilltodetail.com/podcast/2017/8/1/drill-to-detail-ep37-how-essbase-won-the-olap-wars-with-special-guest-cameron-lackpour

In any case, I am beyond flattered to have been included in Mark’s program and I hope I do the subject justice.  Listen in, I think you’ll enjoy it.  Listen to the rest of the Drill to Detail series as well – it’s eye opening.

Be seeing you.

P.S.  And yeah, 76 minutes of  yr. obt. svt., longer than any other of his podcasts.  I'm either an Essbase bore and he couldn't stand listening to me again to edit it down or what I have to say interested Mark and maybe you too.  You decide.

Kscope17: The (mostly) good, the (not hardly) bad, and the ugly (have you seen geeks party?)

That’s taken care of that

The title of this post has managed to:  intrigue, titillate, and insult all of you, Gentle Readers, at the same time.  Unpossible!  And yet.  I do my best.

But beyond alienating my ever-diminishing group of followers, the purpose of this post is to suggest a few sessions that I – and you – Really Ought to See at Kscope.

ROtSaK?  Rucksack?  Nope, Really Ought to See at Kscope

Usually I painstakingly break this out by day and by track and by technology and some other obsessive selection criteria that drive you – and me – completely round the bend.  Nope, not gonna do that this time, mostly because I am – as has been pointed out to me with some force – lazy.  

I don’t want to disappoint my ardent detractorsfans so this is going to be my quick and dirty view by day.  

In reading this you will note that there are conflicting sessions.  This isn’t because I have finally been successful in cloning myself – Could the world take more than one Cameron?  I certainly couldn’t. – but because I am as always torn when it comes to choosing sessions.  I want to go here but I also want to go over there and at the same time I need to be there.  :(  Where I’ll end up won’t be determined until I actually am facing the decision.  See, I am both indecisive and lazy.

You can look all of this up at Kscope17.com.

Read the below to see what’s going to be covered but the big things I’m interested in are product direction related although there is a good smattering of technique sessions as well.  And yes, this is a copy-and-paste from the conference website but:  I am lazy and the presenters, including Yr. Obt. & Fthl. Svt., spent an awful lot of time writing these abstracts during the submission process.  How could I do a better job?  Exactly.

Sunday

There isn’t as far as I can tell any official agenda for the Sunday symposium but it is definitely not something to miss.  You can read about the reaction to the announcement about the rebirth (delayed execution?) of what exactly is on-premises EPM 11.2 here.

From that Network54 thread, here’s Sunday’s schedule:

8:45 AM Keynote: Matt Bradley, Sr. VP of Business Analytics Product Development
9:30 AM On-Premise Update
11:00 AM Bridge to Cloud (Hybrid)
12:00 PM Lunch Cibolo Canyon 5/6/7
1:00 PM EPM Cloud
2:30 PM Special Preview from the Data Relationship Management Team
3:10 PM EPM Cloud (Continued)
4:30 PM BI Cloud Services for EPM

What will these product direction announcements, particularly the on-premises direction, result in?  Will there be a giant love-in?  An enormous sigh of disappointment?  A riot?  The only way to find out is to be there.  I will be.

Monday

I've Got an MDX Script for That

Gary Crisci , General Electric

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 2 , 11:45 am - 12:45 pm

Room: Grand Oaks H

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: MDX

With the release of Essbase 11.1.2.4.010, it is now possible to get clean MDX output from a MaxL script. This opens many doors and possibilities for developers and power users, and makes knowing how to write a solid MDX script - a must-have skill for Essbase professionals.

In this session, EPM Principal Technologist and Oracle ACE, Gary Crisci, will discuss the fundamentals of writing MDX scripts. He will introduce the new delimited output options and discuss different ways to leverage this new feature. Gary will show attendees how they can use their MDX scripts to create advanced reports for users and how to format data for ingestion to other systems. Gary will also discuss how to use the Query & Load (Q&L) method to leverage MDX scripts as an alternative to ASO calc scripts. Don’t miss this informative session from a noted MDX expert.

