The Sound Of No Hands Clapping

[Alan Kirk]

It just occurred to me that the Cognos Asia Pacific Forum was 2 weeks ago now. It must have been awe inspiring for TM1 users, since I don't recall seeing a single comment about it either here or in Cognos Communities. (Which I still subscribe to, even though I don't generally visit there any longer. I don't have the time to spend the 1 minute 30 seconds it takes me to get in (yes, still, I just checked it) unless I'm feeling nostalgic for the days of dial up.)

I took a look at the Cognos web site and found it still on the Events list with a note that I should "Plan NOW to attend the most important event of the year for Cognos customers and partners." I'm guessing that this plan will involve the De Lorean.

I WAS kinda hoping that some of the presentations and such would be posted on the web site the way Applix used to, but it seems not.

Did anyone from these parts attend? Any thoughts that they'd like to share?

[natb]

I was at the Forum two weeks ago. I was hoping that I would learn more of technical stuffs on TM1 like I got to learn at MS TechEd. They seem to concentrate on the integration of Cognos 8 and TM1 and how great their products are. I don't get to use Cognos at work so ....

[Alan Kirk]

I was at the Forum two weeks ago. I was hoping that I would learn more of technical stuffs on TM1 like I got to learn at MS TechEd. They seem to concentrate on the integration of Cognos 8 and TM1 and how great their products are. I don't get to use Cognos at work so ....

Soooo.... a couple of grand (after factoring in fares and accommodation) well spent, then?

I'd have been quite happy to see some BI / TM1 integration stuff, but yes, it would be even better to have some hands on technical courses. Applix hadn't QUITE got these right by the last one, but they were well on their way to doing so.

It'll be interesting to see where next year's one is held.

[jim wood]

Hopefully IBM will lead the way on this one. If you look at the web site for their main conferance they have technical break out rooms where you can go to have your questions answered. The UK one is being held in an IBM building so I am hoping that the IBM influence (No I can't beleive I am saying it either) will be felt. We shall wait and see. I will report back after the event on October 15th,

Jim.

PS. We had Cognos in demonstrating TM1, Executive Viewer and BI (8) for a company wide reporting project that we are doing. Most of our guys were not impressed with BI, but I think it might have been down to the presentation and not the product. Even worse they loved Executive Viewer. What is the world coming too!!!???!!!!???!!!

[BigDSter]

Had the invite to the UK one yesterday, but the link on it to find out what they are doing keeps timing out!

http://now.eloqua.com/e/er.aspx?s=319&l ... ABA79C72DC

Trying to figure out if it looks worth going to.

The Performance 2008 TM1 Customer Roadshow

News of the latest Cognos products and how they integrate with IBM technologies
Future IBM Cognos TM1 product roadmap for 2009
Case study presentation from customer Gold Medal Travel
Latest update on IBM Cognos TM1 9.4 including integration with Cognos 8
Solutions showcase

hmmm not sure

[Steve Vincent]

I'd say probably not. Sounds very familar to previous ones but other than the roadmap (which i've not seen stuck to yet) most of it is, as usual, look at what great stuff we have, please buy it

[Alan Kirk]

Had the invite to the UK one yesterday, but the link on it to find out what they are doing keeps timing out!

http://now.eloqua.com/e/er.aspx?s=319&l ... ABA79C72DC

Do you have the latest Flash player? Because that's what they've done. They've taken a .pdf brochure, and instead of just putting it up for download AS a .pdf brochure ('cos that would be SOOOOO Web 1.0-ish) they've created an abomination of a Flash presentation of it. This presentation has one big advantage over a conventional .pdf; when you click on the arrows on either side, it does a little animation of the pages flying up and down.

It's SOOO worth the wait or, in your case, not being able to access it at all.

Oh, and the timetable keeps randomly popping up as an overlay that you can't seem to get rid of until it equally randomly disappears.

{Sniff, sniff....} I smell the presence of fresh marketing 'droid.

Anyway, I've put a screenshot of it in this post for you. You can then decide whether you want to attend the "Performance 2008 Roadshow fot (sic) TM1", as it's described on the contents page.

CogPerf.jpg (193.15 KiB) Viewed 14851 times

[bihints.com]

I extracted the document detailing the Roadshow from their flash interface and dumped it here: http://bihints.com/files/TM1.2008.pdf (18 pages, 5.8 MB)

Anyone willing to twitter the event ?

[BigDSter]

Many thanks Alan/Bihints for that. Still undecided, as the morning looks like Cognos braindeath followed by some TM1 stuff in the afternoon.

