November 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	Product	Feature	Notes
20 NOV 2020	Financial Consolidation and Close, Tax Reporting	IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations	Updated document. Added a consideration.
09 NOV 2020	Financial Consolidation and Close	Extended Account Scope of Translation and Consolidation Logic	Updated document. Revised feature information.
29 OCT 2020			Created initial document.

Overview

This document outlines the upcoming Enterprise Performance Management Cloud update.

Feature Summary

Enterprise Performance 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, November 6, 2020.

Production Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, November 20, 2020.

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, November 6, 2020.

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.

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

Follow EPM Cloud on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

These are great resources for the latest updates and information about EPM Cloud.

Defects Fixed and Considerations

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

This provides visibility into EPM Cloud release contents.

EPM Cloud Common

This section contains announcements related to the common EPM Cloud components such as EPM Automate, Migration, Access Control, Data Integration, Calc Manager, and Smart View for Office.

New Videos

Several videos are now available.

Overview: Announcing EPM Cloud's new Redwood Theme

Explore the new, sophisticated Redwood theme that provides an attractive, human, look and feel. This beautiful theme is used in all new environments, and is available in EPM Cloud Services, EPM Standard Cloud, EPM Enterprise Cloud, Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud, and Sales Planning Cloud.

Overview: Get Answers, Learn More, and Stay Connected With the Oracle Cloud Applications Help Center

Need help, training or information about new capabilities and changes in a monthly update? The Oracle Cloud Applications Help Center has got you covered! Watch this updated video that captures how to access best practices and get functionally-tailored, situation-specific help with Cloud applications. In addition to using the integrated, context sensitive help embedded in products, visit the Help Center for documentation, videos, tutorials, training, and readiness resources. Explore how the Help Center can be your one-stop-shop for user assistance.

Creating Table, Spark, and Tile Charts in Dashboards 2.0

See how to create a dashboard with multiple components in the Dashboard Designer for Dashboards 2.0. You create a dashboard with a table, a table with a spark chart, and a tile chart. This video applies to Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting.

Creating Geomaps in Dashboards 2.0

Learn how to download geography members for geomap charts, then import them into your dimension. You learn how to set up both data bubble and color highlight geomap charts. This video applies to Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting.

Business Benefit: These videos provide step-by-step instructions to help you perform your related business activities.

New Redwood Theme

EPM Cloud now offer a new Redwood appearance theme, in addition to the existing 13 themes available.

New Default Redwood Theme

The new Redwood theme is available for all business processes except Enterprise Data Management - coming in the December (20.12) update. 

See the new Redwood theme

Redwood is the default theme for new instances, while existing instances continue to see the current theme by default. You can switch to the Redwood theme from Tools > Appearance.

Business Benefit: The Redwood theme gives an enhanced look and feel in terms of colors and icons and brings consistency across Oracle Cloud.

New and Improved Help Center Search

The Oracle Help Center search has been improved and now includes more robust search technology, enhanced user interface design, a utility bar with integrated search, best match result listings, filtering, videos, PDFs and tutorials included in search, non-English content, and much more.

Check it out at docs.oracle.com.

New Topics in Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Operations Guide

The Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Operations Guide has been enhanced with additional topics.

New topics include:

• Troubleshooting Profitability and Cost Management Issues
• Troubleshooting Account Reconciliation Issues
• Resolving Login Failures in EPM Cloud SSO Setup with Fusion Applications
• Fixing Smart View Connection Failure When Signing into SSO-Enabled Environments
• Requesting the Configuration of IP Allowlist
• Inclusion of Profitability and Cost Management in Implementation Success Program
• Performance Validation Requests for Profitability and Cost Management Applications
• Updated section: Requesting Merge Back of Environments (added information on how automated merge back to main code line works for environments that requested upgrade delay)

Business Benefit: The Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Operations Guide helps you self-diagnose and fix EPM Cloud issues.

Key Resources

• Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Operations Guide

EPM Automate Updates

A new version of EPM Automate is available. This version supports EPM Automate with OpenJDK version 14 or newer on Linux/Unix and MacOS X platforms. Additionally, this version introduces these new commands for Tax Reporting and Financial Consolidation and Close: clearDataByProfle, copyDataByProfile, and deployFormTemplates.

Support for OpenJDK on Linux/Unix and MacOS X

You may now use OpenJDK version 14 or higher on Linux/Unix and MacOS X instead of Java JRE to run EPM Automate. OpenJDK, Oracle's free, GPL-licensed, production-ready JDK, can be downloaded from https://openjdk.java.net.

New Commands for Tax Reporting and Financial Consolidation and Close

• clearDataByProfle: This command clears data from the items (for example, regions) identified in a Clear Data Profile defined in Tax Reporting or Financial Consolidation and Close.
• copyDataByProfile: This command copies data for the items (for example, regions) identified in a Copy Data Profile in Tax Reporting or Financial Consolidation and Close.
• deployFormTemplates: This command deploys finalized form templates to new data collection periods to create Data Form Templates for year-period combinations, ensuring a consistent and repeatable data collection process.

Business Benefit: These commands facilitate the scheduling and automation of some Tax Reporting and Financial Consolidation and Close operations.

Key Resources

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

Updates to the Activity Report

The Activity report has been enhanced to display the hierarchy type of each Gen 2 dimension included in Aggregate Storage (ASO) Cubes (available only in Planning, Planning Modules, and Profitability and Cost Management Activity Reports). Additionally, the Activity Report for Planning, Planing Modules, Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting display these tables if such operations were performed in the environment: Last 15 Clear Block Commands, Last 15 Clear Data Commands.