Shootout at the Public Cloud Corral: Oracle vs. Amazon vs. Google vs. Microsoft

John Booth , METAVERO

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 3 , 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Room: Cibolo Canyon 2/3/4

Topic: EPM Infrastructure - Subtopic: Cloud and Hybrid Infrastructure

How do these Infrastructure as a Service offerings stack up in terms of features, price, and performance? We will set up an all-in-one Hyperion environment including Planning and HFM on four major public cloud providers and discuss ease of use, management, and how a Hybrid cloud environment integrates with your on-premise systems.

Extreme Calc Manager

Ludovic De Paz , TopDown Consulting

Co-presenter(s): Ron Moore, TopDown Consulting

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 3 , 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Room: Grand Oaks A/B

Topic: Planning - Subtopic: Planning Optimization

Calc Manager is at the center of Oracle’s EPM suite. It’s the place to develop logic for Essbase, HFM, and Planning on-premise or in the cloud. It’s chock full of advanced features, and it’s quite a task to master all of them. That’s where we come in. Join Ludovic De Paz, TopDown Consulting senior manager, and Ron Moore, TopDown Consulting solutions architect, for a deep dive into some of the more advanced features of Calc Manager.

We will focus on features that save time and/or allow developers to do things they otherwise couldn’t do and explore:
• how to take advantage of Calc Manager’s modular nature to develop rules and rule sets quickly and benefit from reusability
• all types of variables and some advanced variable tricks
• how to troubleshoot using the debugger, error messages, and logs (especially with the cloud)
• how to use custom-defined templates to adapt your rules to different outlines and applications
• how to use custom-defined functions

This session promises to satisfy the most geeky of you, and with several real-life stories and demos you will be able to take your business rules to the next level.

What's New and Coming in Planning

Prasad Kulkarni , Oracle Corporation

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 3 , 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Planning - Subtopic: Other Planning

In this session you will hear Oracle's strategy for on-premise offering in the Planning domain.

Mother/King/Queen of All CDFs Has Arrived

Celvin Kattookaran , Intekgrate

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 3 , 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Room: Grand Oaks G

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase Calculation

The mother, the king, or the queen of all CDFs has arrived. This session talks about the latest CDF offering from Calc Manager, which can be used to write CDFs from calculation scripts itself. What if you want to execute a SQL procedure from calc script? What if you want to run a select statement?

All that and beyond is now possible with @CalcMgrGroovyString and @CalcMgrGroovyNumber functions. This session will include sample codes for all the topics covered above.

Programming (Flexible) Automation to Use Processing Cubes (and Other Automation Tricks)

William Bradstreet , ARC EPM

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 4 , 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Other Essbase

Essbase must be automated, but most Essbase automation consists of a MaxL script within a .cmd/.sh file. But that’s crude, inconsistent, and a maintenance nightmare. A better approach is a parameter-driven automation framework that dynamically spawns batch streams, applies the same processes consistently, and – because the actual code base is small – centralizes maintenance. As a bonus, this ease of development streamlines the migration from development to quality to production. Join Bill Bradstreet as he describes, demonstrates, and dives into a programming methodology and the code behind it to show how you can bring the power and flexibility of this approach to your system today.

EssCS: The New Old Essbase

Glenn Schwartzberg , interRel Consulting

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 4 , 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm

Room: Grand Oaks H

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase-related technologies

Remember when Essbase could be installed from a floppy disk? You could get a cube up and running in a couple of days. Well, those days are back with the new Essbase Cloud Service (EssCS). Essbase in the cloud takes us back to simpler times where you can build an Essbase database with a simple Excel spreadsheet template. All you need is Excel and Essbase on the Cloud. Join us for the session where we will walk you through Essbase Cloud Service and how to build Essbase applications in the 21st century. Don't miss this chance to get to know (reacquainted with) the new-old Essbase.

Essbase Dashboard Smackdown!

