Dave’s Adventures in Business Objects

I first started working with Business Objects products in January of 1995 when I joined Integra Solutions, a consulting company based out of Dallas, Texas. The first version of the product I ever worked with was 3.1. During my tenure I have worked with clients all over the country… even some outside of the United States as well. Integra offers both consulting and training services, and in fact has been recognized as one of the top training organizations for several years running.

I have been selected as a presenter at the annual Business Objects conferences every year since 1996. I suspect that I am one of a very few people that can make that claim, and I am quite proud of that fact. I assume that if I keep getting invited back that I must be doing something right, and that people are finding value in what I have to share.

I enjoy both training and consulting. In general, I think that knowledge should be shared. It was for this reason that I joined the BUSOB-L mailing list back in 1997. And it was also one of the largest reasons why I spent the time to found BOB when the user community began to outgrow the mailing list. I am quite proud of what has been accomplished over the years since BOB was founded. While I will take credit (or responsibility) for getting the ball rolling five years ago (as I write this) I firmly believe that the credit for the success of the community goes to the members of BOB that make it a part of their day. For all of you, thanks.

If you came here via some route other than BOB, and have no idea what I am talking about, the About BOB page will probably answer those questions. A more detailed description of BOB’s history can be found in the BOB FAQ.

In the fall of 2008 I was selected to the initial steering committee for the new Global Business Objects Network (GBN), an organization dedicated to bringing users together around the globe. While my participation in this organization is quite new at this time, I hope that I will be able to offer something of value because of my long-term participation in the user conferences as well as my activities on BOB, not to mention the hundreds of folks that I have interacted with over the years as a consultant or trainer.

Why blog on top of all of this? It’s a fair question. With this blog I hope to be able to publish articles, presentations, even podcasts that will supplement the knowledge sharing on BOB. Why set up a separate site? The main reason is that I can retain copyright and control over the articles that I publish even if - at some point in the future - my role as the BOB administrator changes.

Thanks for reading. I hope you find this site useful.

- Dave Rathbun