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22 September 2013

Oracle OpenWorld, day 1

What’s it all about, Essbase Hacker?

I have this nifty cool Oracle OpenWorld (henceforth referred to as “OOW”) Press/Blogger badge.  This means that, somehow, and very possibly against Oracle’s better judgment, it is in fact true that someone beyond my mother reads my blog.  Or at least believes my claim that I in fact have a blog.  Well, I do, and the fact that you are reading this is proof positive.  
 Photo credit:  Natalie Delemar

To honor Oracle’s possibly poor decision making skills, I am going to endeavor to live blog OOW.  I’ve tried doing this at Kscope but have run up against the fact that I am really, really, really busy at that conference and there simply isn’t any time to do the blogging.  Happily, I am responsible for much less (just a shared presentation with my MMIC*/older-brother-I-don’t-actually-have-and-who-denies-any-familial-relationship Glenn Schwartzberg) and so I actually get to attend OOW.  I can hardly wait.

The sessions

OOW is quite serious about signing up for sessions.  If you have not signed up for a session, and there is room, you can attend.  But if the session is filled, and you again didn’t sign up…well, there is always a waiting list and you get to hope that someone changes his mind.  And yes, for future OOW 2014 attendees, you need to sign up in advance for the more popular sessions or you will end up on that waiting list.  Like me.  

Here’s what I have planned (I hope) for this year thus far:
Subject
Start Date
Start Time
End Date
End Time
UGF9945  --  Welcome to Oracle Hyperion 11.1.2.3, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11.1.1.7
9/22/2013
8:00
9/22/2013
9:00
UGF9927  --  What’s New in Oracle Hyperion Financial Management and Close Solutions in Release 11.1.2.3
9/22/2013
9:15
9/22/2013
10:15
UGF9929  --  Oracle Essbase 11.1.2.3, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11.1.1.7: What’s New
9/22/2013
10:30
9/22/2013
11:30
UGF9946  --  What’s New in Oracle Hyperion Planning and Budgeting Solutions 11.1.2.3
9/22/2013
11:45
9/22/2013
12:45
UGF9721  --  Agile Real-Time BI with Oracle Business Intelligence/Oracle Data Integrator/Oracle GoldenGate
9/22/2013
13:00
9/22/2013
14:00
UGF9947  --  Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office, Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.2.3: What’s New
9/22/2013
14:15
9/22/2013
15:15
UGF9911  --  Build a Performance Layer for Oracle Business Intelligence Applications 11g
9/22/2013
15:30
9/22/2013
16:30
KEY11026  --  Welcome Keynote
9/22/2013
17:00
9/22/2013
19:00
KEY11045  --  Transforming Businesses with Big Data and Analytics
9/23/2013
8:00
9/23/2013
9:45
CON9328  --  Using Oracle Business Intelligence with Oracle Essbase: New and Upcoming Capabilities
9/23/2013
10:45
9/23/2013
11:45
GEN9523  --  General Session: Empowering Modern Enterprise Performance Management
9/23/2013
12:15
9/23/2013
13:15
CON10943  --  Mobile and Web-Based Reporting for Oracle Hyperion
9/23/2013
13:45
9/23/2013
14:45
CON5122  --  Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Integration with Oracle Hyperion Datasources
9/23/2013
15:15
9/23/2013
16:15
CON9178  --  Oracle Essbase New Features and Roadmap Update (waitlisted)
9/23/2013
16:45
9/23/2013
17:45
KEY11046  --  Hardware and Software, Engineered to Work Together
9/24/2013
8:00
9/24/2013
10:00
CON9498  --  Tips and Tricks: Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Planning Suite
9/24/2013
10:30
9/24/2013
11:30
CON9500  --  What’s New and What’s Coming: Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Planning Suite
9/24/2013
12:00
9/24/2013
13:00
KEY11049  --  Cloud Keynote
9/24/2013
13:30
9/24/2013
15:15
CON9277  --  Oracle Business Intelligence Product and Technology Roadmap
9/24/2013
15:45
9/24/2013
16:45
CON9516  --  Customer Success: EPM on Oracle Exalytics
9/24/2013
17:15
9/24/2013
18:15
KEY11047  --  Modern Customer Experience: Welcome to the Age of the Customer
9/25/2013
8:00
9/25/2013
9:45
CON9513  --  Oracle Enterprise Performance Management in the Cloud
9/25/2013
10:15
9/25/2013
11:15
CON8993  --  Master Data Management Best Practices, Data Quality, Data Governance, and ROI
9/25/2013
11:45
9/25/2013
12:45
CON8740  --  Real-World Performance: What Is Big Data, and What Makes It Big?
9/25/2013
13:15
9/25/2013
14:15
CON9521  --  Product Development Panel Q&A: Oracle Hyperion EPM Applications
9/25/2013
15:30
9/25/2013
16:30
CON9514  --  Oracle Enterprise Performance Management on Mobile
9/25/2013
17:00
9/25/2013
18:00
CON9287  --  Mining Social Data for Insights
9/26/2013
9:00
9/26/2013
10:00
CON9352  --  Oracle Exalytics Technical Architecture and Deep Dive
9/26/2013
11:00
9/26/2013
12:00
CON9420  --  Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence Applications on Oracle Data Integrator: A Deep Dive
9/26/2013
12:30
9/26/2013
13:30
CON9493  --  Taking Oracle Essbase Beyond Finance
9/26/2013
14:00
9/26/2013
15:00
CON6456  --  Maximize Oracle Hyperion Planning Performance with Oracle Exalytics
9/26/2013
15:30
9/26/2013
16:30

My stalkers can now follow me to their heart’s content.

