I'm at the OAUG Hyperion SIG. Fred Richards is giving a presentation on Oracle's vision for EPM. Nothing that I haven't seen before for the most part. The most interesting tidbit is that the "9.5" name for the next Hyperion release seems to be dead. Fred keeps referring to it as "Kennedy" which has been the code name for a while. Wait a second: on the overhead is a slide referring to the new Hyperion version as 11.1.1. He's now saying that the version may change. Well until you hear differently, I guess start referring to Oracle Hyperion 11.1.1.

I'm in the air somewhere between Dallas and Denver. The plane seems to be traveling in a Northwesterly direction and the MD-80 seems to be staying in the air remarkably well. In all seriousness, I actually respect American Airlines for grounding their planes before the FAA forced them to. I'm putting together my presentation for the OAUG Hyperion SIG. I'm currently trying to circle all the rooms at the Denver Convention Center that are hosting Hyperion sessions. There seems to be no order to the rooms whatsoever.

Collaborate 08 Hyperion Track - 1,300+ Attendees

I just uncovered that the Hyperion track at COLLABORATE 08 now has around 1,300 attendees. It's kind of difficult to determine the exact number, because Hyperion attendees could register under OAUG, IOUG, Quest, or through a special Hyperion link. Unless they registered through the Hyperion link, they had to mark that they were interested in Hyperion presentations. If they forget to do this, they're not counted in the ~1,300. Suffice to say that COLLABORATE won't be the size of the Hyperion Solutions conference, but it will most likely be the largest "Hyperion" conference of 2008.

I'm supposed to leave for the COLLABORATE 08 conference first thing Sunday morning. The only potential problem is that I'm on an American Airlines MD-80, so if I don't make it to Denver, please tell my family that I love them. Assuming my flight isn't cancelled (and that I land safely), I will be writing about all of the significant Hyperion events at the conference. Since my days are pretty full (I have 10 presentations to deliver), the blogging will usually happen daily between the hours of 3 and 5 AM, so check back then!

The first Hyperion event of note is at 1PM on Sunday: the OAUG Hyperion SIG meeting. Ed Delise was going to be heading up the meeting, but since he's home anxiously awaiting the birth of his new baby, Kristin Newman from Hitachi is going to be chairing the meeting. My role in the event is fairly minor (I'm reviewing the Hyperion presentations that are going to be delivered at the conference), so I should have time to write about anything else interesting I hear. Kristin and I went through all the lists of COLLABORATE Hyperion presentations we could find and came up with 98. We'll be handing out the complete list of ones we were able to find at the meeting.

I did hear that Rich Clayton will no longer be the keynote speaker. He's been replaced (but not in our hearts) with Fred Richards, Oracle's Senior Director of BI Product Marketing. Fred's a friend of mine: we gave a joint presentation on Essbase successes at OpenWorld in 2007. I swapped e-mails with Fred, and he said he's going to be presenting on the new vision of EPM/BI at Oracle and how Hyperion integrates that vision. Time permitting, he'll talk through some of the recent Hyperion roadmap changes (there will be an in-depth Hyperion roadmap talk at 8AM on Monday).

Well, it's time now to go pack. Hopefully, I'll get to nap a little too in advance of the sleep-deprivation exercise that is a software conference. Usually these events are so busy that I plan on not sleeping from the time I arrive until I leave. This is why my presentations are far more lively at the start of the week (and why I tend to fall asleep while talking towards the end).

Advanced Copies of New Essbase Books

I mentioned before that Look Smarter Than You Are with Essbase: An End User's Guide was going to come out soon. While it's not officially available yet (the big launch event is going to be at a book signing at Collaborate), you can buy a copy now direct from our publisher for $29.95:
http://www.lulu.com/content/2192220

This book focuses just on the end user-side of things like the Essbase Excel Add-In and the Hyperion Smart View Office Add-In. If you're interested in buying 5 or more copies (enough for every one of your end users!), you can e-mail info@interrel.com and we'll give you a 30% bulk discount.

Speaking of books, we've gotten a number of requests recently for a 'System 9' edition of Look Smarter Than You Are with Hyperion Essbase. Bowing to the voracious demands of the book-buying public, we have an updated version of our last book which focuses entirely on System 9 content. We have also added more than 40 pages of additional content, because we noticed some areas (like security in Shared Services) warranted an entire new chapter in the updated book. The price point is the same (screw you, inflation) at $49.95 and like the "End User Guide", it's right now only available directly from our publisher. Here's the link for Look Smarter Than You Are with Essbase System 9: The Complete Guide:
http://www.lulu.com/content/2192328

If you want a signed copy of either of the two new books, come to Collaborate (there, now you finally have a good reason!), and attend one of the book signings. Tracy McMullen (my wonderful and irreplaceable co-author) and I will be signing copies on Tuesday and Wednesday from 12:30-1:30 at the bookstore. It's not that I think our signatures will actually add value, it's just that this gives you a chance to heckle/question Tracy and me directly while we smile and make illegible scribbles on the front page of your brand-new, pristine book.

Also at Collaborate, you'll be able to browse preview copies of three more books Tracy and I are releasing before the end of 2008 (if God, our families, and most importantly, our interRel editors allow). I don't want to spoil the surprise about the exact three titles, but suffice to say they're all about Hyperion and none of them are about Essbase (since we've now officially done that topic to death).

Kaleidoscope Conference - Early-Bird Registration Extended

The early-bird deadline for the ODTUG Kaleidoscope conference (the one in New Orleans in June with an Essbase-focused track) passed on March 25. That said, the Executive Director of ODTUG, Kathleen McCasland, was kind enough to extend the deadline until "at least April 7" to give time for all the Essbase junkies to get approval to attend who didn't even hear about the conference until after March 25.

The extended early-bird deadline is only for Hyperion attendees, so they had to make a special link. Make sure you go here to get the cheaper rate:
http://www.prairiesystemsgroup.com/odtug_hyperion_registration.html

I think I've blogged more times in the last 2 weeks than I have since OpenWorld. It's not that I've had particularly a lot of free time on my hands, but rather that there's been a lot of news happening. Don't be surprised if we get to August and the only post I make for the entire month has to do with what my cat ate for breakfast. [Note to self: get a cat before August, so I have something to blog about.]