Hyperion 2021 and Beyond – Roadmap !

Current Release and Roadmap

Solutions 2020 - Info provided by Rich Wilkie and Al Marciante, EPM Product Management/Development

Review the following information as of December 2020 related to the product roadmap.

2021 and Beyond – Roadmap Priorities

• Focus:
  • Certification Matrix & 3rd party updates as needed
  • Feature enhancements
  • Defect Fixes
• Continue Quarterly release cadence
• Delivered as PSUs (Patch Set Updates) consistent with Applications Unlimitedguidelines

High-Level Roadmap Selected Features Under Consideration*

• Planning
  • Extended Attribute Support
  • Smart Push
• Hyperion Financial Management
  • Enhanced Insights and Archiving
  • Automatic Consolidations
• Data Relationship Management
  • Property Masking
  • Scheduled imports and exports
• Customer Requested Enhancements

* Customer Driven Roadmap –Your feedback is welcome

 Current Release and Roadmap

Essbase 21c

 http://oracledataviz.blogspot.com/2020/12/oracle-essbase-211-is-available.html

Great article to check out Essbase 21c.

EPM Resetservice command

NEW ACTIVITY REPORT GENERATION ON RESTARTING AN ENVIRONMENT

Starting with this update, EPM Cloud will generate a new Activity Report each time you run the resetService EPM Automate command to restart an environment.

Hyperion on-premise 11.2.3 Readme info

 https://docs.oracle.com/en/applications/enterprise-performance-management/11.2/rmepm/index.html#RMEPM-GUID-A66378C8-76A0-4EFE-8466-4F442398531C

EPM System New Features

Release 11.2.3 contains bug fixes for Windows and Linux only, support for TLS 1.2, and the ability to apply an update directly from Release 11.2.1 or Release 11.2.2. Check the Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System Certification Matrix for all platform requirements.

Oracle EPM Cloud Planning and How to Restructure Cubes for optimal performance

You can run the Restructure Cube job to perform a full restructure of a block storage cube to eliminate or reduce fragmentation. This will also remove empty blocks.

This feature is not applicable for an Aggregate Storage cube (ASO).

Note:

You should not run this job during the application maintenance time. You also should not launch a consolidation process while the Restructure Cube job is running.

When you perform this operation:

• Users will be prompted to log out.

• You must manually set the application to Maintenance mode.

• After the Restructure Cube job is run, you must manually turn off Maintenance mode.

• Users will then be informed that the application is available.

Running the Restructure Cube Job

To restructure a cube:

1. On the Home page, click Application.

2. Click Jobs.

3. Click Schedule Jobs.

4. Select Restructure Cube, then select Run Now, and click Next.

5. Select when to run the job:

   • Run Now

   • Schedule starting from, and then select the date, time, and time zone.

6. Enter a Name for the job.

7. For Recurrence pattern, select how often to run the job, and optionally, select an End Date.

8. Click Next to continue.

9. Select a Cube from the drop-down list, then click Next.

10. Review your selections and then click Finish.

    The Restructure Job is submitted on the Jobs page. Make sure that the job is completed by periodically refreshing the page.

Oracle EPM Cloud and Scheduling Maintenance

 By default, Financial Consolidation and Close automatically perform daily maintenance starting at midnight local time. 

During the nightly maintenance window, the system performs backups, applies any patches, recycles the application, and so on. If you prefer, you can schedule daily maintenance to occur at another time.

During daily maintenance, the service automatically creates a backup snapshot of data and artifacts. When daily maintenance executes, it replaces the prior backup snapshot with a new backup snapshot. 

You should schedule the execution of the EPM Automate Utility on a daily basis to download the backup snapshot to a local computer.

To schedule maintenance:

1. On the Home page, click Tools.
2. Click Daily Maintenance.
3. Select the local time zone and the time of day for maintenance.
4. Click Save.

Internet Explorer Compatibility View Registry Settings for Hyperion Financial Reports and Smartview 20.100 version

We recently upgraded our office suite to M365 and Smartview to SVC 20.100 version.  After doing so, we noticed that we cannot open FR reports using SV.

It was discovered that we have to apply Registry Settings for Excel, Word, PPT for IE11 for Users machines.

For 64-bit Office:

Add the three DWORD values for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION].

The values must match your installed version of Internet Explorer. If you are unsure which entry to use, then use the 32-bit Office values noted above.

