October 2021 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
25 OCT 2021	Enterprise Data Management	Combination Node Type Parameter	Updated document. Revised feature information.
06 OCT 2021	IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations		Updated document. Revised content under Account Reconciliation.
23 SEP 2021			Created initial document.

Overview

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Feature Summary

Enterprise Performance Management

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, October 1, 2021.

Production Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, October 15, 2021.

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, October 1, 2021.

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.

Fixed Issues and Considerations

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

NOTE: Fixed issues for EPM Cloud Common components (Smart View for Office, EPM Automate, REST API, Migration, Access Control, Data Management/Data Integration, Reports, Financial Reporting, and Calculation Manager) are available in a separate document on the My Oracle Support “Release Highlights” page.

This provides visibility into EPM Cloud release contents.

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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.

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EPM Common

New Topics in EPM Cloud Operations Guide

The EPM Cloud Operations Guide has been enhanced with a new section on using an Automated Approach to Resolve Performance Issues After Deploying Configurable Consolidation Rules.

Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close

Business Benefit: The new topic helps customers use an automated method to troubleshoot performance issues after deploying configurable consolidation rules in Financial Consolidation and Close.

Key Resources

• Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Operations Guide

The Redwood Experience as the Default Theme

All newly created or re-created EPM Cloud services, business processes, and applications now use the Redwood Experience as the default theme.

Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting

The Redwood Experience not only provides an attractive look and feel, but it also includes functionality, such as dynamic tabs, that isn't available with other themes. If you opt not to use the Redwood Experience, you can choose instead from a list of predefined classic themes with different background colors, icon styles, and so on.

Business Benefit: The default Redwood Experience provides an enhanced look and feel and robust functionality that is consistent across Oracle Cloud.

Key Resources

• About the Home Page in Administering Planning

New Tables in the Activity Report

The Activity Report has been enhanced to include tables that list configuration metrics for Account Reconciliation for both Reconciliation Compliance and Transaction Matching. Additionally, these new tables are available for Account Reconciliation: Top 10 Reports by Execution, Top 10 Reports by Duration over 30 Seconds, Top 10 Data Load Jobs by Duration over 30 Seconds, and Top 10 Other Jobs by Duration over 30 Seconds. Additionally, the report now lists Top 10 Financial Reporting and Narrative Reporting books and reports generation processes that took over one minute to complete.

Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting

The following new tables have been added to the report:

• Top 10 Reports by Execution

This table lists the 10 most frequently generated Account Reconciliation reports and the average time taken to generate each.

Top 10 Reports by Execution

• Top 10 Reports by Duration over 30 Seconds

  This table lists the top 10 Account Reconciliation reports that took more than 30 seconds to be generated. This table identifies the time taken to generate the report, the user who initiated the report generation, name of the report and the report context including format, parameters, size of the generated report, number of rows and columns, and the SQL query that was used to gather the data for the report.

Top 10 Reports by Duration over 30 Seconds

• Top 10 Data Load Jobs by Duration over 30 Seconds

This table lists the top 10 data load jobs that took more than 30 seconds to complete. This table identifies the time taken to complete the job, the user who initiated it, job start and end time, job name, and job context including Period for which the data load was performed, status of the job, and the number of errors and warning reported for the job.

Top 10 Data Loads Jobs by Duration over 30 Seconds

• Top 10 Other Jobs by Duration over 30 Seconds

This table lists the top 10 jobs other than data load jobs that took more than 30 seconds to complete. This table identifies the time taken to complete the job, the user who initiated it, job start and end time, job name, and job context, if any. User name is not displayed for maintenance jobs that EPM Cloud runs.

Top 10 Other Jobs by Duration over 30 Seconds

• Reconciliation Configuration Metrics

Account Reconciliation Configuration Metrics Table

• Transaction Matching Configuration Metrics

Transaction Matching Configuration Metrics Table

• Top 10 Longest Performing Book Generations Over 1 Min.

For each book, this table lists the book name, the time spent on generating the book, the user who generated the book, and a breakdown of each activity in the book generation process. The Object column in the table contains details of output type, folder, book POV, and other metadata.

Top 10 Longest Performing Book Generations Over 1 Minute Table

• Top 10 Longest Performing Report Generations Over 1 Min.

For each report, this table lists the report name, the time spent on generating the report, the user who generated the report, and a breakdown of each activity in the report generation process. The Object column in the table contains details of output type, folder, user POV, and other metadata.

Top 10 Longest Performing Report Generations Over 1 Minute Table

Business Benefit: The Reconciliation and Transaction Matching Configuration Metrics help you understand how these components are configured in EPM Cloud. The tables listing the longest performing books, reports, and data load jobs help you optimize them.

Key Resources

• Using Activity Reports and Access Logs to Monitor Usage in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators.

Updates to the Clone Environment Screen

The Clone Environment screen, which provides a screen-based way to clone an environment, has been enhanced to help you clone the Data Management records available in Planning, Planning Modules, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting environments.

Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

If you are cloning Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting, you can select the Data Management check box to clone Data Management records.

Updated Clone Environment Screen

Business Benefit: This update supports the cloning of Data Management records for disaster recovery or Classic to OCI (Gen 2) migration.

EPM Digital Assistant Available on Every Web Page

You can now use the EPM Digital Assistant on every web page within the business process.

Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close

Business Benefit: Having the assistant available on every page gives you more flexibility for using it with a business process.

Key Resources

• Implementing the EPM Digital Assistant (Administrators) in Getting Started with the Digital Assistant for Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management

• Using the Assistant on the Web in Getting Started with the Digital Assistant for Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management

EPM Automate Updates

A new version of EPM Automate is now available. This version introduces the getApplicationAdminMode and optimizeASOCube commands. Additionally, this version includes changes to the cloneEnvironment command.

Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting

getApplicationAdminMode Command

Checks whether the Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, or Tax Reporting application is in administration mode with access limited only to Service Administrators.

optimizeASOCube Command

Optimizes the performance of queries for data extraction by creating aggregate views in ASO cubes for Profitability and Cost Management applications.

