Tag: Cloud

A Free Form Planning aka Essbase SaaS Journey — part 6, the Mac Smart View Revolution

A point fully stretched to the breaking point

Essbase on Macintosh has always been a poor relation. But it was not always thus. There was a time when Apple Power Computing really was Thinking Different and that difference was revolutionary. I was a (small) part of it. The emotions invoked were strong, to wit:

This is (I think) Bill Gates being tortured by Mean Girls; you can substitute Essbase on Mac for Mr. Bill. Ouch. Was Yr. Obt., Lyl., Fthfyl., & Hmbl. Svt. ever treated thus at a birthday party? If so, he cannot remember, but probably.

The last time I used Essbase and a Macintosh that wasn’t also running a VM, was in – gasp! – something like 1994, just about when I started with Essbase. Yes, there really was an Essbase add-in for Mac and I used it on my Macintosh IIfx.

Given that Macs now run Intel, this poster isn’t totally accurate but is too cool to not include:

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Supposedly there’s a version around with Sluggo Smith punching Mr. I-used-to-be-the-richest-man-in-the-world-but-I’m-not-doing-too-badly-thanks-for-asking in the face but I’ve never actually seen it. This is good enough.

Evangelizing Macintosh aka being a Mac fanboi

Why, when Windows

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A Free Form Planing aka Essbase SaaS Journey — part 5, POV You’re Clear Out of Smart View

POV, you’re clear out of Smart View, When I am not looking at you

I analyze out of this world, The data that no mortal ever knew

Essbase SaaS otherwise known as Free Form Planning has largely, although not completely (I don’t actually know what the gap is – ask Oracle but I do know it’s getting smaller), come to Smart View parity with native Essbase connections. There is one glaring exception – that damnable, horrific, hard to use, and I-just-hate-it floating POV, viz.

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Evil. Hateful. Accursed. Also, I don’t like it. It has been part of the Planning data connection seemingly forever and I’ve disliked it just as long. In the on-premises world it’s easy to get round by using the Essbase data connection in Smart View but that isn’t an option in Planning Cloud.

But what if there was a fix to this and it’s OMG-easy? Actually, the OMG part consists of me not knowing it and Planning’s Product Manager maintaining his patience when he told me it’s been there for almost a year. He is a better man than I.

You’re right out of my Excel book, The financial plan I read last night at five

No

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A Free Form Planning aka Essbase SaaS Journey — part 3, Think Small

Think Small

When I were a lad, VW Bugs (or Beetles – take your pick) were thick on the ground. My parents’ friends had them; my father drove one of these bad Squareback boys, picked up direct from the VW factory at Wolfsburg and a fine car till it caught on fire. Twice. In fact my grandmother drove a 1969 one in her favorite color – red. In the 1960s, small was beautiful. It still can be.

Small is definitely not one of these:

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It’s rather more like this:

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That’s history. What do I drive? I walk the automotive walk. Hmm, that’ s a bad analogy because the point of having a car is that one doesn’t have to walk but no matter. Here’s my lead sled:

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Yup, there it is in all its glory, parked right next to my favorite trailhead. I like to think that I’ve driven off road more than 98% of SUVs even if it’s just grass. I’m quite the reverse snob.

My so-called friends have deemed this really quite cheap, gets great mileage, and irredeemably geeky hatchback as: The Mustard Cruiser, The Short Bus, and most cruelly, The Dorkmobile. All true,

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