Kscope15, coming up June 21-25 in Hollywood, Florida, is going to be an excellent conference…and I’m not talking strictly about the fabulous tropical location! I’m very excited about the stellar content and speakers selected for this year's weeklong event. On the EPM/BI side, the sessions focus on several key themes: Oracle EPM v11.1.2.4, Oracle cloud, leading practices, and big data. In addition, the topics are balanced for folks from every walk of life: executives, managers, administrators, end users, and developers.
First of all, this is, hands-down, *the* best conference to gain knowledge on Oracle EPM v11.1.2.4. The industry experts at Kscope15 will relay their hands-on experience for this important version at at time when the information will be primed and vetted, several months after the initial release. In the Essbase track alone, there are multiple sessions that are geared towards new features, roadmap, and practical advice. For those not looking to upgrade anytime soon, there are a series of sessions focused on earlier versions of the EPM suite as well, with tips and tricks and administration advice that will help current customers extend the value of their existing implementations.
Planning
In the Planning track, the most notable theme is around Oracle’s Planning and Budgeting Cloud Solution (PBCS). This tool is one of the fastest-selling products in Oracle’s history, and it is ready to be noticed. There are multiple sessions that specifically talk about the different Planning deployment options, differences between the cloud and on-premise solutions, and real-life experiences of moving to PBCS. There are also many other types of sessions for those looking to explore each specific Planning module and Planning-related toolsets.
Financial Close
Within the Financial Close track, there is a trend of mature implementation topics this year: leading business trends with the Financial Close suite of tools, a breadth of design considerations, and new Financial Close tools.
EPM Reporting
The EPM Reporting track continues to provide solid knowledge on the two main tools of the EPM trade: SmartView and Financial Reports.
EPM Foundations and Data Management
The EPM Foundations and Data Management track will focus on cloud deployment, maintenance tips and tricks, and invaluable wisdom on the most robust EPM data management tools around: FDMEE, DRM, and ODI.
EPM Business Content
The EPM Business Content track’s theme relates to leading practices on hot business topics. These are sure to please Oracle customers who live and breathe EPM and have to make strategic decisions on a regular basis.
Business Intelligence
Finally (save the best for last?), the Business Intelligence track is sizzling this year with themes focused on OBIEE, big data, BI leading practices, data integration, and cloud deployment. This track continues to have the best BI speakers in the industry, and they are on a mission to help BI customers take advantage of their investment.
There are two aspects of the Kscope15 conference attendees will want to leverage: 1) the ability to see demos of the products and 2) the opportunity to give Oracle feedback on their personal experiences. Due to the success of last year’s Sunday Symposium format, Oracle will plan to reprise product demos of its newest tools. Also, Oracle will have folks available on the its demo grounds for in-person demonstrations. Finally, there are sessions in various tracks where Oracle customers and partners will be able to provide their direct thoughts on the technology.
The vision for Kscope15 was to improve upon previous years’ conferences by listening to the attendee feedback and by delivering content that attendees could immediately use in their day-to-day jobs. We feel the annual Kscope event continues to push the envelope on industry and product knowledge and offers the best training investment and network opportunities for its attendees. The ODTUG group is run by a passionate set of volunteers who understand what Oracle users and developers need to be effective in their careers. I am proud to work with fantastic EPM/BI track leads and content selection team members who genuinely care about the success of their community.
