The end of Kscope12

It’s over, it’s over, it’s over

Well, it is sort of like the end of a love affair.  I suppose loving a conference is a Strange Love indeed but there it is.  (Yes, sometimes the song references are a bit of a stretch, but think of it as my attempt to broaden your musical horizons.)  And sadly Thursday (yeah, yeah, I’m late) was the last day.

Early in the morning

Dan Pressman, ASO wizard extraordinaire, gave his chapter presentation from the book.  Although I love each and every chapter in Developing Essbase Applications, his is the one that excites me the most.  I always want to know how things work and “How ASO Works and How to Design for Performance” is our best hope of understanding how ASO Essbase works under the covers short of working for Oracle Development.  

Then a last panel for me – Planning All Stars (so how did I get included?) – this time as moderator with John Booth, Tony Depew, and Jake Turrell as the panelists.  It was a pretty freewheeling (any time panelists start insulting each other it’s at least entertaining but it was all in good fun) discussion with really good audience participation.  I do enjoy these and have found that the sheer terror of moderating diminishes with time.  Or I was so tired I didn’t care.  I vote for the latter.

And then it was time to wrap up what has been a great conference.  If you were there, you know what I mean.  If you weren’t, what are you thinking?  Get thee hence to KScope13.

The Best is Yet to Come

Did you know you can register now for Kscope13?  If you missed Kscope12, you missed the chance of not abasing yourself in a mad scramble for a free ticket (I believe brass knuckles came out as did maces, broadswords, Krav Maga, and possibly a Trident submarine).  Yes, free is good and you missed it.  However, did you know that you can submit your abstract now?  If your abstract is accepted, your conference fee is waived.  ODTUG is always looking for good, innovative, interesting, and informative sessions.  Submit one now – who knows what will happen?

Do I ever stop asking leading questions?  Yup, right now.  This is the end of my day-by-day Kscope12 coverage.

See you in New Orleans!

What comes after one? Two.

Basic math is getting hard
As in day two of the conference (of course this is being posted on day three).  Did I mention I was tired?  I’m typing this in Gary Crisci’s “Intro to MDX + ASO” as his session ambassador and the screen is just swimming in front of my eyes.  Ugh.  I can barely figure out what comes after two.  Could it be three?  Who knows.

Does this mean I’m having fun?  Well, I’m learning a lot, and presenting (today was my melodramatically named Script or Die!), and sitting in on fellow Developing Essbase Applications authors’ sessions, and minding the book booth (more anon), and generally running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  So I guess that’s a good conference.

We’re sold out

We brought 100 copies to the conference and we are completely sold out as of 11:15 am 27 June 2012.  Amazing.  We are hot, hot, hot.  Not too hot, as Fahrenheit 451 is the burning point for paper.  We actually had a fight over the last book but one of the parties didn’t bring his credit card and the other one did.  Here’s the lucky last buyer of the book:



Of course Developing Essbase Applications is available on Amazon, so if you missed out, buy it here.

Lunch n’ Learn

I think ODTUG is a little bit out of their mind, as they included me on the Lunch n’Learn panel which was moderated by Andy Jorgensen and  included Tony Scalese, Tracy McMullen (I keep on running into her), Chris Barbieri, and yr. obdnt. srvnt.

It was a lot of fun and it is almost possible we correctly answered one or two questions.

Mixed emotions

I am, in case you haven’t noticed, a tremendous fan of ODTUG’s KScope.  My one complaint, and it is a large one, is that I simply cannot attend all of the sessions I need.  The content is so good, so broad, so deep, so valuable, that I frankly resent the fact that I am not able to be in four places at the same time.  Arrrgh.  I guess if KScope stunk, I would be happy, except then of course I’d be annoyed because it was worthless.  At least I wouldn’t feel that I needed to be in multiple places simultaneously.  This desire to be in multiple sessions is I suppose the curse of success and one that I’ll gladly take, but I am working on my cloning experiments.

Missed it by that much

“Sorry about that, chief”.  What, you aren’t a Mel Brooks fan?  Would you believe that Don Adams was a WW2 Marine and fought on Guadalcanal and then became a DI before going into acting and comedy?  Careers can be funny, especially when mine is examined.

KScope12 is turning out to be that marathon run like a sprint.  I couldn’t even manage to get out a report of Day One on time.  I was simply too busy when I had any energy and no energy when I had (extremely brief) downtime.  Such are the hallmarks of a great conference.

