This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:
| Date | Product | Feature | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 AUG 2021 | Created initial document. |
This document outlines the upcoming Enterprise Performance Management Cloud update.
HAVE AN IDEA?
We’re here and we’re listening. If you have a suggestion on how to make our cloud services even better then go ahead and tell us. There are several ways to submit your ideas, for example, through the Ideas Lab on Oracle Customer Connect. Wherever you see this icon after the feature name it means we delivered one of your ideas.
Column Definitions:
Report = New or modified, Oracle-delivered, ready to run reports.
UI or Process-Based: Small Scale = These UI or process-based features are typically comprised of minor field, validation, or program changes. Therefore, the potential impact to users is minimal.
UI or Process-Based: Larger Scale* = These UI or process-based features have more complex designs. Therefore, the potential impact to users is higher.
Features Delivered Disabled = Action is needed BEFORE these features can be used by END USERS. These features are delivered disabled and you choose if and when to enable them. For example, a) new or expanded BI subject areas need to first be incorporated into reports, b) Integration is required to utilize new web services, or c) features must be assigned to user roles before they can be accessed.
Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
Test Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, September 3, 2021.
Production Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, September 17, 2021.
NOTE: Backing up the daily maintenance snapshot and restoring the environment as needed are self-service operations. Oracle strongly recommends that you download the maintenance snapshot every day to a local server.
The Oracle Help Center provides access to updated documentation. The updates will be available in the Help Center on Friday, September 3, 2021.
NOTE: Some of the links to new feature documentation included in this readiness document will not work until after the Oracle Help Center update is complete.
Fixed Issues and Considerations
Software issues addressed each month and considerations will be posted to My Oracle Support.
NOTE: Fixed issues for EPM Cloud Common components (Smart View for Office, EPM Automate, REST API, Migration, Access Control, Data Management/Data Integration, Reports, Financial Reporting, and Calculation Manager) are available in a separate document on the My Oracle Support “Release Highlights” page.
This provides visibility into EPM Cloud release contents.
Please Join Oracle Cloud Customer Connect
Please take a moment to join the Cloud Customer Connect forums for EPM Cloud services. Oracle Cloud Customer Connect is a community gathering place for members to interact and collaborate on common goals and objectives. This is where you will find the latest release information, upcoming events, or answers to use-case questions. Joining takes just a few minutes. Join now!
https://cloud.oracle.com/community
NOTE: The Settings and Actions menu now contains a link to Cloud Customer Connect. To access this link, from the Home page, click the down arrow next to the user name (in the upper right-hand corner of the screen), and select Cloud Customer Connect.
Give Us Documentation Feedback
We welcome your comments and suggestions to improve the content of the What's New document and the product documentation.
Please send us your feedback at EPMdoc_ww@oracle.com. In the body or title of the email, state that you are inquiring or providing feedback, and indicate for which EPM Cloud service and the monthly update cycle.
Follow EPM Cloud on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
These are great resources for the latest updates and information about EPM Cloud.
Oracle Cloud Classic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Migration Assistance Program for Early Adopters
Oracle has instituted a program to assist a limited number of early adopters on Oracle Cloud Classic to migrate to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, also known as OCI (Gen 2). This program is available on a first come, first served basis. OCI delivers highly available computing power and infrastructure to EPM Cloud.
Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: Migrating to OCI enables you to utilize the new generation of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, which provides highly available computing power and infrastructure to EPM Cloud.
Steps to Enable
See Oracle Cloud Classic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Migration Assistance Program for Early Adopters in Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Operations Guide for information on enrolling in this program.
Key Resources
- Oracle Cloud Classic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Migration Assistance Program for Early Adopters in Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Operations Guide.
New Topics in EPM Cloud Operations Guide
The EPM Cloud Operations Guide has been enhanced with additional sections.
Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting
Newly added sections include:
- Optimize BSO Cubes
- Resolving HSP_ID_xxxx Errors while Running Rules in Workforce Planning
- Understanding Implicit and Explicit BSO Restructure
- Oracle Cloud Classic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Migration Assistance Program for Early Adopters
Business Benefit: These new topics help customers fix issues, optimize performance, and make requests to Oracle more efficiently.
Key Resources
Updates to the Clone Environment Documentation
The Clone Environment documentation in Administering Migration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud has been updated with step-by-step instructions for the tasks you need to perform for the cloning process. These steps ensures that your URLs, scripts, and bookmarks work seamlessly for cloned environments.
Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting
Business Benefits: These steps provide information on making existing URLs, EPM Automate scripts, and bookmarks work in cloned environments. They also make the migration from Oracle Cloud Classic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) more seamless.