John Booth , METAVERO

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 5 , 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm

Room: Grand Oaks H

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase-related technologies

Confused about which solution to pursue for Essbase visualization? We compare Web Analysis vs. Tableau vs. Oracle

Don't Worry, You Can Still Get Geeky with Planning Cloud

Joe Aultman , interRel Consulting

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 5 , 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Planning - Subtopic: Cloud Technologies - PBCS & EPBCS focused

As with all of their cloud products, Oracle wants EPBCS to be friendly to users and administrators in the business community, reducing the level of technical expertise required to implement and maintain the application. Techies everywhere are left to wonder what role is left for them. This session provides the answer. From new techniques for creating custom functions to tweaking the user interface to automating processes and data flows, you'll see there is still plenty for the geeky among us to do.

Elevating Your Workforce Planning Solution to the Cloud

Nicholas Blazosky , TopDown Consulting

Co-presenter(s): Ludovic Isaac De Paz, TopDown Consulting

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 5 , 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm

Room: Grand Oaks A/B

Topic: Planning - Subtopic: Cloud Technologies - PBCS & EPBCS focused

Thinking about elevating your organization’s workforce planning solution? Want to see a detailed demo of the capabilities of the latest version of Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (EPBCS) SWP (Strategic Workforce Planning) and Workforce Planning modules? What has changed since the days of deployment in on-premise, and how can you be leveraging the enhanced functionality for your organization? Learn the differences between an on-premise deployment and strategies for getting you to the cloud in no time. The demo will have a unique San Antonio twist to get you in the spirit of being in the heart of South Texas. Join seasoned WFP architects and Kscope speakers Ludovic De Paz and San Antonio native Nicholas Blazosky for this informative deep dive into the newly enhanced world of Workforce. 

Tuesday

Essbase Development Team Panel

Tim German , Qubix

Co-presenter(s): Kumar Ramaiyer, Oracle Corporation

When: Jun 27, 2017, Tuesday Session 6 , 8:30 am - 9:30 am

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Other Essbase

Come put your questions to members of the team who build Essbase and Essbase Cloud Service. This panel discussion is co-presented by Kumar Ramaiyer and Mike Larimer, both of Oracle Corporation.

Essbase Cloud Service: Architectural Evolution

Kumar Ramaiyer , Oracle Corporation

When: Jun 27, 2017, Tuesday Session 7 , 11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Room: Grand Oaks H

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase Design

Essbase Cloud Service:  How did it come about?  What are its architectural foundations?  Why does that matter?

To think that EssCS is an evolution of the Essbase we've known and loved since 1992 is to vastly underestimate its power and importance. Moving to the cloud was an opportunity to completely remake Essbase from the ground up -- design, functionality, management, and hardware have all changed and for the better. Understanding the conceptual, architectural, and technical forces that drove this fundamental shift will enable you to extract the true value of this transformation in your current and new applications. 

Join Kumar Ramaiyer, vice president of development at Oracle, as he explains how the confluence of development innovations and Essbase resulted in a database unlike any you've seen before.

Introduction to Essbase

Martin Neuliep , General Electric

When: Jun 27, 2017, Tuesday Session 8 , 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Other Essbase

In this session you will get an overview of why and how we use Essbase. You will learn about the business problems the product solves and how, what’s involved in implementing an Essbase solution, and how it fits into a typical enterprise architecture.

Essbase Cloud is Here. Now What?

Cameron Lackpour , ARC EPM

Co-presenter(s): Tim German, Qubix

When: Jun 27, 2017, Tuesday Session 9, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Room: Grand Oaks H

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Other Essbase

Essbase Cloud is finally among us. But what does that really mean? How does it fit into our existing EPM environments? What does Essbase Cloud actually do that’s better than before? What paths are not taken? In short, does Essbase Cloud live up to its promise? Join Tim German and Cameron Lackpour as they explore and explain Essbase Cloud’s’: architecture, functionality, use cases, cost, and performance. This comprehensive review of the essence of Essbase in the cloud gives you the answers and direction you need to go forward with Essbase now and in the future.

