9,000 + 5,700 + 12,000 = wow

Short and sweet, for once

This post is going to be short and sweet because I am in the middle of Yet Another Really Big Project That Pays Bupkis.  You would think I would learn, but then you (and I) would be wrong.  Unfortunately.  Stay tuned to this blog for a Big Announcement in the next month or so.

What I should have, but don’t

I do have 80% of a really interesting (ahem) post on tap but you know how that last 20% goes and I don’t have the time.

I have another really interesting blog post on Calculation Manager that I have, at least in my head, about 50% written but that too is going to take time.

And I just don’t have any.  Bummer.

What I do have

I better not let too much time go by before I add new content, or this will be the last time I see numbers like this:

This blog has finally attracted more than 9,000 sessions, more than 5,700 users, and more than 12,000 pageviews in a 30 day period!  Small beer to many, but big news for me.

The blog has been just shy of 9,000 sessions for the last two or three months and it got to be kind of agonizing to see if it would ever break through.  It has.

According to Google Analytics, audience is defined in the following ways:

• Sessions – An instance of a user actively engaged on this blog
• Users – Users that have at least one session.
• Pageviews – The total number of pages viewed

You’ve engaged with this blog over 9,000 times in the last (as of Friday) 30 days.  That means that globally there were 9,000 instances of of people saying, “I wonder what that idiot Cameron has come up with this week.”

And here we are.

Btw, those statistics are not because I sat in front of my computer hitting F5 on http://camerons-blog-for-essbase-hackers.blogspot.com/ again and again and again till I got really good numbers although that thought did cross my mind.

Instead this reach is because of you.  You’re the ones that read this blog, find value (in theory), and come back for more.

It sort of amazes me that anyone, other than my mother, reads this thing.  And I have to prod her sometimes with comments like, “Mum, didn’t you see my mention of:  you/strange love of Faygo red pop/desire to visit the Henry Ford Museum again, yes, again/need to drink Tim Horton’s coffee/various strange references to (un)popular culture?”  Invariably, she has not.  So that’s at least one person who doesn’t pick up what I’m laying down but you, Gentle Reader, are.

Thank you

There really isn’t much to say other than thank you for finding so much value in this blog.  I’m going to do a year-end review of this blog by the numbers but breaking through this particularly statistic (and honestly, I don’t know why 9,000 became a goal, but it did) just tickled me pink.

Thanks again.

Be seeing you.

Developing Essbase Applications now available for preordering

Hard to believe, but true

Cast your eyes to the right of the screen.  What’s that you see?  Yup, a link for buying Developing Essbase Applications:  Advanced Techniques for Finance and IT Professionals.  Somewhat unbelievably (at least to me) it is now available for preorder on Amazon.  It practically makes me giddy with excitement, and it should at least interest you, because you can be the first geek on your block (or Essbase/Planning/EPM/whatever project or developer at the coalface of an Essbase implementation or, oh, you get the idea) to have a copy of what I modestly (ahem) believe to be the best, most advanced Essbase book ever.

Go on, click on it.  And buy.  Several copies per person would be most appreciated.  <grin>

Isn’t it pretty?

Well, I think so.  I will admit to being somewhat biased.  <grin yet again>

Where oh where will we get the code that goes with this book?

I am so glad you ask these leading questions…wait, I asked that question.  Oh well, it’s a good question.

Right here at the book’s website of course.  There’s nothing there save the cover right now, but give it a small amount of time and you’ll be able to download the code that goes with the book.  Oh joy.

And of course we have social media

‘Cause everyone does that, right?

For you FaceBookers (did I just utter a curse?) there’s a FaceBook page (as yet somewhat bare, but give us a week) where you’ll be able to learn all about the latest about this oh so awesome (ahem, again) book.

What’s next?

The book proofs are here – I have taken a week off (one more week non-billing compared to the months I’ve already put in – It’s sort of like, I’ve already broken every bone in my body save these 20 little ones scattered throughout my bruised and battered body, so if I only have 19 unbroken bones, what’s the big deal?) to go through the proofs from Taylor & Francis.  My coauthors/cohorts in crime/fellow masochists Angie Wilcox and Dan Pressman are doing the same.  Bless ‘em, they like pain too.

Once we’ve returned the proofs to Taylor & Francis, the book goes to production.  And that means you will soon have in your hands a copy of what really is, all kidding aside, a pretty darn good book.  I hope you’re as happy as I am about this. 

ODTUG Hyperion SIG Newsletter -- It's Free!

Do you get it?
It's free.  Do you get it as an email?  If you don't, you can sign up as an associate ODTUG member, log into your account, and then add EPM to your professional interest area.  (Thanks, Crystal).

Or you can just click here and view this quarter's issue, but this isn’t a dynamic link, i.e., there'll be another one next quarter and this link won't be it.  Welcome to the new and novel invention called email.  As I wrote above, it's yours for the asking.

This issue’s content

• Awwww, a love note from ODTUG.  And I lurv you right back.  I do, really.  :)  Note this blog post.  At least it’s not unrequited love.

• A note about the Hyperion SIG regional conference in Arlington, TX.  There are some big names there.  Did I mention it was free?
• A note about the KSCope Early Bird deadline plus some sample letters to make the request stick with your boss.  Free yet again.  It’s like a bunch of talented people in our industry are trying to help you.  For free.  Think about it.  Yes, it is awesome.
• A preview/teaser of tracks and highlighted sessions.  I know you are *all* going to be there, right?  Right?

So far, just marketing, not that there's anything wrong with that.  Actually, it's quite a bit more than marketing  This all feeds back into the ODTUG-is-awesome theme we all know (or should) so well. 

