In May 2022, Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance (EPM) announced updates to the application, with some of the most important ones applicable to:
- Account Reconciliation
- Enterprise Data Management
- Financial Consolidation and Close
- FreeForm
- Narrative Reporting
- Planning
- Planning Modules
- Profitability and Cost Management
- Tax Reporting
Next, we’ll be covering these common updates so you get a sense of the innovations and continued enhancements Oracle continues to make on Oracle EPM.
6 Hyperion EPM Updates
1. EPM Automate Updates
A new version of the EPM Automate module is available, introducing:
- updateUsers. Command to modify attributes such as email, first name, and last name of Oracle EPM Cloud users with new values identified in ANSI or UTF-8 CSV files uploaded to the environment.
- dismiss IPMInsights. Command to automate the dismissal of Intelligent Performance Management (IPM) Insight data before running new jobs. Users can now dismiss data on all open insights they don’t plan to take action on, serving as an alternative to manually dismissing data via the IPM Insight dashboard.
- Updates to addUserToGroups and addUsersToGroup. The commands can be used to give users the option of running the command to be specified in the CSV file to be added to group(s), something that wasn’t available before the May 2022 update.
- copyPOV. The command is updated with additional optional parameters to copy data to the destination POV.
- Updates to removeUserFromGroups, and removeUsersFromGroup. The commands can be used to give users the option of running the command to be specified in the CSV file to be removed from group(s), something that wasn’t available before the May 2022 update.
In addition to these additions and updates, the May 2022 enhancements also include EPM Automate documentation that now includes a Groovy script to automate the emailing of the Activity Report to specific users.
2. REST APIs
First, users can now leverage a REST API to update attributes like email, first name, last name, and more, belonging to a batch of existing users in an identity domain using new values identified in ANSI or UTF-8 CSV files uploaded to the environment.
Users can now also use an optional targetName parameter to determine the name of a backup snapshot on the target environment when restoring backups with REST APIs.
Also, a new REST API parameter has been created to generate a report snapshot in the Job console to automate the process.
A new targetOptions parameter is now available within the EPM Integration Job Type type for REST API jobs. Users can leverage this parameter to modify and update target options for the data load rule or integration at runtime without changing the integration definition.
Error messages for EPM REST APIs are enhanced for greater usability, giving users more understanding and room to respond to error messages accordingly.
3. Access Control Behavior
Service Admins can now add or remove user accounts to and from groups, a function that was not previously enabled. This change in access control behavior removes restrictions on Service Admins from adding or removing users from their group association.
4. EPM Books for Smart View
There’s an updated EPM Books extension for Oracle Smart View for Office ready for download and installation, giving users immediate access to new features, improvements, and bug fixes.
5. Application Owner is Reassigned Automatically
Application owners are automatically reassigned if the original application owner is deleted or if there’s a predefined role change. By default, the service administrator is assigned the application owner function but if they service administrator role is deleted or if a role assignment is downgraded, the application owner function is automatically reassigned to the next available service administrator user, ensuring the application owner role is aligned with any user or role changes.
6. Pyramid Chart Types in Reports
Pyramids, divided in sections and illustrating a top-down and broad-narrow overview of structures and processes, are now available as part of the visualization options for analyzing data in Oracle EPM reports.
Conclusion
As evidenced by this latest set of enhancements and innovations, Oracle EPM continues to evolve to deliver value to its clients. As part of the Continuous Innovation program, Oracle EPM Release 11.2.x will remain under the Premier Support umbrella through at least 2033, with 1-year increments announced on an annual basis so far.
For on-premises clients of Oracle EPM who wish to remain on-premises for the time being, performing the upgrade to 11.2.x is necessary and critical to modernize their software and be able to meet modern business needs. The drive for digitization and digital transformation is greater than ever, and while every organization needs to consider a cloud strategy soon, being on the latest version of the software ensures they are protected and high-performing, thanks to the ongoing delivery of new fixes, updates, features, capabilities, and security patches.