Key Resources
- Cloning EPM Cloud Environments in Administering Migration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
A new version of EPM Automate is now available. This version introduces the exportDataManagement and importDataManagement commands and contains changes to the getDailyMaintenanceStartTime and setDailyMaintenanceStartTime commands. This version also includes some security enhancements that affect the installation and upgrade of EPM Automate and access to the .prefs file. Additionally, the Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud guide has been enhanced with a sample script to clone EPM Cloud environments.
Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting
exportDataManagement Command
Exports Data Management records of an environment to a ZIP file. This command exports a complete set of setup and staging tables including the ID columns to CSV files so that the data can be imported into another environment without losing referential integrity.
importDataManagement Command
Imports Data Management records from a ZIP file into an environment.This command imports data into setup and staging tables from a ZIP file created using the exportDataManagement command.
getDailyMaintenanceStartTime Command
The getDailyMaintenanceStartTime command has been enhanced to display an optional timezone parameter to display the daily maintenance time in the time zone that was specified while setting it.
setDailyMaintenanceStartTime Command
The setDailyMaintenanceStartTime command has been enhanced with an optional timezone value to the startTime parameter. This new value allows you to specify the daily maintenance start time in a time zone other than UTC.
Security Enhancement Affecting Installation and Upgrade
On Windows computers, EPM Automate can be upgraded only by Windows Administrators or by the user who installed it. Starting with Windows 10, EPM Automate can be installed only by a Windows Administrator.
Security Enhancement Affecting .prefs File
EPM Automate creates a .prefs file, which contains user information, in the current directory. On Windows computers, the content of the .prefs file is now visible only to the user who created it and to Windows administrators. In Linux, UNIX and macOSX environments, .prefs file is now generated with permission 600, which allows only the owner to read and write to this file.
Sample Scripts to Clone Environments
The Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud guide now contains a script to clone EPM Cloud environments including Narrative Reporting environments.
Business Benefit: The new commands facilitate the remote administration of EPM Cloud environments. Changes to the setDailyMaintenanceStartTime and getDailyMaintenanceStartTime commands help you set and view daily maintenance time in a local time zone. Security enhancements ensure that EPM Automate abides by the security policies of the platform that hosts it. The new clone script helps you automate the cloning of EPM Cloud environments and migrating from Oracle Cloud Classic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
Key Resources
- Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud:
- Installing EPM Automate
- exportDataManagement
- importDataManagement
- getDailyMaintenanceStartTime
- setDailyMaintenanceStartTime
- Automate the Cloning of Environments
REST APIs to Export and Import Data Management Artifacts
Export Data Management and Import Data Management REST APIs are now available that enable you to back up and restore setup and staging table data in Data Management as a snapshot (a replica of a target table from a single point in time.)
Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting, Profitability and Cost Management
The Export Data Management REST API requires an All, Setup, Incremental, or All Incremental snapshot type value. It also requires a file name. The output is a ZIP file, which is stored in outbox/<filename>.zip. You can download the file using the Download REST API.
The Import Data Management REST API requires the file name (for example: inbox/<filename>.zip, or inbox/mybackup/<filename>.zip). If no path is specified, it is assumed that the file is in the Data Management root folder.
Business Benefit: These REST APIs provide a complete solution for exporting and importing Data Management artifacts as snapshots when backup and restore operations are required.
Key Resources
REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud:
REST API for Deploying Task Manager Templates
You can now use a REST API to create Task Schedules from Templates, allowing you to create an automated routine to generate all of your periodic task schedules.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: This new capability minimizes manual intervention and enables automated creation of task schedules.
Key Resources
- Deploy Task Manager Templates in REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
- Creating Schedules from Templates in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close
Role Information
-
Service Administrators and Power Users
REST API to Generate the User Details Report
The User Details report contains information on the users who have predefined roles in the environment and lists attributes of each user (such as name and email) as well as different objects they have access to (such as Groups, Teams, or Organizations). In the user interface, under Tools: Access Control, you can use Manage Users (for Account Reconciliation) or Task Manager Users (for Financial Consolidation and Close or Tax Reporting) to select the information and generate a report. This feature now allows you to use a REST API to generate the report.
Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: This feature gives customers the ability to choose to use a REST API to generate the User Details report in addition to the user interface.
Key Resources
- Generate User Details Report for Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting in REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management
- Understanding Security in Account Reconciliation in Administering Account Reconciliation for details on the User Details report
- Understanding Reports Security in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close
REST API to Support Combined File and Path Parameters for Bursting Execution Job
For Integrated Business Process, the Jobs REST API has been enhanced to specify the path as part of the Bursting Definition name, or you can also specify the path as a separate parameter.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: The combined file and path parameters help you to run the command seamlessly. It is more consistent with other EPM Automate operations.
Key Resources
REST API to Support Book Artifact
You can use REST API to execute the Book artifact via an Integrated Business Process.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: Automate the book execution using the REST API.
