IOUG blogs

The IOUG and Oracle have recently teamed together to survey IOUG members and non-members about the benefits of being a member of a user group.

The survey is open to everyone who is involved in the user community and I encourage everyone to vote before Thursday, July 3 (that’s this week!).

To vote you can press this link: http://www.oraclesurveys.com/se.ashx?s=251137454671BECB

and have Oracle hear about the values that a user group provides.

This is an important time in being part of a community and just as important to voice your opinion so that we can build a strong user community with a strong voice within Oracle.

So have your voice heard and vote today! And thanks for taking the time.

   When working on a data warehousing project that will be deployed on an Oracle platform, the discussions often turn to the Oracle database block size that should be used.

   We all know that in data warehousing environments one needs to move lots of data. This means that we are probably going to increase the size of the blocks in which Oracle will store data. The question then moves on to which one should we choose? Should we use 8KB, 16KB, 32KB or even 64KB. This is not a simple question to answer and if you ever did a search to find information on this decision; you find the information rare and often esoteric. The decision needs to be one that considers how information will be loaded and retrieved from your data warehouse.

   So when we decide we look at our data usage. We know that we will be loading millions of rows a data via a bulk loader like DataPump; we know this benefits from larger block sizes as the writes will pack more rows into each database block. We know that we are going to be doing updates during the DW process, so if are going to do any lookups then we need consider that these blocks will contain a larger number of rows, which means our reads will also retrieve more information than we really need. As for the reporting perspective; generally this will require reading larger volumes of data for analysis and aggregation. Again this benefits from larger block size by reducing the number of individual reads, which is good. Now we need to consider multi-block read counts. If we have increased the size of blocks and teh multi-block read count, means that we may move large amounts of data through our I/O channels that may cause bottlenecks, so this is another area that we need to manage and be concerned with.

Ultimately there is no right answer, other than it depends. It depends on the exact nature of your data and your data usage. This must be balanced with the server to optimize performance. The last thing we want to do is introduce new bottlenecks. Generally data warehouses will see block sizes that range from 8KB to 32KB, with multi-block read counts in the 8 to 32 range. Bottom line is test what works for you using a real world load to determine what works best for you.

It seemed interesting to me this morning that people tend to know some of the most random bits of knowledge. The daily dose of Jeopardy proves this as the questions continue to be answered by both those on the shows and by myself to the amazement of my family at times. How to do come to this random memory and how can people take advantage of the gift for knowledge.

So this morning I was listening to Howard Stern’s radio show and he had a game on named the “Homeless Game”, where they ask a homeless person random questions. The person today knew the language of France, the author of Shakespeare, Seinfeld’s first name and many other answers, but missed on the number of letters in the alphabet (I guess you could think 22 is right), who is J-Lo all math questions, and numerous other humorous results. What this really showed me was that we all have a capacity for knowledge and we all know random facts and various skills. We need to harness this knowledge and use it to our advantage.

So we think of technology and the amount and variation in the types of knowledge we all need to have. We need to encourage the value of knowledge and variations in that knowledge. Considering the vast number of technologies that we use on a daily basis, we need to look to our peers and use them to provide complete solutions.

We all have random knowledge, some in math, some in history, some in music and many others in many other subjects.  So we take this, enjoy the sharing of knowledge and the surprise that we see when people just know something that we need to know and don’t. Use random knowledge for good.

The fact that we work close to people on a daily basis does not necessarily mean that we are communicating on the same levels. We need to consider communications internally and externally with a project team as one of the critical factors to a successful project.

We often work as part of a project team that needs to become the well oiled machine where all are participating actively in all aspects of the project; especially communications. Projects often set up communications plans that include a number of items. These plans will include regular meetings (daily and weekly), project dashboards, project wiki’s and other documentation and methods. These methods of communication work. A project that has clear communication plans and processes are projects that have a communication foundation for doing this well.

The key to any plan that you may enact really require cooperation rather that communication. The idea is that people need to understand the value of this type of information exchange. The team must be willing to share knowledge and information. The members of the team must be ready to share success and to know when to ask for advice. So it important to provide a facility where this information exchange can occur.

Communications are not simply about telling people what is going on and what is going to happen but it should also include a component of knowledge exchange. During any development project the team members must be willing to share information about the better way to do things. The ability to share best practices at a project level can be a critical factor in a project achieving its goals. We need to make sure we are not simply informed by that we are more knowledge about the project and the methods that we should use on each and every project.

Good communications during a project will help you and your project succeed. Just remember talk about things and make things better. The only real problem or issue on any project is one that is unspoken so make sure your project team is open and involved.

Building the right team is a subject that we have discussed before, but I wanted to talk about how to put the right team together and what skills are needed to build a data warehouse or business intelligence solutions.