"EXCEL.EXE"=dword:00011000
"POWERPNT.EXE"=dword:00011000
"WINWORD.EXE"=dword:00011000

Supported Paths for Hyperion 11.2.3

 Release 11.1.2.4. You can upgrade Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System Release 11.1.2.4 products to Release 11.2.x. To update your existing applications, you deploy EPM System Release 11.2.x software on a new machine and then migrate EPM System Release 11.1.2.4.xxx artifacts (such as applications, metadata, and security) and data to the new deployment. See Upgrading EPM System in the Oracle® Enterprise Performance Management System Installation and Configuration Guide.

Release 11.2.2. To move from EPM System Release 11.2.2 to Release 11.2.3, use the Apply Update option in EPM System Installer. See Applying an Update to EPM System Products in the Oracle® Enterprise Performance Management System Installation and Configuration Guide.

Release 11.2.1. To move from EPM System Release 11.2.1 to Release 11.2.3, use the Apply Update option in EPM System Installer. See Applying an Update to EPM System Products in the Oracle® Enterprise Performance Management System Installation and Configuration Guide.

Release 11.2.0. To move from EPM System Release 11.2.0 to Release 11.2.3, first apply the update to move to Release 11.2.2, and then apply the update to move from Release 11.2.2 to Release 11.2.3. See Applying an Update to EPM System Products in the Oracle® Enterprise Performance Management System Installation and Configuration Guide.

New Features in Release 11.2.3

 EPM System New Features

Release 11.2.3 contains bug fixes for Windows and Linux only, support for TLS 1.2, and the ability to apply an update directly from Release 11.2.1 or Release 11.2.2. Check the Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System Certification Matrix for all platform requirements.

Installation Information

Late-breaking information about the installation of EPM System products is provided in this readme. Review this information thoroughly before installing EPM System products.

Complete instructions for installing this release are in the Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System Installation and Configuration Guide.

Note:

After installing Release 11.2.x, you must run the Repository Creation Utility and edit RCUSchema.properties on each machine in your environment before configuring with EPM System Configurator. For details, see Creating Infrastructure Schemas Using Repository Creation Utility and Updating RCU Schema Properties.

Hyperion EPM SmartView 64 Bit and Flickering issue

During our M365 + SV testing, we noticed that in some cases the POV (Point of View) pop up might flicker (meaning blinking) for some users.

Please apply these registry settings for the user, to rectify this error

Oracle Link https://docs.oracle.com/applications/smartview/620/SVINS/flickering_issues_on_office_2013_32-bit_and_64-bit.htm#SVINS-troubleshooting_7

Add two DWORD values to the Windows Registry (described in the sections below).

• Disable Window Transitions (DisableWindowTransitionsOnAddinTaskPanes)
• Disable Office Animations (DisableAnimations)

Administering Migration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Importing Artifacts and Application from a Snapshot

You import snapshots to create a clone of another environment or to migrate artifacts from another environment. Before you can initiate such process, you must upload the backup or incremental snapshot that you want to import into the target environment.

Use Migration to download the snapshot from the source environment and then upload it to the target environment. Alternatively, you may use the copySnapshotFromInstance EPM Automate command to copy the snapshot into the target environment. You may also use the downloadFileand uploadFile commands to copy a snapshot into the target environment. See these information sources:

• Command Reference in Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
• Uploading Archives to the Service

 

https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/enterprise-performance-management-common/epmss/lcm_import_artifact.html

Oracle EPM Cloud and Using Activity Reports and Access logs to monitor usage

Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud retains Activity Reports and Access Logs for the last 60 days only. 

Oracle recommends that you download and create backup copies on a local computer to analyze them for historical trends.

https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/enterprise-performance-management-common/cgsad/6_house_keeping_tasks_monitoring_service_activity_rep_access_logs.html

REMOVAL OF FLASH SUPPORT IN CALCULATION MANAGER

 Oracle has disabled Flash in Calculation Manager, and options to enable it have been removed. 

Business Benefit: This change aligns with Adobe’s decision to stop updating and distributing Flash at the end of 2020. See https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/.

Blinking or Flickering issue wtih Smartview and Office 365 or newly called M365

 Recently we noticed that while using Smartview with M365, the POV Point of View pop-up will flicker in some cases for the user.

Apply the following registry settings to fix this error:

Oracle Link https://docs.oracle.com/applications/smartview/620/SVINS/flickering_issues_on_office_2013_32-bit_and_64-bit.htm#SVINS-troubleshooting_7

Add two DWORD values to the Windows Registry (described in the sections below).

