Boston meetup is go!

EPM in Massachusetts

Another EPM meetup, another success.  Monotonous, isn’t it?

Here’s Mark Rinaldi and Norman Williams kicking off the meetup.  We had almost 20 people attending.  I (and others) think if it hadn’t been 6 Fahrenheit/-6 Celsius we may have had more.  No matter, those who attended had a fantastic time.

Here we are, we happy few:

As promised, if you weren’t there you missed:

1. Lunch (always important)
2. An EPM game.  Yes, really.  And it was awesome.  We’re sad.
3. Presentations

1. Oracle’s Mark Rinaldi:  “EPM Product Roadmap & Strategy”
2. Yr. most hmbl. & obt. svt.’s “Hybrid:  Theoretical promise, real world success”
3. TopDown Consulting’s Ron Moore:  “Delivering Business Transformation with PBCS”
1. Information about What Must Be The Very Best Oracle User Group In The World aka WMBTVBOUGITW aka much more sensibly ODTUG’s Kscope17 early bird specials and deadlines as well as cool ODTUG swag.

Dine well

The food was pretty good.  If I were in charge of things we’d be eating The Elvis.  Good thing I’m not in charge.

Let the games begin

The room was split into groups of three.  We were given a single sheet of requirements – just about on par for real world requirements documents (I kid, I kid), given 15 minutes to come up with a single page design so just about on par with most design documents (I’m not totally sure I’m kidding), and then had to present our design.

Here’s one of the teams figuring out their plan for world domination a fantastic solution.

Then a lucky chap got to present his team’s solution.  One thing I can say about EPM geeks is that we’re not afraid of speaking in front of others.

Even when we’re mostly wrong.

With the icebreaker out of the way, the true knowledge sharing began.

All present and correct

Here’s Mark Rinaldi explaining Oracle’s EPM roadmap.  It’s exciting stuff, particularly for on-premises customers who have been waiting, waiting, waiting for good news.  It is almost upon us.

What does work?  Not me.

Here’s a picture of Steve Liebermensch graciously not correcting me on my Hybrid Essbase presentation.  Could I have been that boring or that wrong?  Could be.

And finally Ron Moore telling us about a functional (gasp) view of PBCS. It was a refreshing change of pace.  I’ve known Ron for literally decades (just two or so) and as always he delivers excellent work.  Seriously, you need to hear Ron present on this – visionary is the way I view it.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

One of the many joys of business travel is the ever-present risk of flights being cancelled.  Shall I mention the airline that left me stranded at Logan?  Why yes, here they are.  Bastards.

Instead I got to sample All Aboard With Amtrak’s service from Providence to (almost) home.  Would you believe that the train doesn’t leave till 10 pm?  And yet arrive at o’dark thirty?  Not that I was awake for it, but apparently there’s a two hour layover in Penn Station.

Rhode Island is Famous for You

Steve was nice enough to drive me to the Providence, RI Amtrak train station.  Thus another state is crossed off my bucket list of visiting every one of the lower 48.  I can’t tell you much about the state other than its train station is pretty small.  

At the same time, OMG taking the train is nicer than a plane.  I think next time, I’ll take the train.

And then I was in beautiful Trenton, New Jersey, my home state.  To be fair, there are some fantastic places in NJ, e.g. Baldpate Mountain.  However, I was not there but pondering how something could be “anytime” and yet be closed at 4:30 am.  A mere $40 cab fare home (Who at 4:30 am is going to complain about cost?  Not me.) and I was home.  

And so to bed for 40 winks before my 9 am development touch point meeting.

So what do we have?

Beyond my whining?  What we have is yet again a fantastic manifestation of the passion for learning and sharing that defines ODTUG.  It’s just a fantastic group of enthusiasts about all things Oracle.  

Your EPM community…

ODTUG is here to help you get that meetup off the ground.  Why wait?

Be seeing you.

The very first (and most definitely not the last) Boston EPM/BI meetup

Live in (or near) Boston?  Use (or develop) EPM/BI?  Where should you be on 15 December 2016?