Hierarchy Type Display for ASO Cubes (Planning and Planning Modules)

The newly added Hierarchy Type column identifies the hierarchy type of each Gen 2 dimension included in ASO Cubes used by Planning and Planning Modules applications. Hierarchy type is an important consideration for optimizing ASO retrieval performance

Hierarchy Type Listing in a Sample Activity Report

Last 15 Clear Block Commands (Planning, Planing Modules, Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting)

The Activity Report contains this table if Clear Block operations were performed during the report period. This table identifies the user who initiated the operation, the name of the affected cube, the calculation script, and the commands in the calculation script that resulted in clearing of the block..

Last 15 Clear Block Commands Table

Last 15 Clear Data Commands (Planning, Planing Modules, Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting)

The Activity Report contains this table if Clear Data operations were performed during the report period. This table identifies the user who initiated the operation, the name of the affected cube, the calculation script, and the commands in the calculation script that resulted in clearing of the data..

Last 15 Clear Data Commands Table

Business Benefit: Identifying the hierarchy type of Gen2 members is very useful in optimizing ASO retrieval performance. The tables for Clear Block and Clear Data help you understand why some of the data is cleared from your application.

Enhancements to Search in Access Control

The updated search for users, groups, and roles work in an identical manner across Access Control screens. You use a string from one of the user attributes (user name, first name, last name or email ID), group name or role name to find specific users, groups or roles. Additionally, all available user information is displayed in search results.

Updated User Search Results in Create Group Access Control Screen

Business Benefit: This enhancement simplifies the search for Access Control artifacts.

New Function Builder in Smart View (Mac and Browser)

To facilitate entering functions into a worksheet, Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser) now offers a Function Builder. In Function Builder, you select a function to work with, and specify the connection and members that you want the function to use. The Function Builder then creates the function using the proper syntax and enters it into the selected cell. Once entered, you can edit these functions.

Additionally, for each function argument:

• A cell reference can be selected
• Type-in functionality is available

In Smart View (Mac and Browser), these functions are currently supported:

• HsGetValue
• HsSetValue
• HsAlias

Functions in Smart View (Mac and Browser) are supported by Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting.

Business Benefit: The new Function Builder in Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser) facilitates entering and using supported functions to retrieve and send data in specific cells in Excel worksheets.

Steps to Enable

To use the Function Builder in Smart View (Mac and Browser), Service Administrators must create and deploy a new manifest file with the "Build Function" option selected and the "Include Function support" check box enabled:

1. Create a new manifest file and customize it per your requirements.
2. In the "Available menu items" section, select the "Build Function" option in the General group. Note that when you select the Build Function option, the "Include Functions support" option is automatically enabled.
3. Deploy the manifest file to Smart View (Mac and Browser) users.

Key Resources

• Deploying and Administering Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser):
  • Creating and Saving the Manifest File
  • Customizing the Manifest File
  • Deploying the Manifest File to Office 365 Users

• Working with Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser)
  • Functions
  • Creating Functions in the Function Builder
  • Using Cell References

Support for HsAlias Function in Smart View (Mac and Browser)

You can now use the HsAlias function in Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser).

The HsAlias function displays the alias of the specified dimension member. This function is supported for Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting.

Business Benefit: Using HsAlias in Smart View (Mac and Browser) allows you to display the alias name of a specified dimension or member.

Steps to Enable

To use the HsAlias function in Smart View (Mac and Browser), Service Administrators must create and deploy a new manifest file with the "Include Function support" option enabled.

1. Create a new manifest file and customize it per your requirements.
2. Ensure that you select the "Include Functions support" option.
3. Deploy the manifest file to Smart View (Mac and Browser) users.

Key Resources

• Deploying and Administering Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser):
  • Creating and Saving the Manifest File
  • Customizing the Manifest File
  • Deploying the Manifest File to Office 365 Users

• Working with Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser)
  • Functions
  • HsAlias

Fix Links Available for Functions in Smart View (Mac and Browser)

The Fix Links command for functions is now available in Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser). Fix Links allows you to fix broken links in functions. Broken links can occur when a workbook containing functions created in Oracle Smart View for Office (Windows) is then opened in Smart View (Mac and Browser). 

Currently, the Fix Links command is supported only when using Smart View (Mac and Browser) on a Mac.

Note that once function links are fixed in Smart View (Mac and Browser), the functions will not work again in Smart View for Office (Windows).

Business Benefit: The Fix Links command allows Smart View (Mac and Browser) users to work with Excel workbooks containing functions created in Oracle Smart View for Office (Windows).

Steps to Enable

To use the Fix Links command in Smart View (Mac and Browser), Service Administrators must create and deploy a new manifest file with the "Include Function support" option enabled.

1. Create a new manifest file and customize it per your requirements.
2. Ensure that you select the "Include Functions support" option. Note that in the "Available menu items" section, the Fix Links option is selected by default.
3. Deploy the manifest file to Smart View (Mac and Browser) users.

Key Resources

• Deploying and Administering Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser):
  • Creating and Saving the Manifest File
  • Customizing the Manifest File
  • Deploying the Manifest File to Office 365 Users

• Fixing Links in Functions in Working with Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser)

Improved Member Selection Dialog in Smart View (Mac and Browser)

The Member Selector dialog in Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser) is improved in these areas:

• Tree structure. Members are now displayed in a tree structure in the left pane of the dialog. Use the up and down arrows to the left of member names to expand and collapse hierarchies. Click directly to the left of a member name to select the member, and note the check mark. You may select multiple members from multiple levels in the dimension to add or remove.

• Filter. Type text into the Filter field to filter the members that have already been retrieved within the selected dimension in the Member Selector.

• Server Search. Click Server Search to search for all members that contain the entered text, including those that have not already been retrieved within the selected dimension in the Member Selector.

