Cannondale HQ

Cannondale HQ



Here is a little piece I prepared many moths ago and forgot to post. It's a rundown of my time visiting the team behind the team behind the team in bethal Connecticut in October. 



With the 2013 racing season wrapped it's time for a little rest and relaxation. Well at least that was what I had planned on. I decided to start my off season vacation with a trip to New York to see some friends and also check out Cannondale HQ in bethel conneticuit  for a few days. I now know why they say it's the city that never sleeps! Surfice to say after a week there I feel exactly as the city feels! I had never stop of in that part of the world before and thanks to my friends and the cannondale clan in bethel I certainly had a jam packed day/night schedule for the 5 days I was in town.



Throughout the season we get the opportunity to meet the odd representative from cannondale at races around the globe. This is fantastic but when I went to the cannondale event in park city back in June I learnt there is an extremely dedicated passionate team of people working full gas back in Bethel ensuring that we are able to have such an awesome cycling team to ride for. There are so many details that us as riders take for granted that goes on behind the scenes before we get to through our legs over a Cannondale rocket ship. Things like the bike research development and design, the paint scheme, marketing and image of the team, tour groups that visit us during races, and to the way the team uses social media to ensure as many people as possible know as much about whats going on the team as possible. This is crucially important for our team being Italian at it's roots but becoming increasingly international every season, we have a very large demographic of fan base that need to be kept informed of what's going. To be able to witness how much work is going into all these things on a daily basis was a big wake up call for me. 



As a rider it's so easy to just role along and enjoy the spoils of being a professional athlete, you seem to be in an environment where everything simply just happens!  Personally did not appreciate enough just how much work goes on behind the scenes at Cannondale HQ to ensure that our team runs so smoothly with so much success. Also I often wonder if those who work for cannondale in the offices even have much interest in what is going on in the team. Its and American company after all and therefore dominated by football, baseball, hockey, and Basketball, do the staff really have any interest in cycling?? Absolutely there is nothing that goes on in the team and indeed the sport that all the staff at Cannondale HQ don't know about. They are super passionate about the sport and the team and therefore my trip to bethel gave me a greater understanding of why we have such incredible support from our major sponsor cannondale on all fronts. They will simply do whatever they can to ensure our wheels role as smoothly and successfully as possible.



In all honesty I had such an incredibly enjoyable time in park city earlier in the year with the cannondale clan that I had a pretty strong hunch that visiting HQ would be no different. Like in Park city Jonathan Gerran was my tour guide, the man it turns out that was in charge of ensuring we crammed as much into those few days as possible! As soon as we pulled into the parking lot I knew it was going to be a fun few days. All the cars in the lot had bike racks or ski racks on the roof and basically looked equipped for having a fun active lifestyle. Once I set foot inside the building those observations from the car park were confirmed, the place was a party house. Plenty of noise, laughter and people genuinely having fun doing what they were doing. I immediately thought that one day when I hang up the bike this is exactly the place I would like to work. So once inside it was time for a tour of the office. This would last a few hours!



The office is a very open space with booths and cubicles all over the place. As such if someone is being a little noisy then pretty quickly everybody knows or is hearing about it. I have a pretty load voice and I have been told it travels a fair distance on more than one occasion so I don't think it took long for entire office to know I had come to visit. I got see to all the familiar faces I had had such a great time with at park city and catch up on what had been going on since then. Everybody was naturally interested in the ins and outs of what's happening in the team and being someone that loves talking I was more than happy to answer every question that was fired my way. This was certainly an office filled with smiling faces and as I had already felt when I drove into the car park one that would be awesome to be apart of. I decided there and then for the next few days I was going to enjoy doing as many things as possible in the office over the following couple of days. I wanted to understand as much as possible how things happen at cannondale HQ and learn from as many staff as were happy to have me crash there desk space throughout the day. So with the tour done and dusted it was time to get to work and build up a prototype synapse road bike that would be my weapon of choice for a couple of rides checking out the sights of bethel.



Day 1 had given me the chance to meet and greet and catch up with everyone. Also the chance to learn the layout of the office and also set out some appointments with those whom wanted to have a bit of a chin wag with me. So with that said I hit office running on day 2. 



My first objective was to choose my desk! Fortunately the one I wanted happened to belong to Big Peter who was conveniently in Italy for a couple of days. All booths have wheely chairs and I quickly learnt have crucial they are as everyone is constantly scooting around all over the office. Infact it is a great way of getting about in thte office as if your looking for someone and there chair is not at there desk you know they are no more than a desk chair scoot away!



