ODTUG Leadership Program / ODTUG Board Elections

As many of you know, I have spent many years helping the Hyperion community in many ways.  I have wrote this blog for quite some time, have taken on the OlapUnderground Utilities and provided free support through my company,  In other words, I have worked hard to give back to the community and, in return, have had many kind words from people we have helped.

As a result of this spirit of giving back, I was lucky enough to be elected to the ODTUG Board of Directors which brings me to the real point of this blog post.  There is an upcoming ODTUG Board Election coming up and, due to term limits, my time on the board is coming to a close.  The same is true of my good friend Cameron Lackpour.  With two board seats open, could *you* be the next person to step up?

Here are my thoughts on what it takes to be a board member.  Joining the ODTUG Board isn't just something you decide to do and it isn't an achievement that is 'a feather in someone's hat'.  It is a commitment to helping others in the community for two years.  But it is more than that.  To be a successful ODTUG Board member, the commitment you have should be a continuation of the long-term commitment you have made to helping others.  So, if you are interested in serving on the ODTUG Board at some time in the future, the thing you should do is #GetInvolved.  If you are not already involved, the easiest way to get involved is to volunteer on the ODTUG Volunteer page.

If you are ready to step up from that point, for a number of years, ODTUG has maintained a Leadership Program to help train the next generation of users.  The application process for this year's Leadership Program is open for another week.  For more information, or to submit an application for the Leadership Program, you can get more information on the ODTUG Leadership Program page.

Find Your Brilliance

I’d like to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to tell you about one my personal highlight's of Kscope 13 which was held back in June in New Orleans. Every year ODTUG announces who the keynote speaker will be well in advance of the conference. Most of the time, the speaker is a person of note; interesting, relevant, sometimes even inspiring. And then there are those times when, frankly, I’m not particularly interested in them or what they have to say. But this year was different. At the end of January, ODTUG announced that the Kscope 13 keynote speaker would be Doc Hendley.

Who is Doc Hendley, you ask? Well, from my perspective, Doc Hendley is one of the most inspiring and truly extraordinary individuals I’ve ever come across. And after meeting him and having the privilege of spending time with him in New Orleans, I’m proud and truly humbled to be able to call this man a friend. He is truly extraordinary, which is ironic when you consider that Doc thinks of himself as “just an ordinary, regular, everyday guy.”

Let me tell you, Doc is anything but. This is the story of how a boy who grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina saved thousands of lives all the way across the globe and in the process, proved to himself and everyone else that one person – even an ordinary regular everyday person - can do something extraordinary.

Doc was “just a bartender” and musician who worked and played in nightclubs in Raleigh, NC. In fact, bartending was the only job he’d ever had. But in his own words, he was “dying to make a difference in this world.” In 2003, standing behind the bar, he heard that polluted water kills more children globally than HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis combined, yet at that time, no one aware of this crisis.

So what did Doc do? In his words, "He got angry, he got pissed off, he took action." And he did it the only way he knew how. He tapped into the "marginalized people in his community, the bar crowd, the regulars"  – the people that everyone else said were too ordinary - to create Wine to Water, an organization that would take him to the site of the greatest humanitarian disaster in the world – Darfur, Sudan, and eventually to 9 other countries. Doc lived in Darfur for a year, and taught the locals how to clean their water and utilize their own resources to keep it clean.

Ordinary guy? I don’t think so.

I watched his TEDx talk on YouTube before going to Kscope13. I was so moved by what he’d done, so overwhelmed, and so energized, that I made everyone in my company watch it before the conference. I wanted every person who worked for me to hear what Doc had to say, and to understand how we all can change the world if we try.  I love Doc's commitment to his cause and I hope we remain friends for a long time to come.

I know my commitments don't allow me to travel the world helping others like Doc does on a regular basis, but that doesn't mean I can't help.  We decided that Applied OLAP could help support the efforts of Wine to Water and so I presented Doc with a $5,000 check as our small contribution. During his keynote speech, Doc demonstrated, again, how one person, one donation, can change the world. I’m pledging to find a way to make a difference in the world too.

After all, I’m a regular ordinary every day kind of guy too.

ODTUG/EPM Coming to Australia!

