sunnuntai 18. joulukuuta 2011

Presentation in Finland

So I told you before that I will present in Finland and in Finnish and that is what I did. And I must say I loved it. Maybe I will do it again!

Amazing thing happened. In the audience there was somebody very knowledgeable dba I know from years and years. After my presentation he came to me and said that he would love to learn more about database design and if possible he would like me presenting for a longer session to teach the basics and how to do the design on Data Modeler. I was really happy for this kind of feedback. So no choice: starting to prepare a presentation about database design on Data Modeler...

Database design with Data Modeler and problem solving with OEM 12c

That is what I have done lately: designed databases and solved performance problems. My nice idea was that if you design your database well you will not need to solve so many performance problems. Ok, I was partially right but also partially wrong. Good database is nothing if you use it wrongly. And I told about this problem also in my presentations about database design. Now I just need to solve this problem as well...

So two new presentations coming from me (do not know the real titles yet but just to get the idea):
- Database design with Data Modeler
- Solving performance problems with Data Modeler and OEM 12c

Interesting times...

tiistai 13. joulukuuta 2011

ER model

Yesterday I was solving (again) a problem on an sql clause that did not perform well enough.
When I solve this kind of problems I usually draw a picture of the query: tables, joins, where conditions etc. Just yesterday I got a great idea: use the ER model as the base for the drawing! So print out the ER model and draw the aliases, joins, wheres etc on that picture. You will save time and the drawing looks very clear!

I did solve the problem and the ER helpped me a lot: missing join, too many outer joins (on tables where the relationship is mandatory) etc.

Feel free to use this tip unless you are already using this method.

SQL Developer and Data Modeler

Today I will present in Finland and in Finnish. I am going to talk about SQL Developer and Data Modeler. What are they? What can you do with them? And most importantly how can you design your database with Data Modeler. Fingers crossed...
I am sure my time will run out, so much to say!

torstai 8. joulukuuta 2011

From Oracle Designer to Data Modeler

As I have mentioned before I am in a project where we are replacing Oracle Designer (for a huuuge environment) with Data Modeler. I did not get this idea myself but somebody came to me and asked why am I not speking to other Designer/ Erwin etc users how to do it? Is it difficult? What changes? What is the same? ect...
That is actually a great idea! I think 30 min should do because it is actually really simple. The difficult parts are the changes in system development processes but I speak about those in my other presentations already and they have nothing to do with Data Modeler but with the changing world. This is actually very good continuation to my presentations about database design. Thank you!

perjantai 18. marraskuuta 2011

BGOUG

Milena and her team have organized an excellent conference again!
So in Bulgaria now enjoying an excellent presentation about APEX from Dimitri Gielis.

My presentation will be tomorrow so today I have plenty of time to enjoy these great presentations.

In the evening there will be a big party with Bulgarian dances so I just hope at least some of the people are awake in the morning for my presentation...it's so great to be the first presenter in the morning after a party ;)

P.S. The party was great and people did come to my presentation in the morning! Even though the great Doug Burns was presenting in the next room... Thank you for attending my session and thank you for the great feedback!

Data Modeler

Just heard the rumour again: Data Modeler is not going to live long.
Where does that rumour comes from and everywhere around the globe? Oracle, please do something to stop that.

I must say I do not believe in that rumour. I am very sure Data Modeler will live for long. I have heard about many projects where people are replacing their previous tool with Data Modeler and the support I get from Oracle to my project has been fantastic (thank you Philip!) so I have all the reasons to believe Data Modeler will live for long.

DOAG

I attended the first time the DOAG conference in Nuremberg, Germany. What a fantastic conference!

The venue is brilliant, food is excellent and presentations in 20 tracks! And something very unique: in our conference batches we had a train ticket which allowed us to use the train as many times during the conference days as we wanted. Very useful!

I had the pleasure to present at the conference. I was speaking in the biggest room Tokyo with a person translating every word I said to German. That was a very interesting experience. I hope people enjoyed attending my presentation as much as I enjoyed presenting.