When you enter the office from the staff car park you are greeted by a giant blackboard. On it is all sorts of info regarding what's going at cannondale and GT (GT also share the same office building). Be it MTB, CycloCross, BMX or Road Bikes, if cannondale or GT are involved wherever in the world the blackboard keeps the staff updated as soon a study enter the building. This was the first realization that the staff definitely take a huge interest in what we are up to and no doubt when its littered with success's which it seems to be, it give the staff a real sense of satisfaction knowing the part they have played in the rider or team achieving the result. Basically the bike we through our leg over has literally had 100's of people's ideas and hard labor involved in its creation so to hear the excitement in the staff's voices when discussing the respective teams success's was so cool to hear. Aside from the blackboard there are pictures everywhere of everything involved with the team so it would come as no surprise that not only are all staff members updated with all that is happening across the disciplines but also have a real genuine interest in what we are up to in all corners of the globe.



I have always feared the prospect of having a full day in an office but not surprisingly this one went by in a flash. The morning was taken up with a few meetings  with various departments within the office and gave me a chance to get to know better those more directly involved with the team. These were all very intriguing and with my nature of talking to much every single meeting went way overtime and it was lunchtime before I knew it! Lucky cannondale don't pay me by the hour!



The afternoon was set aside for a little bit of a ride and a bit of fun. It's a little chilly at that time of the year in connecticut so I was impressed that anyone was keen to venture outside in the 5 degree's to pedal with me! Anyways as always happens with an enthusiastic group we had a great little ride and in the fun and games spirit of cannondale the ride culminated in a little race! I knew that I am flat out sprinting my way out of a paper bag at the best of times so once I was a ware of the finish location i decided to attack everyone a couple of km's before and hope to hang on and avoid embarrassment! Fortunately my plan worked and they will never know that many of the staff members would have well and truly given me an absolute flogging in the sprint! 



Once back in the office it was time for a bit of fun. The staff were very complimentary of my attack and seemed to enjoy trying to chase me. They said they could not really comprehend how we can open the gas so much when required!! Well I guess we dedicate our lives to the sport so we should be good at it just like anyone is relatively better at there job than someone from another field. I came up with an idea that I should try and do one of there jobs. One of the sales guys was particularly interested wanting to know how much power I was pushing when I attacked and how long I sustained it for. Therefore I decided I would have a crack at his job and show him how difficult it was for me to get m point across. We can't be good at everything unfortunately! So on the phone I went still fully kitted up and the phone headset safely tucked under my helmet. Suffice to say the way a video camera summoned to document me making a fool of myself. Sure enough I had no idea what I was doing or what I was talking about, I was inventing parts that don't exist and definitely was not taking an order for extra bikes! My point had been made, the staff at cannondale do an amazing job in there roles and it would be best if I stuck to racing the bike and trying to do a good job of that! By days end I was totally spent, it had been full gas and gone by in the blink of an eye so m first ever full day in an office didn't turn out to be as scary as first thought!



Day 3 was an exciting day for many reason. Firstly it was Friday so the weekend was just about upon us. Secondly it was the day when all the staff would be loaded onto buses to go and check out the new offices being built about 20km away. And finally Friday mornings is bagels for breaky day! I love bagels! It was decided that being the new by in the office I would be on toasting and speeding cream cheese duty. So one by one the staff rolled in and I took there orders of type of bagel and type of cream cheese to spread ontop. I was literally up to my eye balls in bagels and cream cheese for a couple of hours so the staff enjoyed watching me keep up with the frantic toasting and spreading required to keep everyone happy. It's important I think in any new job to earn your strips and I have found when I have been in new environments that it's best to do this by showing your happy be starting at the bottom. No body likes an upstart so I think it was a absolute genius masterstroke by PR to put me on bagel duty as everyone certainly approached me in more of a normal manner than cam the cyclist! This attitude toward each other in the office is certainly very evident as in reality you would have no idea of the rank of individuals as you role around the offices in bethel. Everybody are simply cycling sports group employees in cool trendy casual clothes. Its really nice to not feel intimidated by anyone and only enhances the great environment in the company. Was another interesting little exercise and one I obviously greatly enjoyed. 



With everyone's tummy's full it was time for me to taste test the 6 different varieties of bagels and cream cheese for myself. After this feast I don't remember being hungry for a week but was definitely worth it and I made sure I washed it all down with a massive cup of American coffee, I wanted to have the whole experience. So my tummy now full was time for a little more fun with the video camera. After making a fool of myself as part of the sales team it was decided that I tackle a few more tasks with the video camera in hand.  Was starting to realize seeing me make a fool of myself was something everybody was enjoying seeing. Next up was the tour of the new offices.



