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PreFaCe
I initiated this project secure in the knowledge that a book, especially a group-authored
book, would be easy to produce. e pitch I used to convince my co-authors to sign up
for this project was: “You only have to write one chapter. It’s like a white paper. How
hard could it be?”
How hard indeed. at kind of condence can only come from complete and utter
cluelessness, a personality trait in which I seem to excel. Writing an advanced Essbase
book was far, far harder than I anticipated. Setting the vision of the book, dening the
content areas, and recruiting and herding the cats known as my esteemed co-authors
has been exhausting and exhilarating. It also has been incredibly educational (I will
spare you my moments of personal grow ...