• Disable Window Transitions (DisableWindowTransitionsOnAddinTaskPanes)
• Disable Office Animations (DisableAnimations)

EPM Cloud - How to transfer Data from Test to Prod ?

"Export Data" functionality will get you what you need here.  Below are some steps:

Go to Application -> Overview -> Actions -> Export Data. 

From here, you can export custom slices of data from the application (you specify each set of members for each dimension). 

This will export a zip file of the data, then you simply go to production, clear the target intersections, and then go to Application -> Overview -> Actions -> Import Data. 

You can import the zipped data you exported from test in here.  Note that depending on how many intersections you exported, the zip file may contain multiple .csv files, so you want to upload the zip file instead of the individual csv files.

Some links to check out:

Export data - https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/planning-budgeting-cloud/pfusa/exporting_data.html

Import data - https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/planning-budgeting-cloud/pfusa/importing_data_101.html

EPM – New Dashboard Capabilities Are Coming to Cloud EPM!

Description:

Our 20.09 release of Cloud EPM released with a new set of dash-boarding capabilities that 

will revolutionize how your users interact with their applications.  These dashboards, based on 

Oracle’s latest web interface technologies, delivers a broad set of new chart types. You will now 

be able to create over 20 type of charts. Also included is a new Quick analysis capability within 

dashboards which offers a new way to create data grids on the fly and charts using search. 

All this comes together in a new user friendly dashboard creation canvas. Join us for an 

exciting session which will cover how you can benefit from, and leverage the new dashboard 

capabilities within Cloud EPM. This session will be useful for all users of Planning, 

Financial Consolidation and Close or Tax Reporting business processes within Cloud EPM.

Latest version of SmartView?

 Please download the latest version of the SmartView from the following link:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/smart-view-for-office/downloads/index.html 

There is now a single download, and single installer. 

It will install 32bit if your Office version is 32bit and 64bit if your Office version is 64bit. 

No more 2 versions of the installer. 

This is important for customers going to new M365 (AKA Office 365 in the past)

Troubleshooting Enterprise Performance Management - EPM Cloud tips !

Part 6 released by Oracle on EPM Cloud Troubleshooting

https://blogs.oracle.com/proactivesupportepm/aw_troubleshooting-enterprise-performance-management-epm-cloud-issues-part-6

The Webcast Recordings for Parts 1, 2, 3 , 4 and 5 can be found 

at Doc ID 1456233.1.

• Troubleshooting EPM Cloud Issues - Part 1
• Troubleshooting EPM Cloud Issues - Part 2
• Troubleshooting EPM Cloud Issues - Part 3
• Troubleshooting EPM Cloud Issues - Part 4
• Troubleshooting EPM Cloud Issues - Part 5

EPM Cloud and How Do I Determine the Current Size of Data in an Environment?

 Use the Details page of the environment in My Services to monitor data size. The Details page displays the data size in an environment in these formats:

• Usage trend as a graph
• Usage trend as a table
• Most recent data size in Gigabytes (GB)

To determine the data size:

1. Access My Services.
2. Click the name of an environment.
3. Click Business Metrics.
4. Select Size of Data (GB).

Oracle EPM Cloud for Administrators - Monitoring your service

Running your Oracle EPM cloud requires daily or weekly or monthly monitoring of your systems.

Below is a link to access certain information and logs for your EPM services and users:

https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/enterprise-performance-management-common/cgsad/6_house_keeping_tasks_monitoring_service.html

• Using Activity Reports and Access Logs to Monitor Usage

• Using the Role Assignment Report to Monitor Users

• Monitoring Environments Using Oracle Cloud Applications

• Monitoring Metrics in Oracle Cloud Portal

Hyperion on-premise 11.1.2.4 and removal of Adobe Flash from servers

Good day,

For customers who plan to remove Adobe Flash from there Hyperion servers Dev or UAT or Prod...keep in mind that you will need to patch Planning and Calc Manager modules.

Below is some info on the patch level:

Hyperion Planning 11.1.2.4.010 patch 31365862 and Hyperion Calculation Manager 11.1.2.4.014 patch 28557058

Planning Patch 11.1.2.4.010

Defect Number 31283927

Defect Fixed Remove the dependency of Adobe Flash on Planning UI components.

Calc Manager Patch 11.1.2.4.014

Defect Number 30808533

Defect Fixed Calculation Manager no longer requires flash.  This change is in response to Adobe's decision to stop updating and distributing flash at the end of 2020.