• Check Children and Clear Checks option. When selecting a parent member anywhere in the hierarchy, places a check mark next to the applicable child members. To clear all check marks, select Clear Checks.

• Fill Vertically or Fill Horizontally. If this is the first member selection that you make in a blank worksheet, select either Fill Vertically, to display the selected members vertically, in a column; or Fill horizontally, to display the selected members horizontally, in a row.

• Check button. This button provides these functions:
  • Select Dimension. Allows you to select the dimension level member. Use the dimension selector at the top left of the dialog to select other dimensions.
  • Remove All. Removes all members from the selected members side of the dialog.
  • Check All and Clear Checks. Places a check mark next to members on the selected members side of the dialog. To clear all check marks, select Clear Checks.

Business Benefit: Improvements to the Member Selector make it a more robust and easier-to-use tool for Smart View (Mac and Browser) users.

Steps to Enable

To use the improved Member Selector in Smart View (Mac and Browser), Service Administrators must create and deploy a new manifest file with the Member Selection option enabled:

1. Create a new manifest file and customize it per your requirements. Note that in the "Available menu items" section, the "Member Selection" option in the Edit group is selected by default.
2. Deploy the manifest file to Smart View (Mac and Browser) users.

Key Resources

• Deploying and Administering Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser):
  • Creating and Saving the Manifest File
  • Customizing the Manifest File
  • Deploying the Manifest File to Office 365 Users

• Selecting Members from the Member Selector in Working with Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser)

New "Drill View to Smart View" Application Option in Data Integration

A new Drill View to Smart View application option enables you to select a custom view of columns from the Workbench when displaying customized attribute dimension member names in drill-through reports. When the custom view has been defined, you can click on the drill-through cell in Smart View and select Open as New Sheet, and the drill-through report opens based on the view defined. Note that if no views are defined in the Application Details page, the default view is used, meaning that attribute dimensions do not display customized member names.

Business Benefit: The Drill View to Smart View setting used in conjunction with the Workbench Custom View feature enables you to view data in the drill-though reports in a variety of ways without having to create new reports.

Key Resources

• Defining Target Options in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
• Defining a Custom View in the Workbench in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

New Filter Comparison Operator in Forms - Contains

The new "contains" comparison operator in forms enables you to filter row and column data containing specific values like text, smart list values, or dates. The results will display (or hide) the rows and columns containing the data specified in the filter. This feature applies only to Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting.

"Contains" Comparison Operator on Forms

To use the "contains" comparison operator to control which rows or columns are displayed (or hidden) in forms, open a form, click the Data tab, and then under Filter, click Keep or Exclude. Click the Filter Compare menu, select "contains," and then enter the values you want displayed (or hidden).

Business Benefit: Using the "contains" comparison operator gives you the ability to display (or hide) row and column data which contains specific text, smart list values, or dates. This simplifies the data presentation in forms making it even more meaningful to the user.

Key Resources

• Making Data Meaningful in Working with Planning

Account Reconciliation

Maximum Number of Rows Displayed in a List Setting Changed

The maximum number of rows in Reconciliations, Transactions, Profiles, and Matching lists as well as on the Reconciliation Actions dialog has been changed from a maximum of 10,000 to 50,000. The default is 50,000.

Business Benefit: Allowing more rows to be displayed reduces the need to scroll.

Key Resources

• Setting Maximum Number of Items Displayed in a List in Setting Up and Configuring Account Reconciliation

Delimiter for Imports Now Allows Any Single Character to Be Used

The file delimiter for imports has been enhanced to allow any single character in addition to the existing Comma or Tab delimiter. This change applies to the following imports:

• Importing profiles
• Importing pre-mapped transactions for Reconciliation Compliance
• Importing pre-mapped balances for Reconciliation Compliance and Transaction Matching
• Importing currency rates
• Importing organizational units
• Importing multiple periods from a file
• Importing and exporting teams and members

  Business Benefit: Using any character as a file delimiter gives you more flexibility in setting up import files.

Key Resources

• Importing Profiles in Setting Up and Configuring Account Reconciliation
• Import Pre-mapped Transactions for Reconciliation Compliance in Administering Account Reconciliation
• Import Pre-mapped Balances for Reconciliation Compliance and Transaction Matching in Administering Account Reconciliation
• Importing Currency Rates in Setting Up and Configuring Account Reconciliation
• Importing Organizational Units in Setting Up and Configuring Account Reconciliation
• Importing Multiple Periods from a File in Setting Up and Configuring Account Reconciliation
• Importing and Exporting Teams and Members in Administering Account Reconciliation

Filter Bar in Account Reconciliation Defaults to ‘All’ Instead of ‘None’

The filter bar in both Reconciliation Compliance and transaction Matching now defaults to ‘All’ instead of requiring a user to make a selection from the default of ‘None’. This means you can use filtering capabilities to immediately pare down the list displayed.

Business Benefit: This feature allows  you to use filtering capabilities to immediately pare down the list displayed.

Key Resources

• Working with Views, Lists, and Filters in Setting Up and Configuring Account Reconciliation
• Searching Transactions, Filtering, and Saving List Views Transaction Matching in Reconciling Accounts with Account Reconciliation

Enhanced Search of Transactions Now Available from the Matching Card in Transaction Matching

A new Transactions tab has been added to the Matching card in Transaction Matching that allows you to search across transactions with varying statuses. Since many customers are loading a high volume of transactions across different profiles, transactions are either Suggested, Confirmed Match, or Unmatched and in the past, it could be difficult to find a particular transaction in a given status.

The new Transactions dialog gives you the ability to perform enhanced searching and filtering and lists transactions with all statuses. The Match Type drives the loading of the page and the system displays the first 5000 transactions for a given match type by Data Source.

