EPMware Is Not An Ugly Baby

Ugly Baby

Sometimes, being an independent contractor has its benefits. You get a chance to meet people you otherwise may have never crossed paths with. Many consultants that are working full time in a corporate consulting firm have narrow vision and would never consider stepping outside of their namesake. As an independent, I stepped out from Oracle, my namesake, and straight into EPMware

How It All Started:

As soon as I changed my status (LinkedIn) from being a full-time employee to being an independent consultant, EPMware reached out to me. I have years of experience working with ETL tools and many different Oracle tools, but they were specifically interesting in my DRM experience. EPMware felt like they had a tool that was not only equal too but, actually better than DRM. I was skeptical at first, because lets face it, everyone thinks that their baby is the most beautiful baby in the world. If we are honest with ourselves, there are some ugly babies out there. You know the ones I’m talking about, “Ohhhh yeeeaah sooo cute.”

Accepting their LinkedIn request felt like I was flirting with the enemy but, I was willing to give them a chance. I accepted the request, met with them, and my view on Metadata Governance tools was changed forever. By the end of the first call, I was speechless. Most of the things that we have been asking Oracle to do with DRM, EPMware had already done. It was amazing! EPMware not only had a baby but, it was actually pretty dang cute. To see a product so well put together that works seamlessly with Oracle products and not be an Oracle product was a thing of beauty.

Not An Ugly Baby

So let's talk a little bit about EPMware, besides the fact that it is not an ugly baby.

EPMware was developed by a few individuals that were tired of using DRM because of all its issues and shortcomings that we, as developers, would hit along the way. One of the big issues with DRM is the ability to seed the Hierarchies from the existing Oracle applications that the client has. EPMware is able to simplify this intensive process every time by creating adapters. These adapters will reach out to the source and the target systems then just pull in the information it needs. Doing the pull from the source and target alone saves about two weeks of multiple resources. Why do I say two weeks? Because that is the average time it takes, for us developers, to find someone, convince them we need a file, have them create the file, then format the file to a DRM loadable file. Once you’ve done all that, DRM is really quick about pulling the file. However, it is not smart enough to know what properties to populate. Yes, you can argue that as good developers, we take templates where ever we go and can make DRM smarter then what it is, but think about this from someone that has never used DRM before. EPMware IS smart enough to automagically know what properties to populate, no prior experience needed. Did I mention that they do all this without a single file involved? Now that is fancy!

Shows the simple setup needed to create an adapter for import

One Click importing does the rest of the work

EPMware has really cleaned up the way governance is displayed. As a business user, when I change a node within the hierarchy in EPMware, it’s made very clear what you will affect when you make a change. For example, if I have a downstream of ASO and a downstream of a BSO cube, they are normally at different levels. If I make a change to a node in the ASO cube, then I need to make sure that the node in the BSO cube is changed as well. When the business user requests a change, EPMware is smart enough to automatically include two lines in their governance process. This dual line entry will make sure that you know if you change this particular member it will affect another downstream application. Just because I’m using the example of two lines does not mean that they are restricted to just displaying two lines. If you have 50 downsteams and this one node you wanted to edit was in all 50, you would get 50 lines. Of course if you have 50 downstream applications then you should definitely talk to EPMware about getting a demo.

Shows multi-line governance automatically created

I saved the best for last. 

EPMware has Unlimited Members. 

As I mentioned above, I have been doing this for years and you know what is the main issue that I hit more then anything? Restriction on node count. There have been countless times my clients and I have had to get very creative when designing governance applications due to member count licensing. This makes it very expensive to put other governance tools in place. We are talking millions of dollars. A common question I often get is “Why am I spending so much money for something that is at an equal value to me as the other applications that I have in place?” Here’s why. You are sold that there is no other option. You look at the namesake of the other products that you have implemented and say well I got a discount on a package deal. Here is the reality. There are other tools out there that can not only give you the governance solution you need but brings governance to the next level your company so desperately needs. 

Don't forget that EPMware is in the cloud and on prem. Thay have been interfacing with Oracle cloud products since EPMware was released. They also have been know to be the governance tool on top of DRM negating the need of DRG. SO if you are keeping track that is seemless integration with all Cloud and on prem. I tip my governance hat to the guys behind EPMware for building such a great application. I strongly feel you are doing your company a huge disservice by not considering EPMWare. There is so much more I like about this application and I’ll be writing about it very soon. Look forward to educating you more about EPMware. 

We are specializing in EPMware, the future of Governance tools. Please reach out to Applied Governance for a demo or more information. Don't forget to check out our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Like, Follow, and subscribe for updates. 

Brian Dandeneau 

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Brian Dandeneau