EPM Community Newsletter

Product Manager's Corner
By Al Marciante, Oracle Corporation

In inaugurating the first Product Management Corner article and on behalf of Oracle EPM Development, I’d like to extend our sincerest thanks to the ODTUG community for your continued and growing support for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management. The annual Kscope conference gets better and better every year, with the caliber of attendees, extensive tracks, comprehensive session content, broad networking opportunities, and growing partner solutions being unequaled.

I have been associated with Kscope since 2008, when Oracle Essbase, representing the only “Hyperion” product on the agenda, was added just a few months before the event.

By the time the conference was held in June of that year, the registered attendees nearly doubled and Kscope took the next step in its transformation to also become a powerful learning-based conference for business users, in addition to the technical audience it catered to so well. Read more.

 


 

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Meetups Are Taking Off – Don't Miss Out!
By Janice D'Aloia, Mo'mix Solutions

Over the past several months, the EPM Community has been feverishly working to bring meetup events to your neighborhood. The White Plains, New York, meetup was held on September 30 at Copper Face Jacks on Mamaroneck Avenue. Many thanks to Gary Crisci and others for a great job planning, inviting locals, and scouting out a great location. Approximately 25 local EPM enthusiasts turned out for drinks and snacks and some cool ODTUG swag. There were old friends and new in the group, and everyone enjoyed visiting and sharing thoughts and ideas. The group agreed that they’d like to get together again soon. Thanks to ODTUG for sponsoring a successful event!. Read more.

 


 

Blogs Galore!

Blogs Galore! is becoming a newsletter favorite. Once again, Jennifer Anderson at The Hearst Corporation has compiled a list of some of her favorite blogs on topics of interest to our EPM Community.

FDMEE: Loading Data to Different Plan Types: www.in2hyperion.com
Planning REST API Part 2: john-goodwin.blogspot.com
How to Log Off Inactive Sessions from Essbase: www.orahyplabs.com
Recreating BR Variables in Essbase…Kind Of: epmqueen.com
Use an Essbase Substitution Variable in a Shell Script: www.cubecoder.com

 


 

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Ever Wanted to Look into a Crystal Ball?
By Philip Hulsebosch, Trexco b.v.

Who does not want to know the future? Only a few people like risk and uncertainty. In the old Greek mythology, the Oracle of Delphi was consulted for decision making, and it was assumed to be inspired by the gods (Hyperion was one of them). The myth is, the oracle looked into a crystal ball and saw the future. Some of us still rely on this kind of approach, while others use statistical methods.

Oracle Crystal Ball (CB) is an analytical tool to simulate, quantify, and manage risk and uncertainty in a spreadsheet model. It is a Microsoft Excel add-in that is leveraging the easy interface of a spreadsheet and the calculation power and modelling capabilities of Excel. Crystal Ball adds strong statistical and analytical functionality, which should validate a model with scientific measures. Read more.

 


 

Essbase Outline and Data Scrambler
By Dmitry Kryuk, Independent Consultant

In this article, I demonstrate the utility that completely "scrambles" Essbase database. If the scrambled data files or outlines get to the wrong hands, they will have no meaningful business information. On the other hand, the outline structure, data distribution, and volume would be exactly the same as in the original application. A consultant would have just enough to perform her/his job. Read more.

 


 

The BOOK Has Finally Arrived!!!

Developing Essbase Applications: Hybrid Techniques and Practices, edited by Cameron Lackpour of CL Solve, reviews technology areas that are often discussed but still very new, including Exalytics and Hybrid Essbase. Covering recent improvements to the Essbase engine, the book illustrates the impact of new reporting and analysis tools and also introduces advanced Essbase best practices across a variety of features, functions, and theories.

Some of this book’s chapters are in the same vein as the previous volume: hardware, engines, and languages. Others cover new ground with Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, design philosophy, benchmarking concepts, and multiple client tools. As before, these subjects are covered from both the technical and best-practice perspectives.

This updated volume continues in the tradition of its best-selling predecessor by defining, investigating, and explaining Essbase concepts like no other resource. It also includes use cases that transform abstract theory into practical examples you can easily relate to your own Essbase environment.

Illustrating the recent expansion of Essbase functionality, this book provides the up-to-date understanding you need to explore the full depth of the Essbase technology stack. Although the book presents detailed tutorial chapters that can be read on their own, reading the entire book will provide you with a similar understanding as some of the most experienced Essbase practitioners from around the world.

  • Chapter 1 Essbase on Exalytics and the "Secret Sauce" – John Booth

  • Chapter 2 Hybrid Essbase: Evolution or Revolution? – Tim German and Cameron Lackpour

  • Chapter 3 The Young Person’s Guide to Essbase Cube Design – Martin Neuliep

  • Chapter 4 Essbase Performance and Load Testing – Tim German

  • Chapter 5 Utilizing Structured Query Language to Enhance Your Essbase Experience – Glenn Schwartzberg

  • Chapter 6 Copernicus Was Right: Integrating Oracle Business Intelligence and Essbase – Mike Nader

  • Chapter 7 Managing Spreadsheets (and Essbase) through Dodeca – Cameron Lackpour

  • Chapter 8 Smart View Your Way – William Hodges

View the publisher's website, and read a chapter.

 


 

How Can I Extract My Essbase Outline to a SQL Database?
By Chris Rothermel, Rothermel Consulting

This article highlights how a utility from Applied OLAP can save time and development work by exporting Essbase outlines to SQL. Having outline information in SQL makes Essbase outline information available for ETL processes and also for historical comparison. Read more.

 


 

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Blast from the Past
By Leticia Cordova, CheckPoint Consulting

When Jennifer Anderson approached me about writing an article for "Blast from the Past," a new section of the ODTUG EPM Newsletter, I thought to myself, “Wow, this is awesome.” I immediately grabbed my notepad and started brainstorming, trying to come up with some really cool and interesting topics, then "SQUIRREL." Yes folks, that really happened. I was taken down memory lane and was brought back to my childhood. Considering the topic, I think it is perfectly normal that I was distracted. Read more.

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