Dear DOAG, please invite me next year again! I really enjoyed!

keskiviikko 2. marraskuuta 2011

Jonathan Lewis in Finland

I attended a Jonathan Lewis' course for two days. Brilliant two days! The theme was Optimising Oracle and that is exactly what we have been learning now. If you ever have a chance to attend this course, please do. Absolutely great!

sunnuntai 23. lokakuuta 2011

Busy November

November will be really busy. It's not just OUGF Autumn conference but also Nordic user group presidents' meeting in Copenhagen (Denmark), DOAG in Nuremberg (Germany) and BGOUG in Hissarya (Bulgaria). Not to mention that I must finish the strategy planning for Miracle Finland in November...
So if I am still ok after November I can do anything:)

Hope to see many of you this November in Finland, Denmark, Germany or Bulgaria!

OUGF Autumn conference is very close now....

The OUGF Autumn conference will take place in Helsinki on November the 3rd. I am sure it will be a great event: excellent speakers, delicious food and great company! Can not wait!
I am just a bit sad and worried that there will not be enough audience:(
Life is hard nowadays, people are not allowed to attend any conferences because there's too much work to do in their offices. Come on, bosses! You much educate your people otherwice they will be no use for you in couple of years. This business is fast and one must learn new things everyday!!!

torstai 6. lokakuuta 2011

On my way home from the OOW11

I am at the airport waiting for my plane. What a busy week it was!
I arrived on Saturday around noon. GCP reception and then to Graham's house for a lovely party. Thank you Graham!

Sunday was great. The EOUC booth was busy and the EOUC track well-taken. I think next year we should have two EOUC tracks! I was so busy on Sunday with all the EOUC work and meetings that I even missed Larry's keynote. ACE dinner on Sunday and then to the Finnish dinner for a drink ( I am still not able to eat two dinners which was a shame).

Monday early up and a breakfast session on engineered systems for SAP at 7. Some sessions, meetings and finally the launch of OEM 12c. I think I will like this product!

Tuesday early up again and a breakfast session on exadata. Very good session! I think I finally understand this now! Chief Security Officer Summit. A lot of new to learn and a great session about managing crises. Loved that presentation! Dinner at the academy of science. What a place for a dinner! Then a glas of wine with some friends and up to bed.

Wednesday like all other mornings 7 am the first session, this time on exalogic. Meetings and sessions. Had to skip the executive roundtable but had a great meeting with Mark Hurd. Looks like he understands the value of having active and strong user groups!
Larry's keynote (welldone Larry!) and during the keynote the sad news about Steve Jobs. Great man, big loss. Bloggers meetup and Paul's great speech for the memory of Steve Jobs.
Silence.
Finally to Treasure island for the party. Sting was great but I was too tired to stay any longer after he stopped playing. Sorry I didn't hear the rest but can not do everything.

Thursday, already too tired and speaking Finnish to all my closest friends (who do not understand much Finnish;)). Meetings on WebLogic and Hyperion but no energy to go to any sessions.

Great event! I am glad I made the effort to come here! But can not wait to be home again!

maanantai 3. lokakuuta 2011

At the OOW

Second day at the OOW. Really enjoying. Started this morning at 7 with Exadata and SAP. And now Mark Hurd's keynote about to start.
Great event!

keskiviikko 21. syyskuuta 2011

SIOUG

Greetings from Slovenia!
The conference has been great! And my session went well: the room was full and they had to bring more chairs. I am so glad people want to hear about database design.

Thank you SIOUG!

keskiviikko 24. elokuuta 2011

ACED

So this Summer I was nominated as an Oracle ACE. That is not only a cool thing but also a great possibility. I was talking before in several events but now I feel obliged to speak more. And those who know me in real life know that I love speaking dispite I am a quiet Finn:) I just wish I could have more hours per day and more days per week....