Changes to the cloneEnvironment Command

This command now supports additional optional parameter DataManagement=true|false, which enables you to clone Data Management records from the source environment to the target environment.

Business Benefit: The new commands facilitate the remote administration of EPM Cloud environments and support the cloning of environments for disaster recovery or Classic to OCI (Gen 2) migration.

Key Resources

• Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud:
  • Installing EPM Automate
  • getApplicationAdminMode
  • optimizeASOCube
  • cloneEnvironment

REST API to Clone Environments

This REST API clones the current environment and, optionally, identity domain artifacts (users and roles). This REST API is an alternative to using the Clone Environment feature in Migration or the EPM Automate cloneEnvironment command.

Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting

Business Benefit: This feature allows you to automate cloning environments.

Key Resources

• Migration REST APIs in REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
• Cloning EPM Cloud Environments in Administering Migration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Role Information

• Service Administrators

Groovy Features

You can now use Groovy to do these tasks:

• Export and import level 0 data from Essbase. The DataExporter class allows you to export data in the Planning format from a cube that can be consumed either via an iterator or can be written to a file which is made available in the Outbox. The DataImportRequest and DataImporter classes allow you to import level 0 data in Planning format from a file from the Inbox or rows of in-memory data into Essbase.
• Use a CSV writer that allows you to write an array or collection of strings to a file that will be uploaded to the Outbox.

These features can be used by any application that has access to Groovy.

Applies to: Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules

Business Benefit: Using Groovy business rules allows you to automate these tasks.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

To get a quick introduction to Groovy business rules, watch the Learning Groovy in EPM Cloud video.

Key Resources

• Learning Groovy in EPM Cloud video
• Creating a Groovy Business Rule in Designing with Calculation Manager for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
• Introduction to Groovy Business Rules
• Groovy Tutorials
• EPM Cloud Groovy Rules Java API Reference

Role Information

• Calculation Manager Business Rule Designer

Improved Manifest Creation Page for Smart View (Mac and Browser)

Improvements in the Create Manifest File page for Smart View (Mac and Browser) allow for easier reuse of existing add-in manifest files and ease-of-use when creating manifest files for a multiple-manifest deployment.

Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

The Create Manifest File utility now allows you to change or reuse the Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser) add-in ID. Unique IDs identify one add-in from another. With this utility, Service Administrators can create a unique ID for each EPM Cloud instance (for example, Test and Production instances). The utility also allows you to reuse an existing manifest file and upgrade it while maintaining the ID that was previously set and other option selections, such as Server URL, App Domains, Add-in Name, and ribbon and context menu selections.

To access the utility in the Create Manifest File page, Service Administrators use new buttons for selecting a previously-used ID and for generating a new unique ID:

• “Generate new unique ID for the add-in GUID” button

The “Generate new unique ID” button in the Create Manifest File utility lets you easily generate a unique manifest ID. Clicking this button populates the Add-in ID (GUID) field. Unique IDs identify one add-in from another. Using the new Generate ID button, you can create a unique ID for each manifest you create for each EPM Cloud instance in your organization; for example, for Planning Test and Production instances as well as Financial Consolidation and Close Test and Production instances. Once deployed, the unique ID allows Smart View (Mac and Browser) to easily identify one add-in from another.

• “Select manifest file to reuse” button

Reuse an existing manifest file by clicking the "Reuse add-in ID (GUID)" button. Navigate to the manifest XML file to reuse, and open it.

In the “Create Manifest File” page, your previous selections are ready to use again. Selections and edits you made in the Server URL, App Domains, and Add-in Name fields are repopulated. Depending on the manifest version you are reusing (such as 21.06 or 21.09), the  menu and context menu items are reselected. And, if selected, function support is rechecked. For more information, see the "Tips and Considerations" section below.

When reusing a manifest, the business process selection defaults to Planning. Choose the business process you require to see your previous selections. Then you may make changes in the “Available menu items” pane, and perform any other customizations you require for renaming menu items or adding items to the context menu.

Once you've made all your changes and updates, be sure to click the Create Manifest File button, and then proceed with sideloading or deployment.

Business Benefit: Improvements in the CreateManifest.html page allow Service Administrators to easily reuse and update manifest files and generate the unique GUIDs required when deploying multiple manifest files, simplifying the update process.

Steps to Enable

There are no steps to enable this feature. Instead, while updating your Smart View (Mac and Browser) deployment to take advantage of the latest features, use the new utility buttons in the Create Manifest File page, "Select manifest file to reuse" and "Generate new unique ID," as you require.

Tips And Considerations

• When reusing a manifest file created in 21.09 or later, items chosen in “Available menu items" and context menu selections will be recognized; for example, items will be checked and underlined where appropriate. Rename any items that were previously renamed. Any new menu items added since the manifest was last used must be reviewed and selected, if required.

  If you are reusing a manifest earlier than 21.09, only "Available menu item" selections will be recognized. Edit any items you wish to rename, and reset your context menu items.

For all previous manifests, the Server URL, App Domains, Add-in Name field will be recognized. However, be sure to review the "Select business process to create manifest" field and change it to the correct business process, if necessary. The business process will always default to Planning, regardless of the business process that was used previously. For example, if you reuse a manifest that was created for Financial Consolidation and Close, the business process field will default to Planning when you select it for reuse. After selecting the correct business process, it is best practice to review all the selections on the Create Manifest File page and make any updates you require.

• In a multiple manifest deployment, each manifest file must have a unique GUID. If you plan to deploy multiple manifest files, then, as you create each manifest file, click the "Generate a new unique ID" button to ensure that each manifest file has a unique GUID.

Key Resources

• Deploying and Administering Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser): 
  • Creating and Saving the Manifest File
  • Reusing a Previously-Saved Manifest File
  • Creating Files for Multiple Manifest Deployment or Sideloading
  • Customizing the Manifest File
  • Sideloading and Logging In
  • Deploying the Manifest File to Office 365 Users

Support for Dashboards in Smart View (Mac and Browser)

Oracle  Smart View (Mac and Browser) now supports dashboards. Dashboards provide an overview to users of their planning and forecast process by showing summary data.  They give you access to key information and let you enter, change, and save data.