We all boarded the bus and it's was seriously like a bunch of school kids going on a school excursion. The naughty ones were up the back and the sensible ones at the front, with the exception of me that is. I was peer pressured into being a back seat bully and distributing the contraband beverages that had been smuggled onboard. Not surprisingly we all arrived in high spirits and were shown the ins and outs of the new state of the art offices. Naturally the theme of the already vibrant office in bethel was being maintained with some tweaks and moderness thrown in. The basis of the office was again interaction between different departments and all questions regarding space usage seemed to directed in the way. Pretty nice to here questions being asked about ensuring the interaction between employees is as simply as possible in an office, much better than the contrary! But after almost 3 days hanging out with the cycling sports group I was hardly surprised, it was truly an environment that I never imagined could exist in a office work place. With the tour done and dusted we were bundled back onto the bus were the usual de brief of such an exercise takes place like, PR has more natural light than us, and marketing is closer to the coffee machine! All fun and games but was obvious that everyone was excited about the impending move to the new facility.



Back in the office and being Friday early afternoon was decided by Bob Burbank that work could be abandoned and we could all go for a ride followed by traditional Friday Arvo beverages. Again it was freezing so to stay warm it was decided that was just race each other here there and everywhere. Fortunately I managed to play my bluff game again perfectly and survived the final obstacle of saving face as a cyclist in the eyes of the team behind our team. Once back in the office teamwork was taken to a level I had never witnessed before. When I had my first tour of the office 2 days before I had spotted a snow ski Cannondale'd up and bindingless. I had inquired as to it's function and was simply told it was the shot ski and I would be shown how it works when the time was right. Well mr Burbank decided upon returning from the ride that it was to introduce me to the "shot ski".



The shot ski as I said has no bindings. The blank ski is instead fitted with 5 pieces of velcrow around the size of a gambling chip. The accessories to the shot shit are you guessed it, shot glasses also with a piece of velcrow on the bottom. This instrument was another fine example that the office always works as a team! In this case 5 employees line up holding the ski level and on the count of 3 have to simultaneously raise the ski and subsequently the shot glass into your mouth. No room for backing out, once you pick up the ski your committed to enjoy the shot with your colleagues. Naturally it does not take long for everyone to be in a very jolly mood and the working week is finished of in fine style. For me was another amazing and perfect way to wrap up my time in the bethel offices to see even in enjoying themselves the cycling sports group ensure they do it all together. Was certainly the most amazing few days in an office I could ever dream of having so will keep all my fingers and toes crossed that should I one day switch my office from the outdoors to the indoors it has an environment just like the cycling sports group in bethel Connecticut.



So a amazing few days regrettably had to come to an end. I guess when I arrived in bethel a few days earlier I had expected to enjoy myself but certainly not as much as I did. Not only that had no idea that a company could make a work environment so motivating and energetic to be in. I think it was an important visit for me to make as it gave me an even greater appreciation for what everyone at cannondale does on a daily basis to ensure that all the bills of the team get paid and Roberto amadio and his men can continue to run out hugely successful cycling team. To witness the passion and dedication of all the staff in bethel and to know how interested they are in what we get up to and how excited they are about our successes was hugely motivating for me as a rider. There is never no "I" in team and my few days at cannondale HQ certainly must me appreciate so much just how important all those back there in bethel are to the road show that is the "Cannondale Pro Cycling Team".

The sessions I want to attend at Kscope14

What this post is all about

Oh dear oh dear oh dear, Kscope14 is almost upon us.  This year’s conference is fraught with desperate preparation on my part (this past weekend was spent up to my armpits writing my ASO Planning presentation – fun, fun, fun, kind of) as I desperately try to hit the conference date with everything done.  Fingers crossed on this one but if I pull it off, the presentations will be good and there are one or two fairly awesome hacks to go along with it all.  I am excited, if slightly frazzled, so business as usual.

But this post isn’t about my neuroses, instead its purpose is to highlight the sessions I am most looking forward to at Kscope14, aka other people’s sources of stress.  

Schedule

There is simply too much to write about in one blog post so my look forward will have three parts:

• This week – individual sessions
• Next week – Thursday Deep Dives
• Week of 15 June – Sunday Symposiums and oh yes I am flying to Seattle

As always with Kscope, there are way more sessions than there is time to attend.  Remember that many of these sessions are recorded so you can watch the screen and hear the presenters live and in person.  

For instance, to help figure out a component of my ASO Planning session, I listened (and listened and listened) to Josie Manzano’s Kscope13 session Using Calculation Manager with Essbase ASO until I finally got it.  This ability to go back and listen sessions when you need them is invaluable.  There are many, many, many sessions available at ODTUG’s web site and I encourage you take advantage of this valuable resource.  I have.

My top Kscope14 sessions

Essbase

Calc Manager Rules with an ASO Cube:  Yes, It Works!