I can’t believe it has been nearly a year and a half since I visited Sydney and spoke at the ODTUG EPM Seriously Practical Conference.    It seems just like yesterday and I can’t wait to get back to the Land of Oz, but I am not making the trip this time.  However, my good friend Cameron Lackpour is going to make the trip and is working on some great presentations for the ODTUG EPM Seriously Practical Conference coming up March 21 and 22 in Melbourne, Victoria. New Queensland (Note to self: Remember to google things like this before you post your blog).  Cameron brings some great experience to share at this conference and, in fact, when I have an Essbase or Planning question, who do I call? I call Cameron.

Cameron will be stopping by New Zealand on his way to the Australia and speaking March 18 and 19 at the NZOUG Conference in Wellington.  If you are in either Australia or New Zealand, make sure to catch Cameron on this trip.

As a side note, I really wish I could be in Wellington for a couple of reasons.  First, the NZOUG Conference was really fun when I was there last year.  The other reason is more personal in that my wife’s grandfather spent significant time near Wellington, in Paekakariki, during World War 2.  Many Marines were there on the ground staging and training for the major beach invasions of the islands of the South Pacific.  He stormed the beach in four of the bloodiest battles of the war including Tawara where his unit lost nearly 90% of their men on the first day.  He remembers every detail to this day.  Many local New Zealand communities have organizations called the RSA (Returned Services Association) that operate to, among other things, welcome military personnel back to New Zealand.  I hope to visit the RSA in Paekakariki sometime in the future.

Announcing Kscope13 Platinum Sponsor – Applied OLAP and Dodeca!

We are happy to announce that Applied OLAP and our flagship product, The Dodeca Spreadsheet Management System, have signed up as a Platinum Sponsor for the Kscope13 conference in New Orleans.  We believe that the conference, which runs from June 25 to June 28, is not only the best forum for Hyperion related content, but it is also the best place for Hyperion related vendors to show their products.

There are several events at Kscope13 that you should not miss.  The first event is the annual ODTUG Community Service Day on Saturday, June 24.  This year, ODTUG volunteers will be working to improve a school with a new coat of paint, landscaping and playground improvements.  The community service project is also a good time to meet others who share your interests.  I have made a number of new friends at these projects over the years.

The next can’t miss event is the Sunday Symposium.  The Symposiums are one of the only times during the year that you can get direct contact with the Oracle development team.   One of the cool things about the symposium is that Oracle not only talks about the new things they are working on over the next year, but they also spend a lot of time listening to the wishes of customers.

Last week, ODTUG announced the identity of the keynote speaker and, frankly, there have been many conferences where the keynote just didn’t interest me.  This conference will be different.  The story of the Kscope13 keynote speaker, Doc Hendley, is amazing and inspirational.  Doc is the founder of Wine To Water, an organization who is working to bring sustainable, clean fresh water to parts of the world that desperately need water.  I watched his TEDx Asheville presentation on YouTube and all I can say is this..  WOW!.  I can’t wait to meet Doc in New Orleans.

Finally, last time Kscope was in New Orleans, there was a Wednesday night Hyperion social event that wound its way down Bourbon Street.  There were about 22 of us that made that journey; this year I expect that number to be in the hundreds (and that is *after* the traditional Wednesday night Kscope “special event”, the just announced party at Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World.

As a vendor, I hope you get to spend time in the vendor hall and visit all of the vendors to learn about their products and services.  As a self-funded user group, ODTUG relies on these vendors help provide the funding to put on a great conference plus you may find some tools to help you in your job.  If your company uses spreadsheets, I would be especially happy to tell you about the benefits our customers realize using The Dodeca Spreadsheet Management System.
 
As a Platinum Sponsor, we can also help you save money on your Kscope13 registration.  Use the special code AOLAP when you register for Kscope13 and save $100 on your registration.  You can learn more about Kscope13 and register for the conference at www.kscope13.com.

See you there!

Two Weeks Left to Vote in the ODTUG Board of Directors Elections

If you are a paid ODTUG member, you only have two weeks left to vote for the slate of candidates for the ODTUG Board of Directors.  The Board of Directors guides the business of the organization, including its largest event, the annual Kscope conference.

This year, there are 11 professionals, including me, running for 4 spots on the board.  The candidates include 1 Oracle Application Express specialist, 4 database tools specialists, and 6 Hyperion/EPM specialists.  I think I can speak for all of the candidates when I say we are all willing to volunteer many, many hours to help the various communities that comprise ODTUG.  Don't forget to make your contribution to the community and vote.  If I am re-elected to the Board of Directors, I will be happy to serve you and will feel lucky to serve with any and all of this year's candidates.

