May 2020 Update

Revision History

This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:

Date	Feature	Notes
23 APR 2020		Created initial document.

Overview

This document outlines the upcoming Enterprise Data Management Cloud update.

Feature Summary

Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Monthly Update Schedule

Test Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, May 1, 2020.

Production Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, May 15, 2020.

The Oracle Help Center provides access to updated documentation. The updates will be available in the Help Center on Friday, May 1, 2020. 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.

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.

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 Us on Social Media

For the latest updates and information about EPM Cloud, follow us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn at Hyperion EPM Info.

Defects Fixed and Considerations

Software issues addressed each month and considerations will be posted to My Oracle Support.

Features

Collaborate with Users on Requests in Submit Stage

To facilitate multiple users participating on a request, the request assignee can ask additional users to collaborate on Draft and Pushed Back requests in the Submit stage. Collaborators can be added or removed from a request. Collaborators are notified of requests in which they were asked to collaborate.

Users can access collaboration requests from the Activity list on the Home page and request activity. The Collaborated item in the My Activity filter can be used to find requests in which the user is a collaborator.

Collaborators can add, edit, and delete request items in the request as well as add comments and attachments to the request. Request actions performed by collaborators are restricted to viewpoints which the collaborator and the assignee both have Submit access to. After collaborators have participated, the assignee can submit the request to be approved and committed.

A new Workflow tab in the request inspector includes both collaborator and approval details. This tab replaces the former Approvals tab. The History tab also includes actions performed by collaborators.

Key Resources

• Collaborating on a Request in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Concurrent Editing of Requests

When multiple users are collaborating on the same request, those users may be working on the request at the same time. Concurrent editing allows users to work simultaneously on the request while ensuring data integrity and alerting users of changes made by others.

Concurrent edits include changes made to request items, comments, and attachments. Concurrent updates are applied to the request in the order in which they happened and are recorded in request history. If there’s a conflicting change being made, the user is notified, and the change will not be applied.

Users who have the request open are alerted of concurrent updates made by other users and can refresh the request to view those modifications. Changes to viewpoints, request items, comments, and attachments are visually indicated.

Key Resources

• Concurrent Editing of a Request in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Configure Binding Keys for Import and Export

Customers using the Custom application type need more options for how data is imported and exported including the inclusion and exclusion of certain fields, outputting constant values, and the order of columns.

Binding keys identify the fields of data associated with a particular dimension binding. Binding keys are configurable to allow for customization of how data is imported into and exported from bound viewpoints. Binding keys are displayed and edited in the Binding Inspector.

The Direction can be set for each binding key to control whether it’s imported and/or exported. Binding keys can be reordered to enable data fields to be imported or exported in a specific order. Constant binding keys can be added to dimension bindings of Custom application to output constant values in export columns.

Some binding key configurations are only available for certain application types.

Key Resources

• Editing Binding Keys in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Custom Branding, Appearance Options, and New Default Theme

Appearance options are available to customize the look and feel of the Enterprise Data Management Cloud user interface. Service administrators can upload their own logo image and background image as well as choose a theme. These custom settings are applied to the user interface for all users.

A new Sky Blue theme is used as the default theme for the new Enterprise Data Management environments. For upgraded environments, the Dark Blue theme remains the default theme.

Key Resources

• Customizing Your Users' Display in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Data Type Parameter Overrides for Name and Description Properties

Data type parameters for the core Name and Description properties can be edited at the application or node type level to override the original values set during application registration. This is helpful to customers who need to ensure that these data values conform to their business rules.

The following parameters can be modified in the property inspector for the Name and Description properties:

• Case
• Invalid Characters
• Min and Max Length

Changes to these parameters will affect system validations associated with the core Name and Description properties.

Key Resources

• Editing Property Parameters in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Default and Alternate Assignees for Subscriptions

Subscriptions can be configured with default and alternate assignees to allow subscription requests for target viewpoints to be assigned to multiple users. The default assignee is a single user who has subscription requests normally assigned to them. Alternate assignees are users or groups who can be assigned requests when there is no default assignee for a subscription, or the user is out of office.

Subscription requests are assigned to alternate assignees in the order that they are listed in the group, provided they are valid for assignment, with each subscription request getting assigned to a different user.

Key Resources

• Assigning Subscription Requests in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Inspect Property Definition from Property Pane

A property can be inspected directly from the property pane for a selected node in a viewpoint. A link is available in the Property Details popup window to inspect the property. This allows the property inspector to be easily accessed in order to verify and make changes to property parameters.