Best thing about that document, the directions

You don't get random naming like that in many places other than the UK

[Martin Ryan]

I extracted the document detailing the Roadshow from their flash interface and dumped it here: http://bihints.com/files/TM1.2008.pdf (18 pages, 5.8 MB)

Anyone willing to twitter the event ?

I hope I get to meet the blonde woman at the top of the first page. She's clearly an intelligent woman from the way she's guiding those two guys ten years her senior. And I always enjoy meeting intelligent women.

I'll see if I can Americanize myself enough to sort Twitter out and remember to have my phone charged.

Martin

[John Hobson]

What no sign of Jason or Ollie showing off their home brewed code?

I always used to enjoy those "Well it was working this morning" parts of the day.

[stephen waters]

Martin,
I think youll get to meet the exciting looking presenters on pages 6-10 rather than the nice blonde analysts ( she's called Lucy btw). On other hand you could come along to our stand where we will have some ravising looking demos and rather saucy integration; all demoed on our slinky black IBM\Lenovo laptop!

[stephen waters]

I always used to enjoy those "Well it was working this morning" parts of the day.

You missed the December show with the "lets try again and see if it works this time" the eventual, "well Ill just reboot the server and see if that fixes it" and the sight of 4\5 Applix\Cognos staff clustered around the podium try ing to get the projector link working!

However the Cognos Forum in May (4000+ people )was very professional and well organised so maybe those days are gone. Also, the product Road Map is being presented by Dave Corbett who does a good preosentation and is very open to listening and explaining.

I think TM1 users should go along on 14 Oct if at all possible, both to get a better idea of future directions and also to demonstrate to Cognos the users loyalty and comittment to TM1. Hope to see you all there

[Martin Ryan]

Martin,
I think youll get to meet the exciting looking presenters on pages 6-10 rather than the nice blonde analysts ( she's called Lucy btw). On other hand you could come along to our stand where we will have some ravising looking demos and rather saucy integration; all demoed on our slinky black IBM\Lenovo laptop!

All good looking, intelligent women are called Lucy. It's a well known fact. In fact I hear the latest teenglish (http://www.gotateenager.org.uk/) for "good looking, intelligent woman" is Lucy. I'm sure Jim's wife's name is also Lucy.

Look forward to seeing your new IBM laptop and its good looking, intelligent apps.

[Alan Kirk]

I think TM1 users should go along on 14 Oct if at all possible, both to get a better idea of future directions and also to demonstrate the user loyalty and comittment to Cognos. Hope to see you all there

I know what you're getting at, but I have to admit that I never show loyalty to a supplier company; only to a product. Keep improving and supporting a good product, and I stay around as a customer. Screw up the product, then to paraphrase the immortal words of Shania Twain, "If you're not in it for the product, I'm outa here".

When it comes to loyalty and commitment to suppliers, "love rat" is a label that I wear with pride.

[jim wood]

I'm sure Jim's wife's name is also Lucy.

Her name is Sam and she has tatoos to tell you so as well!!!! Luckily she doesn't come to these events as there is no free bar.

[stephen waters]

Alan,
Thanks for spotting my error. Sorry I had a senior moment while attempting to multi task. LIke you I normally have loyalty to products and people rather than companies! I have now changed my post to reflect what I meant to say.

[stephen waters]

Jim et al.

If anyone can suggest a decentish pub reachable from Bedfont Lakes (maybe get shuttle bus to Staines?) we will happily welcome all and any TM1 users and wives\partners for a drink after the 14 Oct roadshow courtesy of InfoCat.

[John Hobson]

Stephen that's very kind.

If we can locate a decent pub maybe we could just cut out the roadshow and go straight there?

You know it makes sense!

We could see how many pints it took before we began to talk like marketing people.

intelligent apps

- didn't they get bought by Sage a few years back MArtin?

[Alan Kirk]

I'm sure Jim's wife's name is also Lucy.

Her name is Sam and she has tatoos to tell you so as well!!!! Luckily she doesn't come to these events as there is no free bar.

I'm guessing that Jim edited this message after he posted it since the e-mail notification read "Her name is and she has tatoos to tell you so as well!!!!"

(My emphasis.)

Hopefully he's better at remembering her name over the dinner table.

However Stephen's offer of bar facilities is a cause for concern. Leaving aside the risks to Jim's marriage and/or physical well being from her attending, I suspect that in terms of the TM1 community Jim's wife is going to be like either Norm's wife in Cheers, or Niles' wife Maris in Frasier (depending on your generation); one often referred to, but never seen lest it spoil the mystique.