ODTUG provides many opportunities to volunteer and contribute to the Oracle EPM user community.  If you are interested in getting more involved, let ODTUG know at http://www.odtug.com/volunteer.

MTG Recorded Webcasts

My friend Ron Moore over at Marketing Technologies Group send me a link to the recorded webcasts they have on their site and asked that I get the word out about their presence.  Ron and I go back many years and, in fact, I used to teach Essbase Excel VBA classes for him at his training room in New York.  Ron is also a great sponsor of the ODTUG Hyperion user group activities and these videos are a great contribution to the community.

Here is what the recorded library looks like.

There are currently 38 webcast videos in the library on a variety of topics.  You can see the webcast library at https://mtg.webex.com/mw0306ld/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=mtg.  This link takes you to the webcast schedule.  From there, click on the View Event Recordings link in the upper right corner to access the archived videos.

Kscope 2012 Sessions and Discount Code

Sorry I haven't posted anything in the past month or so, but recently I have been spending all of my writing efforts on some material for an upcoming book.  Thankfully, my writing on that project is now complete and I hope to spend more time writing here.

Since I posted last, I have learned I will be giving two presentations at Kscope12.  On Monday, 6/25/2012, I will be presenting on the topic of Oracle Fusion Accounting Hub: Where Oracle Fusion and Essbase Become One.  I think this will be a very interesting session that talks about the strategic importance of Essbase in the Oracle Fusion stack.  On Thursday, 6/28/2012, I will be presenting Advanced Essbase Java API Tips and Tricks.  I have done this session at the last several Kscope conferences, but try to add new content each time.

This year, Kscope12 features four distinct Hyperion related tracks including tracks for Hyperion Applications, EPM Business Content, Essbase and Beginner Essbase.  The session schedule is now posted on the Kscope website at http://caat.odtug.com/odtug_caat/caat_abstract_reports.location_schedule?conference_id=90&location_group=ALL.

If you have not yet registered for Kscope, register today and use the Applied OLAP discount code, AOLAP, to save $100 off your registration.  You can register for Kscope 2012 at http://kscope12.com/registration.  I am headed to the conference hotel tonight to help with conference planning and to participate in the ODTUG Board of Directors meeting.  In a previous board meeting, I voted for the selection of this property, the JW Marriott Hill Country, as the location for Kscope 2012 as I believe it will be a great place to learn and it will be a great place for families to play (while us tech people learn).   This will be my first visit to the property and I will let you know what I think.

We finally got out and did something here in the beautiful city of Sydney.  Yesterday, Darlene and I did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb with Mark Rittman and Stuart Bryson from Rittman Mead along with Stuart's wife Pamela.  Here is a shot from the top of the bridge.

After the climb, we met up with Ash Beauman from Rittman Mead Australia for a few beers and even some late night clubbing around The Rocks area of Sydney.  Of course, we had plenty of time to discuss OBIEE and how Essbase fits into the picture; I guess we are all true geeks.

Later, I pulled an all-nighter to go on-line and watch my Michigan Wolverines play Iowa; I didn't like the result.  Today, it is off to Manly Beach to explore another part of Sydney.

NZOUG / ODTUG SP Sydney Wrapup

It is Friday afternoon and my busy week of speaking is over.   It started out in Auckland, New Zealand at the NZOUG conference.  It was a great conference and the special event, a dinner with an interactive mystery game, was excellent.  

Wednesday, we flew to Sydney for the ODTUG SP Conference.  The flight was on Qantas and, due to the airline shutdown earlier in the week, we had to check-in for the flight 2 hours ahead of time or risk losing our seats.  Qantas also enforces a weight limit of about 16 pounds per carry-on bag.  We didn't know that until we tried to go through security and we were sent back to check-in to check one of our carry-on bags.  Once airborne, however, the flight was great and I relaxed, watched the movie and enjoyed the meal service.  They even brought ice cream bars for dessert!  As we approached Sydney airport in the plane, we had a great view of the harbor, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the famous Sydney Opera House.

The SP Conference was well attended in both the BI and the EPM tracks.  I participated in the keynote where I got to tell everyone about the new version of Smart View.  I also had the honor of introducing the Oracle Fusion Accounting Hub.  This new product shows Oracle's deep commitment to Essbase and I will be doing a blog post with more details in the near future.   

My first session in Sydney covered Essbase techniques in Excel.  This session first discussed the new version of Smart View and I threw in some live demos.  The new Smart View brings near-parity to the classic Excel add-in and thus makes available a number of techniques that did not work with the older Smart View versions.  I also covered how Essbase 'Query-by-Example' grid layouts work and, based on the applause at the end, the session was very well received (or the attendees where very polite).