Key Resources
Localization Support in Smart View (Mac and Browser)
Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser) now supports localized versions of the user interface.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
The manifest file creation page, CreateManifest.html, is also localized and may be used in your browser language, if set to one of the languages supported by Smart View. No additional deployment steps are required. Once deployed, all supported localized languages are available to be selected. On the Mac, users change the locale of their Mac system to use a localized version of Smart View (Mac and Browser). On the Chrome browser, users change the language preference of Office 365. Users can change languages to any supported language at any time. For example, a user may change from English to French, and then later, change from French to Simplified Chinese. There is no limit on changing the interface language.
Once the language change is implemented, the Smart View ribbon, dialog boxes, panels, and messages will display in the newly-selected language.
Supported languages are: Arabic, Czech. Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Finnish, French, French Canadian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese.
Business Benefit: The localized versions of Smart View (Mac and Browser) provide users with an improved non-English experience where they can switch to their desired language to work with the Smart View user interface, as required.
Steps to Enable
Service Administrators:
To deploy the localized version of Smart View (Mac and Browser), Service Administrators must create and deploy a new manifest file:
- Create a new manifest file and customize it per your requirements.
- Deploy the manifest file to Smart View (Mac and Browser) users.
Users:
To use a localized version of Smart View (Mac and Browser):
- On a Mac, change the language version of your Mac system. See Change the language your Mac uses for instructions.
- On Windows 10, change the language display preference in the browser version of Office 365. See Change your display language and time zone in Microsoft 365 for Business for instructions.
Tips And Considerations
When you change the language on your Mac system, the change is instant. When you change the language in Office 365 on Windows, allow at least 20 minutes for the change to take effect.
Key Resources
- Understanding EPM Cloud Localization in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators
- Understanding EPM Cloud Localization in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Users
- Deploying and Administering Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser):
- Localization in Smart View (Mac and Browser) in Working with Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser)
New Setting for Shared Member Drill Down to All Levels in Base Dimension
The new “Drill to All Levels in Base” option in Application Settings when using ad hoc in Standard mode allows the “drill down on shared members” feature to drill beyond just the shared members, into the base hierarchy for that shared member as well. This feature is only available when the Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior option is set to Standard.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
When this check box is enabled, the multi-member zoom feature is not supported.
Business Benefit: With this feature, users can drill from shared members into all levels within the base hierarchy. Often a shared member is a parent member in its base hierarchy. With the new "Drill to All Levels in Base" check box enabled, users can have the drill work from the shared member into all levels of the base hierarchy as well.
Steps to Enable
To enable shared member drill down to all levels in the base dimension:
- In your business process, click Application and then Settings.
- In Allow Drill Down on Shared Members in Ad Hoc, select Yes.
- Select the Drill to All Levels in Base check box.
- Click Save.
Key Resources
-
See the applications settings documentation for your business process; for example, see What Application and System Settings Can I Specify? in Administering Planning
-
Zooming in on Shared Members in EPM Cloud in Working with Oracle Smart View for Office
Support for Both Books and Bursting Definition Output to Static Excel from Web
You can now download Books to static (non-refreshable) Excel spreadsheet, while previewing them on the web or when executing a bursting definition containing a book.
Only Reports are included in the Excel output. If the book contains Word or PDF documents, or inserted Books, they will not be included in the Excel output.
When a book is selected as the bursting artifact in a bursting definition, you can now choose to publish the output to Excel. Similar to PDF output, you can email the Excel output or publish it to the Library. The resulting Excel output is static and cannot be refreshed in Smart View.
A table of contents sheet is generated with links to individual report worksheets, based on the TOC Headings defined in the Properties panel in the Book Designer. As Excel’s maximum number of worksheet characters is 31, the worksheet names will be truncated to fit the 31 character limit, where applicable.
In Narrative Reporting deployments, you can open a Book in Excel directly from the Narrative Reporting Library.
In EPM Cloud deployments, you cannot currently open a book in Excel directly from the Reports card. However, after previewing the book in PDF, you need to switch your preview mode to Excel, so that you can select Download as Excel and then select either to Local or Library.
Switch your preview mode to Excel.
NOTE: Import Books into Excel from Smart View is currently not available.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: Support to Excel provides an additional output option for books, as many customers prefer the book output in Excel instead of PDF.
Key Resources
In Designing with Reports for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud:
In Working with Reports for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud:
Reports Member Property Text Function Enhanced to Return a Specified UDA
The MemberProperty text function is used to display a specified member’s property, such as associated attributes, UDAs, etc. Previously, the MemberProperty text function displayed all UDAs associated with a member. Now you can index specific UDAs to be displayed via an optional numerical parameter.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: This feature provides more flexibility when displaying a specific member’s UDAs in a text box or text cell.
