The ODTUG Learn From Home Series, Free Form Planning aka Essbase SaaS, The Changing Landscape of EPM, and Yr. Obt. Svt.

A plague is upon us. Shall we make a virtue out of necessity?

Snark is, next to laziness and general incompetence, my stock in trade, cf. this blog (and the previous one) in post after post after post. But there’s not really all that much to mock or deprecate or even gently poke fun at in the face of a global pandemic and the unknown economic cost to come.

Better then to celebrate grit and determination and optimism in the face of adversity, which is exactly what ODTUG has done with a brilliant concept: the ODTUG Learn From Home Series. If the world+dog cannot come to Kscope20, then Kscope20 will come to you. For free. Really.

Click on the below graphic that I shamelessly stole from ODTUG’s website to begin your registration:

A screenshot of a cell phone

Description automatically generated

I can’t write this better than ODTUG (cf. laziness).


We are excited to announce the Free ODTUG Learn from Home Series taking place May 19 – May 22. Get ready for four days packed with over 90 sessions plus mini Oracle symposiums—all covering a range of Oracle-related topics to keep you on the cutting edge of the latest technology.

The ODTUG Learn from Home Series

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:

A close up of a sign Description automatically generated

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

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.

A screenshot of a cell phone Description automatically generated

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