My final session was this afternoon and focused on Essbase API tips and tricks.  The SP conference is now complete and it is time to relax for a while.  I have been in Australia for 48 hours and haven't seen the famous Sydney Opera House yet.  It is only 2 or 3 blocks from our hotel, but I haven't really been outside at all.  We are headed out for dinner tonight and will be staying in Australia until next Wednesday, so I am sure I will see it soon.  

Tomorrow morning, we are doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb with Mark Rittman and Stewart Bryson from Rittman Mead.  We will certainly see it then.

Speaking of Mark Rittman, he tweeted about the dangerous animals featured on the wall displays leading to customs in Sydney Airport.  At lunch yesterday, he pulled up a 'Top 10' list of Australia's most deadly animals.  I guess there are some nasty creatures here; the Great White Shark is only the 9th most deadly animal on the list!   I will be sure not to let down my guard.

OTN Asia Pacific Tour / ODTUG EPM/BI SP Conference in Sydney

I am hitting the road soon as I have been invited to speak in Auckland, New Zealand as part of the OTN Asia Pacific Tour and in Sydney, Australia at the ODTUG Seriously Practical Conference.  Both of these conferences are scheduled for the week of October 31.  Due to commitments at my company, I was unable to speak at other OTN Tour stops in Bangkok, Thailand, Beijing, China and Manila, The Philippines but don't worry.  My friend Edward Roske will be speaking at all locations.

The trip will start in New Zealand with 2 presentations at the NZOUG Conference 2011 on October 31 and November 1.  The presentations, and related abstracts, I am scheduled to do in Auckland are:

Find Meaning in Your General Ledger Using Oracle Essbase


Oracle owns several General Ledger applications and, with the addition Oracle Essbase, now has a world class analytic engine. However, many Oracle general ledger users may not know that Essbase exists or know how it can help them. Attend this session and learn what Essbase and learn how
companies are leveraging Essbase to analyze the data in their General Ledger.


What is Oracle Essbase and How Is It Different From the Oracle Database?


Since the acquisition of the Hyperion suite of products, including the Essbase analytic server, many Oracle professionals have wondered "What is this piece of software called Essbase, how is it different than the Oracle database, and why would I need it?" Attend this session to see Essbase and
the Oracle Database compared and contrasted from both the technological and the business perspectives and to see opportunities for Oracle customers to leverage these technologies.

The first session is completely new content that I need to generate before I leave for Auckland.  My assumption for this presentation is that the audience will be from the Oracle GL user audience and I want to introduce them to Essbase.  I also plan to discuss the Oracle products that link together Essbase and the GL such as ERPi and FDM, but I don't yet have any good videos showing how it works.  Does anyone out there have any cool FDM type of videos you could share?  And, of course, I will also talk about Essbase Studio drillthough and Dodeca.

The second session in Auckland is a session that closely parallels the article I wrote for this quarters ODTUG Technical Journal.

The schedule calls for us to fly from Auckland to Sydney, Australia on Wednesday, November 2 for the ODTUG EPM/BI Seriously Practical ("SP") Conference.   I am doing two different sessions in Sydney on November 3 and 4:

Unleashing the Power of Essbase in Excel


Excel was the original user interface for Essbase and remains the most popular user interface for Essbase data. Attend this session by Tim Tow, Oracle ACE Director, and learn techniques, tips and tricks to make Essbase spreadsheets easier to create, easier to maintain and more performant using both the classic Excel Essbase add-in and Smart View. Tim, who was also one of five charter Microsoft Excel MVPs worldwide, has 16 years of Essbase spreadsheet experience, wrote some of the original Excel/Essbase demoware, and has helped thousands of users over the years.


Best Practices for Expanding Essbase with the API’s


The Essbase API is what elevates Essbase beyond being just a product and turns it, instead, into a platform. Customers can leverage the Essbase APIs to finely tailor their Essbase experiences and can range from simple automations to full applications. Join one of the world’s most experienced Essbase API developers, Oracle ACE Director Tim Tow, and learn best practices for using both the Essbase VB API and the Essbase Java API.

These two sessions will be, for the most part, new content but it is content that comes from what I do *everyday*.  I am excited about the SP Conference as maybe ODTUG can put on SP Conferences in other parts of the world.  Where would you like ODTUG to do a Seriously Practical Conference?