Key Resources
- MemberProperty in Designing with Reports for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
Reports Text and Note Boxes: Default Font Controls and Reset Format
For Text and Note* boxes, new default font, and font size selection controls have been added to the General properties panel. The default settings are used in the font and font size selector in the toolbar, which overrides the default font for Text or Note boxes with varying fonts.
In addition, a button has been added to reset all font formats to the default (derived from Set Default Font in the report designer Actions menu).
*Note boxes are supported in Narrative Reporting only.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: This feature provides control over the default font for Text or Note boxes when varying fonts and font sizes are used.
Key Resources
- Designing with Reports for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud:
New Snapshot Export and Import Features in Data Management
EPM Cloud customers now have access to new snapshot export and import tools available in Data Management. These tools provide customers with backup and recovery options of their setup and historical data. A snapshot is a replica of a target table from a single point in time.
Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting, Profitability and Cost Management
New snapshot export and import options enable you to:
- Backup historical data for auditing before deletion.
- Recreate an environment without losing the import.
- Provide a snapshot of imported data to test a target instance.
- Include data in a daily snapshot for backing up.
The data export process exports all data from the setup and data tables including the ID columns to .CSV files. Data is exported by POV and retains the ID of the setup tables when data is exported and imported. In this case, a remapping of the IDs is not required. The process supports: All, Setup only, All - incremental, and incremental modes for exporting data. The incremental mode process exports only new or changed data based on the POV since the last snapshot was exported. The output is a ZIP file, which is stored as data in outbox/<filename>.zip.
The data import process is a restore process but does not perform any merge operation. The system clears the existing data in the target system and then imports the data from the backup files. The input requires the filename with the full path of the Data Management root folder (for example: inbox/<filename>.zip, or inbox/mybackup/<filename>.zip). If no path is specified, it is assumed that the file is in the Data Management root folder.
The new snapshot export and import tools are available in System Maintenance Tasks:
System Maintenance Tasks Page
The snapshot process can be invoked using one of the following interfaces:
- REST API
- EPM Automate
- System Maintenance Tasks user interface
Business Benefit: These options provides a complete solution for exporting and importing data when backup and restore operations are required.
Key Resources
- Administering Data Management for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
- Commands at a Glance in Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
New Period Mapping Option in Data Integration
A Period Mapping option is now available in Data Integration. The Period Mapping option shares the existing functionality of Period Mapping in Data Management and enhances your experience with a more modern look-and-feel and responsive design.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
The Period Mapping option is available on the Actions drop-down on the Data Integration home page for administrators only. On the Period Mapping page, customers can create and manage period mappings including:
- Global Mapping
- Application Mapping
- Source Mapping
Period Mapping Page
Business Benefit: Customers can define various calendars (for example, monthly, weekly, or daily) based on their business and statutory requirements
Key Resources
- Defining Period Mapping in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
New POV Period Option In Data Integration
A new POV Period option enables you to select and save the POV period used when running an integration. If no POV period is selected, then the system defaults to the last used period based on browser cache. The new option is available on the Home page in Data Integration.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting
When the Global POV mode is enabled, then the period defaults to the Global POV Period and a customer is not allowed to change the period on the Home page.
Business Benefit: Prior to this update, you were required to select the period every time an integration was run.
Key Resources
- Selecting a POV Period in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
A new menu item, "Cleanup Orphan Report Objects," is now available in Financial Reporting Web Studio. When you select this option, any report objects not associated with a data source are deleted from the repository. Note that this action cannot be undone. Once completed, a list of deleted objects is displayed and registered in the Financial Reporting logs.
Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planing, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting
Business Benefit: Prior to this update, you were unable to delete orphaned objects from the Explore Repository, and the objects remained there regardless of whether or not they were associated with a data source.
Key Resources
- Cleaning Up Orphan Report Objects in Designing with Financial Reporting Web Studio for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
Consistency and Alignment Across Filtering in Transaction Matching
This enhancement conforms the transaction status in filters used across Transaction Matching and changes the Status of a transaction from “New” to “Unmatched” in the business process. Specifically, in the Data Source filter, you will see transaction status as one of the following: Unmatched, Supported, Suggested Match, Confirmed Match, Suggested Adjust, or Confirmed Adjust. In the Unmatched dialog filter, you will see a status of either Unmatched or Supported instead of New and Supported. In the Overview, you will see the change from New to Unmatched as well.
Business Benefit: Consistency across Transaction Matching filtering for possible transaction statuses improves clarity for customers and eliminates any confusion on terminology.