So who is on the team?

• Project Manager
• Data Warehouse Architect
• Business Analysts
• ETL Lead Developer
• BI Lead Developer
• QA Analyst
• Various other developers and analysts.

So where do we start? The key to me in any successful data warehousing project is having someone who can be the Data Warehouse Architect. This is the person who will drive the solution and ensure that the most efficient solution is implemented. This person must have the ability to understand DW/BI technology and understands how to translate business needs into a solution. This person will directly impact the project’s success so choose carefully and choose experience.

DW and BI projects need standard project management controls, as many projects are complex and have many moving parts. This person should be knowledgeable in the DW and BI arena. Just another project to manage.

The ETL and BI Leads are also critical to the ultimate success of the project. These people will create and establish the approach that will be used to deploy the system. These people are generally the most experienced technology people on the team and can provide leadership to the rest of the development team. These people may also be development leads, but generally we try to focus these roles on ensuring that development is executed as needed.

Finally you need you QA, analysts and developers who will fill the remainder of the team.

Ultimately the team will need to work well and the leads are important people who must ensure that communication occurs between various people so that everyone understands their role in the overall project and can see how it contributes to success.

So build the right team with the right people who want to build solutions that provide organizations with competitive intelligence capabilities.

It seems like we are being overrun by surveys these days. I get calls every evening with people wanting to know what I think. I get emails everyday in my Inbox asking me to complete another survey. I understand to the people who sponsor the surveys the information is important for their planning and future direction, but at what point is too much.

The IOUG will be working on a few surveys this coming summer and I wonder how many people will respond. The information we plan to collect will be important not just to use but everyone involved in the Oracle community. We are planning to repeat our Salary Survey which provides great insight into what Oracle professionals earn. It will be interesting to see how our earning power has changed during these challenging times. In addition we are working with Oracle on providing them and us with a deeper understand that the user group provides to its members and how these members become better customers. This survey is one that many of the worldwide user community will be involved in and I expect that IOUG will once again show that they are the most satisfied Oracle customers and user community members.

So although we may be overwhelmed by the number of surveys, some of them are important. It is important sometimes to have your voice heard and often the manner in which we can easily take part is in a survey. You will always need to filter which surveys provide you with the most value, but if you can come to terms with that you can have your voice heard and make things happen.

BTW…my daughter passed her driving test. Now on to real driving!

I came to work wondering something. I wondered what the value of tests are? How does the act of taking a test evaluate how well you work or how well you could implement your knowledge? I think about this as someone in my household takes the all important test to become a driver, but we cannot discuss it at this point. This person understands how to drive and does a good job of basic driving skills. In some ways better than many drivers on the road today. The challenge is learning to deal with the things that are out of the ordinary, like a senior citizen who was slowly crossing the road on the red light and your stuck in the intersection. And the car behind you is honking and your light is now red. I am not sure if they covered that in the driver’s manual. The test provides the basic skill evaluation, but not the value of experience.

Today we put considerable stock in a degree or certification. In the Oracle community we have the Oracle Certification Program. I think it is a great opportunity for people to get validation of the knowledge that they have acquired, much like an exam in school. The missing component is the practical aspect. I think that hands-on real experience is the logical next step. This is where you have your hands deep in your hard drive and you worry about I/O in your sleep. This is the hands-on DBA who does more than back ups and the very occasional recovery. These are the people who use the database. So what does testing mean then?

The IOUG has often discussed whether or not to offer certification to our members. We have always said that the cost versus the benefit did not justify it. Or that Oracle has OCP; so why do we need to add a competing offering. Is OCP perfect? No. Would a certification from the IOUG be meaningful? These are the constant questions we ask in the Board and at this point we will not be offering another Oracle database/middleware/BI certification program.

As I said testing is great. With a test you have proven that you learned how to “correctly” operate and manage a database….of course we are talking OCP….or is that OCD….I digress. How good is a DBA that has never worked a day, but has certification? Look at tests as a start. Look at tests like a yardstick to measure how well you have acquired the information. Then take the information and turn it into knowledge but do not depend on your testing success.

So take your tests today, but look to the future when you can take these building blocks and use them together to solve challenges that will be new to you each day. A great man named Carl Dudley, a professor in the UK, told me that children who go to grade school are taught what to learn and that those in College and University are taught how to learn.

We talk a lot and we create many things but do we really want to hear what people think of what we have done? Sure, we all may not want it but we all need it. Feedback provides us with insight and the information we need to improve.  Feedback when given in an honest way can help people to improve and at the end of the day that is what we should all want.

