Oracle EPM 11.1.2.4 - Installation and Configuration

After download and unzip the EPM related installation files into one folder, right click "installTool.cmd" and then Run as administrator.


Select a language as below,


After passed all the prerequisite checks, click Next


Change the location where you want to install


If it is the first installation, select New installation and then Next


Select the components you want to install, remember to select Oracle HTTP Server






Confirm the components you want to install, click Next


After the installation was successful, click Configure to do the configuration.


I used the default home directory and instance name for the configuration


Select Perform first-time configuration of Shared Services database. Because I used MS SQL Server as the relation database, I selected Oracle's MS SQL Server Driver (Type 4) and input the server and database information as below.


From version 11.1.2.3, you can configure all the components at the same time even you want to specify different databases for different products. Just keep all the selected components for the configuration.


Keep the following settings and then Next


Specify DB name, username and password for different products, and then Next




Input the password for WebLogic user
















HFM configuration page, no DCOM user any more


Click "Add" to add new cluster for HFM


Input the HFM Cluster name and click OK


Select the available server and then click < Add to add the server to the new added cluster


Input the admin password for the administrator of Hyperion


Confirm all the configuration and then click Next


After a while, the configuration was completed


You can find the Hyperion services in the Windows Services Panel


According to the certification matrix, IE 8 is no longer supported by 11.1.2.4. Now it supports Internet Explorer 9.x, Internet Explorer 10.x, Internet Explorer 11.x and Firefox 31.x ESR.


After login, you can find the home page is very similar with the previous version


You can find the workspace version is 11.1.2.4.0.79


For more new features exploration, I will do that in the coming blogs. But Chinese New Year is coming soon, happy new year to all.

Oracle EPM 11.1.2.4 New Feature

Oracle EPM 11.1.2.4 released this month, following are some new features in this version.

Hyperion Planning

• Enhanced Performance in Simple Forms: new shortcut keys Tab and Shift+Tab, and new actions such as Undo (Ctrl+Z) and Wrap Text.
• Control the Look and Feel of the Interface: Can add your company logo to the Home page, or create a watermark background by including a URL to an image file.
• Manage the Application with the Console
• Get a visual overview of the application.
• View a graphic of the number of dimensions by plan type. (You can add plan types.)
• See the total number of tasks, plans, rules, and approval hierarchies in the application.
• Refresh the application.
• Set a schedule for backing up the application, including setting the time zone.
• Schedule Recurring Jobs: Schedule and manage jobs such as importing and exporting data or metadata, launching a business rule, and refreshing the database. You can start the job immediately or schedule it to run at intervals.
• Enhanced Planning Capabilities:
• Easily create dashboards in Planning to provide a quick, visual view of key data. Just drag forms, charts, and external links to a dashboard.
• Analyze data in robust ad hoc grids by zooming in and out on members, and pivoting dimensions. Change which members to work with.
• 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.
• Automatic Save: Administrators can set up a simple form so that planners' data is automatically saved when they move out of a cell, and values are aggregated immediately. The affected cells are displayed in green. To enable automatic save, the administrator selects the new Grid Properties option Enable Autosave. With that option selected, administrators can also select Run Form Rules on Autosave, which updates dynamically calculated cells that depend on the changed cell values.
• Support for Dynamic Dimension Members: Users can now add children whenever they want and name them whatever they want. If a parent member is enabled for adding dynamic children, users can create a new member by entering its name in the runtime prompt.

HFM

• New Architecture: Oracle Hyperion Financial Management is now platform-independent, and is supported on Windows and Linux (Note that HFM Linux is only supported on Exalytics). This release includes simplified deployment, support for multiple databases per instance, and streamlined integrations.
• Profile Editor on the Web: You now create and edit application profiles on the Web.
• Multiple Selection of Load Files: Load screens have been enhanced to enable you to select multiple files to load simultaneously. The new multi-selection option is available in Load Data, Load Documents, Load Journals, and Load Intercompany Transactions.
• Reordering Tabs: You can reorder tabs in Financial Management applications. You can drag and drop to reorder tabs, or you can use the Reorder Tabs dialog box to change the order.
• Configuration Settings: Configuration settings are now available through the Financial Management UI. The available settings are displayed with their default values, ranges, and validation criteria. If you are an administrator, you can also override the default setting for certain configuration settings.
• Metadata Merge Utility: If you are upgrading to a new release from an existing release, you can use the Metadata Merge utility to merge your existing metadata files with the files in the latest version. This enables you to retain modifications that you made in your existing metadata file. The utility is located in the Utilities folder.

FDMEE

• FDM Classic is no longer available
• Target Application Enhancements
• Oracle Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management (HPCM)
• Tax Provision Application of Oracle Hyperion Financial Management
• Target Load Options: 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.
• Data Synchronization: In this release, a robust data synchronization feature has been added to FDMEE so that you can easily move data between the EPM applications irrespective of the dimensionality of the application without having to create a data file from the EPM source application. You specify the source and target EPM application, and then map the data. Given the powerful mapping features already available, the data can be easily transformed from one application to another application. For example, synchronizing data enables you to move data from Financial Management to Oracle Essbase for reporting.
• Write-Back: FDMEE has been enhanced to support write-back from all EPM applications (except the Accounts Reconciliation Manger) to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications. This feature offers significant advantages, such as writing back budgets created in Planning to Peoplesoft or E-Business Suite ERP GL, or moving adjustment journals from Oracle Hyperion Financial Management to ERP Systems like Oracle E-Business Suite or Peoplesoft. Other target systems still need to use a custom application framework.
• POV Locking: 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. When a location has been locked for a particular period or category, users cannot import, validate, export, or rerun the validation report.
• Import Format Builder: 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. This feature is available for both fixed and delimited files.

Smart View

• Enhanced Submit Data Functionality
• Submit Data Without Refresh - Submit modified cells, also called dirty cells, from Oracle Essbase, Oracle Hyperion Planning Ad Hoc, and Oracle Hyperion Financial Management Ad Hoc without first refreshing.
• Submit Data Range - Select and then submit contiguous and non-contiguous single cells and cell ranges from Essbase, Planning Ad Hoc, and Financial Management Ad Hoc. Only cell data from the selected cells is submitted. If there are dirty cells on the sheet outside the range of selected cells, their changed value is not submitted.
• POV and Pivot Enhancements
• Multiple members can now be pivoted from the grid to the POV toolbar.
• Multiple members can now be pivoted from the POV toolbar to the grid.
• A single dimension can now remain on the POV toolbar.

Generally speaking, I can't see many of big changes in this version. For more information, please find the link below. http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E57185_01/index.htm


And you can also use the web-based CFO (Cumulative Feature Overview) tool to check the details of the new and enhanced features and functionality available between EPM product releases. https://apexapps.oracle.com/pls/apex/f?p=20620:1:0