Note that Export to Excel is not currently included with this update, however it is planned to be included as an option with the December (20.12) update.

Business Benefit: Enhanced searching of transactions with all statuses enables you to find the transactions you are looking for much faster.

Key Resources

• Searching Transactions in Transaction Matching in Reconciling Accounts with Account Reconciliation

Financial Consolidation and Close

New Tutorials

Three new tutorials are available for Financial Consolidation and Close.

Creating Consolidation Rules With Partner Elimination in Financial Consolidation and Close

Configurable Consolidation rules with partner eliminations enable you to write data directly to a sibling of the entity currently being consolidated, if the sibling is its intercompany partner, or if one of the sibling’s descendants is its intercompany partner.

Using Year-To-Date Values in Configurable Consolidation Rules in Financial Consolidation and Close

If required by your business calculations, you can create Configurable Consolidation rules that are sourced from an account's year-to-date movement values, rather than the current period movement value.

Calculating Movements From Closing Balances in Financial Consolidation and Close

Your business process may require you to load period-end account balances, rather than current period movements. If you enable the Calculate Movements system rule, you can load period end closing balances to the Closing Balance Input member, and the rule will calculate a specified current period movement.

Business Benefit: These videos provide step-by-step instructions to help you perform your related business activities.

REST API to Copy Data

You can use this REST API to run a Copy Data job using the profile name specified in Financial Consolidation and Close. Before executing this job, you should create a Copy Data profile using this procedure: Copy Data Profiles. 

Business Benefit: The ability to perform this task with a REST API allows you to schedule and automate this task.

Key Resources

• Copy Data Profiles in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close
• Financial Consolidation and Close REST APIs in REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Role Information

• Service Administrators

REST API to Clear Data

You can use this REST API to run a Clear Data job using the profile name specified in Financial Consolidation and Close. Before executing this job, you should create a Clear Data profile.

Business Benefit: The ability to perform this task with a REST API allows you to schedule and automate the task.

Key Resources

• Using Clear Data Profiles in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close
• Financial Consolidation and Close REST APIs in REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Role Information

• Service Administrators

REST API to Deploy a Form Template

You can use this REST API to deploy a form template that you have created in Financial Consolidation and Close. 

Business Benefit: The ability to perform this task with a REST API allows you to schedule and automate this task.

Key Resources

• Deploying a Form Template to a Data Collection Period in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close
• Financial Consolidation and Close REST APIs in REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Role Information

• Service Administrators

Local Rate Data Enhancements

You can decide whether a Translation Override rule will be used for translation to a Parent Currency and Reporting Currencies and select one or more Reporting Currencies to apply for the rule. You can enter data in input currencies for Local Rate Accounts on the Local Exchange Rates form. You can also enter local rate data for a Parent entity without enabling the “Allow Upper-Level Entity Input” attribute, as it is now enabled by default.

Business Benefit: You can apply a Translation Override rule to a specific reporting currency. When entering data for Local Rate accounts, you can enter data in input currencies instead of reporting currencies, and enter local rate data for a Parent entity.

Key Resources

• Creating Rate Accounts for Translation Override  in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close

Configuration Utility for Local Rates

If you are using the Local Rates functionality, note that the Local Rates feature has been enhanced. To upgrade your existing local rate data, a new Configuration Utility is provided to copy the Local Rate account data from the “Entity Currency” intersection to the “Input Currencies” intersection. You must manually run this “Copy Local Rate Account Data” utility to copy the local rate data. Once the data has been copied from the Entity Currency to the corresponding Input Currency of the primary parent, there is no need to run this process again. For a shared entity with multiple parents having different currencies, the system will copy the entity currency rate data only to the currency of the primary parent. You will need to manually enter the corresponding input currency rate data for other parents with different currencies.

Business Benefit: The configuration utility enables you to upgrade your existing local rate data.

Key Resources

• Copy Local Rate Account Data in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close

Extended Account Scope of Translation and Consolidation Logic

Previously not all system rules were applied consistently to all accounts outside of the “FCCS_Balance Sheet” hierarchy. This has now been updated to apply the same system rules to all relevant accounts regardless of their position in the Account dimension hierarchy.

In 20.10 and prior releases, the opening balance was calculated based only on account type. With 20.11, opening balance is calculated based on the time balance property of flow. The exceptions are Revenue and Expense accounts within the balanced balance sheet. The opening balance for these accounts are redirected to FCCS_REC_OBFXCTA and FCCS_OR_OBFXCICTA as appropriate.

Business Benefit: System rules are applied to all relevant accounts regardless of their position in the Account dimension hierarchy.

Task Manager / Supplemental Data Manager Enhancements

Several enhancements have been implemented for Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager.

• Maximum number of rows in a list can be set in Governors within System Settings. The maximum number of rows in a list view, like Schedule Tasks or Supplemental Data Tasks, can be set using Governors within System Settings in Task Manager or Supplemental Data Manager. The default is listed as 10,000 but can be changed.

• In Task Manager, the task import functionality has been enhanced. The Replace option has been enhanced to allow you to keep attachments when you perform an import. Additionally, a new Delete option allows you to delete tasks by listing task IDs in a file. Lastly, a new Other option within the file delimiter designation allow you to choose any single character as the file delimiter in an import file.

• When viewing Tasks on the Home page, you can now filter the list of tasks by Year or Period, or select All to display items from any Year or Period.

• In Task Manager Schedules, you can now filter the Schedules list by Period and Status. This enables you to quickly select schedules based on whether their status is open or closed, or by selecting a specific period.

• In Task Manager, you can now select multiple templates or schedules when you validate templates and schedules, or reassign users for templates and schedules.