Slovenia, SIOUG

So September will be soon and the SIOUG event in Slovenia. I will talk about database design in agile project. How important it is and how you could do it more efficently with Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler. And of course before the event I will go and meet my dear friends Lili and Joze in Ljubljana. Now I will finally meet their new puppy:)

Denmark, Mogens (second) birthday

On Friday I am on my way to Denmark to celebrate Mogens 50th birthday. The birthday was in May but Mogens enjoyed it so much he will organize the birthday again. Can not wait!

OPN Executive Day in Finland

I was asked to speak at the Oracle Partner Network Executive Day! I will talk about my favourite subject: co-operation. I will tell about how we co-operate at the Oracle Community for example user groups (IOUC, EOUC, ...), ACE program and partners. This will be great!
I was told I can say what ever I want as long as I am smiling and inspiring everybody:) My FAVOURITE! Looking forward to that.

Busy summer

It seems this Summer was too busy since I have not written anything:(

A lot of things happened during the Summer.

First of all Riga was GREAT! But so was Hämeenlinna (in Finland) so probably the OUG Harmony will be in both Hämeenlinna and Riga. How cool is that!

Secondly I was nominated as an Oracle ACE! That is so great!!!

Thirdly I visited NYC for Cindy's and Ronald's wedding and that was so beautiful. Great wedding! Thanks for inviting me!!!

perjantai 15. heinäkuuta 2011

Riga and OUG Harmony 2012

Pretty soon on my way to Riga to see all the places. The next OUG Harmony will be either in Helsinki or in Riga and I am going to Riga to see how it is there.

For those who do not know what the OUG Harmony is: it is the Oracle user group event organized by user groups in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Russia. And the next one will be held May 30-31, 2012.

I am so excited to see Riga!

keskiviikko 13. heinäkuuta 2011

I can not believe this is true

The other day somebody had performance problems with his SQL. Ok, the whole clause was terrible but what made me speachless was something I didn't think I could ever see in these modern days: comparison of different data types! Where YEAR = '2011'. Can you imagine that? If I see something like that I can tell you for sure that this person has not put the smallest effort on thinking what the SQL clause should be doing. So how do you then know it's doing what it should be doing? In that case you do not even need to worry about the performance;)

OTN Tour 2011 in Latin America

I am so glad Facebook was invented. I was not able to attend the OTN Latin America tour this year but I have been following it from the Facebook. I am very sure it has been a great success so far. Francisco and others: fantastic job! So many good speakers and interesting presentations. All the organizers, you should be very proud of yourselves. Congratulations!

perjantai 24. kesäkuuta 2011

Slovenia, I am on my way!

On the last minute I submitted a paper for the SIOUG event in September. I will talk about database design with Data Modeler in agile projects. That should be very interesting. Hope to see you all in Slovenia!

The kindest thing ever

During the OUG Harmony 2011 one of the attendees came to me and said: Heli, I still remember your presentation about SQL tuning some years back (I checked that and it was year 2000!). I agreed on most you said but there were couple of things I am not sure if I agree. If you are not a member of Mensa you should apply.

That was the kindest thing to say, ever! I am so proud!

Timo, if you read my blog: thank you!

In Finland we are celebrating the mid-summer now. One of the biggest celebrations during a year. Hyvää juhannusta!

lauantai 18. kesäkuuta 2011

Social skills for DBAs?

This week was a busy but interesting week. When I think back the most interesting question to me this week was, would I be able to teach the DBAs social skills and soft ideas. So a class for Oracle DBAs about social skills. I just love the idea! I have been a developer, I have been a DBA, I have been a project manager. Name the position on IT and I have probably done that. And I have been teaching many things during my career (more than 20 years, goodness). But this is defetenely the best thing anybody has ever asked. I love the idea! And I think not the only thing to teach would be the soft side of beeing a DBA but also how to make the other people in your project/company to see how important you are for them as an excellent DBA. You know the problem with beeing an excellent DBA is that nobody will notice you because everything works like a charm. DBA is only noticed when something goes terribly wrong and a good DBA tries to avoid that.