Oracle Analytics Cloud - Essbase New Capabilities

Kumar Ramaiyer , Oracle Corporation

When: Jun 27, 2017, Tuesday Session 10 , 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase-related technologies

Learn about new and upcoming Essbase capabilities with Oracle Analytics Cloud. Explore the new ways to create and manage Essbase applications, new scripting options, and more.

Cloudy with a Chance of PBCS: Tips and Tricks for Migrating On-Premise Oracle Hyperion Planning to Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS)

Chuck Persky , Performance Architects

When: Jun 26, 2017, Monday Session 1 , 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Planning - Subtopic: Cloud Technologies - PBCS & EPBCS focused

Many organizations have made the switch from an on-premise Oracle Hyperion Planning solution to Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS). This move allows them to take advantage of the benefits that exist in an Oracle SaaS model and some of the newer features available in PBCS. However, many other organizations, while very interested, are hesitant to make this leap, in fear of the unknown and the potential process involved in migrating to this model. In this session, you will learn from industry experts about a variety of considerations, tips, and methodologies utilized in planning and executing this type of change. Specifically, this session will explore the dynamics of this migration through real-life examples, including the steps for assessing the current application(s), decisions surrounding a "lift and shift" versus a "rebuild" approach, the process for executing the migration, and how to acclimate system administrators and users to a PBCS (cloud) methodology and interface. Additionally, this session will explore the facets of data integration and security; how these capabilities may be the same or different than the current on-premise model; and how to build a strategy to successfully create these capabilities in PBCS. Please join us in navigating from the ground to the cloud.

A Deep Dive into All Things Planning from On-Premise to PBCS to EPBCS

Mark Rinaldi , Oracle Corporation

When: Jun 29, 2017, Deep-Dive Session, 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Room: Cibolo Canyon 2/3/4

Topic: Planning - Subtopic: Cloud Technologies - PBCS & EPBCS focused

Join Mark Rinaldi, Shankar Viswanathan, and Prasad Kulkarni as we take a deep dive into all things Planning from on-premise to PBCS to EPBCS.
· Roadmaps
· Functionality differences between on-premise Planning, PBCS, and EPBCS
· Migration from on-premise to cloud
· Simplified user interface
· Excel-based application creation
· Q&A with Oracle regarding product strategy and roadmap

What’s New, What’s Next: Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service

Shankar Viswanathan , Oracle Corporation

Co-presenter(s): Prasad Kulkarni, Oracle Corporation

When: Jun 27, 2017, Tuesday Session 9, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Planning - Subtopic: Cloud Technologies - PBCS & EPBCS focused

Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) is one of Oracle’s broad selection of enterprise-grade cloud solutions delivered via software as a service. This session provides an overview of this solution and an update on new and planned functionality.

Dave Collins , The Hackett Group

When: Jun 27, 2017, Tuesday Session 10 , 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm

Room: Grand Oaks H

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Other Essbase

Visualization provides a means by which you can gain insight into your data. For some, visualization can be a report that appears in their e-mail inbox or on a web page. For others, it could be a grid of numbers with a chart in Excel. The key is to provide the correct, most efficient approach to users. It is far easier to spot trends, patterns, anomalies, etc., when you can examine the data, in its entirety in a single view. If the data set is so large that you find yourself scrolling up and down and side to side, your analysis will suffer. To meet the challenge posed by larger data sets, software vendors have created new ways to query data that promote better visualization. In this session, we will introduce you to Tableau, formerly available in Smart View as Hyperion Visual Explorer, as visualization option against Essbase.

Wednesday

Eliminating the Eliminations Problem in Essbase

Martin Neuliep , General Electric

When: Jun 28, 2017, Wednesday Session 11, 8:30 am - 9:30 am

Room: Grand Oaks H

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase Calculation

For as long as there has been Essbase, people building financial applications have wanted to perform intercompany elimination calculations. Unlike HFM, Essbase up to now has not had this capability built in. So what to do, especially if eliminations are a key part of your reporting or planning requirements? Various approaches have been taken over the years and interestingly, there may be no one ideal solution even today.
This session will compare four techniques for calculating eliminations: three purely within Essbase and a fourth using an adjunct relational database. We’ll examine each according to these criteria, so you can choose an approach best suited to your needs:
- Ease of implementation
- Amount of ongoing maintenance required
- Flexibility
- Performance

Understanding EPM Cloud Infrastructure: What's New?

