EPM Community Newsletter October 2020

A Note from Your Community Lead

Greetings EPM Community,

It has been a while since I got a chance to address everyone, and, as we all know, a lot has happened since April. First, I hope everyone and their families and loved ones are safe. The one thing that I love about ODTUG and specifically the EPM Community is that we are a community that cares for one another. So, wherever you are reading this, and whatever you may be going through, on behalf of the community volunteers, our thoughts are with every one of you.

While many may agree that we need to be done with 2020, many great things have happened this year. First, we had a very successful ODTUG Kscope Learn from Home series back in May. Second, we have seen our fearless partner Oracle host two wonderful partner trainings and work to continue enhancing Cloud Customer Connect with great webinars and other events, as Al Marciante explains in this edition’s Product Corner. From the community perspective, we continue to keep members and the community engaged through virtual meetups, like the recent Back to School Meetup which featured some of the best minds in the EPM space. Thinking ahead, as “virtual” has become our “new normal” for the time being, we want to continue to keep the community engaged with great content like webinars, articles, and virtual meetups. And who knows, we may get to see each other in Nashville at the next ODTUG Kscope.

Speaking of great content, consider this a call for articles, webinar abstracts, blogs, recipes, photos, artwork—you name it—I want to see it! I want to feature articles written by community members not just in the newsletter but also on the ODTUG EPM Community webpage. I also want to highlight the great and wonderful things that our members are doing in the workplace with EPM tools and outside the workplace. As I mentioned before, we are a community, and I want to keep that spirit alive!

Please send your content to jenna@odtug.com. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at functionally.technical@gmail.com.
Enjoy this quarter’s newsletter, be safe, and stay engaged!

 Jay Chapman


Member Spotlight
 Celvin Kattookaran, MindStream Analytics 



Celvin Kattookaran comes with 15 years of experience in the EPM/CPM field. Most recently he worked as a senior software engineer. He is a prolific blogger, (www.orahyplabs.com) who covers EPM and CPM applications, and he was recently awarded Oracle ACE Director. Kattookaran is known for the utilities he has created for the day-to-day consulting tasks. His community outreach efforts include presenting at multiple conferences, answering questions in forums, and creating utilities. He is known for his creative solutions in the EPM/CPM world.


Did you know…

Starting with the 20.09 update, EPM Cloud will no longer support Internet Explorer based on the Microsoft recommendation that Internet Explorer browser users use the new Microsoft Edge as their default browser. Because Oracle will no longer test EPM Cloud using Internet Explorer, existing functionality that currently works with Internet Explorer may no longer work starting with this update.

Another step in the slow death of Internet Explorer!

 


EPM Product Management Corner
By Al Marciante, Oracle Corporation

As I put pen to paper, or rather keystrokes to screen, I realized this is our first Product Management Corner article since 2020 went off the rails, as we skipped the last newsletter. With that in mind and on behalf of the Oracle EPM development team, we hope you and your loved ones are all safe. This year has really been one of upheaval and has significantly altered our personal and professional lives. People who never saw themselves as being able to work remotely (for whatever reason) are suddenly jockeying for space and sometimes quiet in our homes to remain productive and as socially engaged as possible with our colleagues. Please know you all are part of our extended family and our thoughts and wishes are with all of you, regardless of what life is throwing at you. 
Download the full article 


Check out the EPM Back to School Virtual Meetup recap!

Significance of Supplemental Data Manager – Additional Hands for Finance Users
By, Mohit Jain and Megha Chopra, Genpact
In our field there is a need for the complex and extravagant solutions that take weeks/months to build and test! They are fun and challenging, and if they are very complex, usually after many late nights and weekends you emerge with a solution made of a combination of a clever thought process, collaboration, and some kick-ass development. This is when a solution developer is in their element and is both engaged and challenged (headphones on, music pumping, quirks happening, and for me a pizza delivered with a nice win).

Read the full blog