Apr 08 2010

North Texas/Oklahoma ASUG Chapter Meeting April 16

Categories: ASUG Chapters Dave Rathbun @ 11:22 pm

I’m going to be attending (and speaking at) the next North Texas/Oklahoma Chapter ASUG quarterly meeting later this month (April 16th to be exact). A couple of interesting and/or exciting things will be happening there that I want to preview. I don’t count myself as part of the “exciting” part; I will be reprising my session from the GBN conference last fall on recursive data models for universes. I hope to have everything updated to XI 3.1 prior to the session so I will at least be on the current release.

What is exciting is that this meeting will serve as the formal launch for the SAP BusinessObjects Ambassador program. The agenda item reads as follows:

This new program’s primary goal is to establish outreach and education initiatives that promote a better understanding of the expertise available within the BusinessObjects community and the resources that are currently available to all SAP customers.

Simon To and I (both former GBN Steering Committee members) will participate in that announcement, and I will share full details once everything is public.

Another exciting item on a more personal level relates to a couple of former coworkers of mine from Integra Solutions: Alan Mayer and David Byrd. David and Alan founded Integra Solutions back in 1993, and I joined them in 1995. I left the consulting world in order to be able to spend more time with my family last fall. Earlier this year David and Alan launched a new BI company called Solid Ground Technologies. From the new company web site:

SolidGround Technologies, essentially, is a regenesis of the principles, practices, and personnel of Integra Solutions. For more than 15 years, Integra Solutions was one of the leading consulting and training organizations concentrating on business intelligence solutions powered by BusinessObjects software. Most Solid Grounders were long-term employees of Integra Solutions and maintain that same commitment to excellence that enabled Integra Solutions stand out from among its competitors.

It was a real pleasure for me to have worked with Alan and David all of those years I spent at Integra, and I’m happy to see that they’re getting ready to bring something new to the table while maintaining the quality of services and delivery that Integra was known for. Alan will be delivering his Xcelcius presentation at the ASUG meeting and I look forward to the chance to catch up with him a bit. A while back someone asked about the “downloads” area of the former Integra site; from what I understand, this information will be reborn on the new Solid Ground web site in the near future. Some of Alan’s presentations are already available on the site.

The ASUG chapter meeting will be on Friday, April 16th as mentioned earlier. When we were the DFW BOUG our meetings were for only half a day. Under the new format we will have a full day of activities preceded by a happy hour / networking reception on Thursday evening. Full details (and registration information) can be found on the ASUG site. For this meeting ASUG membership is not required. If you’re in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, perhaps I will see you there.

2 Responses to “North Texas/Oklahoma ASUG Chapter Meeting April 16”

  1. Comment by Jamie Oswald

    Let us know how that split meeting (Thursday night – Friday) goes. I think we’d be scared folks would only do one or the other, but would love to consider it if it works out for you.

  2. Comment by Dave Rathbun

    Thursday night is a “networking reception” at a local restaurant, and to be honest I probably won’t make it. Thursday night is cub scout den meeting night. 🙂 In the spirit of “full disclosure” 😉 I edited your first comment to correct the typo you called out in your second comment, then removed the second comment. I assume you don’t mind.