How can we use feedback to improve? At the recent conference I gave a seminar in Master Data Management (MDM). It helped to give attendees an overview of what Master Data Management is and how to use it within an organization. In addition we discussed the process of defining customers, which generally is central to most MDM implementations. I hope that those that attended my session got some value. Well as part of every session at the conference we collect Session Evaluations. These evaluations provide the user group and speakers with insight into their session and how it was received…feedback. So I looked my evaluations over and no major comments, other than 2 attendees and both said basically the same thing; they really felt that they now had a great understanding of MDM. This for me was great satisfaction and meant that I had delivered my message effectively. Another seminar that I provided many years ago was in Las Vegas. It was a ½ day seminar on Oracle Data Warehousing. It tends to be a very technical deep dive into Oracle DW technology. I just so happened to mention to the audience at the beginning that I was tired from the previous evening in Las Vegas, as I got stuck at a very successful blackjack table. I always tend to make sure that my sessions are energetic and interactive. I thought I had done this successfully in Las Vegas, but when I got back my evaluations, they mentioned how tired I seemed. I took this as a lesson to me; never tell your audience any negative stuff about how you feel. People will pick up on this, so regardless of how tired I am I never say it, and people can then start my seminars without any preconceived notions.

The user group is the same and we truly appreciate feedback. I hope that everyone who took part in the event both in-person and virtually provide us with feedback. We hear from many people during the conference and afterwards and we use this to improve our event year after year.

So take the time to speak up. Tell people the truth and help them use it to improve themselves. Feedback is invaluable to making ourselves better.  

Now that life begins to return to normal. I come to look back at the IOUG Forum at COLLABORATE09 and consider its successes. The week was one where we had the opportunity to rub elbows with the greats of the Oracle world. It is a rare chance to meet with the users experts and the Oracle experts but last week was when it happened.

Orlando was a wonderful venue to hold this event. The event attracts people from all over the world and I expect from all 50 states and 11 provinces here in North America and if you remember this past winter, coming to a place like Orlando and the sun and heat was a great relief. You just needed to remember to stay hydrated.

The conference requires so many people who put time and effort into its success. I have the opportunity to see the planning and execution of the event and it is a labour of love for everyone. The feeling of triumph at the end of the event comes from those who had the chance to attend and were able to come away with value. When you tells us you learned something or met someone and it is going to help we need we have succeeded in our annual mission of COLLABORATE. The people who work behind the scenes are so numerous but I did want to mention a few people who really make this all happen. Alexis Bauer, Jon Wolfe, Julie Ferry, James Lui, Abbey Nystedt, Peggy King, Ellie Hurley, Carol McGury, someone I must have forgot, the entire IOUG Board, the conference committee, the SIG leaders, the speakers and on and on I can go. It takes close to 200 people who volunteer time and staff that truly keep us on track to put this event together and to them I thank you. I appreciate it from the perspective of another attendee and see the value that such an event provides. This is what it is all about and it shows us the strength and resiliency of the community. And I appreciate it from a leadership perspective. These people are good and the event reflects the quality at every turn. It is a constant pleasure to work with these teams.

Finally, it’s hump day at the IOUG Forum at COLLABORATE09 and what a week it has been already. I have been able to meet with so many great people and so have already had a chance to learn some new methods and techniques for the Oracle technology user community.

Yesterday, I had a chance to sit in on a session all about Essbase. The technology is one that Oracle acquired as part of the Hyperion purchase. The product is a solid one with a long track record. The session really showed how easy it is to use the product, but as with most analytical tools, it requires an understanding of what business problems you want to solve and how to best dimensionally represent it. I also learn a little interesting tidbit that the name Essbase comes from Extended Spreadsheet Database.

I also had a day that truly represents the power of an event like this one. I recently was asked by some of the people at my company, if we could provide some support for Oracle’s Universal Content Management product.  This is a great technology and one that has a strong user community. Coincidentally the UCM Special Interest Group of the IOUG had an event last night. It was one of those golden nuggets that provide one of those reasons to attend COLLABORATE. I had the chance to meet with the user leaders in this area and discuss what we were trying to achieve and the best practices around UCM and its various components. This is the real power of the in-person experience.

This morning which has already been quite busy. I had meetings with ODTUG, the Oracle developer user group about how we can work together in the coming months to bring more knowledge to our communities. The meeting was great and really is an illustration of how independent groups can work together to the betterment of the entire user community. In addition I had the chance to meet with Dan Goldstein from Oracle Field Marketing. He is a great person who appreciates how the user communities can complement the information that Oracle provides. As we already know customers who are members of user communities tend to be happier with their Oracle investments and do more with the technology investments that they have made. Another reason people need to get involved. We talked about how the IOUG can help Oracle and how Oracle can help the user community. I expect that you will see more user group presence at a number of Oracle technology events that will be coming in the next few months.

Next up is a meeting with the Fusion Applications folks who will tell us about the upcoming direction for Oracle. It should be great.