Kscope 11 Opening Session: Behind the Scenes

Frankly, most opening sessions at software conferences, with a few exceptions, are pretty forgettable.  I will never forget the Kscope11 opening session.  This is my backstage story.

The ODTUG Board of Directors, myself included, had no idea what we were getting into when Edward Roske was named the Conference Chairman.  I knew Edward had a flair for the dramatic; does anyone else remember the Solutions session from his company that was structured as a musical?   So, what did Edward have in mind for us?  Well, instead of announcing the location of Kscope12 with a slide or two, Edward wrote a 'screenplay' spoofing reality shows starring, you guessed it, the ODTUG Board of Directors!  Yes, we all had plenty of opportunities of make fools of ourselves in public!   As we were so close to LA, we had a professional film crew put together these spoofs!  We filmed all of these videos over about a 7 hour stretch on Saturday, one day before the conference started.   I was in the first four of the videos.  The first reality show?  Survivor!

As people were dismissed from each reality show, they were introduced as the next speaker.  Edward was dismissed in Survivor, via unanimous vote no less, and went on stage to welcome attendees to the conference.  Next up?  American Idol.  Keep in mind as you watch this video that we all selected our own songs and tried to make them very funny.  Further, the panel, comprised of interRel employees Terrance Walker and Danielle White, joined by ODTUG Board Member Mark Rittman (who played a spot-on Simon Cowell), had no idea what songs we were planning to sing, so you get to see their real reactions.

I picked the my song, 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy', as I thought it would crack up the panel, especially if I dressed up in some nice threads for the gig.  Actually, I did grow up on a farm in Michigan, so I really am a bit of a country boy..  Karen Cannell, the ODTUG Journal editor, cracked me up with her song.  She had actually never heard the song before and had to learn it out in the hall just before her performance.   Trivia note: Karen is wearing my Michigan hat that I got a the 2008 Citrus Bowl when my Michigan Wolverines beat the Florida Gators.

Next up was Big Brother.  We filmed all of these videos on Saturday afternoon and I was exhausted after the board meeting all day on Friday and the Saturday Community Service Project (where I restored 3 foosball tables at a Boys and Girls Club).  I was actually sleeping on the floor during portions of filming of this spoof.

There was a scene cut from Big Brother due to the lack of time.  I was supposed to do a 'surprised coming out of the shower scene' as they feature on Big Brother.  Unfortunately, due to my utter exhaustion, I didn't think of a really funny ending for the next spoof, The Bachelorette., until the next day.  More on that after the video.

Yes, Cameron and I, the EPM guys, both met our demise in The Bachelorette  We thought Danielle would certainly give us a rose as she is also a good EPM citizen, but we were sadly mistaken.   By the way, the drama after the dismissal, with Cameron refusing the hug and me having to give her an 'uncomfortably long' hug were both late script changes, but they were actually planned.  Of course, I didn't mind doing my part for ODTUG.     

OK, back to the cut Big Brother scene..  I woke up the next morning and realized we had missed an opportunity for a big laugh..  My thought is that the shower scene should be at the end of 'The Bachelorette' and after I had been dismissed.  I would be surprised coming out of the shower and would exit stage left while the camera stay focused on the shower door.  After about 5 or 6 seconds, Danielle would peek out, look both ways and then sneak away..  I think it would have been a huge laugh!

Cameron and I were then introduced and our job, on-stage, was to introduce the keynote speaker, Joey Asher.  Joey is an author and the founder of a company called SpeechWorks that helps companies communicate better.  The thing is, we introduced a fake version of Joey; it was actually geek comedian Don McMillen.  Don was extremely funny.  Here is a video posted to YouTube by someone in the audience.

After Don McMillen and the real Joey Asher spoke, the next spoof was 'So You Think You Can Dance'.  Board Members David Schleis and Month Latiolais absolutely cracked me up in this video which, by the way, I didn't see until just before the opening session.

Finally, the last spoof was 'The Amazing Race'.  Most of the race was held on Segway's through the sidewalks of Long Beach.  Actually, the entire ODTUG Board did a Segway tour of the facilities on the Thursday before the conference.  It was fun and only a couple of us fell off our Segway during the tour (Hello Edward and Fred).