Using the Log Analysis Utility to Identify Problems in Hyperion 11.2.2 release

 A good URL to keep handy for troubleshooting

https://docs.oracle.com/en/applications/enterprise-performance-management/11.2/hittr/using_the_log_analysis_utility_to_identify_problems.html

About the Log Analysis Utility

The Log Analysis Utility is a command-line utility that helps you quickly identify the cause of issues reported by Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System components by analyzing the applicable log files. Because this utility automates log file analysis, you do not need to manually locate and scan EPM System log files to identify issues. Information required to troubleshoot the issue or to escalate it to Oracle Support is quickly available by running this utility. Run on the server where Oracle Hyperion Foundation Services is installed, this utility accesses and analyzes log files on all the servers identified in the Oracle Hyperion Shared Services Registry of an EPM System instance.

Using the Log Analysis Utility, you can:

• List EPM System errors that occurred within a time period. System issues are related to services, intercomponent communication errors, and user directory communication errors.

• List functional issues that occurred within a time period. Functional issues are related to EPM System component functionalities; for example, failure during an Oracle Essbase calculation run or the forms load process in Oracle Hyperion Planning or Oracle Hyperion Financial Management.

• Trace an Execution Context ID (ECID) through log files to trace user sessions across EPM System components. ECID is a unique identifier that is used to correlate events that are part of the same request execution flow. ECID is an Oracle standard unique ID.

Hyperion 11.2.2 on-premise and known issues

 A good URL to bookmark.  Oracle keeps updating the URL with known issue.

https://docs.oracle.com/en/applications/enterprise-performance-management/11.2/rmepm/index.html#RMEPM-knownissues-d1b73b1d

IE Browser support for Hyperion on-premise 11.2.2 update

 Internet Explorer Browser Support -  For Internet Explorer browser users, Microsoft recommends using the new Microsoft Edge as your default browser. 

With this guidance in mind, EPM System no longer supports Internet Explorer starting with Release 11.2.2.0.000. 

For additional guidance on Internet Explorer Life cycle, contact Microsoft.

Fixing Smart View Issues in EPM Cloud

 Some commonly known issues and how to resolve them in EPM Cloud.  A good URL to read and bookmark.

https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/enterprise-performance-management-common/tsepm/op_procs_fix_sv_issues.html

Oracle Hyperion on-premise - New Features in Release 11.2.2

https://docs.oracle.com/en/applications/enterprise-performance-management/11.2/rmepm/index.html#RMEPM-GUID-A66378C8-76A0-4EFE-8466-4F442398531C

EPM Automate - How to Encrypt your password ?

Before running EPM Automate, ensure that you can access your environment from the computer from which you are running EPM Automate.

EPM Automate will display FileNotFoundException: .prefs (Access is denied) error in Windows environments if you do not have write permission in the Windows directory from which you execute EPM Automate. EPM Automate creates a .prefs file, which contains user information, and log files in the current Windows directory.

To resolve this error, ensure that the Windows account of the current user has Read/Write access to the directory from which EPM Automate is run. Additionally, this user must have appropriate access to any other directory from which a file is accessed (for example, while running the uploadFilecommand) or written (for example, while running the downloadFile command).

To run EPM Automate on a Windows client:

1. Click Start, then All Programs, then EPM Automate, and then Launch EPM Automate. The EPM Automate command prompt is displayed.
2. Optional: Navigate to the directory from which you want to perform operations using EPM Automate.
3. Optional: Generate a password encryption file. You use the password encryption file to pass encrypted password to initiate a session.

   epmautomate encrypt P@ssword1 myKey C:/mySecuredir/password.epw

4. Start a session as a Service Administrator. Use a command such as the following:
   • Using an unencrypted password:

     epmautomate login serviceAdmin P@ssword1 
     https://test-cloudpln.pbcs_us1.oraclecloud.com myIdentityDomain

   • Using an encrypted password:

     epmautomate login serviceAdmin C:\mySecuredir\password.epw 
     https://test-cloudpln.pbcs_us1.oraclecloud.com myIdentityDomain

5. Enter commands to execute the tasks you want to complete. See one of the following topics for a description of the commands, their usage, and examples.
   • Planning and Planning Modules Commands
   • Financial Consolidation and Close Commands
   • Tax Reporting Commands
   • Account Reconciliation Commands
   • Profitability and Cost Management Commands
   See Exit Codes for information on command execution status.
6. Sign out of the environment. Use the following command:

   epmautomate logout