Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close (FCCS) is a module in Oracle Financials as part of Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) that provides the capability to consolidate, close and report on financial data from various sources. It is used by finance teams as well as business unit managers.
Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close (FCCS) can be used for:
- Consolidating data from various sources like bank account, general ledger account, fixed assets, inventory items etc.
- Closing the books for the fiscal year
- Generating reports for management
Oracle Financials is a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) and financial management software, which enables organizations to manage their entire financial operations. Oracle Financials helps organizations manage their entire financial operations, including finance, accounting, supply chain, human capital management (HCM), customer relationship management (CRM), and more.
Oracle Financials enables organizations to run their business with increased efficiency and agility by providing a single view of the business across all departments and functions. This includes improving accuracy with real-time data for better decision-making for future growth.
Oracle EPM is a business intelligence and analytics platform that enables businesses to transform their data into actionable information. Oracle Financials is the world’s most complete, open, and integrated financial management software.
Oracle EPM includes features like interactive dashboards with drill-down capabilities, reporting and ad hoc analysis, planning and forecasting functions for budgeting and forecasting, consolidation of multiple data sources from disparate systems into a single view of the enterprise, real-time access to global market data for better decision making.
Oracle Financials provides financial management software that is designed to work with Oracle EPM. It also offers an integrated suite of products for financial planning and analysis in addition to other key modules such as general ledger accounting, accounts payable & receivable management, cash management, fixed asset management & depreciation tracking.
List of Oracle FCCS in Oracle Cloud EPM Benefits
- Out-of-the-box best practices kickstart your process in no time.
- Configurable and upgradeable framework to meet your unique consolidation and close needs.
- Simplicity in use and maintenance.
- End-to-end solution.
- Advanced analytics powered by robust dashboards, financial reporting capabilities, and unparalleled analysis.
- No infrastructure costs, ever.
- Monthly, automatic updates.
Now, with talks of Oracle FCCS in Oracle Cloud EPM, it’s natural that we mention Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) which is a similar offering but one that doesn’t overlap. In fact, many confusingly believe that FCCS is a replacement for HFM but in reality, it does not completely cover everything that HFM does.
Oracle HFM has long been considered one of the most prominent tools in the industry when talking about financial consolidation and reporting processes thanks to its robust list of features and functionality, like the ability to close and report financial data quickly or its easy integrations across all Hyperion offerings.
But as the cloud begins to take more relevance in today’s fast-moving business environment, Oracle is presenting clients with the Oracle FCCS offering as a cloud-based subscription for consolidation and close processes. Please know that Oracle continues to invest and work towards closing as many gaps as possible between the two applications to ensure clients receive the best, most seamless experience possible.
Being cloud-based, Oracle FCCS offers upgradeable new releases, constantly evolving the solution to position it as a top choice out-of-the-box solution. Now, to contrast both Oracle FCCS and HFM, it’s worth mentioning that FCCS comes with eleven pre-set system dimensions + two custom dimensions while HFM has unlimited dimensions.
Another point of difference is that HFM allows you to create customized rule files with scripts while in FCCS you can create member formulas.
In Oracle FCCS, clients are prompted to choose a 1-hour window to perform automatic system maintenance and patching on a daily basis, if needed. Upgrades are also delivered during that same 1-hour window of time with advance notification so clients have time to make any arrangements necessary. Regular updates take place once a month while software improvements are performed approximately once every quarter.
The Latest FCCS Update
On August 2021, Oracle EPM announced the latest set of EPM updates affecting Oracle FCCS, which we break down next:
Support for Apps with Movement and Period as Dense Dimensions
Users can now select the option to make Period and Movement Dense dimensions instead of Account as the Dense dimension. Users can also transition an existing application to one with Period and Movement dimensions as Dense dimensions. The migration is a utility that can be accessed from the Application Overview screen. When creating or migrating an application with Period and Movement as Dense dimensions, the EPM system will make changes to seeded members and member formulas.
Please note the option applies only to apps running on Hybrid-enabled Essbase. Additionally, please know that setting Period and Movement as Dense dimensions will increase block density, reduce app size, and improve overall performance.
Translation Logic Change for Acquisition and Disposal
Clients with Ownership Management enabled will notice the translation logic is changed for the Acquisition and Disposal Movement dimension members. These Opening Balance adjustments use Ending Rate period for the translation, which applies to the following dimension members:
- FCCS_Mvmts_Acquisitions
- FCCS_Mvmts_Acquisitions_Input
- FCCS_Mvmts_Disposals
- FCCS_Mvmts_Disposals_Input
Please note that for Historical accounts, the EPM system will use the Effective Rate period for the translation of Acquisition and Disposal Movement members, or the Average Rate period if the Effective rate is not available.
Clients can disable the updated translation behavior and revert to the original behavior by creating a Substitution Variable labeled “TranslateOBOCAcqDispAtPriorER” and set the value to “False”.
The logic applied to the FCCS_OpeningBalanceAdjustment is extended to the Acquisitions and Disposals Movement dimension members.
Enhancement for Configurable Consolidation Rules
Clients can boost performance after deploying Configurable Consolidation rules. The system will create two temporary Account members used internally for the consolidation process when clients run the “Create System Accounts” task. When clients enable the “OptimizeConfigConsol” substitution variable, they can optimize the performance of the rules.
Clients will be able to create new system account members to solve performance problems after deploying configurable consolidation rules.
Preserving Journal Information from Users
The new “Preserve Journal User Names” configuration helps clients keep user data in the app even if the user changed roles or is no longer a part of the company. Said data relates to who created, submitted, approved, or posted the journal entry. The information is available in Journal Reports and Journal History.
This enhancement helps organizations avoid journal data losses when roles are removed from users.
Support for Additional Essbase Functions in Configurable Calculation Rules
Clients can use the MINS and MAXS Essbase functions in the Calculation Manager model to create configurable calculation rules. This is a game-changer for added flexibility when using additional Essbase math formulas in configurable calculation rules.
Year-to-Date Translation of Opening Balance Adjustment
In Opening Balance Adjustment, the year-to-date translation option used the prior period effective rate as input. Now, the system uses the effective rate from the last period in the last year and skips translation tasks if there is no entity currency value for the current period in the periodic of the Opening Balance Adjustment.
Conclusion
Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close is a powerful financial consolidation, close and reporting tool that helps organizations meet the complex accounting, regulatory and reporting requirements of the modern enterprise.
Oracle FCCS is more than just a consolidation tool that can help you consolidate your data from various sources. The software provides an end-to-end solution for managing your financial processes. It can be used to manage the entire lifecycle of your financial data – from start to finish – including budgeting, forecasting, planning, consolidation, close and reporting.
The way we do business today has changed drastically in the last few years. Organizations need to be agile in order to stay competitive in this fast-paced environment. Oracle FCCS helps organizations meet these challenges with its powerful features which include: automation of tasks like reconciliation or close.
Should you decide to upgrade to Oracle EPM 11.2 or migrate to the cloud, what matters is that you take concrete steps to modernize your Oracle Hyperion EPM as soon as possible.