The race ended on-stage with ODTUG President Mike Riley edging out Board Member John King by a nose.  Mike then had the honor of announcing that KScope12 is coming to San Antonio, Texas!  Next year, we will be at the JW Marriott Hill Country which features 2 TPC golf courses, a spa, an on-site 6 acre waterpark and an on-site, 100-acre nature preserve.  Plan to bring your family to enjoy the facilities while you learn the latest from the experts in the Essbase, Planning, HFM, OBIEE, APEX, PL/SQL, Database Development and Fusion Middleware.

The Kscope12 website is now open.  You can register for the conference, book a room, or even submit an abstract to be a speaker at www.kscope12.com.

Kscope11 Lunch and Learn Session - EPM

Here is a link to the EPM Lunch and Learn session which was a panel discussion with a number of us Oracle ACE Directors.  This was one of my favorite sessions of the week though I am bias as I am on the panel.  I was so exhausted by this time of the week, I was just hoping I could put together my sentences without stumbling or degrading into gibberish.

One of my favorite sections of this session was my debate with OBIEE expert, fellow Oracle ACE Director and fellow ODTUG Board of Directors member Mark Rittman.  The debate starts somewhere around the 22:30 mark and, though Mark makes some good points about OBIEE and Essbase and OBIEE itself has some magic in flattening Essbase so data can be mixed/matched with relational data in a SQL query, I stand by my contention that Oracle doesn't get the magic that users see in Excel when they retrieve data from Essbase.

By the way, Mark and I get along quite well despite our debates over technology.

In any case, here is a link to the video:

http://www.livestream.com/odtug/video?clipId=pla_c4584e09-e206-46ef-ae33-ae47d3f9729d&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

Kscope11 Hyperion Midnight Madness

I can't believe it has already been a couple of weeks since Kscope11; time just flies when you are having fun.  In my case, I managed to get a couple of days of summer skiing in at Mammoth Mountain before heading home to the heat of Alabama.  Since that time, I have been heads down catching up (and working hard on Dodeca 6).  I need to make a few posts to summarize some of the fun things that happened at Kscope11 and, within a few days, to post my slides/sample code from my Java API session.

First, I thought I would talk about one of the unique networking events we have at Kscope, the annual Midnight Madness networking event.  For the past couple of years, this event has featured a game show format and this year, it was Family Feud.   Fellow Oracle ACE Director Glenn Schwartzberg acted as the master of ceremonies and played brilliantly the Richard Dawson game show host character.  The funniest thing happened on one of the questions where Glenn totally lost it and literally couldn't get the words out because he was laughing so hard..

Another very funny thing happened during Family Feud.   The survey question was "Name an Oracle ACE or Oracle ACE Director in the EPM/BI Space".  Yes, I know, boring, right?  Guess who was the top answer?  Book author/Kscope Conference Chairman Edward Roske?  Nope.  He finished second to yours truly..  By the way, the screenshot below was sent to me by Edward..

So, in summary, my career is now officially a trivia answer!

ODTUG Hyperion SIG Nominations Close Today

If you are interested in building the Hyperion user community, the ODTUG Hyperion Special Interest Group is a great place to start.  The Hyperion SIG Board did some great work over the past year to create the great KScope conference last week in Long Beach and will, I am sure, work hard to create an even better conference next June in San Antonio, TX.  Nominations are open through tomorrow (sorry for the late notice).  This is the info posted on Network 54 about a month ago:

The ODTUG Hyperion SIG is currently seeking nominations for its board. There are three (3) open seats. 1 of these seats can be filled by a vendor/partner.

The board’s responsibilities are:

• Enable communication with Oracle Corp on direction and strategy
• Share information and experiences among Oracle Hyperion developers and database administrators
• Facilitate training and education among the Oracle Hyperion developers and database administrators (DBAs)
• Provide representation for the Hyperion SIG at Kaleidoscope and Oracle Open World
• Develop the Hyperion tracks at Kaleidoscope
• Maintain Hyperion SIG’s web page on ODTUG.com with relevant and informative content to the development community

Board member requirements include: current paid member of ODTUG; regular participation in board conference calls; coordinating/contributing to meetings and conferences including ODTUG Kaleidoscope and Oracle Open World.

As a board member, one needs to support and promote the Hyperion SIG goals by taking an enthusiastic role in the activities that help continually provide value to the technical community. Giving a presentation at ODTUG’s annual conferences, assisting with membership and awareness campaigns, mentoring new members and encouraging other developers/DBAs to participate in the Hyperion SIG are just a few ways that board members can display leadership and contribute to the SIG's growth and success.