In Smart View (Mac and Browser), dashboard objects are displayed in table format, with each object displayed on a separate sheet within a workbook.

Applies to:  Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

To open a dashboard:

1. Connect to an EPM Cloud data source that contains dashboards.

2. From the tree list in the Smart View Home panel, click a dashboard, indicated by this icon: .

The dashboard opens in a new Excel workbook, with each dashboard object displayed in table format in separate worksheets. For example, if a dashboard contains four objects, then four worksheets will be launched in the workbook.

For more information on dashboards:

• Administrators: See the topics on designing dashboards in the Administering guide for your cloud business process.
• End users: See the topics on using dashboards in the Working with guide for your cloud business process.

Business Benefit: In Smart View (Mac and Browser), dashboards show summary data to users in table format, enabling users to quickly enter, change, and save data.

Key Resources

• Working with Dashboards in Smart View for Office User's Guide

Progress Message Displayed on Submit in Smart View (Mac and Browser)

When submitting data in Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser), a message is now displayed showing you the progress of the Submit operation.

Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

You may not make any changes to the grid or form until the progress message is closed. This prevents you from entering data into the grid before the current Submit is complete.

Previously, users could enter data, submit it, then enter data in other cells before the Submit operation was completed, which could result in an invalid grid or form.

Additionally, errors originating in the business process, such as Planning, are now displayed in a similar popup message.

Business Benefit: The new progress message that displays when performing a Submit operation prevents users from entering data before the current Submit is complete, which helps to maintain the validity of the grid or form.

Key Resources

• Submitting Data in Working with Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser)

Support for Comments and Unknown Members in Smart View (Mac and Browser)

The new View Comments ribbon command launches the Comment Edit dialog, allowing you to easily access and edit comments in an ad hoc grid.

Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

Comments consist of:

• Unknown members on a grid
• Text typed outside the grid; for example, your own notes on a sheet

Enable comment display in the ad hoc sheet by selecting the "Preserve Comments and Formulas" check box in the Data tab of the Options panel.

Set a cell style in Smart View (Mac and Browser) to give you a quick view of comment cells on the sheet, including invalid, or unknown, members in the grid, or notes you may have made in cells outside of the grid. You can also set a Data option to review comments in the Comment Edit dialog upon each refresh.

Launch the Comment Edit dialog any time by clicking the View Comments command, available by default as a submenu item of the More command in the Smart View ribbon,  Data group.

The Comment Edit dialog displays each comment in an editable text field, along with the cell location of each comment. Edit or delete the comment in the Comment Edit dialog. You can also edit or delete comments directly in the grid, without using the dialog.

To display the Comment Edit dialog each time you refresh the ad hoc grid, select the new data option, "Always Show Comments on Refresh." This option is located in the Ad Hoc Mode group in the Data tab of the Options panel.

Business Benefit: The new View Comment feature in Smart View (Mac and Browser), including options for displaying comments and displaying the Comment Edit dialog, provides a clear and easy-to-use interface for viewing, editing, and deleting comments and unknown members present in an ad hoc grid.

Steps to Enable

To use the View Comments feature in Smart View (Mac and Browser), a Service Administrator must create and deploy a new manifest to users. Alternatively, a Service Administrator may reuse an existing manifest file and then redeploy it to users.

To enable the new View Comment feature in Smart View (Mac and Browser):

1. Create a new manifest file or reuse an existing manifest file, and customize it per your requirements.
2. Ensure that the View Comments menu item is selected in the "Available menu items" pane.
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
  • Reusing a Previously-Saved Manifest File
  • Creating Files for Multiple Manifest Deployment or Sideloading
  • Customizing the Manifest File
  • Sideloading and Logging In
  • Deploying the Manifest File to Office 365 Users

• Working with Oracle Smart View for Office (Mac and Browser):
  • Working with Comments and Unknown Members

Hide Density Column for ASO Cubes in the Dimension Editors

Because dimension density is not applicable for all business processes and applications (such as FreeForm apps), the Dimension Editor interface now only displays the Dense (or Density) column for applications that use BSO cubes.

Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

In the Simplified Dimension Editor, from the Home page, click Application, then Overview, and then Dimensions. In the Cube drop-down, select a BSO cube to view the Dense column. If you select an ASO cube, the Dense column is hidden.

In the Classic Dimension Editor, from the Home page, click Navigator, and then under Create and Manage, click Dimensions. Click Performance Settings, and then select a BSO cube to view the Density column. The Density column is now hidden for ASO cubes.

Business Benefit: The Dense (or Density) column isn't needed in the Dimension Editor interface for all business processes and applications, so it will only display for applications that use BSO cubes.

Key Resources

• Filtering the Dimension View by Cube in Administering Planning
• Setting Dimension Density and Order in Administering Planning

Support for Defining Invalid Intersections and Other Valid Intersections Enhancements

A new definition type, called Invalid Intersections, has been added to the Valid Intersections functionality.

Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

Valid intersections prevent data entry to a large number of cell intersections, whereas invalid intersections prevent data entry to a select few intersections.

In use cases where data entry is allowed in most cell combinations but you need to prevent data entry to only a select few cell combinations, the process for defining those intersections was cumbersome. We've eased the definition process by supporting the ability to define invalid intersections. You define invalid intersections in the same way that you define valid intersections except you can now specify the Invalid Intersection definition type when creating the intersection group.

In addition to the ability to define invalid intersections, you can now filter the intersections listing by type and import and export valid/invalid intersections.

Business Benefit: The ability to define invalid intersections eases the definition process in use cases where you only need to prevent data entry for a select few cell combinations.

Key Resources

• Defining Valid and Invalid Intersections in Administering Planning

Processing Time Restrictions Removed for Oracle Cloud ERP Integrations

When you build a BI Publisher Report as the basis for an EPM Cloud integration definition with the Oracle Cloud ERP, you can now execute the integration without encountering execution time restrictions. Using this new feature, the integration definition uses the Oracle Enterprise Scheduler (ESS) to schedule a job to be executed at specific intervals not subject to timeout restrictions.

Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, Tax Reporting

To execute jobs in this mode, customers need to create an Oracle ESS job definition in the Oracle Cloud ERP for the BI Publisher report used in the integration with the EPM Cloud.

Business Benefit: Prior to this update, customers could only execute BI Publisher reports in synchronous mode, which has a timeout limit of about 5 minutes within the Oracle Cloud ERP instance. BI Publisher reports run via ESS can process larger data sets and execute queries quickly without any time restrictions.

Key Resources

• Creating an Oracle Enterprise Scheduler (ESS) Job to Run in Asynchronous Mode in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Importing and Exporting Period Mapping in Excel

In this update, all period mappings types are enabled for Excel export/import options in Data Integration. You can now create new period mappings in Excel and then import them. You can also export period mappings, make changes to them, and re-import them.

Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

Business Benefit: This feature enables you to define and create period mappings when using Excel to import or export data.

Key Resources

• Managing Period Mappings in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Enhanced Comment Management

Users with the same role on a task or reconciliation now have the ability to manage each other’s comments. For example, a preparer on a reconciliation can review the comments and delete any comments entered by other preparers when the reconciliation is not yet Closed. The preparer will not be able to delete any comments added by reviewers on the reconciliation.

Applies to: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Tax Reporting

Business Benefit: This feature makes it easier for team members with same role to manage each other’s comments.

Key Resources

• Adding Comments for Tasks in Working with Financial Consolidation and Close
• Adding Comments in Reconciling Accounts with Account Reconciliation

Support for Using the PeriodOffset Function Within the Range Member Selector in Reports

In Reports, the Range member selector function returns a range of members based on specified start and end members. It is commonly used with the CurrentPOV or Prompts in a Time (for example, Period) dimension to produce a “rolling” report that displays months before and after the “current month” (for example, three months before through three months after the current month).

Previously, the Range function could not automatically span across years, when years and periods were in separate dimensions. You can now use the Range function with the PeriodOffset function, which can produce a rolling report across the specified year and period dimensions.

Applies to: Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Tax Reporting

For example, if the member selection functions are defined as:

Range from: PeriodOffset of CurrentPOV - 2 for periods

To: PeriodOffset of CurrentPOV + 14 for periods

Where the CurrentPOV for Year and Periods are Jan and FY19, the results of the report are as follows, where the starting period is Nov, FY18 (Current POV – 2) and the ending period is Mar, FY20 (Current POV + 14)

PeriodOffset Function within the Range Member Selector Function

Business Benefit: This feature provides a dynamic member selection when creating reports that span time periods across periods and years eliminates manually selecting each period and year combination.

Key Resources

• Designing with Reports for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
  • Functions Available Through Member Selection 
  • Example: Using the Range function to create rolling reports

Account Reconciliation

New Merge Mode for Data Loads in Account Reconciliation Using Data Integration

Administrators can now execute data loads in Account Reconciliation using a new Merge Mode option that merges changed balances with existing data for the same location.  This eliminates the need for an entire data file load when only a few balances have changed since the last time data was loaded into Account Reconciliation. The required set up is done in Data Integration by creating a Merge ID in Map Dimensions.

Business Benefit: By allowing customers to load only changed balances, this significantly saves processing time and manual tasks associated with smaller changes to the existing data.

Key Resources

• Adding an Account Reconciliation Merge Balance Dimension in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
• Define and Save a Data Load Definition in Administering Account Reconciliation

Carry Forward Comments on Reconciliations

Comments associated with a reconciliation can be carried forward to the reconciliation with the same Account ID in future periods. This includes any attachments associated with the comments.

Business Benefit: Contextual information about a reconciliation, that is added using comments, can be made readily available in future periods. This saves precious time and effort for both accountants and auditors.

Key Resources

• Adding Comments in Reconciling Accounts with Account Reconciliation

Enterprise Data Management

Allow Duplicate Nodes in Specific Financial Trees for Financials Cloud Applications

An Allow Duplicate Nodes option is available for individual trees during the registration of a Financials Cloud General Ledger application. This option provides more granular control over shared nodes and enables you to permit shared nodes in specific hierarchies but not others. When creating a new tree, the Allow Duplicate Nodes option defaults to the application level setting and can be modified. For an existing tree, the option is set based on the configuration of the Allow Shared Nodes parameter for its hierarchy set.

Business Benefit: Application owners want to allow shared nodes in certain hierarchies but also be able to restrict them from being used in other hierarchies. Hierarchies used for cross-validation rules, revaluations, and chart of accounts mapping can include duplicates whereas hierarchies being published to Essbase should not include them.

Key Resources

• Registering Segments and Trees in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Application Blockout Period

A Blockout Period can be configured for an application to prevent changes to data during a specified time frame. When a blockout period is enabled, requests which include changes for the application are blocked from reaching Completed status until the end of the period. Imports and binding a different viewpoint to a dimension are also disabled during the blockout period. Requests can still be created, submitted, enriched, and approved for the application while the blockout is in effect. Exception handling options are available to permit certain users to modify data and allow changes to be made to unbound viewpoints when necessary.

Business Benefit: For some applications, it is desirable to restrict changes to data while certain business processes are taking place. Examples of these processes include a financial close, a system reconciliation, or a data migration.

Key Resources

• Understanding Application Blockout Periods in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Combination Node Type Parameter

The Combination Node Type parameter on a node type is used to identify nodes which represent a combination of values from multiple other node types. Examples of a combination node type include a General Ledger account combination or a Data Management multi-dimensional mapping.

Node types are marked as combinations in the Record Count Log report. This option is expressly for reporting purposes only and does not impact the subscription record count used for pricing purposes.

Business Benefit: Administrators want to understand how combinations of values factor into the amount of data being managed in Enterprise Data Management.

Key Resources

• Inspecting a Node Type in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Commit Policies and Workflow Stage for Requests

Commit policies allow users to perform a final review of In Flight requests after they have been enriched and approved. Commit policies can be created at the application, dimension, node type, or hierarchy set level. When a commit policy is enabled, requests will pass through an additional workflow stage (Commit) where policy users can review the requests and commit or reject them. Request items cannot be modified in the Commit stage but users can make comments and add attachments as necessary.