Monday, 23 June 2014, 10:45 am to 11:45 am

Oh yes, I know, it works.  And then bits of it don’t.  I am doing a ton of stuff with this right now in ASO Planning and am super curious to see if Ludovic De Paz and Paul Hoch have gone down the same path I have or if they have figured out another way.  Like anything, there’s a good, bad, and mediocre way to do something – I wonder where my work falls.

Next Generation Essbase Outline Extractor Tips and Tricks

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 8:30 am to 9:30 am

I was part of the beta team (a very bad member of the beta team; I like to think I have somewhat redeemed myself with post-release bug finding, but then again maybe not), and I have seen some of the improvements Tim has come up with whilst in the Tim Tow Reality Distortion Field (The one where I feel almost smart enough to be a Java, aka real, programmer.  Alas, it goes up in a cloud of smoke as soon as the call ends.).  I’m not sure how much of what I’ve seen is going to make it in this release.  For sure it is a time of change for the tool, all for the better.

Essbase Technology Evolution

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 11:15 pm to 12:15 pm

Kumar is the manager of Essbase development.  That’s right, the guys that write Essbase.  Do you suppose he might have some interesting insights into the future of Essbase?  Could be.

MDX Simplified: A Methodical Approach to Writing Complex Functions

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Do I suffer when I write MDX?  Oh yes I do.  Hopefully Jennifer Hanks can make at least this part of my coding life not be a soup sandwich.

ASO Design Principles for Financial Reporting

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Yes, you read that right, two MDX sessions at the same time.  And this one is by my colleague Gary Crisci who always does stellar work.  Let’s hope Jennifer’s (or Gary’s or each) session is recorded.

Essbase Studio: Why in the Name of Glenn Are You Not Using This Awesome Tool

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Why, Glenn, why?  Why am I not using it?  Perhaps because I have yet to attend your session oh older-not-really-brother?

Essbase New Features and Roadmap Update: 2014 Edition

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 9:45 am to 10:45 am

Gabby Rubin will cover how Essbase and Exalytics are moving forward, sometimes in lockstep, other times in parallel.  I am super interested in this and hope fervently that commodity hardware continues to be supported as I’m not likely to hit an Exalytics project any time soon.

Kumar and Dan Go to Kscope: How ASO Works (Based on Your Questions)

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 8:30 am to 9:30 am

Dan Pressman will be the moderator (buffer?) between you, the panel audience, and Kumar, the Essbase development manager.  Ask your question, see if Kumar answers it.  :)

Evolution or Revolution: The New Hybrid Essbase

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 11:15 am to 12:15 am

Yr. Obdt. Svt. is copresenting with Tim German, aided by Dan Pressman, and I think this session will be eye opening to say the least.  We will cover the biggest advance to Essbase since ASO both in its currently available 11.1.2.3.500 release and some as yet unreleased functionality.  You’ll see from this why Hybrid BSO Essbase will likely be the future of many of your projects.  Yes, I am excited.  :)

Planning

Beyond the P&L: Balance Sheet Planning Made Easier Using Movement Members

Monday, 23 June 2014, 10:45 am to 11:45 am

Movement, not balances, is what I think Amy Del Rosario will be presenting.  This can be a difficult concept to grasp but is quite a bit more efficient.  At least that’s what I think the session is about – of course the only way to know for sure is to attend.

ASO Planning:  Don’t Do That, Do This

Monday, 23 June 2014, 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm

Yr. Obdt. Svt. is copresenting with Tim German, aided by Dan Pressman, and this is a subject near and dear to my heart (and my wallet as almost all of my implementations contain at least a component of Planning).  I think we have some really great good practices for ASO Planning that aren’t discussed anywhere else, a hack or two that ought to make your eyes pop, and of course all of the things that will only bring Pain and Agony so they are best avoided.  

Using Project Financial Planning (PFP) to Streamline Budgeting at Biogen Idec

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 8:30 am to 9:30 am

I was never a fan of Planning’s Capital Expenditures application, finding it was easier and more flexible to roll my own.  Oracle must have heard my whining as they have released Project Financial Planning (PFP).  Matt Ward’s customer success story should be interesting.

Unleashing Hyperion Planning Security Using ODI

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 9:45 am to 10:45 am

Ricardo Giampaoli and Rodrigo Radtke de Souza are both huge fans of ODI (as am I) and really understand and hack it to pieces (as alas, I do not at their deep level).  I have however been known to twist Planning into a pretzel for fun and profit and I do have at least a basic appreciation of ODI.  Hopefully that all means I will be able to keep up.  Hopefully.