The blow by blow account

Sundays at Oracle OpenWorld (henceforth referred as “OOW”) are where user groups get to shine.  As an ODTUG bigot/evangelist/fan club member, of course I am at going to be at ODTUG’s Sunday Symposiums.

The man formerly known as my employer

I am in the first session, listening to Edward Roske, CEO of interRel Consulting, LLC, talk about all the new and cool things in 11.1.2.3.  As always, Edward is a droll and amusing presenter and really is providing a good overview of the 11.1.2.3 stack which seems only to increase in size year over year.

From a career perspective, I am only a little concerned that I don’t do, oh, the majority of these products but a man has to figure out what he can do, and do well.

Financial Close

Remember that comment above about me not being an active (or for that matter, inactive) practitioner?  Sadly, this session is all about just that.

Alexandre Seran of ADI Strategies is presenting the latest and greatest re the 11.1.2.3 Financial Close suite (which is way more than HFM).  Should I attempt to get into this stuff?  Can I remember anything from my five accounting classes from oh so long ago?  C’mon blog readers, what do you think?  Cameron’s blog for HFM hackers – does that have a nice ring to it?

Essbase/OBIEE What’s New

Glenn Schwartzberg (MMIC, older brother but not really, etc.) is actually talking about something I do have half, or maybe half of a half, of a clue about, a tool that is near and dear to my heart, and is the primary focus of this blog:  Essbase.

Older not-bro is talking about all of the cool stuff in 11.1.2.3.  He claims that users will never see the changes but we Essbase hackers will, most definitely.  I for one have got to write a blog post (in case you have ever wondered about why I write this stuff, in part is because it forces me to really figure out and why things work) about the overall performance of the different ways of block creation -- @CREATEBLOCK is cool stuff.

OBIEE is now up for review.  Glenn says that Essbase and OBIEE integration is “astounding”.  Hopefully not in a bad way.  OBIEE is yet another one of those tools I don’t “do”.  Should this blog be named Cameron’s Blog for OBIEE Hackers?  Inquiring minds want to know.

What’s new with Hyperion Planning

Deanna Sunde, the ODTUG Hyperion SIG President started in 11.1.2.1’s triumvirate of Essbase/Planning/Smart View, moved on to 11.1.2.2, and has ended up in 11.1.2.3 Planning.

For someone who has seen Planning since version 1.5 I sometimes forget how much the tool has evolved.  How much of the latest and greatest functionality to I use?  I would guess about 85 percent.  It isn’t a question of not wanting (or wanting) to use these features but if I can get them to be approved and used by a customer.  I for one am glad that the tool continues to get small (decimal precision setting) and big (ASO Planning) enhancements.

What’s new with Hyperion Financial Reports and Hyperion Smart View

Glenn Schwartzberg (Are you getting the idea that there is a bit of hero worship going on here?  Or maybe just that Glenn is a consummate professional who really, really, really knows the BI/EPM products? ) graciously (and his employer, interRel, was as well as they produced the original content that I only slightly modified) invited me to copresent in this session.

Here we are – Glenn’s the good looking one.  

 

What does that all mean?  I did the Financial Reports side of it, Glenn did Smart View.  And from an FR perspective, that meant mobile.  Believe it or not, I once worked for a Fortune 50 firm that produced fancy looking briefing books from its mainframe-based Executive Information System (EIS).  These briefing books went to the Company Group Chairmen and Sector Vice Presidents who then managed the business on a global scale.  When one of those executives wanted a new version of the report (the unbelievably fancy for 1990 reports were printed, in color, weekly, even though the base data was updated daily; distribution by paper was so onerous and expensive only special requests went outside of that weekly report refresh), he (or more likely his assistant) called my boss, who told me to run the report, print it out in the corporate print shop, and then physically walk (quickly) to the executive in charge.  Whew.  In other words, I was the mobile solution.  It wasn’t exactly what I went to university for but I did realize I was at the bottom of the totem pole.

And now that’s all gone and done, and for once this sort-of traditionalist is glad to see it go.  The mobile access is so cool I may even go out and buy an iPad, much to the joy of my family that doesn’t understand why we have to use tube radios, write with goose feather quills, and eschew electricity (except for my laptop).

Oracle ACE Dinner

Every year at OpenWorld, OTN gives all of the ACEs and ACE Directors a chance to get together on the Sunday of the conference.  This year was at the Walt Disney Family Museum which, if you are a fan of classic animation (and I am) a fascinating view of the private life of Walt Disney.

I saw my first honest-to-goodness Oscar her – in fact many of them.  Here is an extraordinarily cool one that Disney won for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:

 Quite the inspired choice of venues and the food was good as well.  

What’s next?

You’ll hopefully see me update this during the day and the whole post will be capped by the Oracle ACE dinner tonight.  With pictures, even.

Actually there is no next, except me going to sleep.  OMG, this time zone difference is making me sleepy.  Time to hit the sack.

Be seeing you.

*MMIC = My Man In California.  Glenn is my dogsbody/majordomo and does all of my EPM heavy mental lifting.  Although he thinks the relationship works the other way round.

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