At the eponymously named  Boston Area EPM/BI Community Meetup, of course.  I am happy to relate that the number of EPM (and BI) meetups are growing and I’m even happier to be tangentially involved in them.

Meetups are a great place to learn, give, network, and have a fun time with your peers.  I’ve been to a few in Florida, one in Philadelphia (more I hope in the coming year as I will have rolled off of the ODTUG board), and now Boston.  Meetups can run the gamut from a purely social let’s-meet-at-a-bar to something akin to a conference; the one on the 15th will be the latter type.

What’s on offer?

Quite a bit, actually.  There will be:

1. Lunch (always important)
2. A fun so-awesome-I-can’t-tell-you-but-trust-me-it’s-fun event
3. Presentations
1. Oracle’s Mark Rinaldi:  “EPM Product Roadmap & Strategy”
2. TopDown Consulting’s Ron Moore:  “Delivering Business Transformation with PBCS”
3. Yr. Obt. Svt.’s “Hybrid:  theoretical promise, real world success”
4. Information about What Must Be The Very Best Oracle User Group In The World aka WMBTVBOUGITW aka much more sensibly ODTUG’s Kscope17 early bird specials and deadlines as well as cool ODTUG swag.

Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like ODTUG’s Kscope?  The Boston meetup is of course smaller in scope and size but the concept of fun, access to Oracle product management, and the deep technical content that makes Kscope such a fantastic conference are all there.  

Who’s running this show?

This meetup is Norman Williams’ brainchild.  Like so many things in my professional life, I met Norman through ODTUG via Kscope.  He has grasped the nettle of starting up a local meetup.  ODTUGers (I have heard us referred to as ODTUGians and even OddTuggers) have a passion for sharing and this meetup is a manifestation of that trait.

When, where, and how

The Boston meetup is from 12 noon till 5 o’clock on 15 December 2016 at Dave & Buster’s, South Shore Plaza, 250 Granite St #1908, Braintree, MA 02184.

Sign up via Meetup.com here:  https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Area-EPM-BI-Community-Meetup/events/235466732/

Be seeing you there.

Tim and Cameron's most excellent 00W 16 EPM meetup

Uninsanity

Uninsanity?  Why not?  After all, unlikely, unwieldly, and undesirable are all words in good old American (or, if you’re not from the States the Queen’s English).  As Humpty Dumpty once said, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”  And why not?  All I am doing is casting off the chains of restrictive and prescriptive grammar that are nothing but the dead hands of those of long ago who had this crazy notion of clear and concise writing and replacing them with words of my own making but clear(ish) intent.  I should note that this did not work as a strategy in English class – I commonly got A/F grades, i.e. A for content and an F for grammar.*  So sort of like this blog then.  

The old saw that defines insanity as doing the same act again and expecting different results most definitlely does not apply to at least one aspect of my professional life – Tim’s and Cameron’s Most Excellent Oracle OpenWorld EPM Meetup.  We’ve done it every year since 2012 and it has gone from strength to strength, a prime example of uninsanity.

I’ve written about that success in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.  See, I told you so.  Unpossible.  Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?  

2016 is no exception:  Tim’s and Cameron’s Most Excellent Oracle OpenWorld EPM Meetup is coming to an Oracle Open World near you on 20 September 2016, 7:00 pm till whenever, at the Hyatt Regency Eclipse Lounge.  To quote the meetup.com invitation:

This is where the elite EPM geeks eat, meet, and greet. Tim and Cameron are hosting this unique networking and (fun, really fun) meetup for the fourth year in a row. Let's make 2016 the best yet!

It is a lot of fun.  You’ll meet like minded geeks, a gaggle of ACEs, maybe Oracle product management, and Tim Tow (yay!) and Yr. Obt. Svt. (groan!).

If you’re at Open World 2016 or are local to San Francisco, this is your chance to do all of the above.

Join us, won’t you?