Business Benefit: In cases where requests are enriched during an approval process, the Commit stage can be used to enforce a separation of duties and ensure that all changes have been reviewed by another person before being applied to production data.

Key Resources

• Commit Policies in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Compare Selected Properties for Nodes

When comparing node properties across viewpoints, specific properties can be selected for comparison. This allows users to focus a compare on certain properties of interest and disregard known differences for other properties. Compare results are filtered to only differences for the selected properties. You can also create request items from the filtered compare results to resolve differences for only the selected properties.

Business Benefit: Users want to be able to compare specific properties across viewpoints when they are only interested in differences for those properties.

Key Resources

• Running Viewpoint Comparisons in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Disable Passthrough for Lookup Set in Expressions

When using the Find method on a lookup set in an expression, the Disable Passthrough argument allows a null value to be returned when the specified lookup key is not found. By default, the Find method uses a pass through approach and returns the original value in the event the lookup key cannot be found in the lookup set. The OrElse method may be used with the Disable Passthrough option to return a different string value instead of a null.

Business Benefit: Sometimes when performing a lookup in an expression it is necessary to return a null or default value when a lookup set does not contain the source value.

Key Resources

• Using Lookup Sets in Expressions in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Duration for Import, Export, and Extract Operations

The duration of an import, export, or extract process is now included in the results displayed on the Import, Export, and Extract screens. This information allows users to identify how long a process ran.

Business Benefit: Application owners want to know the duration of an import, export, or extract operation to evaluate the timing and performance of these processes. This information is also helpful for scheduling automated integration tasks.

Extract Unique Records Based on Specified Key

Extract columns can be marked with a Key option to only output a single row of data for each unique instance of the key values. One or more extract columns can be configured as part of the key.  Rows with duplicate instances of the key values are suppressed from the extract output. When there are multiple key columns in an extract, duplicates are determined based on the combination of values in the key columns.

Business Benefit: Some extracts need to provide data to a target system or process which expects the records to be unique. An example is a relational database table which uses a primary key constraint.

Key Resources

• Selecting Extract Columns in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Include Blanks for Split Method in Expressions

The Split method for String data types in expressions provides an optional Include Blanks argument which allows blank values to be included in the resulting string list. By default, blank values are excluded from the string list returned by the Split method.

For example, when the Include Blanks option is used, the expression return ('A--B').split('-') returns the list 'A','','B' (3 values)

When the Include Blanks option is not used, the same expression return ('A--B').split('-')returns the list 'A','B'  (2 values)

Business Benefit: A delimited string value which needs to be split into a list may contain leading, trailing, or repeated delimiters. In some cases, these situations should be interpreted as a blank values rather than being ignored to ensure data integrity.

Key Resources

• Data Types for Expression Terms in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Incremental Extracts for Dimension Viewpoints

Incremental extracts provide the ability to output incremental changes for a dimension viewpoint between two specified time periods. The two time periods are compared and the resulting differences are output as incremental changes. An incremental extract can be set up to include adds, updates, moves, or deletes made to nodes in the viewpoint.

Extract columns can be configured to output From and To values for moved nodes and updated properties. A node expression can be used as an inclusion filter during the time period comparison or as an exclusion filter on the differences identified by the comparison.

Business Benefit: For large dimensions, it is desirable for incremental changes to be distributed to a target system or integration process rather than the entire data set.

Key Resources

• Understanding Extract Types in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Invalid Values and First Characters for Properties

String data type properties can be configured with additional options to control the validity of property values. The Invalid Values parameter defines a list of values which the property cannot be equal to. The Invalid First Characters parameter specifies a list of characters which the property value cannot begin with.  These property parameters can be set at the application and node type level.

Business Benefit: String properties which are not limited to a list of allowed values may have certain values or characters which are restricted, or reserved for systematic purposes, and should not be used.

Key Resources

• Understanding Property Data Types and Their Parameters in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

OrElse Method for String Expression Terms

The OrElse method can be used with String data types to return a default value if a preceding expression has a null value. This method may be used as a substitute for separate If/Else statements which check for a null value resulting in simpler expression logic.

For example, the expression:

return node.properties.Core.Description.orElse('Default Descr')

Can be used instead of the expression:

if node.properties.Core.Description.isNull

   return 'Default Descr'

else

   return node.properties.Core.Description

Business Benefit: For some business rules, expressions need to check whether a certain value is null and return a default value instead.

Key Resources

• Working with Objects and Operators in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Pivot List and String Properties in Viewpoint Extracts

The Pivot option for an extract column can be used to output a separate row for each value in List or String data type property. Other extract columns are repeated for each row produced by the pivot. Only a single property can be pivoted in an extract. When pivoting a String property, an extract option is available to choose a pivot delimiter.

Business Benefit: When List data type properties are included in an extract, it may be necessary to output the list values in separate rows rather than as a delimited set of values in a single extract column.

Key Resources

• Selecting Extract Columns in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Policy Filter for Updated Properties in Requests

A new policy filter is available to enforce a policy based on the update of specific properties in a request. This filter can be used to restrict a policy to only requests where certain properties have been updated. The Properties filter can be set for an approval, commit, or notification policy.

Business Benefit: Some policies need to be enforced only when certain properties are updated in a request but are not necessary when other properties are updated for the same nodes.

Key Resources

• Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud:
  • Creating and Enabling Approval Policies
  • Creating and Enabling Commit Policies
  • Creating and Enabling Notification Policies

Rename Node During Enrichment Without Add Access

Approval policy users who can perform enrichment of request items are able to rename nodes which were added to a viewpoint in the request without the need for data access to add nodes. When a user renames a node added by a different user, a separate Rename action is created in the request rather than updating the node name for the original Add action. When the request completes, an additional Rename transaction will be recorded in transaction history for the user who performed that action.

Business Benefit: Enrichment users who do not have permission to add nodes themselves may need to rename nodes which were added by the submitter of a request.