Bill Fox , Oracle Corporation

When: Jun 28, 2017, Wednesday Session 12 , 9:45 am - 10:45 am

Room: Grand Oaks E/F

Topic: EPM Infrastructure - Subtopic: Cloud and Hybrid Infrastructure

New to EPM Cloud and want to know the ins and outs of managing your service? Then this is the session for you. Topics include service provisioning, backup and restore, security and user management, and service maintenance. This is the one-stop destination to orient you with everything you need to know about the operational aspects of working with EPM Cloud.

Advanced Calculation Techniques: Going Beyond the Calc Dim

George Cooper , Gap

When: Jun 28, 2017, Wednesday Session 12 , 9:45 am - 10:45 am

Room: Grand Oaks H

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase Calculation

Join us as we take a deep dive into some of the ways the Essbase calculation engine can be used to solve complex business problems, all derived from real-life examples learned from the school of hard knocks. Techniques include combining spreadsheets and calc scripts to compute variances for hundreds of member combinations, designing recursive calculations to analyze a product’s components, and building a structure that allows user input to any level of a hierarchy. We’ll review the different methods of writing allocations, ways to optimize your parallel calculations, and block creation techniques and calculation features you are told “never to use” but might want to use anyway. This presentation is intended for intermediate Essbase developers, but all are welcome.

Extreme Essbase Calculations: New Frontiers in What-If, Goal-Seeking, and Sensitivity Analysis

Ron Moore , TopDown Consulting

Co-presenter(s): Ludovic Isaac De Paz, TopDown Consulting

When: Jun 28, 2017, Wednesday Session 14 , 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm

Room: Grand Oaks G

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase Calculation

Doing what-if isn’t new. As long as I can remember everyone talked about it and the goal-seeking functionality using LOOP has been around for decades. But do most of our calculations use causal drivers or are they “type it in and agg it up” type databases? And how much "what-if-ing" can you really do if the database takes an hour to aggregate?

Today more and more companies are using driver-based designs and recent improvements such as hybrid aggregation, new calculation functions, and bigger hardware mean that there are new possibilities. Profit opportunities don’t usually follow simple linear patterns. Well-designed driver-based models capture complex patterns and help identify risks and opportunities that would otherwise be missed. Goal-seeking can significantly reduce the time it takes to set and distribute targets. Sensitivity analysis can help set priorities by identifying the most important drivers. It can also help compare a range of options to identify sweet spots.

First we will examine the business logic behind some useful what-if calculations that help uncover financial dynamics that make a difference in business results. Then we will examine the outline and business rule considerations and options. Then we will dig into the code.
We will show examples of outlines and business rule code for:
• Pushing down top-side budget adjustments
• Driver based what-if calculations
• Goal-seeking for target setting
• Prioritization and range comparison with sensitivity analysis

Last we will show some examples of using these techniques in real-world applications.

Break the Shackles of Planning with Hybrid Essbase

Peter Nitschke , Mpower Solutions

Co-presenter(s): Cameron Lackpour, ARC EPM

When: Jun 28, 2017, Wednesday Session 15 , 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Room: Grand Oaks G

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase Design

Planning is Essbase, Essbase is Planning. This powerhouse multi-dimension database enables Planning but then shackles it with BSO’s long aggregation time and ASO’s poor procedural calculations. Hybrid Essbase breaks these architectural constraints by combining the calculation power of BSO with the aggregation performance of ASO and as a result fundamentally transforms how we design Planning applications.

Join Peter Nitschke and Cameron Lackpour as they demonstrate the value of Hybrid Essbase through its impact on real-world Planning design. You’ll see multiple plan type applications collapsed into one, plan types literally small enough to fit on a USB stick, real-world performance benefits, and calculation techniques that take best advantage of Hybrid while working around its current limitations. The best use case of Hybrid Essbase is Planning and if you’re a Planning practitioner you should be using Hybrid Essbase. To do that, you need to attend this session and bring our real-world Hybrid Essbase experience to your application today.

