greenEPM: Powered by Dodeca

We recently issued a press release that announced that greenEPM is building their environmental planning, reporting and analysis system on the Dodeca Framework. Their application shows the flexibility of the Dodeca plug-in architecture. This architecture allows us to quickly respond to customer requests for new functionality and, in addition, makes Dodeca the perfect platform for vertical application development. The plug-in architecture runs so deep in Dodeca, in fact, that our robust Essbase functionality is actually implemented as a plug-in. Likewise, the greenEPM functionality is a plug-in on top of the Dodeca Framework. The Dodeca Framework provided a tremendous jump-start in development of the greenEPM product.

The greenEPM application looks much different than anything that we have ever created in Dodeca, which is a testament to the flexibility. Here are a couple of screenshots of the greenEPM application (click on the images to view a full size version of the image). greenEPM provides sustainability reporting modules that allow firms to stay in compliance with both regulatory requirements and voluntary standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative and the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. You can learn more about greenEPM on their website at http://www.greenepm.com/.

As an aside, the dataset that is being displayed in these screenshots is filtered for the town where I grew up, Crystal, MI. For what it is worth, Crystal is a nice little resort lake town where my family has an entrepreneurial history. I guess entrepreneurship runs in my blood!

Recession helps BI

I was invited to attend an invitation-only Management Excellence Forum at Open World a couple of weeks ago. One customer panelist, who happens to be one of our customers, made this interesting comment:

"With the economy down, we no longer see a laissez-faire attitude regarding business intelligence."

For those of us in the business, it sounds like we will all remain very busy not only during this slowdown, but also for some time to come.

Beyond Virtualization - Post Webcast

The AppTransport webcast at www.epmcloud.com helped me understand the technology a bit more and it looks pretty cool. The AppTransport technology, which is used to create Virtual Application Appliances, or VAA's, is very similar in concept to VMWare. VMWare virtualizes and isolates the operating system; VAA's do much the same for a single application.

You can learn more about the technology at the EPMCloud website.

VBA to Create Sample Budget Data

Yesterday I was working with one of our partners to create a proof of concept using Dodeca and one of the issues that came up was creating some sample budget data to go with the actual numbers obtained from the customer. The partner wanted the budget numbers to be within the range of actual +10%/-15%. Not a problem, so I dug deep into my Excel experience and came up with the following VBA algorithm in about 10 minutes.. I *think* it did what I wanted so I thought I would share it:

Option Explicit

Private Const MIN_VAR_PERCENT As Double = -0.15
Private Const MAX_VAR_PERCENT As Double = 0.1

Sub AdjustTargets()
    Dim oRange As Range
    Dim oCell As Range
    Dim vNumber As Variant
    Dim iPlaces As Integer

    ''' use the selected cells
    Set oRange = Selection

    ''' loop the selected cells
    For Each oCell In oRange
        ''' if the cell contains a number
        If IsNumeric(oCell.Formula) Then
            ''' grab the number
            vNumber = oCell.Formula

            ''' get the number of decimal places
            If InStr(CStr(vNumber), ".") > 0 Then
                iPlaces = Len(CStr(vNumber)) - InStr(CStr(vNumber), ".")
            Else
                iPlaces = 0
            End If

            ''' compute a random value between the bounds and
            oCell.Formula = Round((vNumber * (1 + MIN_VAR_PERCENT)) + (Rnd() * (MAX_VAR_PERCENT - MIN_VAR_PERCENT)) * vNumber, iPlaces)
        End If
    Next
End Sub

The HTML rendering on the blog is sometimes not very good, so here is a screenshot of the VBA window (click on the picture to see a full sized version).












To use the VBA, select a range in an Excel workbook and run the macro.

One Good Reason to Stick with Supported Versions

I have been using Essbase for over 14 years now and have got it to run just about anywhere. Sometimes it took a few tweaks and sometimes, such as in getting it to run on Windows 7, is quite a bit more involved. Still, I got it working.

Recently, there was a post on the Network 54 board about a problem getting EAS 11.1.1.3 running on Windows 2000 Advanced Server:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/58296/message/1253831592/Essbase+11.1.1.3+configuration+issue

Typically, I wouldn't expect this to be a problem but it was. We did a bit of research and found that one of the dlls, jmaxl.dll, called a function in the operating system that apparently did not exist in Windows 2000. When you see this, there is basically nothing you can do.

Last week, we saw a similar issue with 11.1.1.3 while doing QA on the Olap Underground utilities. We found the Essbase VB API for 11.1.1.3 does not appear to initialize properly on Windows 2000. What that means to Olap Underground users is that those products will no longer work on Windows 2000 if they upgrade to 11.1.1.3.

Virtualization Update

I got an email from Tommy James at EPMCloud about the new AppTransport technology they are featuring. The new technology, which is from a company called AppZero and is packaged/branded AppTransport by EPMCloud, allows customers to essentially drag and drop an application, including all pertinent registry/directory/file settings between servers. Tommy wanted to clarify that the current technology will allow you to drag/drop an application between Windows servers. Further; AppZero is working on enabling the technology on Linux/Unix servers.

They have a webcast coming up Wednesday to show off the new technology. You can register on their website at http://www.epmcloud.com.

ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 Abstract Deadline

The deadline for submitting abstracts for Kaleidoscope is fast approaching. If you have deep technical knowledge of Essbase or the other Hyperion products that you would like to share with your peers, go to http://www.odtugkaleidoscope.com and let us know. ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 will be at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. from June 27 to July 1.

For those of you are are really geeky (like me), let me express it in your terms:

if (essbaseOrHyperionExpert && wantToShare) {
// act before Oct 27
submitAbstract();

// Hyperion SIG board action required
waitForAcceptance();

// assuming the abstract rocks!
registerAsSpeaker();
} else {
// future deadline
registerAsAttendee();
}