Key Resources
- Searching Transactions, Filtering, and Saving List Views in Reconciling Accounts with Account Reconciliation
Deleting Reconciliations or Profiles Now Performed As a Batch Job
Since deleting either profiles or reconciliations might take some time, Account Reconciliation now kicks off a batch job that lets you know the ongoing progress of the job and allows you to continue working while the deletion takes place. In addition, more informative warning messages are now included to prevent accidental deletion of profiles in Reconciliation Compliance that adversely affects Transaction Matching.
Business Benefit: This feature allows you to continue working while a deletion batch job for reconciliations or profiles works in the background. In addition the new warning messages helps you prevent accidental deletions.
Key Resources
- Deleting Profiles in Setting Up and Configuring Account Reconciliation
There are no new features in this update except for the applicable features listed in the EPM Cloud Common section.
Financial Consolidation and Close
Enhancement for Configurable Consolidation Rules
A new configuration task can help increase performance after deploying Configurable Consolidation rules. When you run the “Create System Accounts” configuration task, the system creates two temporary system Account members (FCCS_ConsolAccount1 and FCCS_ConsolAccount2) under FCCS_System Account that are used internally as part of the consolidation process. When you run this configuration task and enable the “OptimizeConfigConsol” substitution variable, you can optimize the performance of your rules.
Business Benefit: Running the configuration task to create new system Account members can resolve performance issues after deploying configurable consolidation rules.
Key Resources
-
Creating System Accounts to Optimize Configurable Consolidation Rules in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud
Preserving Journal User Information
A new configuration task called “Preserve Journal User Names” enables you to maintain journal user information in the application regardless of whether the user has changed roles or is no longer with the company. This includes information such as who created, submitted, approved, or posted the journal. You can view the journal user information in Journal Reports and Journal History.
Business Benefit: This enhancement prevents the loss of journal information when roles are removed from users.
Key Resources
-
Preserving Journal User Information in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud
Support for Additional Essbase Functions in Configurable Calculation Rules
You can now use the @MINS and @MAXS Essbase functions in Calculation Manager when you create configurable calculation rules.
Business Benefit: This feature provides the flexibility to use additional Essbase mathematical formulas in configurable calculation rules.
Key Resources
-
Supported Essbase Functions in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud
Year-to-Date Translation of Opening Balance Adjustment
The Year-to-Date translation of Opening Balance Adjustment previously used the prior period effective rate. This behavior has been changed.
- The system will use the effective rate from the last period of the last year and skip the translation if there is no Entity Currency value in Periodic for the Opening Balance Adjustment for the current period.
- For the first year in the application and the first period in each year, the translation process will use the periodic translation method.
Business Benefit: The Closing Balance will be the same when comparing the consolidation result using YTD/Periodic and YTD/YTD Translation/FX method.
Key Resources
-
Built-in Calculations in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud
Updated Narrative Reporting Extension for Smart View
The Narrative Reporting 21.09 extension for Oracle Smart View for Office is available to download and install. This update includes the new Recall Doclet and Suppress Doclet features, along with general improvements and bug fixes.
Business Benefit: Downloading and installing the latest Narrative Reporting extension for Smart View gives you access to the new Recall Doclet and Suppress Doclet features, along with the latest improvements and bug fixes.
Key Resources
- Working with Oracle Smart View for Office:
REST API to Export and Import an Artifact from the Library
When importing and exporting an artifact from the library, you can specify an optional location parameter. This option allows you to identify the file in the specified location, or it will search for the artifact in the Library, or LCM Download, or in the content repository location.
Business Benefit: REST API has been enhanced and is more consistent with the other EPM Automate operations.
Key Resources
Suppress Doclets in a Report Package
At times, a particular note or disclosure within your Report Package may not be required for the current reporting period. Now, you can choose to suppress a doclet's contents within the Report Package. The suppressed doclet’s contents will not be included within the Report Package’s output. This feature enables you to keep the doclet definition and structure for future executions of the Report Package when its contents may be required.
To enable the Suppress Doclet Option
NOTE: To use this feature in Smart View, download the latest Narrative Reporting extension.
Business Benefit: The Suppress Doclet option allows greater flexibility in managing Report Package contents.
Steps to Enable
To suppress a doclet from a Report Package:
- In Narrative Reporting web, select a doclet and select the drop-down menu next to the doclet name, and click Edit Doclet Properties, and then select the Suppress Doclet check box.
NOTE: The Suppress Doclet option is applicable for regular doclets only. It's not supported for reference doclets and supplemental doclets.
To view the Suppress Doclet status:
- In Narrative Reporting web, select a doclet and select the drop-down menu next to the doclet name, and click Inspect. From the Properties dialog, you can view the Suppress Doclet status.
- In Smart View, click Inspect on the Narrative Reporting ribbon to access the Properties dialog for the current doclet to view the Suppress Doclet status.