Key Resources

• Inspecting Properties in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Process Deletes and Reordering Options for Merge Import

Additional options are available for the Merge import mode, giving the user the ability to process deletes and reordering of nodes which may happen in an import source. These actions do not happen during a normal merge import process but are sometimes necessary for Enterprise Data Management to match the import source.

The Process Deletes option controls which nodes are deleted during a merge import. The Process Reordering option controls whether nodes are reordered under parents during a merge import.

Key Resources

• Managing Import Options in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Remove and Delete Trigger Actions for Custom Validations

Custom validations can be configured with Remove and Delete as trigger actions to enable the validations to run for request items which include those actions. This allows specific custom validations to run only for nodes which are removed or deleted from a viewpoint in a request. This is helpful when you want to prevent nodes from being removed or deleted, or to prevent invalid data resulting from a removed or deleted node.

Key Resources

• Working with Custom Validations in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Request Item Validations for Derived Properties

Derived property values are now validated for request items in a request to prevent invalid values resulting from changes made in a request. System, application-specific, and custom validations are run for derived properties of nodes in viewpoints where request actions were performed. Derived properties can be validated for any type of request including interactive, subscription, and import requests.

Derived properties are validated in the following situations:

• Validate all request items in a request
• Validate a selected request item
• Submit a request
• Approve a request

Key Resources

• Validating Requests in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Resizable Property Pane

The property pane for a selected node in a viewpoint can be resized using a drag and drop splitter located between the grid/tree and property pane for the viewpoint. This enables properties with long labels or values to be more easily viewed in the property pane.

The property pane can be adjusted to a different size for each viewpoint in a view. The resized state is retained until the view is closed.

Key Resources

• Working with Properties in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

User Mentions in Request Comments

Users can be mentioned in request and request item level comments providing a way for collaborators to ask questions or make other users aware of what they did to a request. When @ is entered into a comment, a list of request users is available to select from. After the comment is saved, mentioned users are notified of the comment so they can review it and take immediate action on the request.

Key Resources

• Working with Request Comments in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

User Preferences for Profile Image, Language, and Out of Office

Users can configure their own preferences for profile image, language, and out of office. The Profile Image is displayed for the user on pages where an avatar is used. The Language preference controls the language for labels and messages displayed in the user interface for the user. The Out of Office preference signifies the user is unavailable and requests should not be assigned to them. User preferences are accessible for a logged in user from the Settings and Action menu.

Key Resources

• Setting Your Preferences in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Validations Disabled for Predefined Members in EPM Cloud Dimensions

For Planning or Financial Consolidation and Close viewpoints, many application-specific validations have been disabled for nodes imported as predefined members (Enterprise Predefined Member = True).

When predefined members are exported from Planning or Financial Consolidation and Close applications, they do not include values for several properties because these values cannot be modified. When the predefined members with the missing values are imported into Enterprise Data Management, application-specific validations enabled for those properties would incorrectly identify them as issues to be resolved. Since the validations are no longer run for predefined members, these missing values no longer result in validation failures.

Only the following validations remain in effect for predefined members in applications of those types:

• Alias Uniqueness
• Predefined Member Edit
• Predefined Member Property

Key Resources

• Planning Validations in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud
• Financial Consolidation and Close Validations in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

New Topics in EPM Cloud Operations Guide

The EPM Cloud Operations Guide has been enhanced with additional topics.

New topics include:

• Best practices for designing business rules
• How to avoid functional errors in business rules
• Managing Content Upgrade Issues
• Handling Issues with Cross-Environment Connections
• Troubleshooting ERP Integration Functional issues
• Requesting Merge Back of Environments
• Requesting Oracle to Apply Monthly Update to Production Environments Prior to the Third Friday

Key Resources

• Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Operations Guide

New Role Assignment Report Format

The Role Assignment Report has been modified to include additional information such as the user login, first name, last name, email address, pre-defined and application roles of EPM Cloud users, and how these roles are granted. Previously, the Role Assignment Report listed user logins, roles, and how the roles were granted only.

The New Format of the Role Assignment Report

NOTE: Role Assignment Report is not available in Narrative Reporting environments.

Key Resources

• Generating the Role Assignment Report For Your Environment in Administering Access Control for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

EPM Automate Updates

A new version of EPM Automate is available. This version includes changes to the Role Assignment Report generated using the roleAssignmentReport command. It also includes a new optional parameter to the replay command to encrypt all passwords included in the replay file. The replay command works only with Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting business processes.