I will defenetely start planning this course!

lauantai 4. kesäkuuta 2011

Thoughts on user groups

I have just checked the feedback on Harmony 2011. According to the feedback we must have Harmony 2012! I am glad everybody enjoyed and that they want more. That is so great!
Now I just need some rest before even thinking about the next Harmony. But I am quite sure (I already know myself :)) that after the summer vacation I also want to have Harmony 2012.
BTW our Hyperion users will have their event in August (24th) and our RAC sig will probably meet in September. And yes, November the 3rd will be the OUGF conference in Helsinki. So much work but also so much fun.

Autumn will be very busy with all the UG events and the OOW. I will host the OOW Sunday for the EOUC with Ralf Koelling from DOAG. Let's see how many people will show up for the great program the EOUC will deliver for the Sunday.

And my dear friends Cindy and Ronald will have their wedding in NYC in August. I must go there! Ronald is the one who has taught me everything I know about MySQL and the one who I always ask if I have questions about MySQL. And Cindy knows everything about Japan and the Asian history. She even speaks Japanese!

User groups are great but the most valuable thing I have got from my work with use groups is great friends around the globe! I do not care I do not get any money on my work or that sometimes I even must use my own money to be able to work for user groups as long as working for user groups let's me meet my friends and make new friend in every event. This is my journey to be a better person by meeting interesting people and learning more and more every day.

I just wish my calendar would have more months per year that just the 12 everybody has and more hours per day than the lousy 24...

keskiviikko 1. kesäkuuta 2011

Janez from Slovenia

I just had a dinner with the president of Slovenian Oracle user group, Janez. It was so nice meeting him again and sharing ideas on co-operation and user group activities. Nothing beats a good, old fashioned meeting face-to-face. Now I must submit to the Slovenian UG event in September. I think I will talk about database design with Data Modeler.

tiistai 31. toukokuuta 2011

UKOUG2011 here I come....

Just submitted my paper for the UKOUG2011. Let's see what happens...
For years I was solving performance problems and then I realized I should be telling people to avoid those problems by planning and designing. Now for about 10 years I have been talking about that. And that's what I will talk about at the UKOUG2011 if they just let me...
Ok, every now and then I still do solve performance problems but I still think it's worth thinking before doing anything.

Oracle Data Modeler

On Monday I had a great meeting. I am in a project evaluating Oracle Data Modeler. We are planning to replace Oracle Designer with Data Modeler. So on Monday I met some Data Modeler users and we were sharing our experience on the product and on database design. Nothing is as valuable as sharing and learning from other users! I am sure we will have many of those meetings during this year... And I am really excited about this project!

tiistai 24. toukokuuta 2011

Database design, where is that?

Why is database design not fashionable anymore? Why people think the database design is a side product of something greater? Why do bosses think that anybody can 'design' a database?

Why, why and why.
We just had the honor of having THE C.J. Date in Finland telling about database design and all that jazz. It was really great to hear such a guru saying that databases still need to be designed and people designing the databases must be professional people knowing the basics (at least!) of the relational theory.

I have seen it too many times that the design is poor (if any) and then the one to be blamed is Oracle. Hello! Not even Oracle can make miracles.

Would you let your dentist to make a heart surgery to you? No. So why do you think it's ok that the database is 'designed' by the person who has the most free time at the project team and not by the person who knows it best?

Data is the most valuable property to most companies, everybody knows that. But why is it not taken care the way it should?

OUG Harmony is over

OUG Harmony was a great success to attendees, speakers and to us the organizers. It was so interesting to get all those brilliant people together to share their knowledge and experince on Oracle products. The conference is always a lot of work but also quite a lot of fun too. Networking, eating and drinking together is sometimes the most valuable part of a great conference. But also a top quality speakers and interesting topics makes the experience perfect. Thank you to all our speakers! I already miss you, my friends!