Planning with ASO: An Implementation Roadmap

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 11:15 am to 12:15 am

As I am (as noted above) hip deep in a competing presentation, I am beyond interested to see how Jake Turrell has approached ASO Planning and what he has on offer.  Jake does good stuff and will be sure to have at least a somewhat different take on the tool.  Unfortunately, I am going to be presenting my Hybrid Essbase session at the same time so I do hope this is a session ODTUG records.

Running with Scissors and Other Things You Shouldn't Do With Hyperion Planning

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 3:15 pm to 4:15 pm

Brian Marshall is going to catalogue Things That Planning Cannot Do, And How To Do Them.  This ought to be fun.

Planning on the Cloud

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm

Shankar Viswanathan is the Planning product manager, so if he speaks about the functionality of Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) I daresay he will lay down the definitive word.  I just hope he keeps his energy levels up, because he’s 50% of the Thursday Planning Deep Dive panel session.

EPM Business Content

Leveraging Essbase Throughout the Enterprise to Increase Productivity and Profitability: A Use Case for Essbase at The Kroger Co.

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 11:15 am to 12:15 pm

Elizabeth Ferrell will be covering one of my favorite tools, AppliedOLAP’s Dodeca, works as a budgeting tool in an environment of 500 (!) Essbase cubes.  This ought to be fascinating stuff.

Transition from Traditional Forecasting to Rolling Forecasts

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 9:45 am to 10:45 am

Juan Porter will cover the business and functional side of moving from yearly to rolling forecasts.  Important stuff, and important for customers (and EPM geeks, come to think of it) to understand.

Bulletproofing Excel and Smart View   

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Did Charles Beyer wrap Smart View in many layers of Kevlar?  Shelter it behind armor as thick as a King George V class battleship?  Sometimes I am blown away by the awesomeness of Smart View, other times I have a visceral desire to blow it away.  Hopefully Charles can make it all better for me and everyone else.

Reporting

One Spreadsheet, All My Data

Monday, 23 June 2014, 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm

Matt Milella and Toufic Wkim, both of Oracle Corp, will show how to exploit Smart View to the fullest extent with every data source imaginable.  Matt and Toufic are excellent and entertaining speakers.

How GE Lit Up Smart View and Brought Good Things to Life For Its Users

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 8:30 am to 9:30 am

Gary Adashek will cover how he managed the transition from the Excel Essbase add-in to Smart View.  I imagine he has a few new gray hairs because of that but I also he also has more than a few tips to help all of us make the transition.

PDF Bursting into Workspace

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm

Celvin Kattookaran dives deep into the Workspace API to manage reports like never before.

Implementing Advanced Financial Reporting Concepts for Rolling Trend Reports

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

If you build rolling forecasts in Planning you must build rolling reports.  Come to Scott LeBeau’s session to find out how.

Smart View Advanced Topics

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 8:30 am to 9:30 am

Glenn Schwartzberg, older-not-really-brother will be presenting on Smart View.  His session is short on details but Glenn always does excellent work.

Transitioning Functional End Users from Add-In to Smart View - A Change Management Study

Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Sarah Zumbrum will cover the transition for functional users of Smart View.  I hear the transition is a bit akin to chopping one’s hand off with an axe held in that same hand.  In other words, a difficult and frustrating task, so this should be a session worth attending.

Is that enough?

Yes, that isn’t every hour of every day (you will note that Saturday’s volunteer event, Sunday’s symposium, and Thursday’s Deep Dives are all not, yet, covered), but it sure is an awful lot.  Will I get to attend all of these sessions?  Given my role(s) behind the scenes at the conference, probably not, but I am as always hopeful.

I’m sure you have your favorites – what are they?  Send ‘em in to the comments section of this blog.

Be seeing you.

I need your help to put Oracle EPM on the spot at Kscope14

Why help out?  

This year, Thursday at Kscope14 is going to be different than years past.   What do I mean by that?  Simply that instead of the normal fare of technical session after technical session, ODTUG is trying something different this year on the last (sob) day of the conference – deep dives into technology.  These are longer and different in focus sessions that allow you, the Kscope14 attendee, to really get to the very heart of whatever tool or track tickles your geek fancy.

What that means is that there are sessions on:

• Application Express
• ADF & Fusion Development
• Developer’s Toolkit
• Business Intelligence
• Essbase
• Financial Close
• EPM Foundations
• BI/EPM Reporting

And a panel session on Good ‘Ol Planning consisting of the Planning and Essbase product managers, hosted by none other than yr. obt. svt.

What’s it all about, Cameron?

I am so glad you asked – the Planning Deep Dive is your chance to ask direct, possibly slightly painful, and definitely interesting questions to both Gabby Rubin, Essbase product manager, and Shankar Viswanathan, Planning product manager.  

