This month’s update is a small-scale update focused on providing a lot of small changes for the EPM process – Enterprise Data Management.

GK’s Top 3 Highlights For The EPM Platform

Extended Backup Coverage:

Data security takes centre stage as Oracle extends the coverage of daily backups to 60 days. Now test environments also benefit from this critical feature, ensuring data integrity and resilience. With seamless retrieval options via Oracle’s API or EPM Automate, peace of mind is just a click away.

Forms 2.0 Default Adoption:

Oracle’s confidence in Forms 2.0 shines through as it becomes the default version recommended for users. This transition signifies the resolution of reported bugs and enhancements in user experience, setting the stage for smoother EPM operations.

Burst Zipped Consolidated Attachments:

A new feature allows users when bursting reports to zip, and consolidate attachments for easier management and distribution. This enhancement streamlines the reporting process, making it more efficient and user-friendly.

GK’s Top 3 Highlights For The Processes

EDM – Empowering Data Management:

A slew of small yet impactful features enrich the Enterprise Data Management (EDM) process. Users are encouraged to explore these updates, ensuring optimal data governance and efficiency.

FCC – Flexibility Redefined:

Financial Consolidation and Close (FCC) processes have been refined to offer greater flexibility and control. This update includes enhancements that streamline the consolidation process, making it more adaptable to various organisational needs.

Narrative Reporting – Streamlined Processes:

Narrative Reporting now features streamlined processes for creating and managing reports. These enhancements ensure that users can produce comprehensive, accurate reports with greater ease and efficiency.

GK’s 3 Upcoming Features Highlighted With This Release:

Redwood Theme:

In July, all customers will automatically upgrade to the Redwood theme, which includes dynamic tabs. This upgrade promises a more modern and efficient user interface, enhancing overall user experience.

Hybrid Essbase:

All Oracle EPM applications will be upgraded from non-Hybrid BSO to Hybrid BSO. Note that while the applications will be upgraded, individual cubes will require action to update. The rollout schedule includes 24.05 for Profitability and Cost Management, 24.06 for Narrative Reporting, and 24.07 for Planning, subject to notification in mid-June.

FCC Substitution Variables:

It is recommended to set substitution variables to ‘True’ to realise performance benefits. These will be set to ‘True’ by default in upcoming releases, ensuring improved efficiency and speed in FCC processes.

These updates aim to provide a more efficient, secure, and user-friendly EPM environment.

In this release Oracle is concentrating on streamlining their customer base by automatically updating customer environments that have not upgraded to the latest features. It is therefore another small update with no ‘Larger Scale’ UI or Process based features.

GK’s Top 3 Highlights For The EPM Platform

– Migration of UK Government environments to OCI infrastructure:

standardising on the new OCI architecture allows Oracle to deliver greater performance and reliability.

– Removal of non-Redwood themes:

Redwood themes allow for dynamic tabs and the latest clean UI.

– Upgrading all EPM environments to a hybrid Essbase version:

This change affects the Essbase version used in EPM Cloud; it does not affect the cube configuration in your application, though we recommend upgrading the cube configurations to take advantage of hybrid’s better performance.

A standardised estate makes sense as it is easier for Oracle to support.

Other small platform changes worth calling out are:

• Auditing – ability to track events related to when the application was enabled for all users or only for Service Administrators.
• Job Scheduling – EPM Platform Job Scheduler console now supports the execution and scheduling of Data Management/Data Integration jobs.

And one small Planning change to call out:

• ESG Planning Application – EPM for Sustainability application has been updated to support the GHG Protocol Scope 3.6

This month’s update has no major features but a few interesting gems for various stakeholders.

For Users:

Oracle Guided Learning console – EPM users now have access to the Oracle Guided Learning console meaning users are now enabled to create and activate guides within EPM Cloud applications. Oracle Guided Leaning is a robust framework for developing personalised, guided, and contextual training and user onboarding experiences.

For IT:

Air-Gapped Backups – Oracle now ensures that the daily EPM backups are air-gapped and replicated in secondary regions. The air-gapped backup ensures the survivability of data in case of a region outage, ensuring advanced data protection, and that backups are not lost in the event of a disaster.

For Admins:

Rest APIs for User Variables and to copy to and from a SFTP server – User variable APIs allow administrators to provide default values for user variables when creating new users as well as query the user variable values for different selection criteria. SFTP APIs allow you directly copy files between EPM Cloud and a secure FTP server without intermediary steps.

For Profitability and Cost Management:

IPM Insights and Task Manager – these additions bring this PCM application in line with the rest of the EPM applications on the EPM platform.

GK’s Top 3 Highlights for this month’s EPM updated

• New REST API for Exporting Audit Reports:
  Oracle now offers a REST API to export audit reports, an essential feature since audit data is only stored for 90 days in the system. While this capability also exists in EPM Automate, we encourage our clients to adopt REST APIs for better scalability and efficiency in managing audits.

• Job Scheduling in Data Management and Data Integration:
  Oracle has added job scheduling functionality directly within EPM’s job scheduler, allowing users to schedule data jobs. At GK, we recommend using the new pipeline feature to automate these processes, which can now also be scheduled in the job scheduler for a smoother workflow.

• Updated EPM Books Extension for Smart View:
  A new extension allows users to download books created with Oracle EPM’s report tool directly into Smart View. This integration simplifies access to critical financial reports, enabling smoother data retrieval and analysis.

Other notable updates:

• FreeForm Planning Enhancements:
  Oracle’s FreeForm Planning now allows for the creation of completely custom planning models, with support for advanced intelligence features like IPM Insights, Auto Predict, and Predictive Planning. This provides users with a more flexible and intelligent financial planning experience.

These changes may seem incremental, but they provide real value in improving the performance, automation, and intelligence of the Oracle EPM platform. We recommend discussing these updates with your clients to showcase Oracle’s continued commitment to innovation.

Watch out for October’s release 🙂