The I.T. Side

Planning

• Enhanced performance in Simple forms due to the latest client-side scripting methods. Putting most of the work on the client instead of the server reduces server requests and increases response times by 33%
• Control the look and feel of the home page – for example add your company logo or a watermark
• Manage the application with the console icon
  • Visual overview
  • View and add dimensions by plan types
  • Refresh an application
  • Set a schedule for backing up an application
• New job scheduler give ability to launch or schedule automated functions like import/export data or metadata, business rules, refreshing.
• Manage Dimensions
  • Create, renames, view details
  • Set the order of dimensions to determine how calculations are performed.
  • Set the evaluation order to specify which data type prevails when an intersection has conflicting data types.
• Easy Import and Export tab or comma delimited
  • After creating an import file for each artifact, you can import dimensions, Smart Lists, and exchange rates. You can import from a file or Planning Inbox.
  • After importing metadata, you can populate your application with data by importing it from a file. The file can be on your computer, on an FTP site, or the Planning Outbox.
  • Export metadata locally to your computer, to an FTP site, or to a Planning Outbox.
• Create Dashboards for a quick visual view of key data – drag and drop
• Format and save ad-hoc grids as reports for viewing in Planning or in Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting.
• Format forms to emphasize certain data. For example, set the font size and color. Bold, italicize, or underline data. Set the background color. You can save or clear the formatting.
• Visualize tasks by status or by type.
• View planning unit status in a graphic.
• Undo Feature – but must set up the form to support it.
• Instant save and automatic save (save when exiting a cell) – must set up form to allow this.
• Navigation, data entry, and formatting key combinations shortcuts
• Add new members on the fly – must enable parents to allow dynamic children.

Public Sector Planning

• PeopleSoft Commitment Control decision package users can reuse existing revision members and track revision data in PeopleSoft by unique transaction ID.
• Planners can transfer employees and positions across decision packages and reverse transfers made in error. Planners need not share a budget request to transfer employees and positions.
• You can generate custom decision package reports using templates. Administrators create templates by downloading and modifying the provided reports, and then uploading them and associating them with particular reports. This action enables planners to report on a variety of decision package data using a more personalized layout.
• You can organize and present decision package data in reports using up to three attributes.
• You can report on three years of decision package data.
• You can report on decision package totals for up to three versions and scenarios, enabling you to evaluate total values and perform variance reporting by specific budgeting scenarios or stages.
• You can report on additional decision package and compensation budget data in Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting and Oracle Smart View for Office using the new Decision Package aggregate storage plan type (DP ASO). This plan type provides robust reporting capabilities.

Project Financial Planning

• Integration with Oracle Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Oracle Fusion Project Portfolio Management
• In Release 11.1.2.4, Oracle Project Financial Planning integrates with Oracle Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (P6 EPPM). This integration enables you to import projects from P6 EPPM into Project Financial Planning and then export the approved project status from Project Financial Planning back into P6 EPPM. You can also import the projects and resource assignment details from Project Financial Planning into P6 EPPM.
• Ability to enable features when creating an application
• When you create an application in Release 11.1.2.4, you can select the features that will be displayed in Oracle Project Financial Planning, based on your project requirements.
• Support for the Vendor dimension
• Release 11.1.2.4 includes support for the Vendor dimension. The Vendor dimension is required when you have different labor, equipment, or standard resource rates from different vendors, and if you want to see expense reports based on vendors.

Predictive Planning

• The Predictive Planning feature of Planning can now be used with Oracle Hyperion Planning ad hoc grids, reports, Oracle Smart View for Office Smart Queries, and saved ad hoc grids.
• You can now use Quick Predict, an ease-of-use feature that enables you to run and paste predictions with a few mouse clicks or keystrokes.
• Prediction chart enhancements enable you to directly manipulate predicted data series. You can now adjust predictions without retyping predicted values.
• The following new forecasting techniques improve forecast accuracy, particularly at long lead times: Damped Trend Smoothing Nonseasonal, Damped Trend Additive Seasonal, and Damped Trend Multiplicative Seasonal. Each technique includes standard, simple lead, weighted lead, and holdout methods.

Essbase

• You now have the ability to set the degree of parallelism rather than having essbase dynamically create threads using CALCPARALLEL or FIXPARALLEL… including data load, export, and restructuring.
• Make basic changes to database outlines using an XML file without the need to use a rules files or invoke the Outline API.
• Enhancements to Hybrid – Time-balance members and Dynamic Time Series members can be cacluate in hybrid aggregation mode
• Optimizations for Exalytics
• New Calculation functions
• New Configuration Settings
  • WORKERTHREADS—See Thread Pool for Parallel Operations.
  • CRASHDUMPLOCATION—Sets the location where Essbase saves a core dump file when an abnormal termination occurs.
  • CONNECTIONTIMEOUT—Specifies the maximum time that Essbase should wait for a SQL connection before timing out.
  • QUERYTIMEOUT—Specifies the maximum time that Oracle Essbase should wait for a SQL query to execute before timing out.