Key Resources

• Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
  • Installing the Utility
  • Command Reference

Pre-defined Role Names as EPM Keywords

Starting with this update, Oracle will treat pre-defined role names as EPM Cloud key words, which cannot be used in the name of any artifacts that you create; for example, as a group name in Access Control.

Pre-defined role names include the following:

• Service Administrator
• Power User
• User
• Viewer
• Planner
• System Administrator
• Application Administrator
• Library Administrator
• Reports Administrator

An error will be displayed if you attempt to use these key words to name artifacts.

If you have any existing artifacts that use these keywords, Oracle will rename them to ensure that there is no impact because of this change. For example, a group named Power User will automatically be renamed as Power User1.

Key Resources

• Modifying Groups in Administering Access Control for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Address for Outgoing Emails

Starting with this update, emails originating from EPM Cloud applications will use no.reply@oraclecloud.com instead of oraclecloudadmin_ww@oracle.com as the from address.

Emails from other Oracle Cloud sources, for example, New Account email sent from the Identity Domain, will continue to use the current From email addresses, for example, oraclecloudadmin_ww@oracle.com.

REST API to Manage Permission for Manual Access to Database

You can now use a REST API to manage permission for manual access to database by Oracle. This gives you the ability to allow or disallow Oracle personnel to manually access your database in emergency situations when an environment is unresponsive and you have not yet created a service request to investigate the issue.

Key Resources

• Migration REST APIs in REST API for Enterprise Performance Management

Role Information

• Service Administrator

Upcoming Changes

INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER SUPPORT

For Internet Explorer browser users, Microsoft recommends using the new Microsoft Edge as your default browser. With this guidance in mind, the 20.08 update will be the last release to support Internet Explorer. EPM Cloud will no longer support Internet Explorer starting with the 20.09 update. If you have any questions regarding de-support, please create a Service Request. For additional guidance on Internet Explorer Lifecycle, please reach out to Microsoft.

APIS BLACKLISTED FROM THE EPM CLOUD GROOVY RULES JAVA API REFERENCE

In an upcoming update in mid-2020, the following APIs are being blacklisted from the EPM Cloud Groovy Rules Java API Reference:

• TimeZone.setDefault(TimeZone zone)
• Locale.setDefault(Locale.Category category, Locale newLocale)
• Locale.setDefault(Locale newLocale)
• EPM Cloud Groovy Rules Java API Reference

EPM Cloud Groovy Rules Java API Reference

REMOVAL OF INSTANCE NAME FROM PREDEFINED ROLE NAMES

Currently, the predefined role names displayed in the Access Control screens of EPM Cloud environments prefix the instance name to the role name in INSTANCE_NAME ROLE_NAME format. They are also stored in this format in the snapshots, making it difficult to migrate snapshots from one instance to another.

To facilitate the migration of security across EPM Cloud environments, Oracle plans to rename predefined role names displayed within EPM Cloud applications by removing the instance name prefix. For example, if the instance name is Planning1, predefined role names are Planning1 Service Administrator, Planning1 Power User, Planning1 User, and Planning1 Viewer, the new role names will be Service Administrator, Power User, User, and Viewer.

NOTE: This change does not affect how the role names are displayed in the MyServices customer portal.

This change won't impact customers who currently use predefined roles for managing application-level provisioning and access to artifacts. Oracle will ensure that all application role assignments and artifact security assignments are automatically updated after the roles are renamed. This change makes it easy to migrate EPM Cloud artifacts across environments.

This change is being implemented to address customer feedback. If you have any concerns about this change, please contact Oracle Support.

EPM MOBILE APP STATEMENT OF DIRECTION

EPM Mobile App is a downloadable application for the phone that is purpose built to perform approval actions for iOS and Android based phone devices. It was purpose built to help users perform Approval and Workflow activities. It is currently only supported for Oracle EPM Cloud for the Planning business process.

The terminal release of EPM Mobile App is September 2020.  EPM Mobile App will not be available for download in the Apple and iOS App Stores effective October 2020. Oracle’s strategic direction is to have customers use the Approval and workflow capabilities using the mobile browser interface on mobile devices.

Oracle will continue to support Oracle EPM Mobile App in its current supported versions until September 2020.  Oracle recommends that users using Oracle EPM Mobile App prepare to instead use the approval functionality using supported mobile browser in tablet devices.