Implementing Oracle(r) Financial Analyzer: Delivering Value-added Business Processes with Oracle(r) Analytic Solutions - Softcover

Cunningham, John; Dean, Fred; Stevens, Guy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201675277 ISBN 13: 9780201675276

Publisher: Addison-Wesley, 2001

Synopsis

(Pearson Education) Complete guide to the financial analysis software Oracle Financial Analyzer, OFA, with coverage of everything from backup and recovery to database design. The CD-ROM features an interactive project with a Web interface. Also includes a companion Web site. For project managers and other professionals. System requirements not listed. Softcover.

About this title

About the Author

John Cunningham is currently team leader of the Solution Architects in the Oracle UK Business Intelligence and Warehousing Competency Centre. He is a Chartered Accountant and has experience of working in financial services, the oil industry, public sector and education.

Fred Dean is a partner in Stevens & Dean Consulting and former principal consultant at Oracle Corporation UK, with extensive experience in Oracle Analytic Solutions. Fred has many years experience in the IT industry and has recently worked on projects in the banking and financial sectors.

Guy Stevens is a partner in Stevens & Dean Consulting and former principal consultant at Oracle Corporation UK, with extensive experience in Oracle Analytic Solutions. Guy is a Chartered Accountant, and recent projects he has worked on have been in the fast moving consumer goods industry.

0201675277AB06182001

From the Back Cover

In recent years there has been a noticeable change in emphasis within the software industry, from transactional perspectives towards added-value analytic applications. Oracle Financial Analyzer (OFA) is one of the key Oracle Analytic Solutions products in this area.

This book uniquely draws on the authors' wide experience as OFA professionals to harness common knowledge from many projects and offer insights gained from running a number of OFA projects. It effectively bridges the existing gap between product functionality-focused courses, and unstructured experiential learning to offer you a comprehensive guide to successfully implementing OFA projects.

Aimed at business analysts, technical architects, project managers and OFA implementors and administrators this book will give you invaluable support , whether you are working on a first project or are extending an existing one.

The book starts with an overview, followed by in-depth discussion of project scoping for OFA, assisting the business analyst in identifying the business processes to which it should be applied. It then focuses in detail on the key features of OFA and goes on to consider related issues of Enterprise Resource Planning systems and the Data Warehouse.

All principles and practices discussed are explained through references to a number of case studies and each chapter is roadmapped, assisting you in structuring your reading of the book to meet your own project requirements.

OFA project implementation principles covered:

* sponsorship,
* business process modelling,
* change management planning,
* design of the application architecture,
* database design,
* infrastructure specification,
* documentation,
* roll-out and continuing change management,
* backup and recovery

Features:

* CD modelling an organization with Sales, Finance, Board, regional organization and all client types including Web, plus script to explain structure of organization and prompting user to perform some of the tasks required to operate a tiered OFA system. This will enable you to validate your progress in understanding how a complete OFA architecture is deployed.
* Web-site portal impofa for discussion of issues raised in book.

Appendices: covering Tuning for OFA, Data loading, hints & tips on the GL link and the potential impact of future developments. 0201675277B06182001

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

In Chapter 1, we state that one of the reasons for writing this book is to place in the public domain the general project principles specific to an OFA project implementation. This is achieved by abstracting knowledge from many OFA projects, rather than any particular one. Project success, whether it be the first OFA project or the extension of an existing one, is more likely where common knowledge accruing from many projects is shared. We write this book in the common interest of all OFA users and the long-term future of OFA.

Everyone involved in an OFA project will have a different view of the correct way to implement the product. We have attempted to abstract enduring project principles from project documentation, interviews with those involved and personal experience. The principles do not cover every project eventuality, but we hope our attempts in this book are at least a credible first pass.

We have also sought to provide a road map on the technical architectural issues which touch OFA implementations. We argue the case as to why OFA, as an application development framework rather than a package, offers a more technically correct approach to delivering a number of cognate business processes.

From the foregoing, it is clear that some balance had to be found between communicating best practice and polemic. Readers will no doubt make their own judgement as to whether the balance is right, based on their own individual perspective. For those who remember Express before OFA, we would beg indulgence if we cover some ground too lightly. For those who know nothing of Express or indeed OFA, we hope enough is communicated to be interesting, and perhaps useful.

John Cunningham
Fred Dean
Guy Stevens
November 2000 0201675277P06182001

Edition details

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0201675277
• ISBN 13: 9780201675276
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 432