Here’s the crowd (actually, it got to almost SRO, so I was quite chuffed about that) getting ready to hear me talk about my chapter in the Developing Essbase Applications – “Slay the Evil of Bad Data in Essbase with ODI.”


I only rehearsed it, oh eight times, and while practice didn’t deliver perfection at least it didn’t result in outright disaster.

Oh, did I do that?  Why yes I did.

The above was quite serious but Kscope is that unique mix of work and fun.  The latter part of that combination evinced itself during the General Session.  Words pretty much fail me (and while I have never kissed the Blarney Stone, I could almost be Irish – I do like Guiness) with this one:


If you weren’t there, you should have been because it was…memorable.  That’s ODTUG’s board of directors getting ready to roast Mike Riley, former retiring president of ODTUG.  Scary, eh?

A really awesome keynote

I am an Essbase/Planning/ODI/EPM geek.  Or maybe I professionally live in a silo.  Cary Milsap?  Who’s that?  Okay, maybe I am just a dope because apparently everyone knows him.  Having gone to his keynote presentation, I have to say I now know why people are so enthusiastic about him.  He was, in a word, AWESOME.  Self-deprecating, humorous, warm, sharing, wise, insightful – these all describe his session.  I literally quoted him twice last night to two different people.  He was that good.

End with a bang

You know, I really, really, really need to get a phone with a better camera.  Oh well, this is the audience shot of EPM Midnight Madness.  Toufic Wakim, Tim Tow, Chris Barbieri, Tracy McMullen/Edward Roske, Natalie Delemar, yr. obdnt. srvnt., Eric Helmer, and Mark Rittman all played our version of Hollywood Squares.  As I have never in my life watched the show, I was somewhat bemused by being included in this august gaggle of geeks.  And oh yes, replicated, transparent, and linked are the three types of Essbase partitions.  ‘Nuff said.

More today, maybe

I am going to try to write today’s events, uh, today.  No promises.

Sign of the times

Introduction 

Will Developing Essbase Applications:  Advanced Techniques for Finance and IT Professionals be at Kscope12?  Yes indeedy, we will be at booth #224 in the vendor exposition hall.

So what? 

(Sigh, why do I have to ask these questions?  Ah yes, because I have no other way of segueing between barely-connected thoughts.)  Well, you’ll be able to buy the book at the conference.  This will be the very first place to buy the book as it is getting shipped direct from the Taylor & Francis bindery to the warehouse that stores booth furniture.  That means it is coming right from the printer to the conference and to you.  

And you’ll be able to meet us (hopefully at least somewhat thrilling or maybe mildly interesting), talk to us, buy the book (hint), tell us we’ve done a wonderful or horrific job, etc. 

Are these just the delusions of a raving madman?

This very day I received…no, no, not the divine prophecy of a wrathful God, that’s for later, but instead the sign you’ll see at the booth.  I have to thank the people at ExpoGo! for producing it – it looks absolutely fantastic, it’s big (like 7’ tall – that’s 2.1336 meters for those of you not on Imperial/standard), and it looks pretty darn awesome as you can see for yourself.

Right near the front door

 So it’s real?

Am I ever going to stop using this now-tired literary device?  Yes.  Just come to Kscope and see the sign, the entire (just about) group of authors, and of course the book itself.  I can hardly wait.

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!

It’s not too late but it almost is

The set up

I know you’re all coming to KScope12, right?  Right.

Why?  Simply because it is the best combination of deep technical content, training, and networking the Oracle world has ever seen.  (Some call me biased, I call myself well informed, at least on this particular topic.)  I hear the parties are pretty good, too.

What, you’re coming to KScope12 and you haven’t signed up yet?  For shame.  
The horrible, horrible shame
The real shame is, by not signing up BEFORE 26 March 2012, you will have to pay an extra $300.

Who would want to do that?  No one I know.  C’mon, if you’ve got an extra $300, give it to me.  :)

The resolution where you, the hero of our story, are fully redeemed (and quite a bit richer)

Big secret – use my buddy/mentor/geek idol Tim Tow’s company code, AOLAP, and get another $100 off this week.  That’s $400 off the list price.  

Now are you going to sign up?  I hope so.  $400 is not exactly chump change and like I said, if you feel like $400 is insignificant to your pocketbook, take advantage of the early bird sign up and send me the dough, moolah, cabbage, dosh, etc.

As you’re all too smart for that, I’ll expect you’ll simply save yourself the unnecessary expense and enjoy Kscope12 that much more.  See you in San Antonio!