More on How to be an Essbase Guru

1. Take the Oracle Training Course--this can be helpful in getting an initial idea of how things work, but if you don't use these skills then you will lose them.

2. Contextual Learning--Learn by doing. By working on a project with seasoned developers you can start to learn why they are doing things.

3. Take a business course if you're too technical--you will need to understand how businesses work, and specifically the business where you are working.

4. Buy the latest version of Edward Roske's book, now they are on version 11.

5. Build an experimental cube, and go through all the pieces that you will need to know. Data Loading, Outline building, Calc scripts, filters, Temporary Variables, etc.

How could you learn about essbase?

A friend of mine just asked me--How could you learn to be an Essbase Developer/guru?

I would recommend doing several things.

1. Read Look Smarter than you are:
http://stores.lulu.com/tracyamcmullen
Sign up for an essbase class, talk with Oracle, and get them to show you their demos of essbase.

2. Make sure that you understand business processes and functions. Form a partnership with business groups, and truly undertand what they are doing.

3. Make sure that you understand technology well. You'll have to understand how to implement ETL, SQL, star schema, and essbase technologies.

4. Make sure that you understand project management. When you're on a project you need to be able to play all roles, Project Manager, Tester, Requirements gatherer, designer, etc..

5. Start using the tool, and get on a project that uses it. Learn by working with others who can teach you the nuances, in a lot of ways Essbase is an art form.

6. Come to my conference speaking session in Orlando IOUG. I will be going over some tips over how to successfully develop and mitigate risks.

Speaking at IOUG Conference in May in Orlando

Exciting Times! I'm speaking at the IOUG Conference in May, my presentation is called "Financial Planning Risk Management and Automation". I'm speaking from 3:15-4:14pm on May 6th, which is on Wednesday, so I hope that you can attend.

Here is an abstract of what I'm talking about:

When building a financial planning system, it is important to use strategies of risk management and plan out ways to automate system maintenance. These strategies include dealing with the problems of data reconciliation, system maintenance, business process mapping, and people issues. These strategies can be used not only on new systems, but also on existing systems, to help ensure the long-term success of the financial planning system.