If you would like to help shape the future direction of the Hyperion SIG by joining the board, please submit the following information to doug_burke@paramount.com:


Name
Company
Title
Address
Email
Phone Number
Head Shot (Photo)
Four to five sentence bio


Please be aware of the following rules/guidelines:

• Candidates must be a current paid member of the Oracle Development Tools Users Group (ODTUG).
• Elections are for individual volunteers, not the companies that employ them. The person elected will be a board member. It is recommended that individuals seek approval to run before submission as a candidate.
• Board will consist of nine members with no more than 50% from employees of Oracle Vendors (50% vendor rule).
• A board member’s term will last three years. At the end of their term, former members may choose to run for re-election after one year.
• On any given year, there will be 3 open positions on the board.
• If positions become open on the board during the year, board members may appoint members at their discretion as long as it does not violate the 50% vendor rule.
• Nominations will be open now until July 8th.
• Voting will be from July 11-25th on the ODTUG website.
• Results will be published July 29th.

Volunteer and get involved!

KScope 2011 Discount Code

As a vendor supporting the KScope conference, Applied OLAP is able to offer this discount code for the best Hyperion conference in the world.  The Applied OLAP discount code, AOLA, will entitle you to an extra $100 off a conference pass.  Further, if you come to the Hyperion Networking Event at the conference, let me know you registered using the AOLA code and I will buy your first drink!

As a reminder, to get the lowest price on the conference pass, be sure to register before the Early Bird registration deadline of March 25th.   See you in Long Beach!

ODTUG Election - Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who trusted me with their vote for the ODTUG Board of Directors.  I will continue to work hard for the whole Oracle development community and, especially, for my fellow Hyperion professionals.

When you have ideas you believe can help the Hyperion user community as a whole, please don't hesitate to contact me or fellow ODTUG Board-electee, and old friend, Cameron Lackpour.  Serving on the Board of Directors provides us direct contact with Oracle management on behalf of the user community and we are here to serve you.

Thank you again for the honor.

Kaleidoscope 2010 Review

Kaleidoscope 2010 wrapped up a week ago Thursday and, not surprisingly, I haven’t had time to write about it until now.  Here is a summary of some of the highlights.

Community Service

The Community Service project this year provided labor to the Ronald H Brown Middle School in northeast DC.  The school is was named for a US Secretary of Commerce who was killed in a plane crash in 1996 in Croatia.  The ODTUG crew worked on refurbishing a playground, did landscaping and sorted books in the library.   Joe Aultman from AutoTrader, Jeff Sims from Tethsys and I worked on the basketball courts which literally had no lines or layout when we started.  Cameron Lackpour and my son Billy worked in the library and Whitney, my daughter, worked on the hopscotch and four-square areas with an EPM consultant I had never met before, Jessica Cordova.  Here is a picture (thanks to Larissa Stamey from ODTUG and Wayne Van Sluys for the picture).

For what it is worth, I placed the basketball in the center of the circle for this picture (and laid out the lines and painted much of the blue court.  I am standing on left end just in front of my daughter, Whitney.  My son, Billy, who labored for weeks on the Windows 7 installation blog, is standing just in front of the guy holding the letter 'B'.

Sunday Symposium

The Sunday EPM Symposium is one of the unique things about Kaleidoscope as it is the only forum where customers and consultants can meet the Hyperion development teams face-to-face.  There was some great exchanges of information but, of course, as Oracle was talking about futures, everything presented came with heavy disclaimers.

During the Symposium last year, the product manager from Smart View held an impromptu ‘tell me why you like the classic add-in better than Smart View’ session that lasted nearly his entire allotted time.  From his presentation this year, it is very apparent that he listened to the feedback.  The Smart View team is working hard on classic add-in parity and are they are starting to get Smart View much closer to the point where it will gain more widespread acceptance.

Keynote / General Session

The General Session had a huge announcement for us Hyperion people as one of our own, Edward Roske from interRel, is the Conference Chair for Kaleidoscope 2011 in Long Beach.  Edward has worked very hard on the previous conferences and has thus earned his way to a very tough job.  For us Hyperion people, however, having a Hyperion person as the Conference Chair shows the importance of Hyperion in the ODTUG world.   I expect that next years conference will have even more Hyperion content and will be even more of a can’t miss event.