• In Supplemental Data Manager, you can now choose any single character as the file delimiter in an import file.

• In Task Manager, you can now select Groups from the User Selection dialogs for role assignments. For example, you can assign Groups as Task assignees, approvers, viewers and owners of template tasks.

• In the Jobs console, you can filter Non-Consolidation jobs by two new columns: Job ID and Source.

Business Benefit: Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager have been enhanced with several new features, enabling you to complete tasks faster and more easily.

Key Resources

• Setting Task Manager Governors in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Setting Supplemental Data Governors in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Importing and Exporting Tasks in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Importing Task Types in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Importing Tasks into Templates in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Importing Tasks into Schedules in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Working with Tasks from the Home Page in Working with Financial Consolidation and Close
• Searching for Schedules in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Validating Schedules in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Manually Validating Templates in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Reassigning Users in Schedules in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Reassigning Users in Templates in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Setting Supplemental Data Governors in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Assigning Viewers to Templates in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close
• Viewing Pending Jobs and Recent Activity in Administering Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close

Performance Substitution Variables

The EnableSimpleAggregation, OptimizeDBRefresh, OptimizeYTDCalculation, and OptimizeConcurrency substitution variables can be enabled to improve performance:

• EnableSimpleAggregation

This Substitution Variable improves the way that child entities are aggregated into parent entities. This Substitution Variable should be used in conjunction with the OptimizeYTDCalculation to improve consolidation performance.

• OptimizeDBRefresh

This Substitution Variable improves the way that exchange rates are pushed to the consol cube during the database refresh.

• OptimizeYTDCalculation

This Substitution Variable avoids redundant and repetitive calculations. This Substitution Variable should be used in conjunction with EnableSimpleAggregation to improve consolidation performance.

• OptimizeConcurrency

This Substitution Variable improves concurrency of the consolidation process by executing some of the calculations at the very beginning or at the end. The degree of improvement depends on the entity structure of a given customer. Customers with deeper entity hierarchies will benefit the most.

In order to enable the Substitution Variables, set the parameter Cube = Consol, in addition to setting Value = true.

NOTE: The degree of performance improvement varies widely across different applications as it is purely driven by the application design and data distribution.

Business Benefit: These substitution variables help in improving the performance.

New Target Options for Loading Journals to a Financial Consolidation and Close Target Application

When loading journal entries to a Financial Consolidation and Close target application in Data Management or Data Integration, new Journal Type, Journal Status, and Journal Post As properties are now available as target options. In addition, you can select a journal post as Year-To-Date view option. These properties enable you to override journal entry defaults at the data load rule or integration level as needed.

Business Benefit: This feature enables you to overwrite the target properties of journal entries when loading journal to a Financial Consolidation and Close target application.

Key Resources

• Working with Journal Loads and the Data Load Rule in Administering Data Management for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Narrative Reporting

Note Text Function to Display Notes Text in a Report

Using the Notes Text function, you can display Notes in a Management Reporting report in either a text box or in grid text cells. 

You can:

• Create a Note Format to define the output content, layout, and formatting.  Note Formats can be used across multiple reports.  For more information, see Working with Note Formats.

• Create a Management Reporting report and within the report, create a Named POV, which defines which dimensions and members to retrieve in the Note text function. Named POVs only apply to the report they were created in. For more information, see Working with Named POVs in a Report.

NOTE: Currently the Notes text function and Named POVs are independent of any report objects.  For example, the Global POV in a report does not control a Notes text function POV.

• Insert the Note text function into a text box, or a grid row, column, or cell, and select the Note Format, Named POV, and which Notes to display.  For more information, see Inserting the Notes text function in a Report.

Business Benefit: You can print a summary of notes in a report.

Key Resources

• Using the Notes Text Function
• Working with Note Formats
• Working with Named POVs in a Report
• Inserting the Notes Text Function in a Report

New Chart Property to Combine Y Axes in Combination Charts

For combination chart types, a new property “Combine Y Axes”, was added to combine the plotting of the primary and secondary Y axes and data points to reflect plotting for both the bars and lines on only the primary Y-axis.

COMBINE Y AXES

Business Benefit: For combination charts, the property “Combine Y Axes” enables you to combine the plotting of the primary and secondary Y axes and data points to reflect plotting for both the bars and lines on only the primary Y-axis. The property is most applicable when the bar and line data values have similar scaling and fall within the same numerical range.

Key Resources

• Chart Properties in Designing with Management Reporting for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

New MemberProperty Text Function Parameter to Display Entity Currency

For Financial Consolidation and Close, the text function MemberProperty has a new parameter "Base Currency" that allows displaying the currency of the entity in the Management Reporting report.

Business Benefit: Needed for multi-currency applications to be able to run reports dynamically and display a textual currency label on the report for the Entity being displayed.

Key Resources

• MemberProperty in Designing with Management Reporting for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud 

Rest API to Import an Artifact from the Library

When importing an artifact from the library, you can specify an optional import location parameter. This option allows you to identify the location of the file to import.

Business Benefit: Using REST APIs, you can import an artifact from the library, or you can schedule a job when needed to helps the importing process.

Key Resources

• Create a new Job  
• Get a Job's status

Updated Narrative Reporting Extension for Smart View

An updated Narrative Reporting Extension for Oracle Smart View for Office is now available to download and install. This update includes general improvements and bug fixes.

Business Benefit: Downloading and installing the latest Narrative Reporting extension for Smart View gives you access to the latest features, improvements, and bug fixes.

Key Resources

• Installing the Narrative Reporting Extension in Working with Oracle Smart View for Office

Updated Disclosure Management Extension for Smart View

An updated Disclosure Management extension for Smart View is now available.