Suppress Doclet Status
Key Resources
- Creating and Managing Report Packages for Narrative Reporting:
- Working with Oracle Smart View for Office:
Recall Doclets in a Report Package
Authors and Approvers now have a new workflow action to “Recall Doclet” that restarts the doclet workflow allowing them to modify the doclet contents as needed. Previously, once an Author submitted or Approver approved a doclet, they could no longer update the doclet’s contents if additional modifications were needed. It required the Report Package Owner to either reject or restart the doclet workflow.
Recalling a doclet restarts the authoring process for only the selected doclet, and authors may continue their modifications. Authors can submit the updated doclet for approval if an approval phase is needed.
NOTE: To use this feature in Smart View, download the latest Narrative Reporting extension.
Business Benefit: With the new workflow action Recall Doclet, both Authors and Approvers now have greater autonomy in the development of their report contents.
Steps to Enable
During the Author phase of the report package definition, the Report Package Owner (RPO) must enable the Allow Authors to recall doclets settings. After Authors have submitted or Approvers have approved a doclet, the Recall Doclet workflow is available to both Authors and Approvers.
To Set the "Allow Authors to recall doclets” Option
In the authoring phase, both Authors and Approvers can perform Recall Doclet:
- In Narrative Reporting web, the Recall Doclet workflow is available on the Act On Content context menu.
- In Smart View, users open a submitted doclet and click the Recall button on the Narrative Reporting ribbon.
Key Resources
- Creating and Managing Report Packages for Narrative Reporting:
- Authoring and Approving Doclets for Narrative Reporting:
- Working with Oracle Smart View for Office:
A new video tutorial is available for Planning.
Mapping Data into Business Cases for Parent Models
Learn how to move data using data maps from Planning to a Strategic Consolidation Model, and between models within a Strategic Consolidation Model.
Business Benefit: Videos provide 3-5 minute overviews and step-by step instructions to perform tasks and achieve an outcome.
There are a number of new tutorials available for Planning modules.
Adding Financial and Non-Financial Project Benefits
This tutorial shows you how to identify and enter financial and non-financial project benefits.
This 45-minute tutorial shows you how to modify out-of-the-box templates in order to disable Salary Defaults. You first create a new Salary Option Smart List, and then modify Groovy Templates used in Workforce--Add Requisition, Change Requisition, and Change Existing Details--to use the salary options specified in the smart list: Salary Grade, and Salary Basis & Rate.
This 60-minute tutorial shows you how to configure and enable features in Capital.
This 90-minute tutorial shows you how to configure and enable features in Projects.
This 30-minute tutorial shows you how to add an indirect project and define assumptions for standard rates and work time.
Assigning Projects to Programs
This tutorial shows you how to assign programs to projects, and then analyze projects by program.
This tutorial shows you how to plan for project expenses using driver-based assumptions and direct input expenses.
Business Benefit: Tutorials provide instructions with sequenced videos and documentation to help you learn a topic.
New Member Selector Functions: Relative and Relative Range
New Relative and Relative Range functions have been added in the member selector.
Use the Relative function in the member selector to return a member relative to the specified member at the same generation with the specified offset. For example, Relative("Jan", 4) returns May, which is January plus 4 months in a standard monthly Period dimension; Relative("Jan", -2) returns Nov, which is January minus 2 months in a standard monthly Period dimension.
Use the Relative Range function in the member selector to return all of the members from the starting member to the offset member when going forward or from the offset member to the starting member when going backwards. For example, RelativeRange("Jan", 4) returns Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May; RelativeRange("Jan", -2) returns Nov, Dec, Jan.
Like the other member relationships, these functions work for any dimension, not just the Period dimension as mentioned in the previous examples. The new Relative and Relative Range functions are viewable when you press the fx icon to the right of the member in the member selector.
Business Benefit: New member selector functions help you to further refine which related members you can select in the member selector.
Key Resources
- Member Relationships in Administering Planning
Use Form Context in URL Type Action Menus
For Planning action menus, the URL type options are no longer relevant for Cloud and have been replaced with a new option called Use Form Context.
The Use Form Context option, when enabled, automatically replaces the bracketed dimension name in the URL (for example, <Entity> or <Account>) with the member name of the corresponding dimension from the form's page or POV. URL type action menus automatically launch a new tab.
For example, to return an Entity, Scenario, Version, and Account dimension's members in an URL, enter a URL and enable Use Form Context:
http://yourcompanyurl.com/EntDim=<Entity>&test['VERSION']=<Version>&Acc=<Account>
The URL will open in a new tab as:
http://yourcompanyurl.com/EntDim=<410>&test['VERSION']=<working>&Acc=<1110>
To return the current dimension's member name, enter the dimension name in brackets; for example, if you have a custom dimension called Employee, enter:
http://yourcompanyurl.com/companyEmpllDim=<Employee>
If the Use Form Context option is disabled for URL type action menus, then the URL will be launched in a new tab as is without the context replacements; for example:
http://yourcompanyurl.com/EntDim=<Entity>&test['VERSION']=<Version>&Acc=<Account>
The new Use Form Context option replaces the previous URL type action menu options: Use single sign on, Include context in URL, and Launch in a separate window.