Summary Node Validation for Financials Cloud and E-Business Suite Applications

A Summary Node With Missing Children validation is available for Financials Cloud and E-Business Suite application dimensions to ensure that nodes which are marked as Summary values have at least one child in a hierarchy viewpoint.. This validation can be enabled or disabled at the dimension level for applications of these types.

Business Benefit: Nodes that do not have any children in a hierarchy viewpoint should not be set up as summary values in a Financials Cloud or E-Business Suite general ledger application.

Key Resources

• Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud:
  • Oracle Financials Cloud General Ledger Validations
  • E-Business Suite General Ledger Validations

Synchronize Property Updates Previously Excluded by Subscriptions

Subscriptions will now synchronize property updates in rare cases where they were previously excluded by Action and Top Node filters or when a node's parent did not match between the source and target viewpoints.

The following scenarios are now handled by subscriptions:

• Updates to Node level properties made with another structural action such as an Insert or Move which was not included in the Action filter

• Updates to Node level properties made to a shared node in a hierarchy location not included in the Top Node filter but has another location which is included

• Updates to Node level properties made in a list viewpoint or under a source parent which is different than the target parent

Business Benefit: Property values for common nodes need to be synchronized from source to target viewpoints to ensure data integrity and consistency across applications.

Use Memo Properties in Expressions

Memo data type properties can be used in expressions for derived properties, property transformations, custom validations, policy filters, extract filters, and subscription filters. String methods and attributes are available for Memo properties in an expression.

Business Benefit: Some business rules are based on information in a Memo data type property.. An example is a validation which ensures a Formula property is populated if a node is at the bottom level of a hierarchy and is marked for dynamic calculation.

Key Resources

• Data Types for Expression Terms in Administering and Working with Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud

Financial Consolidation and Close

Data Load Replace Mode Enhancement

During the Data Load process, the Replace mode can now include Consolidation dimension members in the criteria for which data is cleared before loading the new data. For example, this allows you to load Entity Input data in Replace mode without clearing Translation Override data or data in the other Input members, so that you do not need to re-enter or reload that data.

To enable this functionality, you can add a Substitution Variable called “DataLoadConsolMember” and set the value to True.

Business Benefit: The scope of the members to be cleared during the Data Load Replace process can now also include Consolidation dimension members, which may eliminate the need to re-enter or reload data.

Key Resources

• Data Load Methods in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud

Consolidation Journal Enhancements

This update includes several Consolidation journal enhancements.

• Power Users can now Approve a journal without having Read/Write access to the Parent Entity.

• Using a Flow account in a Year-to-Date/Journal-to-Date journal will reverse the number in the next period. Balance accounts are not reversed.

• A Year-to-Date/Journal-to-Date journal must be balanced by Flow Accounts and Balance Accounts separately.

• FCCS_ClosingBalance_Input is not a valid Movement member for Year-to-Date and Journal-to-Date journals. FCCS_ClosingBalance_Input must be posted via a Periodic journal to the current period.

Business Benefit: Consolidation journals have been enhanced with more security access for Power Users, and requirements for journal entries in Year-to-Date and Journal-to-Date journals.

Key Resources

• Consolidation Journal Security Roles in Working with Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud
• Periodic, Year-to-Date and Journal-to-Date Journal Entries in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud

Performance Substitution Variables

The OptimizeConcurrency, OluRatesLoad, and OptimizePelimCalculation substitution variables can be enabled to improve performance.

• OptimizeConcurrency = True

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.

• OLURatesLoad = True

This substitution variable improves refresh database performance. The more scenarios, currencies and rate accounts in an application, the more noticeable the improvement will be. Please note, in previous months, this variable was incorrectly capitalized; OLURatesLoad is correct.

• OptimizePelimCalculation = True

This substitution variable improves Partner Eliminations (PElim) performance.  If there is a consolidation performance degradation when deploying a user-created “Partner Eliminations Configurable Consolidation Rule” that has an account re-direction, adding this variable can provide significant performance improvement.

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 performance.

Key Resources

• Creating and Assigning Values to Substitution Variables in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close

Delete Ad-Hoc Enterprise Journals

Ad-hoc journals can now be deleted by the preparer user as well as the service administrator if the journal has the Post Status as “Not Posted”. When you delete an ad-hoc journal, it not only deletes the journal data, but also deletes the corresponding associated information like question and answer, comments, and history. However, if the Post Status of the ad-hoc journal is either “Posted” or Post-in-Progress”, or if the journal period is locked, then the ad-hoc journal cannot be deleted.

Business Benefit: This new capability provides additional flexibility to ad-hoc journal users to delete one or multiple ad-hoc journals with ease.

Key Resources

• Deleting Ad-Hoc Enterprise Journals in Administering Financial Consolidation and Close
• Deleting Ad-Hoc Enterprise Journals in Working with Financial Consolidation and Close

Narrative Reporting

Updated Academy Page

The Academy page has been updated with new categories and videos for Narrative Reporting Cloud. 

Additional topics and videos are now available in the Narrative Reporting Cloud Academy. To view the updated content, access a service instance and then click or tap Academy.

Updated Academy Page

Business Benefit: The Academy has been updated to reflect recent changes in the software user interface. 

New Persisted Message in Report Package

The report package’s Report Center now displays warning icons on all doclets that incur processing errors. This allows you to easily identify areas of the report package that were not properly updated.

For example, suppose a linked reports reference doclet cannot be refreshed because the report is not found in the library. If you click on the warning icon, you can review each of these messages and address the issues accordingly. Once the underlying issue is addressed, the warning icons are removed.

Business Benefit: This feature provides an easy way to troubleshoot processing errors in the report package.

Publish Sections in Report Package

You are now able to publish sections within MS Word and PowerPoint Report Packages.

NOTE: Any user with View access to the Section can publish the section within the browser.

Business Benefit: This feature enables you to publish each section separately when needed.

Key Resources

• Publishing the Report Package and Deleting Working Papers in Creating and Managing Report Packages for Narrative Reporting

Improvements for Aggregating and Reporting on Notes

Using Notes, you can enter POV-based narrative text which is then displayed in formatted reports along with grids and charts. You can utilize Notes where reporting structure and narrative requirements are uniform across Entities, Departments, and so on. You can enter Notes in Reports where the report designer has inserted a Note Template while previewing a report in HTML. To report on Notes, you can use either the Notes text function or the new GridNotes text function.