The keynote was by Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.  Lee discussed some very interesting facts gathered from their research.  One interesting trend he discussed is ‘lifelogging’ where people document everything they do on-line.  I instantly recognized my daughter follows this tendency and, if fact, we always kid her about her natural ability to take pictures of herself with her iPhone for her Facebook page.  I encourage you to read the findings at http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2010/Jun/The-Future-of-the-Internet--National-Geographic.aspx. This presentation features the same content contained in the keynote

Sessions
I normally don’t get the opportunity to go to many sessions other than my own and this year was no exception.  I did get to attend the Smart View sessions on Thursday and they were all very good and thought provoking.

I gave three presentations in DC as well.  The first session was a vendor session which highlighted the features and benefits of Dodeca.  It was well attended and we gave away a bunch of Dodeca T-Shirts at the end.

The second session was a new presentation intended to educate Oracle database developers about Essbase and where it fits into the enterprise.  This was a fun topic and I think it is becoming more relevant with each passing day as Essbase gets integrated deeper into the Oracle stack.

The last session was a fill-in session on the Java API.  My friend Jason Jones was scheduled to do the session but, at the last minute, was unable to attend.  This session was the most fun for me as I really dig into Essbase at the API level and foster new understanding of how Essbase works ‘under the covers’ to even experienced Essbase people.   A number of people of have asked for the sample code from this session; I will make it available on our website soon.

Overall / The Future

This Kaleidoscope was the best one yet but I still expect it to be bigger and better next year, but there is still a lot of work to do.  Many people, including me, still long for the days of the Hyperion Solutions conference.  The Solutions conference had the advantage of being run by the vendor, so the marketing department could devote many dollars to make sure it was ‘the place to be’ for Hyperion people.

In the Oracle world, the comparable conference is Oracle Open World but, as Hyperion is a small percentage of Oracle as a whole, Open World will never have the Hyperion focus that Solutions had or that Kaleidoscope has today.  Kaleidoscope, on the other hand, is run by the Oracle Development Tools User Group which means that it is completely controlled, and funded, by the users.  That means you can make difference on the direction of this conference.  To help make Kaleidoscope even better, I plan to run for the ODTUG Board of Directors in order to provide Hyperion users a voice on the governing body.  Elections are coming up in the fall and paid members are eligible to vote.  I encourage everyone to join, participate and please vote for me for the Board of Directors!

How You Can Make Kaleidoscope Better

Since the acquisition of Hyperion by Oracle, I have worked with the Oracle Development Tools User Group ("ODTUG") to make their conference, Kaleidoscope, a home for the Hyperion community.  I believe my efforts, along with the efforts of some other dedicated individuals have paid off and this summer Kaleidoscope 2010 is shaping up to be the best Hyperion conference ever.  The dedicated individuals who have had the most impact on the success of the Hyperion content at the conference is the ODTUG Hyperion Special Interest Group ("Hyperion SIG").  You have a chance now to join this group of individuals as nominations are now open for three directors to fill expiring terms on the board.

The nominations are open to both Hyperion end users and partners.  The board by-laws do, however, state that at least 50% of the board membership must be from the end user community.

Current board member (and friend) Natalie Delemar is the person responsible for gathering the nominations.  She has volunteered many hours and very hard for the Hyperion SIG over the past couple of years and deserves a big round of applause from our community.  You can send the nominations to her at Nadelemar@yahoo.com.

For more information on the qualifications, please see this Network54 forum post.

ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2009 Discount Codes

ODTUG has offered discount codes to partners who are participating in the Kaleidoscope 2009 conference as a way to help their customers attend the conference. The codes, which entitle attendees to register for the Kaleidoscope conference at the ODTUG paid member early bird discount rate of $1225, are available from a number of Hyperion partners.

If you want to attend Kaleidoscope, have a Hyperion consulting partner working with you, and want to save some money, call your partner and get the code.

If you are a Hyperion partner and don't yet have a code, contact me and I will direct you to the ODTUG person who can get you your own code to give to your customers.

Finally, if you don't have a relationship with, or know any, other Hyperion partners, Applied OLAP has a code. Send me an email at timtow@appliedolap.com and I will email you our code.

See you in Monterey!

ODTUG Hyperion SIG LinkedIn Group

The ODTUG Hyperion Special Interest Group ("SIG") now has it's own group on LinkedIn. The group was created by longtime Arbor salesperson Suzanne Hoffman. Suzanne now heads up sales for industry veteran Quinlan Eddy at Star Analytics. You can join the group here.

For those of you who don't know about LinkedIn, it is a business networking site that is somewhat similar to Facebook (for serious people). OK, I am probably going to get slammed with comments on that statement; some serious people actually have Facebook accounts too. Enough said.