How to Get the Most Out of Essbase in the Cloud

John Maloney , TopDown Consulting

Co-presenter(s): Paul B Hoch, TopDown Consulting

When: Jun 28, 2017, Wednesday Session 16 , 4:15 pm - 5:15 pm

Room: Grand Oaks G

Topic: Essbase - Subtopic: Essbase-related technologies

Essbase in the Cloud has been eagerly anticipated and now that it is finally here we will explore how Essbase in the Cloud can replace, enhance or serve the same role as your current on-premise Essbase environment. This session is a thorough look at Essbase in the Cloud, including a look at the differences between on-premise Essbase and the Cloud offering, what you’re getting and what you’re giving up, best practices for working with Essbase in the Cloud, particularly if you are running a Hybrid EPM Solution, plus tips and tricks for how to make the most of Essbase in the Cloud. This session will also include a review of features like calculations, currency conversions, sandboxes, and other key things you need to know to get started. It will also include real-world examples. You will leave with a solid understanding on how to work with Essbase in the Cloud so that you can start taking advantage of all it has to offer.

Cloud2Cloud – IoT and EPM: Connecting GE’s Predix Industrial Internet Cloud Platform to Oracle’s Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (EPBCS)

Gary Crisci , General Electric

Co-presenter(s): Venkatesan Kailasam, GE

When: Jun 28, 2017, Wednesday Session 15 , 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Room: Grand Oaks I

Topic: Planning - Subtopic: Cloud Technologies - PBCS & EPBCS focused

The Internet of Things (IoT), also known as the Industrial Internet, is changing the way industries work. By combining machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, industrial big data analytics, technology, cybersecurity, and automation, it’s driving new levels of efficiency and productivity.

What if you could predict events before they happened? By connecting machines, gaining operational visibility, and leveraging analytics, you can drive operations to their fullest potential and predict what will happen before it occurs.

GE’s Predix platform is a cloud-based solution that can capture industrial data. Now that you have this valuable information, how do you get it in the hands of the people who need it and in a tool that allows them to use the information to make better decisions?

In this presentation, Gary Crisci, principal data and information architect, Shyam Nath, partner account director, and Venkat Kailasam, senior data and information architect, will walk you through the Internet of things (IoT). We will illustrate how we capture industrial data from sensors using GE’s Asset Performance Management SaaS cloud solution to determine leading indicators of when large maintenance events are likely to be due and what the nature of the maintenance required will be. Lastly, we will demonstrate how to transfer the data into an Oracle PBCS cloud application for planning and budgeting purposes.

Come learn about the next great frontier in information technology and how we are leveraging EPM and IoT to drive better business decisions. 

Thursday

The last day of the conference is the day when most of us take a deep breath (or sleep in and miss the entire day after the debauchery of the Wednesday night Special Event).

For those of us (un)lucky enough to be part of the Thursday deep dives – two hours of somewhat excruciatingly-yet-wonderfully detailed examination into what makes Oracle EPM tick – we know that the end of the conference is in many ways the best.  Attendees have had a chance to listen to sessions, talk to their peers, party (cf. that comment at the beginning about geeks socializing however awkwardly), and finally synthesize the whole shebang in these capstone sessions.  

Tim German, Kumar Ramaiyer, and I are running the Essbase deep dive.  We’re going to do this a little differently this year.  We will not be sitting on the dais trying to pontificate (well, Kumar and Tim actually could; I can only fake it) but instead will be working through use cases explaining as we go and then hold a Q&A session after each demo.  The idea is that you see for real how things work and then you pepper us with question after question after question and see if we can in fact answer those questions.  As noted, Kumar and Tim likely can and I will fake it.  It should be a lot of fun.

The week that was or will be

Kscope is the highlight of my professional year as I know it is for many others.  It’s exhilarating, educational, fun, and ultimately exhausting.  I love it.

Be seeing you.