Business Benefit: This update includes general improvements and bug fixes.

Key Resources

• Installing Disclosure Management Client in Working with Disclosure Management for Narrative Reporting

Planning

New Videos

Two new videos are now available.

Overview: Creating Custom, Interactive Views of Key Data Using Infolets

This updated video reflects the latest user interface and infolet design capabilities. Watch to see how infolets give different users and groups quick, functionally-tailored access to the key data that they need to prioritize their immediate activities and guide their decision making.

Creating and Updating Free Form Applications using Smart View

Learn how to create Free Form applications by importing a file based on an application template in Oracle Smart View for Office.

Business Benefit: These videos provide step-by-step instructions to help you perform your related business activities.

EPM Planning Projects Module Integration with Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management Unifies the Project Planning and Budgeting Process

You can integrate the EPM Planning Projects module (Projects) and Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management (Project Management) to perform organizational planning and budgeting and to execute projects. Develop your strategic corporate plan and budget using EPM Planning Projects and then execute and collect costs for approved projects using Project Management. Actual costs are then included in budget analysis, forecasting, and re-planning using EPM Planning Projects.

With this two-way integration, you typically use EPM Planning Projects to develop new projects, create project budgets, and do overall project planning. Then, use Project Management to capture actuals. Bring in the actuals to EPM Planning Projects for budget variance analysis.

With this integration, the same Indirect and Capital projects are visible in both EPM Planning Projects and Project Management depending on the cadence of the synchronization. The capabilities include:

• Transfer projects and budgets created in EPM Planning Projects to Project Management. The strategic budget is created in Project Management as a baseline budget at the resource class level.
• Use the budget approval validation to validate the detailed budgets created by project managers vs. the strategic budgets created in EPM Planning Projects (Optional).
• Transfer actual cost amounts from Project Management to EPM Planning Projects at the resource class level.
• Transfer re-planned budgets from EPM Planning Projects to Project Management at the resource class level.

You use Data Management and Data Integration to drive the integration of data between EPM Planning Projects and Project Management. Data Management and Data Integration provide an out of box solution that enables EPM Planning Projects customers to apply predefined mappings from the Project Management data model to target dimensions. You can also customize and extend these integrations, for example, by applying other mappings as needed to meet your business requirements.

Overall Business Flow

In EPM Planning Projects, the portfolio manager adds projects and plans project expenses to define the organizational budget. 

After approval, projects and budgets are exported to Project Management using the planned expenses to create a strategic budget. The project manager prepares a detailed budget in Project Management that is optionally validated against the strategic budget.

As projects are executed, actual costs are collected in Project Management and imported to EPM Planning Projects.

Portfolio managers then monitor the projects, analyzing budget versus actual costs in EPM Planning Projects. Periodically, portfolio managers re-plan the organizational budget, sending a subsequent budget version to Project Management.

Planned Expenses (Budget) Created in EPM Planning

Budget interfaced to Project Management

Implementation Scenarios

Typical implementation scenarios for integration:

• EPM Planning Projects and Project Management are both new.

• EPM Planning Projects is already implemented and you have existing projects. Now you want to implement Project Management and integrate the two. In this case, you must update the application to support the integration and migrate data.

• Project Management is already implemented and projects exist in Project Management. Now you want to implement EPM Planning Projects and integrate the two. In this case, you must perform a data migration to migrate projects, budgets, and actual costs from Project Management to EPM Planning Projects projects at the Resource Class level. Once this migration is complete, do not continue this process on an on-going basis. Going forward, start project planning and budgeting in EPM Planning Projects, and then push projects and project budgets to Project Management.

IMPORTANT: If your company has already implemented both EPM Planning Projects and Project Management, and has either built a custom integration or operated the applications independently of each other, you must reconcile projects as a prerequisite before using this integration.

Business Benefit: This feature will let your organization:

• Select the right projects to invest in by implementing enterprise-wide business planning using EPM Planning Projects and, in parallel, manage and execute the approved projects in detail using Project Management without delays, duplication of effort, or manual budget validation. 

• Replan more accurately in EPM Planning Projects using real cost data.

• Approve a detailed budget against a baselined strategic organizational budget.

Steps to Enable

Functional and configurational steps are required in Project Management and EPM Planning to enable this business flow integration. This is documented in the White Paper: Unified Planning, Budgeting, Execution, and Analysis of Projects.

Tips And Considerations

Considerations for integration between EPM Planning Projects and Project Management:

• Supported only for EPM Planning Projects applications that have Hybrid Essbase enabled.
• Supported for EPM Planning Projects applications that use a 12 month calendar only.
• In EPM Planning Projects, only Indirect and Capital projects are supported.
• Integration is with EPM Planning Projects cubes only; there is no support for custom cubes.
• In Project Management, the Accounting Calendar of 12 periods, which includes monthly, 4-4-5, 5-4-4, and 4-5-4 is supported. The 4-4-4 Accounting Calendar is not supported.
• In Project Management, Indirect, Capital, and non-sponsored projects are supported. Contract projects and Grants are not in scope, although they are supported in Project Management.
• Planned expenses (budgets in Project Management) and actual costs are shared at the Resource Class level, for example, Labor, Equipment, Material, and Other Resources.
• Only actual costs are interfaced, not committed costs.
• Detailed budget can only be validated against the strategic budget by the total amount.

NOTE: This note is important for customers who want to enable integration with Project Management and/or want to load Plans/Forecasts into EPM Planning Projects. For segregating loaded versus calculated data, a new member, OPF_Load, has been added in the Resource Class dimension. Customers are advised to start using OPF_Load for loading data into EPM Planning Projects. This member ensures that the loaded data doesn’t get overwritten when you run calculations. Also, a new form has been added, Review and Adjust Project Expenses, which allows review and adjustments to the loaded data. You will not see loaded data in this form unless you are using OPF_Load for loading data.