The Notes text function provides a robust and flexible way to display Notes in a report in a text box. Previously, when using the Notes text function, the Named POV that drove the results of the text function could only be edited by the report designer, with no end-user control or interaction available.

Text boxes can now be Data source enabled, providing POV control when using the Notes text function to aggregate and report on Notes.

• You can make POV selections and have the text box return the corresponding Notes.

• A secondary POV for the text box can be displayed to refine the report POV selections to display the Children, Descendants, or Bottom level of a dimension’s report POV selection, based on your selection.  

• The report can contain the text box-only (with its own POV) or it can also include grids and charts.

You can also use the new GridNotes text function to display Notes in a text box or a grid text row, column, or cells, based on the POV of a grid.

Business Benefit: This feature provides increased flexibility, interactivity, and usability for reporting on Notes.

Key Resources

• Designing with Reports for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud:
  • About Notes
  • Creating a Note Template
  • Working with Notes Manager
  • Inserting the Notes Text Function in a Report
  • Notes Text Function
  • Grid Notes Text Function

Planning

Support for Creating Multi-Cube FreeForm Apps

A new option to create multi-cube FreeForm apps has been added to the application creation wizard.

You can create a FreeForm app with multiple cubes using the application creation wizard, or you can create a FreeForm app with a single cube and then add more cubes later (up to 12 cubes total). Additional cubes can be added on the Application Overview page, and then selecting the Cubes tab.

To create a multi-cube FreeForm app, on the EPM Enterprise Cloud Service landing page, click SELECT under Planning, and then click START under Create a new application. On the Create Application page, name the application, and then for Application Type, click Free Form, and then click Create Cubes and specify the number of cubes.

Business Benefit: FreeForm apps let you deploy an application with no dimensional requirements, and support for multi-cube FreeForm apps allows for even more dimension flexibility needed by your organization.

Key Resources

• Creating a FreeForm App in Administering Planning

Planning Frequency Renamed to Period Frequency in Application Creation Wizard

When creating an application using the Application Creation Wizard and selecting setup options, the Planning Frequency option is now renamed to Period Frequency.

The application provides setup options that you can select to help you manually create the initial framework for your business process. One of the options you'll need to specify is now called Period Frequency where you'll select from the following frequency options: Monthly, Weekly, Quarterly, or Custom.

Business Benefit: To keep the terminology consistent across the business processes, the time period option was renamed from Planning Frequency to Period Frequency.

Key Resources

• Setting Up the Calendar in Administering Planning

One-Click Automation for EPM Planning Projects Module Integration with Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management

If you enabled integration between the EPM Planning Projects module (Projects) and Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management (Project Management), three job types are now available for administrators that offer one-click automation and simplify the integration.

• Export Projects and Budgets (ongoing task). Replaces:
  • Refresh Cube
  • Export Projects
  • Export Project Budgets

• Import Project Actuals (ongoing task). Replaces:
  • Import Project Actuals
  • Calculate Imported Projects

• Import Projects and Budgets (one-time task for migrating projects from Project Management). Replaces:
  • Import Projects
  • Import Project Budgets
  • Calculate Imported Projects

You can schedule the jobs to run at a convenient time.

Each job type is prepopulated with the information from Data Integration for the integrations you set up when you enabled the integration. For example, when you run the job Export Projects and Budgets, the lists for Integration Job Name (Export Projects) and Integration Job Name (Export Budgets) include all the integrations defined for all Project Management calendars. Scenario, Version, and Entity are populated, but you can change them. To limit the amount of data sent to Project Management, start and end periods are populated based on the data available in EPM Planning Projects. For the Import Project Actuals job, you can use substitution variables for the date range, simplifying the process of running this job on a regular basis as actuals become available in Project Management.

Export Projects and Budgets Job

Business Benefits:

• You no longer need to use Data Integration to run multiple integrations. You can launch jobs directly in the EPM Planning Projects module.
• There are fewer steps because additional required rules, such as Refresh Database and Calculate Imported Projects, are now included in the job.
• You can schedule the jobs to run at convenient times and automate the process.

Tips And Considerations

• Standard SKU customers must use Planning jobs instead of the Data Management integrations. Hybrid Essbase must be enabled.
• Setting up a connection to the reporting cube is required only if you are using Data Management integrations. It is not required if you use Planning jobs.

Key Resources

• Integrating EPM Planning Projects and Project Management in Administering Planning Modules
• Integrating EPM Planning Projects with Project Management in Working with Planning Modules

Profitability and Cost Management

There are no new features in this update except for the applicable features listed in the EPM Cloud Common section.

Tax Reporting

There are no new features in this update except for the applicable features listed in the EPM Cloud Common section.

IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations

One-Week Lag Between Readiness Documents Live and Help Center Live

Because Oracle readiness documents (What's New and New Feature Summary) are live one week before the monthly update is applied to Test environments, some links to documentation included in the readiness documents will not work until after the Oracle Help Center update is complete when the monthly update is applied to Test environments.

EPM CLOUD COMMON

Setting Dashboard or Infolet as Default Page

Starting with the November 2021 update (21.11), in the interest of better and consistent user interaction, you will no longer be able to set a dashboard or infolet as the default page within the listing page. When these settings are enabled, the default dashboard or infolet opens in place of the listing page.

Only Secured URLs in Logo and Background Images

Starting with the November 2021 update (21.11), only secured URLs will be supported within the Logo Image and Background Image settings in the Appearance page in EPM Cloud.

Use the Export URLs Feature to Replace Direct URLs

In the 21.03 update, Oracle released a feature called Export URLs that exports EPM Cloud URLs to a CSV file which then provides the unique URLs for each card, tab, or sub-tab within a connected EPM Cloud business process. The Export URLs feature should be used in place of any direct URL pointers that customers might be using to link to EPM forms, dashboards, or infolets. The direct URL feature to forms, dashboards, or infolets will no longer be supported starting with the 21.11 update. See Using Direct URLs to Integrate Connected Environments in Administering Planning.