To view the Use Form Context option to enable or disable it, from the Home page, click Navigator, and then under Create and Manage, click Action Menus. Select a menu and then click Edit Menu. Select the menu item, click Edit Menu Item, and then for Type, select URL.
Business Benefit: We've eliminated action menu URL type options that are no longer relevant for Cloud and replaced them with a new option called Use Form Context.
Key Resources
- Defining Action Menu Items in Administering Planning
Installing Strategic Modeling Extension for Smart View Without Administrator Privileges
Administrator privileges are no longer required to install Strategic Modeling Extension for Smart View.
Business Benefit: Less stringent security makes product installation easier.
Tips And Considerations
Strategic Modeling requires the "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, 2017, and 2019" package. If the package is not already available on your computer, download it from Microsoft and install it. You need administrator privileges to install. If you are on a 64-bit version of Windows (most common), install the “x64” package; on a 32-bit version of Windows, install the “x86” package. This package will not need to be updated with future monthly updates of Strategic Modeling unless a new major version is released, which does not happen frequently.
Key Resources
- Installing Smart View and Strategic Modeling Extension for Smart View in Working with Strategic Modeling in Smart View
Profitability and Cost Management
There are no new features in this update except for the applicable features listed in the EPM Cloud Common section.
New EPM Digital Assistant for Tax Reporting
The new EPM Digital Assistant is available to help you perform your daily Tax Reporting tasks. This assistant is a chatbot that you can ask questions or give commands within each business process. For instance you can instruct the assistant to retrieve information or data and perform actions at your request. The EPM Digital Assistant is based on Oracle Digital Assistant.
Business Benefit: The assistant reduces manual tasks and makes it easier to view and update tasks through commands.
Key Resources
- Implementing the EPM Digital Assistant (Administrators) in Getting Started with the Digital Assistant for Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
- Getting Started with Using EPM Digital Assistant in Getting Started with the Digital Assistant for Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
- Specifying Application Settings in Administering Tax Reporting
Configurable Deferred Movement
You now have the ability to add new columns for deferred movement members. You can create deferred movement members under P&L and Balance Sheet Total members.
The following forms are modified to include newly added deferred movement members.
- Temporary Difference (national and regional)
- Deferred Tax (national and regional)
- Deferred Tax Post DTNR
- Deferred tax for TAR (national and regional)
- TAR (national and regional)
- TAR Automation
- Statutory ETR (national and regional)
- Consolidated ETR
- Consolidated ETR IFRS
- Consolidated ETR IFRS By Entity
Business Benefit: The new capability enables you to have more balance sheet column to segregate acquisitions, divestments, transfers, and assets held for sale.
Key Resources
-
Working with Configurable Deferred Movement in Working with Tax Reporting
IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations
EPM CLOUD COMMON
One-Week Lag Between Readiness Documents Live and Help Center Live
Because Oracle readiness documents (What's New and New Feature Summary) are live one week before the monthly update is applied to Test environments, some links to documentation included in the readiness documents will not work until after the Oracle Help Center update is complete when the monthly update is applied to Test environments.
Setting Dashboard or Infolet as Default Page
Starting with the November 2021 update (21.11), in the interest of better and consistent user interaction, you will no longer be able to set a dashboard or infolet as the default page within the listing page. When these settings are enabled, the default dashboard or infolet opens in place of the listing page.
Only Secured URLs in Logo and Background Images
Starting with the November 2021 update (21.11), only secured URLs will be supported within the Logo Image and Background Image settings in the Appearance page in EPM Cloud.
Use the Export URLs Feature to Replace Direct URLs
In the 21.03 update, Oracle released a feature called Export URLs that exports EPM Cloud URLs to a CSV file which then provides the unique URLs for each card, tab, or sub-tab within a connected EPM Cloud business process. The Export URLs feature should be used in place of any direct URL pointers that customers might be using to link to EPM forms, dashboards, or infolets. The direct URL feature to forms, dashboards, or infolets will no longer be supported starting with the 21.11 update. See Using Direct URLs to Integrate Connected Environments in Administering Planning.
Restrictions to Copy Version Functionality
Based on feedback from several customers due to its inherent data corruption risks, we plan to restrict the ‘Copy Version’ functionality in Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting to be exposed only to administrators. Starting in November 2021, ‘Copy Version’ functionality will not be available to Power Users and Users.