Huh, you say (you do say this, right?), what’s the Essbase product manager doing at a Planning deep dive session?  Remember, Essbase is at the heart of Planning, so asking why Planning does this or that without asking why and how Essbase does the same thing is all a bit pointless.

Gabby and Shankar graciously accepted the chance to be mercilessly grilled by you.  What I mean is that this is a panel of two (Gabby and Shankar) with me as moderator, and you get to lob questions, hopefully difficult and maybe a little painful, directly to them.  Oracle of course has the option to grin or grimace at you and then refuse to answer your question but I have found that typically Oracle are quite open.  It at least ought to be entertaining.

What I plan on asking them

As you will see, I am not exactly pulling my punches.  These are items of intense interest to me, and I suspect many in the Hyperion Planning world:

1. When will Hybrid Essbase be certified for Planning?
2. Why can’t we report on attribute dimensions via Planning data connections; this is especially puzzling in the light of ASO Planning and ASO Essbase’s superior attribute performance.
3. Why is ASO Planning not an Essbase data source?  Again, attribute dimensions work so much better in ASO than BSO – it is very puzzling.
4. Planning seems to be the engine that drives Essbase sales, yet Essbase functionality appears to be influenced by OBIEE.  Why?  How is Planning impacting Essbase’s future direction?  What about other tools?  Will Essbase retain its EPM focus or become just another component of the Oracle database?
5. ASO Planning allows (by Planning standards) huge databases, yet Planning’s administrative performance cannot keep place, e.g., extraordinarily long dimension build (and even longer delete) times, slow refreshes, and poor form execution.  How will Planning’s performance improve?  When?
6. Planning and Essbase have at least seven (EPMA, EAS, Studio, Classic Planning, Outlineload, ODI, BIFS, and I’ve likely forgot a few) ways to build dimensionality and load data.  Each method has its merits, each has its weaknesses.  Why isn’t there a single optimized metadata and data management tool?  Or at least fewer ones.
7. Documentation for the EPM schemas stopped with 11.1.2.1.  Are there any plans for releasing new schema maps or is that someone’s KScope15 session?
8. When, when, when will SQL be used to read and write Essbase data and metadata aka when do Load Rules die?
9. When will BSO Essbase perform the following using the Hybrid engine:  Attributes, Time Balance, Cross dimensional references, and add all of the Calc Script functions?
10. It appears as though many aspects of Essbase (Exalytics-only functions) and Planning (tied more and more closely to EBS and Fusion) are losing their technology-agnostic nature, historically one of the benefits of the Oracle Hyperion EPM technology stack.  Are we looking at a future in which the EPM suite only works on Oracle hardware and with Oracle back-end software?

But those are just my questions.  I don’t actually expect to get answers to all of the above (I think they alone could fill our two allotted hours but I am a firm believer in over-preparing), but you now have an insight of the EPM Mind of Cameron.  It’s not too scary, is it?

Shankar and Gabby didn’t actually agree to me as Privy Councilor for a Planning-themed Star Chamber.  The Planning Deep Dive is your opportunity to ask your questions to the very people who define the future of Planning and Essbase.  

How you will ask questions before and during the Deep Dive

I have a sneaking suspicion that you will have many, many, many questions and I want to give everyone a fair chance at them.

While I will be taking questions in the normal way during the session, i.e., you raise your hand, ask the question, I repeat it, and maybe Oracle answer it, that approach single threads the Q&A process and doesn’t necessarily let the best ones bubble to the surface.  

To try to get round that, I am asking that you send your questions now, yes right now, to the following Twitter hashtag:  #PlanningDeepDive.  Before the conference, I will monitor that tag for your oh so valuable questions.  During the Deep Dive session I (or more likely a “lucky” volunteer as I cannot walk and chew gum at the same time) will monitor the same.  I (we?  confusing isn’t it?) will see if they share common themes and guide the discussion around those lines.

And that’s it

I think this will be a lot of fun, perhaps even for two very brave (and very generous) Oracle EPM product managers.

Yes, there are lots of other cool things going on at the same time (as always, I wish there was a way to attend, oh, the Planning, Essbase, Business Intelligence, EPM Foundations, and BI/EPM Reporting Deep Dive sessions all at the same time but of course that just can’t be) but I think what the Planning track has on offer simply isn’t matched anywhere else on Thursday.  

If you don’t show up, I will of course be crushed, but then again I will have two rather hard to reach Oracle PMs at my mercy to ask, whine, and beseech about the future of the two tools that have come to define my (and very likely your) career.

This will of course be more meaningful if you do attend – you will have insights, concerns, and questions that I could never come up with.  Your participation is key to the success of this session.