Restrictions to Copy Version Functionality

Based on feedback from several customers due to its inherent data corruption risks, we plan to restrict the ‘Copy Version’ functionality in Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting to be exposed only to administrators. Starting in November 2021, ‘Copy Version’ functionality will not be available to Power Users and Users.

Support for Composite Forms in EPM Cloud

As of the May 2021 update, Oracle EPM Cloud no longer officially supports composite forms. As has been announced for several months, customers are required to use EPM Cloud dashboards instead. Customers can continue to use their composite forms without support.

Upcoming Security Changes for Predefined Reports

In a future update, Power User security will be enforced on:

• All predefined Reconciliation Manager and Transaction Matching reports in Account Reconciliation
• All predefined Task Manager reports in Financial Consolidation and Close and Tax Reporting

Loaner Program for Cloud Infrastructure Generation 2 Testing and OCI Migration Assistance Early Adopter Program

Oracle EPM Cloud is now live on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Gen 2 environments. If you are interested in testing your application performance on an OCI environment, open a service request following the process at https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/enterprise-performance-management-common/tsepm/op_procs_loaner_envs.html and request for a loaner environment in an OCI data center for a duration of 30 days with the business justification as “Want to test application performance in an OCI Gen 2 data center”.

After you have performed the testing, submit Provide Feedback from the loaner environment. Create a service request using the normal support process, if you have any issues or feedback for the OCI environment. For more information, see What is a Gen 2 Cloud?

Additionally, Oracle has instituted a program to assist a limited number of early adopters on Oracle Cloud Classic to migrate to OCI. For more information, see Oracle Cloud Classic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Migration Assistance Program for Early Adopters.

SMART VIEW

Strategic Modeling with Smart View Requires Smart View Version 21.100

Starting with the November update (21.11), Strategic Modeling requires Smart View Client version 21.100 or higher in order to support necessary improvements when using Strategic Modeling with Smart View. To download and install Smart View, see Downloading and Installing Clients in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud.

Crystal Ball for EPM Extension in Smart View

The Crystal Ball for EPM extension in Smart View that allows users to define a Crystal Ball model using EPM Cloud grids to perform simulations using Crystal Ball in Smart View will not be supported or available for installation starting from January 2022.

Smart View Add-on Installation for Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager

In a future update, the installation of Smart View add-ons for Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager will change. At that time, users of the Smart View add-ons will need to uninstall and re-install their add-ons to take advantage of the latest features and fixes.

PLANNING MODULES

Strategic Modeling Terminology Change

In a future update, the Consolidation feature in Strategic Modeling will be renamed Scenario Rollup.

Removal of Strategic Workforce Planning from EPM Cloud Workforce Planning

In a future update, the Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) enablement option will be removed for all EPM Cloud Planning Modules (Standard and Enterprise) and Enterprise Planning applications that have not already enabled this feature in the Workforce Module. Customers who have already enabled this feature will see no change in their existing applications with this feature already enabled. No new applications will support this feature after this change.

Strategic Workforce Planning functionality is provided in the Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud Service (SWPCS) product, which contains robust SWP functionality that is not available in the existing EPM Cloud Planning Workforce module feature. SWPCS is an Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) product built on EPM technology. For more information about SWPCS, please refer to the Strategic Workforce Planning information on www.oracle.com.

If you have any concerns about this change, please contact Oracle Support.

FINANCIAL CONSOLIDATION AND CLOSE

Additional Permissions for Consolidation Journal Actions

In a future update, the user access requirements for Consolidation Journal Actions will be enforced as follows:

• To be able to perform Submit, Post and Unpost actions, a user must have write access to the DataSource member, in addition to the other members used in Journals.

• To be able to perform Approve and Reject actions, a user must have read or write access on Data source dimension members used in Journals, in addition to all dimension members used in Journals.

NARRATIVE REPORTING

Removal of EPMCTRL Transfer Utility

In a future update, the EPMCTRL Transfer Utility will be removed. Customers should use EPM Automate, which includes all the commands currently available in the EPMCTRL Transfer Utility, going forward. For more information, see Backing Up and Restoring an Environment in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators.

ACCOUNT RECONCILIATION

Added Flexibility for Security Assignments

In a future update, more flexible granular security assignments across all roles will be available. For example, if you want to assign certain tasks like creating reports, you will be able to assign that ability to them. In addition, the Choose Roles feature for Administrators and Power Users will be removed and they will no longer need to choose to be a regular User before they can work on a Reconciliation assigned to them. Also, Power Users will have access to the Attributes tab under Application > Configuration which was previously only available to Administrators.

Power User Access to Data Loads Change

In a future update, Power User access to Data Loads will be updated so that the Administrator will have to assign this ability to the Power User rather than the Power User receiving it by default.

ENTERPRISE DATA MANAGEMENT

Null Values in Expressions – Change in Behavior

Starting in 21.07, null values are handled differently for certain expression methods. The following changes were made:

• Methods on literal null strings are evaluated using a null value instead of a blank string.

• StartsWith(null) and EndsWith(null) will return False instead of True.

• Substring on a null string will return a null value instead of a blank string.

• When comparing strings using LessThan or GreaterThan, nulls are considered the minimum possible value.

• When null values are used in predicates for NodeList and StringList methods such as Any, Count, and Find, those methods will return False instead of True.

These changes may affect the results of existing expressions for derived properties, property transformations, custom validations, subscription filters, policy filters, and extract filters. Verify whether this change in behavior has any impact in your environment.

PROFITABILITY AND COST MANAGEMENT

Automatic Purging of Old Jobs and Statistics

Starting with this month's update, old job records are purged automatically during each service restart (daily maintenance window). The most recent 10,000 jobs are preserved. Jobs older than the most recent 10,000 are purged, along with their related job log messages and statistics.

If you have a requirement to keep a record of all jobs, you can archive them from the Job Library by downloading them to an Excel spreadsheet. You may also run and save Execution Statistics reports to preserve them if you need permanent access to them. You will not be able to run them for jobs that have been purged.