Support for Composite Forms in EPM Cloud
As of the May update (21.05), Oracle EPM Cloud no longer officially supports composite forms. As has been announced for several months, customers are required to use EPM Cloud dashboards instead. Customers can continue to use their composite forms without support.
Upcoming Security Changes for Predefined Reports
In a future update, Power User security will be enforced on:
- All predefined Reconciliation Manager and Transaction Matching reports in Account Reconciliation
- All predefined Task Manager reports in Financial Consolidation and Close and Tax Reporting
Loaner Program for Cloud Infrastructure Generation 2 Testing
Oracle EPM Cloud is now live on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Gen 2 environments. If you are interested in testing your application performance on an OCI environment, open a service request following the process at https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/enterprise-performance-management-common/tsepm/op_procs_loaner_envs.html and request for a loaner environment in an OCI data center for a duration of 30 days with the business justification as “Want to test application performance in an OCI Gen 2 data center”.
After you have performed the testing, submit Provide Feedback from the loaner environment. Create a service request using the normal support process, if you have any issues or feedback for the OCI environment. In addition, Oracle has instituted a program to assist a limited number of early adopters on Oracle Cloud Classic to migrate to OCI.
For more information, see What is a Gen 2 Cloud?
SMART VIEW
Smart View Add-on Installation for Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager
In a future update, the installation of Smart View add-ons for Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager will change. At that time, users of the Smart View add-ons will need to uninstall and re-install their add-ons to take advantage of the latest features and fixes.
PLANNING MODULES
Strategic Modeling Terminology Change
In a future update, the Consolidation feature in Strategic Modeling will be renamed Scenario Rollup.
Removal of Strategic Workforce Planning from EPM Cloud Workforce Planning
In a future update, the Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) enablement option will be removed for all EPM Cloud Planning Modules (Standard and Enterprise) and Enterprise Planning applications that have not already enabled this feature in the Workforce Module. Customers who have already enabled this feature will see no change in their existing applications with this feature already enabled. No new applications will support this feature after this change.
Strategic Workforce Planning functionality is provided in the Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud Service (SWPCS) product, which contains robust SWP functionality that is not available in the existing EPM Cloud Planning Workforce module feature. SWPCS is an Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) product built on EPM technology. For more information about SWPCS, please refer to the Strategic Workforce Planning information on www.oracle.com.
If you have any concerns about this change, please contact Oracle Support.
FINANCIAL CONSOLIDATION AND CLOSE
Additional Permissions for Consolidation Journal Actions
In a future update, the user access requirements for Consolidation Journal Actions will be enforced as follows:
- To be able to perform Submit, Post and Unpost actions, a user must have write access to the DataSource member, in addition to the other members used in Journals.
- To be able to perform Approve and Reject actions, a user must have read or write access on Data source dimension members used in Journals, in addition to all dimension members used in Journals.
NARRATIVE REPORTING
Removal of EPMCTRL Transfer Utility
In a future update, the EPMCTRL Transfer Utility will be removed. Customers should use EPM Automate, which includes all the commands currently available in the EPMCTRL Transfer Utility, going forward. For more information, see Backing Up and Restoring an Environment in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators.
ACCOUNT RECONCILIATION
Added Flexibility for Security Assignments
In a future update, more flexible granular security assignments across all roles will be available. For example, if you want to assign certain tasks like creating reports, you will be able to assign that ability to them. As part of this project Power User access to Data Loads will be updated so that the Service Administrator will have to assign this ability to the Power User rather than the Power User receiving it by default.
ENTERPRISE DATA MANAGEMENT
Null Values in Expressions – Change in Behavior
Starting in 21.07, null values are handled differently for certain expression methods. The following changes were made:
- Methods on literal null strings are evaluated using a null value instead of a blank string.
- StartsWith(null) and EndsWith(null) will return False instead of True.
- Substring on a null string will return a null value instead of a blank string.
- When comparing strings using LessThan or GreaterThan, nulls are considered the minimum possible value.
- When null values are used in predicates for NodeList and StringList methods such as Any, Count, and Find, those methods will return False instead of True.
These changes may affect the results of existing expressions for derived properties, property transformations, custom validations, subscription filters, policy filters, and extract filters. Verify whether this change in behavior has any impact in your environment.
PROFITABILITY AND COST MANAGEMENT
Automatic Purging of Old Jobs and Statistics
Starting with next month's update, old job records will be purged automatically during each service restart (AMW). The most recent 10,000 jobs will be preserved. Jobs older than the most recent 10,000 will be purged, along with their related job log messages and statistics.
If you have a requirement to keep a record of all jobs, you can archive them from the Job Library by downloading them to an Excel spreadsheet. You may also run and save Execution Statistics reports to preserve them if you need permanent access to them. You will not be able to run them for jobs that have been purged.