Financial Management

• New Architecture
  • Now supported on Exalytics (HFM linux is only suppoted on Exalytics)
• Create and edit application profiles and configuration settings on the web
• Select multiple Load Data, Load Documents, Load Journals, and Load Intercompany Transactions up to 10 at a time
• Reorder tabs in applications
• Launch OFMA from HFM

EPM Mobile application (Apple, Android)

• Manage Governace Requests With Data Relationship Governance
• Perform Period-End Activities in Close Manager, a Financial Close Management Module
• Search for Financial Management Entities
• configure the Session Timeout

Financial Data Quality Management, Enterprise Edition

• Support for Profitability and Cost Management (HPCM) and Tax Provisioning
• In Data Load Rules, you can now specify target application options specific to a location. For example, you can select different data protection values for each location.
• FDMEE has been enhanced to support write-back from all EPM applications (except the Accounts Reconciliation Manger) to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications.
• New POV lock options are available in this release that enable you to lock the POV for all locations or to lock the POV for an individual location. Locking the POV prevents locations from modifying the data.
• A new Import Format Builder feature has been added in this release to Import Formats. When the source system is a file-based data load, use the Import Format Builder feature to map source fields graphically to target dimension members instead of typing the starting position and the field length.
• In the Data Load Workbench, you now have the option to view mapping errors and fix them instantly
• Integration with Financial Close Manager… FCM can trigger FDMEE

Calculation Manager

• Support for Parallel Processing in Member Range Components
• Running Essbase Calculation Scripts with Runtime Prompts in Essbase
• Importing Essbase Calculation Scripts including those htat have runtime prompts
• New Custom Defined Functions… se a MaxL script file that can be accessed from the Essbase calculation engine or embed the MaxL script into the calc script itself
• Several script editor enhansements
• search for, and replace, text within the Variable Designer.
• Calculation Manager has a view called Filter View/List View in which you can define the filter criteria and display (in a list) only the objects matching the given filter criteria.
• analyze any business rule, not just graphical rules.
• Create a cell text range component that is a type of loop comprised of a range of cell text from Financial Management applications
• customize the columns that display and the order in which they display.
• compare the script of a saved rule to the changed version of the rule.
• create, edit, delete and display a list of location aliases for a block storage database and application.
• Compact a database outline by removing the records of deleted members, reducing the outline file size to improve performance.
• You can merge all incremental data slices of an aggregate storage database into the main database slice, or merge all incremental data slices into a single data slice while leaving the main database slice unchanged.
• calculate aggregations for aggregate storage databases that contain data and for which you have Calculation permission.
• You can set any aggregate storage dimension as the compression dimension if it is a dynamic dimension, with a single dynamic hierarchy, and no attributes
• Manage sessions to display, end log-off user sessions and requests for aggregate storage applications.

Data Relationship Management

• Better Architecture resulting in higher concurrency of read operations and lower data transfers for better performance
• A workflow model can be configured to conditionally alter the workflow path for individual requests.
• Segregation of duties in workflow
• Request files, attachments, and details for transactions in workflow
• Improved Handling of Request Exceptions
• Workflow Request Page Improvement
• Import and Export enhancements with Planning
• Accessibility enhancements for people with disabilities

Smart View

Note: … the version recommended is version 11.1.2.5.400.  a bit weird…

• Submit data without refresh and submit data range
• POV and Pivot enhancements
• customize the extension update process so that Smart View end users can control when they install, update and remove extensions
• New Diagnostics tool allows users to create and collect log files and screenshots to send to Oracle Support.
• An Essbase administrator can require that users specify a user name and a password when logging on to the data source to access drill-through reports.
• OBIEE filter and prompt enhancements

Financial Close Management

• New Module: Supplemental Data Manager, the new Oracle Hyperion Financial Close Management module, helps you collect, organize, update, edit, and manage supplemental data, typically transactions, for financial analytical applications such as consolidation.
• User interfaces enhancements – tabs are converted to tabbed objects in FCM and ARM, and users can have multiple instances of each open at the same time
• Regionalization enhancements… reconciliations and task scheduling to take into account regional differences in close schedules and holiday dates
• Report Writer can report on reconciliation and task information in a variety of output formats: Excel, RTF, PDF, HTML
• Email notification s in Close Manager through close process
• Close Manager mobile application
• the 2,000 task per schedule is removed, improved validation on setup mistakes due to configuration mistakes, and improved memory utilization.
• Team and Group Assignments
• Power task actions enable multi-selection of tasks and performance of the Submit, Approve, and Reject actions
• display multiple schedules in list views and portlets. And business day labels
• Close Manager includes the Account Reconciliation Manager 11.1.2.3.500 features: multi-line text with attachment attribute, enhanced attribute security, Approver questions.
• Close Manager has new integrations for EBS Journal Entry Monitoring and sub ledger open/close events

Profitability and Cost Management

• New Management Ledger Application Type – A new application type, Management Ledger, offers management reporting and modeling with data structured similarly to Oracle General Ledger and Oracle Hyperion Financial Management implementations.
• System reports are now available for all application types
• use SQL scripts to set up model data for Detailed Profitability sample model BksDP30 in Microsoft SQL Server.
• Process Automation Support with REST APIs

Essbase Studio

• Clearing Deployment History from Essbase Studio Console
• Alternate Data Sources for Drill-through Reports
• Requiring a User Name and Password to Perform Drill-through

~ by Eric Helmer on January 29, 2015.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: 11.1.2.4, BIFS, EPM, OBIEE, Oracle, upgrade