Now for the Truly Good Stuff:

• Oracle Support Corner – How to Create a Service Request so that it actually gets answered - This is the Real Deal, as written by someone from Oracle.  Cool stuff. 
• Oracle Ace Corner – A book review by yr. obdnt. srvnt of Oracle Essbase 11 Development Cookbook by Jose Ruiz.
• Best of the blogs -- John Booth (the owner of the newsletter) has gone through recent blog posts and compiled a list of some of the more interesting blog posts, including, ahem, this blog.  John, the check for $20,000 is in the mail.  :)  

What does it look like?

Here’s a snippet out of my inbox:

Conclusion

If you don't get this, you really ought to.  There's good stuff here and it is 100% free.  What's not to like?

Where oh where have I been and why oh why would you care?

You may have noticed that I haven’t updated this blog in a long time, nor have I been feeding my obsessive need to be on OTN/Network54.  And you likely didn’t care, but I’ll tell you where I’ve been regardless.  :)

I and 12 other happy souls have been writing a book for the last six months.  No, not a book about coffee, or obscure French cars, or my imaginary service in the RAF (my callsign, if I had one, is Biggles 1 and in my imagination I fly this).  Instead, we have written something that I think is going to set the Essbase world on its collective ear – the first advanced topic Essbase book:  Developing Essbase Applications: Advanced Techniques for Finance and IT Professionals.  

No, you can’t buy it, yet, as it just went to the publisher as a first draft.  I hope it will be available by KScope12 but it will likely be available by Oracle OpenWorld.  We’ll see – this is the first book I’ve ever written and I have no real yardstick to compare times, effort, etc. against.  Yes, it has been quite the learning experience.

Again, who cares?  Why would I read this book?

You’ll read Developing Essbase Applications because:

• That advanced topic orientation I talked about.  For the time being, you’ll simply have to trust me on this, but I am quite confident that you will find this book interesting.  Nope, I take that back, you will find this book revelatory, revolutionary, and amazing.  Hype, right?  I don’t think so – there is content in this book that exists nowhere else.  Some of it will blow your mind – really.  We’ve peer reviewed this beast and have received very positive feedback.  We’ve also gotten back the comments, “Wow, that’s really hard/amazing.  How did you guys figure that out?  I thought I knew Essbase and I didn’t know that.”  This is not a beginner’s book.  I’m not even sure it’s a midlevel developer’s book.  There’s Good Stuff inside the covers.
• A good practices approach.  We’ve seen bad Essbase implementations.  We’ve (long, long ago) even been responsible for bad Essbase implementations.  The lessons from those bad systems were absorbed and the bad practices assiduously avoided.  Instead, we show you nothing but the right way to do Essbase.  Our internal motto during the writing of this book was, “We love Essbase and hate to see it done wrong.”
• We do more than just tell you how to do something, we tell you why.  It’s like having a team of seasoned consultants in a book and they’re 100% dedicated to knowledge transfer.  More than a few people in on the secret have said, “Are you telling the world too much?”  If there was a finite amount of Essbase knowledge out there, then yes, maybe I’d be worried about writing ourselves out of a job.  Happily, Essbase is alive, well, and growing.  Making you grow is Developing Essbase Applications mission.

I am ever so slightly interested.  So what’s in it?

Developing Essbase Applications covers every area of advanced Essbase practice there is:

• Essbase infrastructure
• Data quality
• Essbase Studio
• BSO in depth
• BSO to ASO conversions
• Designing ASO for performance
• Practical MDX
• Essbase Java API
• Automating with Groovy
• Advanced Smart View
• Implementing and administering Essbase

Who wrote the book?

An excellent question and oh how I do love writing these leading questions.  See if you recognize any names:  Dave Anderson, Joe Aultman, John Booth, Gary Crisci, Natalie Delemar, Dave Farnsworth, Cameron Lackpour, Michael Nader, Dan Pressman, Robb Salzmann, Tim Tow, and Angela Wilcox.  Jake Turrell edited.  Many more people contributed with their edits, comments, and ideas.  This was the group project to end all group projects and I am obliged to each and every one of you.

So you’re just one of 12.  What’s the big deal?

I was the editor in chief of this project.  What does that entail?  An editor in chief, at least within the context of this book:

• Lands the publishing contract.  The Oracle ACE program helps.  No, this is not an endorsement of the book by the ACE program.  Oracle wants ACEs to write and they provide the all-important introduction to publishers.  
• Handles all of the legal issues.  I now know more about copyright than I ever wanted to.
• Project manages the writing.  I  will freely admit that project managing this large a group of what are essentially volunteers (yes, we are getting royalties, but split that 13 ways and figure the number of hours and it’s pretty close to volunteerism) was challenging, to say the least.
• Helps edit each and every one of the chapters along with Natalie Delemar, Dan Pressman, Angie Wilcox, and Jake Turrell.
• Writes a fairly awesome (ahem) chapter on data quality.
• Lives, breathes, eats, sleeps, and anything else you can think of nothing, but nothing, but this book for the last two months.  

The writing process has been exhilarating and exhausting.  I’m happy to have done it and equally happy that it is finally over.  I need to go find billable work.

So what’s next?

I and my fellow coconspirators will keep you up to date with more information about Developing Essbase Applications as it gets closer to actual publication.  Like I wrote, we aren’t exactly doing this for money.  We wrote it to drive the art of practicing Essbase further, much further.  So think of the drip, drip, drip of news about this book as a service, not a marketing campaign.  ;)

We’re tremendously proud of what we’ve written and think you will find it tremendously valuable.