A ‘very’ short history of Data Warehouses

Teradata was the first to announce a database that could handle 1TB of data. They developed a database that was built to work on a massively parallel scale and hence the high speeds in working with large volumes of data. Teradata was (for at least five years in succession) one of the fastest growing company at that time.

IBM published “Information Warehouse” framework as early as 1987 and hence can be regarded as the other pioneer of data warehousing.

Enterprise Data Warehousing has been the key trend in corporate computing in the 1990s and continues to be so today.

Essbase Service not starting

After I figured out the issue with OpenLDAP, I recently saw a similar problem with my Essbase service. However many times I tried to start it, it would just shutdown immediately. This could have been a result of the improper shutdown I mentioned as a reason for the OpenLDAP database to get corrupted.

Fixing essbase is not without losses. I discovered that the security file had been corrupted and hence essbase shutdown soon after I started it.

I went to my application backup folder and copied the essbase.sec file back to the current deployment. The essbase.sec needs to be replaced with a working version. When I started the service again, it was back up and running.

Please note that if you don’t have a current backup, then a lot of the security information that has changed since you’re last backup will need to be done again. I had a very recent backup so I was saved from this hassle.

OpenLDAP and Shared Services not starting

A server hosting Hyperion Planning – System 9 was started up. The OpenLDAP and Shared Services were set to start automatically. They didn’t start automatically. When they were started manually they gave an error and failed to start.

I discovered that the OpenLDAP service was the cause of the problem since it did not start. The server had been improperly shutdown because of a power outage. This sudden shutdown had caused the OpenLDAP database to crash and hence it was unable to restart.

You’re a Brand

Always keep your options open. A safety net if you may. Given the current economic crisis that has consumed hundreds of thousands of jobs and devastated an equal number of homes has opened up scary possibilities. Employment isn’t as secure as one imagined it to be given that the shrinking of the globe (or call it the explosion of interactive communication channels) since we aren’t competing within our own community but on a larger scale than that. A much larger scale than that. You are competing with everyone out there!

Apart from the essential fact that one has to keep their skills updated and career path carefully charted in order to remain relevant and hence employable but it is also essential to be effectively marketed. With email and online application processes allowing thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people sending in their applications it is even more important to be able to market oneself in order to catch the recruiters eye. With such huge numbers available to them it is simply impossible to analyze and evaluate each application on its own merits.

I am securely employed and hope to remain so but as I wish to start practicing from now and would suggest to all of my readers that we need to be on the lookout always. Maybe for a better opportunity or maybe just a safety net. However, when we really need to find employment that may not be the ideal time to start marketing yourself or writing your resume. I feel that we should constantly be working on our resume, ourimage, our skills and our marketability.

This blog may be diversifying from its original purpose but I maintain that it has more to do with my own personal growth and the journey I chart in life. This blog will evolve and grow as I evolve and grow. I hope to maintain my focus on EPM / BI and more specifically Hyperion but additional topics will become a part of this blog.

Automate Essbase Data Backup with ESSCMD and BAT

Backup! Backup! Backup!

The three most important aspects of managing an enterprise application as explained to me by one of the key personnel for the current client I’m working for. She hasn’t failed to stress enough, the need to ensure timely and complete backups.

Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management (aka FDQM)

Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management is a packaged solution for finance users that helps develop standardized financial data management processes with its Web-based guided workflow user interface. Its data preparation server can ease integrating and validating financial data from any of your source systems. And to further reduce your data integration costs as well as data mapping complexities, Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management includes prepackaged adapters for Oracle Hyperion Financial Management, Oracle Hyperion Planning, Oracle Hyperion Strategic Finance, Oracle’s Hyperion Enterprise, Oracle Essbase, and Oracle E-Business Suite.

Limitations on size of dense dimensions for optimum performance

Designing an Essbase DB comes with a lot of practice and experience. There are however some basic tips & tricks that we should be aware of. One common question I’ve come across in my inbox relates to the ideal block size of an Essbase DB.

How to Stop Windows from Shutting Down

Windows automatic shutdown can be a pain if you have lots of important windows open and you just don’t want to restart all the applications and re-open all the windows, yet your computer has decided that it needs to restart/shutdown. There is a handy trick to avoid just that sort of moments. The key is to create a shortcut and point it to:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe -a

This basically calls the Windows shutdown.exe with the ‘-a’ parameter to abort the shutdown. I have a shortcut in my QuickLaunch bar so I can just click on it and get the shutdown to abort. Saves me a lot of hassle.

Clueless Guide: Difference between BI Reports and ERP Reports

Business Intelligence (BI) is just a fancy term for reporting. If I ask a business user what a report is, he/she will be able to bring up an image in their head of what it is and explain it as well. To make it easier to understand BI, just consider it as a reporting mechanism. That begs to the question why we have a fancy term like BI for a simple concept like reports?

Clueless Guide

Being a technology consultant I get to meet a lot of people everyday. I have found that some are very knowledgeable about technology and software and how a particular product will be able to help them; whereas some have been totally clueless about new products, technologies and concepts that can make their business more efficient. I have decided to write a series of articles called the ‘Clueless Guide’ that will basically break down the technologies and concepts in a simpler form.