Foreword

I’ve worked in the Enterprise or Corporate Performance Management industry for over 23 years. In that time, I’ve worked on many projects for a variety of companies. While different verticals have different drivers, they all tend to have some commonalities. Being able to predict the future or, at the very least, being able to explain why you failed to predict the future is among the most common requests from my clients. Software has evolved over time to be the solution to help fill this pressing need, and the OneStream platform represents the newest evolution of what Corporate Performance Management (CPM) systems can do to help the office of the CFO. Very often, I speak with customers that believe that they have a “non-traditional” use case. The truth is that OneStream has evolved what the “traditional” use of a CPM tool is. OneStream’s flexibility to utilize relational and Cube technology, as well as its Extensible dimensionality, allows it to do more than any tool before it, but that flexibility makes the tool harder to master. OneStream is difficult to master because it is substantially more advanced than older CPM software.

Throughout my career, when I have run into something that requires more knowledge, I try to turn to those whom I see as experts in that particular field for insight and understanding. When researching CPM questions, I have most often turned to the blogs of two people: Cameron Lackpour and Celvin Kattookaran. Both understand any question I have, and – as importantly – they find a way to explain the complicated so that even mere mortals like me can understand. Not only are their blogs considered to be the best source of technical knowledge in the industry, they are entertaining to read.

If you are lucky in your professional life, you get to work with people who excel at their profession and are willing to teach you. If you are really lucky, you get to work with more than one. If your luck runs to the “I just won PowerBall” level, you get to work with two absolute geniuses who, while far ahead of the rest of the field, graciously share what they know. I’ve evidently been PowerBall lucky since I have had the pleasure of working with Celvin and Cameron over the last few years. During that time, I’ve come to realize just how deep an understanding they each have of the technology and the ways to exploit that technology.

This book is yet another example of Celvin and Cameron’s ability to distill very complex software into digestible examples/approaches to various problems. Their ability to write about technical content in a way that makes it both interesting and an enjoyable read is truly a unique skill. There are many reasons to read this book. If you want to understand how OneStream can help your organization with the Planning process, you should read this book. Or, if you want to learn how to operate, implement, maintain, or in any way harness the power of OneStream in a Planning process, you should read this book. I’m reminded of a time back, a few years ago, when I worked on my first OneStream implementation with Cameron. I learned many things during that project; however, one piece of advice Cameron gave me and others on the project was that you should never write a book. So, the final reason I’d give to read this book is that you should read it because they may not write another!

Alex Ladd, CEO MindStream Analytics