Unpossible

*Seriously, I hated English class.  And it was “gifted” as well.  If there was ever an example of ungifted, I was it.  I’d love to send my various long-suffering English teachers a copy of my Developing Essbase books; I’ll bet they’d be as surprised as I am.  Also, Mr. Minsky my parallel English teacher, wherever you are, thanks for teaching me the three point essay.  You cannot imagine how many times I went back to your lessons.  There’s a message there about teaching styles and learning.  Who knows if anyone has ever learnt anything reading this blog but a man can hope.

Yup, another South Florida EPM meetup and the best yet

Yup, another one and the best yet

I just attended my sixth (I think it was the sixth but it’s all beginning to blur a bit.  Fifth?  Fourth?  No matter.) South Florida meetup out of the 15 or so meetup groups ODTUG have appleseeded.  Wherever they are, meetups are in one word fantastic.  Why?

1. They’re informal
2. They’re grassroots
3. They’re inclusive
4. They’re free
5. They’re educational
6. They’re awesome

Six reasons aren’t enough?  One would hope so.  If you’re not convinced let me review for you what made the latest meetup on 18 August 2016 in Miami, Florida so special.

The sponsors

While meetups can run on a shoestring – and sometimes these are the best of all – this latest event was a wee bit more organized and thus took money but not to the attendees.  Yup, you read that right:  this mini conference was free, gratis, sans frais, and geen kosten.  Did I mention I like ODTUG meetups?  Why yes I did.

ARC EPM, Secure24, and Top Down Consulting all generously contributed.  Thanks, Jessica Cordova, Monica Gordy, and John Riley.  It wouldn’t have happened without you.

What happened?

Good grief there was an awful lot going on.

The kickoff

Jessica, meetup organizer extraordinaire as well as ODTUG EPM Community meetup lead, kicked it off.  I’ve talked to Jessica in my role as the ODTUG board’s EPM liaison and she’s gone from nervous neophyte to seasoned practitioner.  Let her use her experience to help you set up a local meetup.

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?  ‘Cos there was.  I had the chicken.  It sure beats the PB&J I typically have whilst working at home.

Speed dating without pain

Having once witnessed that as a disinterested observer (they were going through existential angst, I was having a Rob Roy at the bar), I’m entirely happy to relate that wasn’t occurring at the meetup.  What actually was happening was geek speed networking which happily misses the aforementioned exercise’s desperation but shares the notion of enabling EPM geeks to meet fellow EPM geeks.  

There, I’ve probably insulted half of my readers although I think it’s debatable which group I’ve insulted with what.  Sometimes I amaze myself, but almost always in a bad way.  Whew.   

Clawing my way back to relevance, it was a fun and effective way of meeting perfect strangers.  My only complaint is that we didn’t have enough time to do this for everyone (not all of us could meet everyone) but it was a big group (22 not including Yr. Obt. Svt. and two others).  This is a nice problem to have.

Some of us really got into it.  And why not?

The presentations

As noted Yr. Obt. Svt. reprised the Kscope16 presentation Jason Jones and I had on PBCS administration vs. on-premises.  Jason, I mangled the bit about your PBJ API framework for PBCS but I blundered through to the best of my ability.  Here I am rehearsing that morning disheveled, unshaven, and unshowered.  Eeek.  See, Gentle Reader, I do this all for you.

The dog seemed to like it.

Ron Moore and Ludovic de Paz presented their “(Keep) Pushing the Envelope with New Calcs Features”.  I used Ron’s section on FIXPARALLEL directly after the meetup to parallelize a DATACOPY section of an administrative currency conversion fx calc script.  One can’t ask for more than that when it comes to actionable information.  I should note that long ago in another professional life Ron Moore taught me ASO in one of his classes.  I’ve presented with Ludovic as well as Paul Hoch re Calculation Manager usage.  I guess my point is both of them know me, both of them knew I would be there, and both of them showed up anyway.  Thanks, guys.

Do people value these things?

Do you see that upper left photo in the collage below?  That’s Dhaval Shah and he drove two hours to attend the meetup.  He even won my latest book.  That’s hunger for knowledge.

You’re going to be at the next one, right?  

Or start up your own in your area if one doesn’t exist?  Right?  Why not?  Reach out to ODTUG and git a goin’.

Be seeing you.