Customers who don’t want to load Plan/Forecasts into EPM Planning Projects can continue to use the OPF_Direct Resource member for loading data.

Key Resources

• Whitepaper: Unified Planning, Budgeting, Execution, and Analysis of Projects (available with the 20D release)

• EPM Planning Resources:
  • "Integrating EPM Planning Projects and Project Management” in Administering Planning Modules
  • “Updating Projects Artifacts” in Administering Planning Modules
  • “Process Description for Integrating EPM Planning Projects and Project Management” in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
  • “Integrating EPM Planning Projects With Project Management” in Working with Planning Modules

• Project Management Resources:
  • "How Enterprise Performance Management Works with Project Management" in Implementing Project Financial Management and Grants Management

Role Information

To run BIP Reports used in this feature, you need these roles:

• Role Name and Code:
  • Import Project Data into Third-Party Software (PJF_IMPORT_PROJECT_INTO_THIRD_PARTY_SOFTWARE_PRIV_OBI)
  • Get Project Setups (PJF_GET_PROJECT_SETUPS_PRIV_OBI)

To run the Projects and Budgets FBDI processes used in this feature, you need these privileges:

• Privilege Name and Code:
  • Run Import Projects Process (PJF_RUN_IMPORT_PROJECT_PROCESS_PRIV)
  • Run Import Project Budgets Process (PJO_RUN_IMPORT_PROJECT_BUDGET_PROCESS_PRIV)

Support For Project Reporting through ASO

You can enable a Projects reporting (ASO) cube.

The ASO cube dimensions depend on the selection of other features in Projects, such as Integration with Workforce, Job and Employee details coming from Workforce or Projects, or Plan by Employee.

This feature is a required if you are enabling Project Management Cloud Integration, however you can also enable it independent of the integration.

Business Benefit: Enables you to report on Projects.

Steps to Enable

To enable an ASO cube for Projects reporting:

1. From the Home page, click Application, and then click Configure.
2. Select Projects from the Configure list, and then click Enable Features.
3. Select Project Reporting and then click Enable.

Tips And Considerations

This feature is available only for applications with Hybrid Essbase enabled.

Key Resources

• Enabling Projects Features in Administering Planning Modules

Updated Currency Conversion Calculation for Assumptions in Workforce

As part of Workforce currency conversion calculation for assumptions, a new UDA "HSP_ConvertNonCurrencyValue" is added to all earning, benefits, taxes, and basic salary members in the Accounts dimension and to the No Property member in the Property dimension. The currency conversion batch calculation copies assumptions (smart list values of earnings, benefits, taxes, and basic salary) to the reporting currency. This populates data across the components in the reporting cube after running the Compensation Data for Reporting data map.

Business Benefit: You will now be able to copy assumptions data that should be converted to the reporting currencies as part of the default currency conversion process. Total compensation data from Workforce is populated across the components or by individual component in the reporting cube.

Logging of Excluded Members in Job Details for Planning Data Map and Smart Push Operations

Excluded members in a Data Map or Smart Push operation are now logged in Job Details. Only the member names are logged, not the intersections.

To view the Job Details for a completed job, from the Home page, click Application, and then click Jobs. Under Recent Activity, click the name of the job you want to view.

Business Benefit: Logging excluded members for Data Map and Smart Push operations helps users understand that the data was not moved to target because the members were excluded.

Key Resources

• Excluding Members from a Data Map in Administering Planning

Profitability and Cost Management

Updates to the Activity Report

The Activity report has been enhanced to display the hierarchy type of each Gen 2 dimension included in Aggregate Storage (ASO) Cube.

Hierarchy Type Display in a Sample Activity Report

Business Benefit: Identifying the hierarchy type of Gen2 members is very useful in optimizing ASO retrieval performance.

Support for Profitability and Cost Management in the Oracle Implementation Success Program

The Oracle Implementation Success Program now supports Profitability and Cost Management.

Business Benefit: The Implementation Success Program (ISP) is a customer-focused initiative that strives to significantly increase the success rate of Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud implementations.

Tax Reporting

Ability to Roll Over and Copy Configurations by Entity

During the rollover process, you can now rollover rates by Scenario, Year, Period, and Entity.  You can also copy configurations across a Scenario, Year, Period, and Entity.

Business Benefit: In addition to performing a rollover and copying a configuration by Scenario, Year, and Period, you can now select Entities for rollovers and copy configurations.

Key Resources

• Performing a Rollover by Entity in Administering Oracle Tax Reporting
• Copying a Configuration by Entity in Administering Oracle Tax Reporting

Task Manager / Supplemental Data Manager Enhancements

Several enhancements have been implemented for Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager.

• Maximum number of rows in a list can be set in Governors within System Settings. The maximum number of rows in a list view, like Schedule Tasks or Supplemental Data Tasks, can be set using Governors within System Settings in Task Manager or Supplemental Data Manager. The default is listed as 10,000 but can be changed.

• In Task Manager, the task import functionality has been enhanced.  The Replace option has been enhanced to allow you to keep attachments when you perform an import.  Additionally, a new Delete option allows you to delete tasks by listing task IDs in a file. Lastly, a new Other option within the file delimiter designation allow you to choose any single character as the file delimiter in an import file.

• When viewing Tasks on the Home page, you can now filter the list of tasks by Year or Period, or select All to display items from any Year or Period.

• In Task Manager Schedules, you can now filter the Schedules list by Period and Status. This enables you to quickly select schedules based on whether their status is open or closed, or by selecting a specific period.