In case you can’t tell, I am tremendously excited by this opportunity as I think this will be a dynamic, exciting, and educational session like no other at Kscope and one that will be driven by you, the audience member.

Join us, won’t you?

Safety Car

Since wrapping up the tour of California a week ago I have quite literally been racing all over the globe like a headless chook, a very tired one at that! The final stage was another successful one for the green machine with superman sagan taking a fine 3rd and in the process wrapping up his 5th consecutive green points jersey at the race, it's an understatement to say he's made the jersey his own. Thanks to Peter's success there was reason to celebrate and as a team we got stuck into that on Sunday afternoon. As usual when the full Cannondale social society from Connecticut is present the fun didn't finish with a few quiet beverages beside the pool with festivities rolling on into a little later in the evening than I had planned. I have to confess, California is a pretty easy place to have some fun! With the race and celebrations done it was time for a couple of days hanging out with the extended cannondale family in the usa.



I was very pleased to have the tour behind me, it was perhaps one of the most mentally demanding weeks I have experienced in my career. My condition was so terrible and I felt so useless that trying to maintain a positive frame of mind was quite difficult, even for someone as positive as me. I guess though when your body is deprived of oxygen like mine was last week in California, invariably your brain is aswell and I simply didn't have the mental energy to be my chirpy self. All the oxygen and energy my brain and body was getting was going into surviving in the race and contributing where I could but in the end the overwhelming sense of knowing I was unable to do what I wanted in the race really played heavy on me, not being there for my team mates when it matters most is always going to be something I will be disappointed with myself about. Anyways the race is behind me now and I did what I could and that was all I could do. There are new races on the horizon so what's important now is not what's been done but what I do going forward. I need to get back to being my usual self as that's when I am most use to my team and myself!



On a positive note I managed to defend my last place on the general classification all the way to thousand oaks. I can honestly say there was no point in the race after stage 1 when my airways decided to close that I even thought about getting any result other than finishing. Basically from that point on helping the team where I could and getting to the finish line once I had done that were the only two objectives I had on a daily basis such was my physical state. It was almost comical how greatly the wind had been taken out of that I started to call myself the "safety car". Basically as soon as the race was going full gas I immediately retreated to the back of the peleton and waited for it to subside or get unceremoniously dumbed out the back which happened to me more time than I care to remember last week. Once the pace slackened and the race was under control I would immediately go right to the front and ride tempo as more often than not we were working on a sprint for peter. Don't be fooled, even though I spent many hours on the front of the bunch keeping the break in check it was a hell of a a lot easier than sitting in the group and following a pace I wasn't in control off. I was in such a bad physical state that I had to make the peleton ride at my pace for as long as possible simply to help me survive as silly as that sounds. The funny thing is the bunch allowed me to do it so I must say a big thankyou to all the riders at the 2014 tour of California for helping make me look not quite as they should off! Basically when I am hit with these allergy asthma attack thing I don't have any threshold as that requires an immediate increase in oxygen around the body. Therefore I could ride all day at between 300-400 watts but as soon as I tried to raise the pace above this level the oxygen rapidly ran out and my legs filled with toxic lactic acid and I was further back than full back. I guess the only thing that saved me was that I am lucky enough to have a good base, after all prior to California it was the best start to the season I have had so luckily some of that hard work helped me out. Another thing that gives me some optimism is that I got so weak so quickly that I am crossing the fingers its like a bout of food poisoning and I regain my usual condition equally as rapidly, guess time will tell on that one! Anyways i feel that with what I have described above make me the perfect candidate for "safety car" award of the 2014 tour of California! Suffice to say I am very greatfull that I was able to survive in that state and also be able to have a laugh at myself now its all said and done. Was a very humbling week for me!!



With the race and celebrations done I had the chance to start repairing the mind and body with a couple of relaxing days in socal. I had a nice ride on monday with my great buddies from best buddies (pardon the pun). There is no better way to role out the aches and pains and perhaps a few to many guiness's than a pedal with Jon, Jeremiah and road sheriff Richard. Also along for the ride were Andy and Kevin from the cannondale events clan, two guys that I have never ever not had an unforgettable experience with and Monday's ride was no different. These guys love cycling more than I care to imagine and also reiterate to me how lucky I am to do this sport every day, after the week I had had having a couple of hours with these boys had me recharged and champing at the bit for what comes next so thanks lads, was one of my most enjoyable and memorable recovery spins specially as we did it along a stretch of the famous route 66.



