Fitness or futility?

09/06/2010 by Simon Tomey.

There are at least two dominant world views we could subscribe to.  One is that described by the myth of Sisyphus1 and the other is the story of Jacob as he wrestles with God.  Both stories are of potentially futile activities – but the outcome is significantly different. 

I originally wrote this post for my tri club magazine, but have recently been reminded of its significance.  I hope you enjoy it.

Sisyphus is condemned for eternity to roll a stone to the top of a mountain, and each time he gets the stone almost to the top, it rolls all the way back down again.  Is this your Monday experience?  Do you know that desperate feeling of futility as everything you so carefully planned comes spectacularly unravelled and you fell like you never really make any progress at all?

Contrast this with the story of Jacob.  He is about to meet his brother for the first time in many years and is terrified that his brother will destroy him and all he has (because he cheated him badly many years ago).  In the evening he meets God and wrestles with him all night.  Neither side seems to be winning, but Jacob refuses to let his adversary go until he blesses him.  God does bless Jacob, affirms him for not giving up and Jacob goes on to be very prosperous.

Many times in my life it feels like I am engaged in a wrestle which lasts the night of many months, but I think that when I have not given up, things do work out, (often better than I would have imagined).  An example of this at BeLife is our expertise in BI Publisher and our suite of pre-built reports which was borne from the determination to discover a better way of getting information from Oracle.  In my triathlon training, I feel the pain of a hard ride disappears seconds after its conclusion and the next day my body is fitter.

Postscript.  I recently returned from a training camp where I experienced more pain than ever in my determination to regain my fitness and to keep up with my team mates.  I only recently discovered that my wheel bearings were seized, and a simple mechanical repair has gained me an easy extra 2mph speed.  Sometimes it’s just as well to stop pushing and check out your kit too!

Notes:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus

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Converting FSG’s and Discoverer reports to run in BIP

07/06/2010 by Simon Tomey.

There’s great news for FSG users and Discoverer users – you can emulate the functionality of these packages using BI Publisher.  Not only does this mean you get great output, but you apply some of the cool BIP functionality too (such as “bursting”).

Following on from an earlier presentation at the UKOUG (where I think I rather missed the point) I recently did a fresh presentation at the UKOUG on converting FSG’s and Discoverer reports to run in Oracle BI Publisher.  Loads of people ask me if it is possible to convert FSG’s and discoverer reports to run in BIP.  Well you can, sort of, using data templates.  Read on… 

Not only can Oracle BI Publisher transform existing reports to produce impressive attractive output, but you can write completely new reports too.  Data templates are part of BI Publisher and enable to extract anything at all out of Oracle applications by writing your own SQL and presenting the output as a BI Publisher report.  In BI Publisher, you can include your own parameters and can apply some of the more interesting BIP technology such as bursting reports to email overnight.

One particularly compelling solution is the replace some of your dull routine FSG or Discoverer reports with impressive BI Publisher output (PDF, Excel, HTML, RTF).  You’ve got the SQL already, you just have to lift it into your data template.

We’ve recently converted FSG reports into burstable PDFs or spreadsheets with run time parameters for one client.   For other client’s we’ve replaced routine discoverer reports with attractively formatted impressive scheduled BIP reports. 

Click here to download the presentation and let me know if you’ve got any questions http://oracle.belife.co.uk/UKOUG%20-%20Transforming%20Discoverer%20and%20FSG%20Report%20v1.0.zip

The presentation focuses on data templates and what can be done rather than exactly how it is done.   (Warning BIP is not well suited to ad hoc queries).  If you want to read about data templates in general, you might also like to check out an earlier post of mine (http://blog.belife.co.uk/2009/08/03/data-templates/).

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Sympathy and Hope

28/05/2010 by Simon Tomey.

If you’re looking for Sympathy its in the dictionary between “Shit” and “Syphilis”

I had a great conversation with Struan yesterday - a good friend mine of mine who I can highly recommend as a high performance coach (mindset specialists focusing on behavioural change). I’ve been wrestling with some things recently and Struan reminded me that it’s great to look forward to what we have, rather than to lament in what we think we have lost.  Afterwards I visited the Tate Britain for the first time in over 13 years and visited what seemed like a roomful of dear old friends (PRB paintings such as Ophelia, Triumph of the Innocents, April’s love). 

One of my favourite PRB’s is “the Lady of Shallot”.  A painting which is not only technically excellent, but almost dripping with pathos and which draws me into a great sadness for the beautiful lady of who loses her life of shadows as she encounters the real world (which spurns her).  It is right indeed to feel moved by this painting and its romantic theme.  There is a deep yearning in us all as we long to slay dragons, but end up measuring out our lives in coffee spoons1 and living our lives in quiet desperation2.  However, in the same way that it would be wrong to ignore the pain of the Lady of Shallot, it would be wrong to surrender to the view that all is lost.  The reality is that life is good and not just good it is very good and abundantly so.  No more is this evident at present with the British spring, with new life bursting forth everywhere we look (even in crowded London).  We have the power of new life in us, but often chose the wallow in the evocative sweet sadness of the Lady of Shallot rather than courageously fight to improve things.  It is interesting that, in the Lady of Shallot, it is the potent knight Sir Lancelot who awakens the Lady to life, but also he who fails to rescue her. 

I think this applies especially in our current social and economic climate as we lament that “the future is not what it used to be”, rather than courageously doing the hard work required to bring great change and improvements in the organisations we come into contact with. I love working with BeLife and the great team of consultants we have as we bring small but real benefit to Oracle users. 

Notes:

1.       T. S. Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1919)

2.       Henry David Thoreau “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

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