• In Task Manager, you can now select multiple templates or schedules when you validate templates and schedules, or reassign users for templates and schedules.

• In Supplemental Data Manager, you can now choose any single character as the file delimiter in an import file.

• In Task Manager, you can now select Groups from the User Selection dialogs for role assignments. For example, you can assign Groups as Task assignees, approvers, viewers and owners of template tasks.

• In the Jobs console, you can filter Non-Consolidation jobs by two new columns: Job ID and Source.

  Business Benefit: Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager have been enhanced with several new features, enabling you to complete tasks faster and more easily.

IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations

FUTURE AVAILABILITY OF THE REDWOOD THEME

In the December (20.12) update, Enterprise Data Management Cloud will offer a new Redwood appearance theme, in addition to the existing 2 themes available. The Redwood theme gives an enhanced look and feel in terms of colors and icons and brings consistency across Oracle Cloud.

Preview the new Redwood theme

CHROME 86 AND CHROMIUM EDGE 86 BROWSERS

Due to recent changes in the Chrome 86 and Chromium Edge 86 browsers, you may see buttons that are not aligned on the right hand side. Oracle is aware of this behavior change in these browsers and is working to retrofit our user interface to resolve these issues.

NEW “SUPPRESS MISSING NATIVE” OPTION IN FINANCIAL REPORTING WEB STUDIO GRID EDITOR

The new “Suppress Missing Native” option in the “Suppression” panel in the Financial Reporting Web Studio Grid Editor properties is non-functional for 20.11. The desired output of the selection will not be available when the report is executed even if the option is enabled. This will be addressed in an upcoming release.

STRATEGIC MODELING TERMINOLOGY CHANGE

Starting with the February 2021 (21.02) update, the Consolidation feature in Strategic Modeling will be renamed Scenario Rollup.

CONFIGURING A SOURCE CONNECTION TO ORACLE NETSUITE

The integration between NetSuite and Cloud EPM with Data Management supports both basic authorization as well as token based authorization (TBA).  The NetSuite policy for accessing integrations has changed and requires token based authorization, and NetSuite is in the process of phasing out basic authorization for integrations which uses a user name and password.  This requirement does not go into effect until early 2021, but customers that use the integration with NetSuite should start switching over to token base authentication as soon as possible.  Starting a few months prior to this required change, basic authorization credentials will be made read only, and customers will need to implement TBA.  Please contact NetSuite support to get help generating the required tokens to use when setting up the connection to NetSuite from Cloud EPM.

USABILITY ENHANCEMENTS FOR HORIZONTAL TABS IN NAVIGATION FLOWS

In an update within the next few months, we are introducing a ‘Dynamic Tabs’ feature to open tabs on the fly both from a list view or from an existing navigation flow tab to perform related actions. Some examples: view drill through from a form in a new temporary tab; view a form in a design mode; open Web ad hoc from a form or dashboard; open forms from right-click menus.

There will be a new application setting that will allow customers to switch on this dynamic tabs setting to solve such use cases. When this dynamic tabs setting is turned on:

1. Existing horizontal tabs in navigation flows will move to the bottom of the page instead of at the top of the page where they are currently located. With tabs at the bottom of the page instead, customers will benefit from a clear separation of the EPM Cloud horizontal tabs from their browser tabs at the top of the window. Another benefit of this change will be to keep the navigation flow tab names distinct from the name of the artifacts (such as forms and dashboards) rendered within the horizontal tabs. The vertical tabs will stay where they are. The effective date of the update will be announced in the month prior to the update. It is expected in the next 2-4 months’ timeframe.

2. Action menus in forms will be cleaned up to not show items that are already included within the right-click menus in forms.

The Redwood theme, which is new in 20.11, will default with dynamic tabs when released. There will be no option to turn off dynamic tabs when using Redwood theme. All other themes will also default to the dynamic tabs setting being turned on in a few months after the initial release of this ‘dynamic tabs’ feature.

EDITS TO USER NOTIFICATION PREFERENCES IN TASK MANAGER

In Financial Consolidation and Close and Tax Reporting, after you apply the 20.11 update, note that edits to the user notification preferences are not saved for Task Manager. While the change appears to take effect during the user's session, it is not actually saved to the database, which can be seen the next time the user logs in.

REMOVAL OF PERCENT CONSOLIDATION FORM IN TAX REPORTING

Starting with this update, the Percent Consolidation form in Tax Reporting is no longer available. Any data entered via the Percent Consolidation form should be migrated and configured within Ownership Management.

REMOVAL OF .XLS FORMAT AS REPORT EXPORT OPTION FOR INTERCOMPANY MATCHING REPORTS IN FINANCIAL CONSOLIDATION AND CLOSE

Using .xls as a report output format will be removed for Intercompany Matching reports in the 20.12 update. Customers who have built custom reports must ensure that their reports will export as desired to one of the remaining formats: xlsx, pdf, or html.

NEW WARNING MESSAGE ADDED FOR PROFITABILITY AND COST MANAGEMENT DEPLOY CUBE

A new warning message has been introduced for the Deploy Cube job starting with the October update.

"Warning: Data Storage = Store Data is not allowed with Hierarchy Type = Enabled. If Data Storage = Store Data is used with Hierarchy Type = Enabled, it automatically changes to Label Only in the deployed cube for dimension: <dimension name>."

Purpose:  To inform application designers of a mismatch between dimension properties metadata and the underlying Essbase cube definition.

Impact:  None -- calculations will proceed as before.  Please note that data retrieval in this case is consistent with Data Storage = Label Only, not Store Data.

Recommendation:  To eliminate this warning message, go to Dimension Management and change the Data Storage value to "Label Only" for the dimension referenced in the message.