With the aches and pains largely rolled out it was time for the "official" cannondale post c=tour of California after party. In cycle hosted it in Pasadena and along with Ted, George, GB and the two Sagan's we were pretty excited to get amongst all the fans. I believe 400 people turned up for the car park party and each and everyone of them made an attempt to show there appreciation, again this was the r n r I was in need of so I really enjoyed this party. As with most cannondale events you attend with superman sagan you are very much part of the support band but that is perfect for me. While Peter gets mobbed I get the chance to have a good chat with the odd fan who seeks me out and often wind up meeting someone whom will become a great friend and Monday was no different. It was a great party and must give a big thanks to in cycle for hosting it and giving us a memorable final night of our time in California. At the end of the day the guys who own the bike shops that sell cannondale's are what gives us the opportunity to be apart of our exciting team. Its great therefore to give a little back to them even in just the form of bit of a chinwag about what racing's like or more importantly what we think of the bikes we ride. The feedback we give could often be something that helps them sell bikes and when they sell bikes everybody is happy, it's a real trickledown effect. As I didn't finish up with the owners until the bars closed in Pasadena on Monday night, I am pretty sure they enjoyed hanging with us and I hope in some way we were able to help them aswell. Again big thanks to incycle for a great party and being such great supporters.



As I had been full gas since the race finished up, I figured there was no point slowing down on my final day in California. I was up early Tuesday with Ted to head south to orange county for a ride with our great friend and one of the biggest supporters of not only cannondale but USA cycling in the one and only Scott Tedrow. Scott is in the process of putting the finishing touches on two new bike stores and kindly organised a social ride for ted and I to attend and meet up with those involved in his new ventures and some other cannondale fans. What always strikes me about California is how educated about cycling the local scene is and its always an absolute pleasure to cruise the boulevards with socal folk. Scott is the ultimate host and you are always glued to whatever he has to say which consequently meant that in the end ted and I were doing a mad rush to get me to the airport intime for my flight back to Europe. Scott is an never ending source of enthusiasm and with the state I had been in for the previous week I was trying to absorb as much of it as possible so was happy with the stress of running late, the two days cruising around socal had got my spirts back up and I was ready to get back across the pond and get stuck right back into it.



Ted charged though the crazy and thanks to the intimidation of his massive F150 pickup truck I made it to the airport in time for me to board the plane back to Italy. By the time I took my seat the excitement of the past couple of days was subsiding and the fatigue of the race was setting in. I remember sitting down, explaining to the flight attendant that under no circumstances did I wish to be woken for meals before promptly falling into the deepest of sleeps. I must have laid my chair out at some point once we took of but I certainly don't remember doing and it wouldn't surprize me if the hostess did it for me and tucked me under the blanket. I was woken upon the commencement of our decent into munich so had slept like a log for 11hours. I got of the plane a new man and with a spring in my step, certainly the first time I have felt this way following a long haul flight. A short flight to milan followed and before I knew it I was back in my home away from home in gavirate and again tucked up into bed and out to it. As fresh as I thought I was after the flight it must have been a honeymoon period. I feel asleep that night at 11pm once back in gavirate and did not wake up until 4pm the next afternoon. I really had done a big number on myself and my body decided it needed a further 15hours to gets things back in order. This time I woke up a little groggy which is probably of no surprize but once that passed I was again feeling chippa and most importantly the fatigue finally started to leave my body. It became apparent at this point to me that feeling that lowly in a race is a sign that perhaps your are really getting your body to do something that it doesn't want to do. I don't like quitting and I certainly wasn't going to leave my team mates a man short in a race on the other side of the world, especially one as important as California is for our team. With that if I am going to race then I am going to race and always give all I can to contribute. On this occasion I really hard to dig deep into my backet of digging deep and adrenaline would have helped me through. Now finally back to the safety of Italy my body finally said enough was enough and knocked me out for ¾ of a day to repair itself. So thankyou my body for firstly allowing me to get through the tour of California and secondly for grinding me to halt and reloading when the time was right. I knocked out 35hours of sleep in my 3 days in gavirate, its certainly is the bodies best medicine.



On Saturday morning I was back at malpenza airport to start the rebuilding phase, destination Tenerife. Yep back to the Spanish island for a couple of weeks to prepare for my next challenge, the tour of Switzerland. Upon arriving in the carpark at the hotel parador and getting out of the car I instantly felt relaxed again. I love this place and have affectionately named it the green zone or my safety zone. Her I can simply worry about riding my bike as effectively as possible and nothing else. The staff here bend over backwards to do all they can for you and as such I am so pleased to be back to get stuck into what's a very important period of preparation ahead of me. As usual I am not the only cyclist here as Chris Froome, Ritchie Porte, Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador are all currently roaming the halls of the hotel parador. When you feeling a bit out of sorts its always nice to back around your familiar surrounds and I have spent a lot of time here at the foot of the volcano so for now its probably a pretty good spot for me to be. I will check in soon with what's cracking at cycling's Alcatraz.



cjw