11.1.2.4.002 Essbase Shutdown Alert: Change your Scripts!
The new Essbase patch 11.1.2.4.002 changes how Essbase shuts down! 
Historically, when you issue a the alter system shutdown or alter system unload application MAXL command, Essbase will refuse to shutdown if there are active transactions happening. Killing an active data load or calculation can sometimes cause serious issues. While this was frustrating for system administrators that needed Essbase to quit for things like nightly backups, it was a necessary protection in Essbase to protect from possible data corruption.
In the latest patch, Oracle has changed the unload/shutdown commands to automatically and immediately kill active transactions in the system and shutdown the server.
This can be good or bad. On one hand, you can get the Essbase server to quit, but on the other, you can still suffer some issues if you kill an active data manipulating transaction.
To get to the way it always has been, you now must add a “no_force” parameter to the unload statement. This will prevent the application from stopping if there are active transaction. So if this is your desire, you will want to update your shutdown scripts after applying this patch!
I’m not sure why Oracle did not just leave the same default functionality to the commands and simply add a “force” option if you wanted to force the server down, as opposed to the other way around.
Before applying this patch, be sure to evaluate which behavior you want and be sure to update any script accordingly.
The I.T. Side 