What's New

April 2024 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:

Overview

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Feature Summary

Account Reconciliation (NSAR)

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, April 5, 2024.

Production Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, April 19, 2024.

NOTE: The monthly update will not be applied to any environment for which this monthly update is requested to be skipped using the EPM Automate skipUpdate command or service request to Oracle. The monthly update will also not be applied to any environment on a one-off patch where the fix for the underlying issue is not in this monthly update.

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, April 5, 2024.

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.

Helpful Information

Documentation Updates Available One Week After Readiness Documents

Updated documentation is published on the Oracle Help Center on the first Friday of each month, coinciding with the monthly updates to Test environments. Because there is a one week lag between the publishing of the readiness documents (What's New and New Feature Summary) and Oracle Help Center updates, some links included in the readiness documents will not work until the Oracle Help Center update is complete.

https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/epm-cloud/index.html

Fixed Issues and Considerations for EPM Cloud Platform

Software issues addressed each month and considerations are posted to a knowledge article on My Oracle Support. Click here to review. You must have a My Oracle Support login to access the article.

NOTE: Fixed issues for EPM Cloud Platform 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.

Business Benefit: These resources can help you optimize your EPM implementation and user experience by providing valuable information and user assistance.

EPM Cloud Platform

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Monthly Status History on EPM Cloud Environments Now Available on My Services in OCI

You can now view the monthly status history of EPM Cloud Environments in My Services application on OCI. The Status History page lets you monitor the historical availability of each service, by displaying the percentage of time a service is up and running. Monthly Metrics is published for the previous month. It will be available to Oracle's customers from April 2024 onwards only.

Business Benefit: You can view the monthly status history in My Services to help you determine the uptime percentage of your environment.

Key Resources

• Monitoring Environments Using Oracle Cloud Applications in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators

Provide Feedback

Ability to Disable the Submit Application Snapshot Feature in Provide Feedback Utility

If your organization enforces a policy that restricts data access, which prevents Service Administrators from submitting application snapshot to Oracle, the Submit application snapshot check box in the Provide Feedback utility will be greyed out. A Service Administrator uses these REST APIs or EPM Automate commands to manage data access settings for the environment:

• Get Restricted Data Access and Set Restricted Data Access in REST API for Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
• getRestrictedDataAccess and setRestrictedDataAccess in Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Business Benefit: This change in behavior enforces your organization's data sharing policy related to submitting snapshots while submitting feedback to Oracle.

Key Resources

• Submitting Feedback Using the Provide Feedback Utility in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators

REST APIs to Get and Set Restricted Data Access

Two new REST APIs allow you to get and set restricted data access.

• Get Restricted Data Access: Returns true if the environment is configured so that “Submit Application Snapshot” cannot be selected by a Service Administrator while submitting Provide Feedback; otherwise, returns false.

• Set Restricted Data Access: Enables/disables the selection of “Submit Application Snapshot” by the Service Administrator while submitting Provide Feedback.

Business Benefit: If you have sensitive data that you do not want Oracle to have access to, you can restrict data access so that Service Administrators cannot select "Submit Application Snapshot" during Provide Feedback.

Steps to Enable

Review the REST service definition in the REST API guides to leverage (available from the Oracle Help Center > your apps service area of interest > APIs & Schema). If you are new to Oracle's REST services you may want to begin with the Quick Start section.

Tips And Considerations

Benefit from the Implementation Best Practices for EPM Cloud REST APIs in REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud.

Key Resources

• "Security REST APIs" in REST API for Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
  • Get Restricted Data Access
  • Set Restricted Data Access

Access Requirements

• Service Administrators

New setRestrictedDataAccess and getRestrictedDataAccess EPM Automate Commands

The setRestrictedDataAccess and getRestrictedDataAccess commands are available with this update. The setRestrictedDataAccess command configures EPM Cloud environments to prevent Service Administrators from consenting to submit an application snapshot to Oracle while using the Provide Feedback utility. The getRestrictedDataAccess command displays whether an EPM Cloud environment is configured to prevent Service Administrators from consenting to submit an application snapshot to Oracle.

Business Benefit: The setRestrictedDataAccess command helps you enforce your organization's data sharing policy while submitting feedback to Oracle. The getRestrictedDataAccessSetting command helps you check whether your EPM Cloud environments are configured to abide by your organization's data sharing policies related to the submission of snapshots to Oracle.

Key Resources

• Working with EPM Automate for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud
  • Installing EPM Automate
  • setRestrictedDataAccess
  • getRestrictedDataAccess

EPM Automate

Reliability and Performance Improvement of EPM Automate Using Basic Authentication

Oracle has implemented significant optimizations in basic Authentication for EPM Automate to improve its reliability and performance.

Business Benefit: This update improves the reliability and performance for customers who use basic authentication to establish EPM Automate sessions.

Key Resources

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

Rest APIs

New "Security REST APIs" Chapter in the REST API Guide

A new "Security REST APIs" chapter describes the REST APIs to manage security features in Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud. In addition to the REST APIs related to security that were originally in the Migration REST APIs chapter, this chapter also includes the two new REST APIs related to restricted data access added in this update.

Business Benefit: Having all the security REST APIs in one chapter separate from the migration REST APIs makes it easier to quickly identify all the REST APIs related to security.

Key Resources

• Security REST APIs in REST API for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Accessibility

Defined Landmark Regions in Page Areas

EPM Cloud now supports defined landmark regions that aid in jump-to navigation for assistive technology users and reduces the dependency on hidden anchors and keyboard shortcuts. This includes:

• EPM Global Header banner
  • Global Menu navigation
  • Settings and Actions complementary information

• Content Main
  • Announcements region
  • Clusters and Cards navigation

• Cards navigation

• Sub-tab navigation

Business Benefit: This feature aids in jump-to navigation within the business process for assistive technology users and reduces dependency on hidden anchors and keyboard shortcuts for moving about to these distinct page areas.

Key Resources

• Accessibility Features in Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud Accessibility Guide

User Interface

Improved Redwood Experience in EPM Cloud

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

The Redwood Experience offers a default Oracle theme and these two additional appearance options: Custom Light and Custom Dark. The appearance of all EPM Cloud environments that currently use the Redwood Experience will automatically be shifted to either the default Oracle theme or the Custom Dark theme based on currently deployed background appearance of these environments. 

Redwood Experience not only provides an attractive look and feel, but it also includes the following new features:

• Adhoc on Web
• Calc on the Fly
• Dynamic tabs
• Forms 2.0
• Horizontal tabs at the bottom of the page
• IPM Insights

Oracle recommends that you switch to the Redwood Experience at the earliest.

In a later update planned for the second quarter of 2024, Oracle will automatically convert non-Redwood theme environments to the Redwood Experience.

Customers are encouraged to watch the Cloud Customer Connect session in April 2024: EPM – Redwood Experience Update. This session covers why users should be adopting the Redwood theme, customization available within the theme (such as company logo), and the future plans around non-Redwood themes for Cloud EPM.

Business Benefit: The Redwood Experience applies the Redwood theme to the current environment providing simplified and compact navigation across EPM Cloud. When you switch to Redwood Experience, you get the advantage of additional EPM Cloud capabilities that are enabled with it.

Key Resources

• Configuring EPM Cloud Appearance in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators

Smart View

New Version of Oracle Smart View for Office

Oracle Smart View for Office version 24.100 is now available from My Oracle Support and Oracle Technical Resources (formerly Oracle Technology Network).

The following new features are included:

• Open Flex Forms as Flex Forms from Search Results
• Access Various Actions Faster with the New Quick Action Menu
• Support for Localized Artifact Labels in Smart View
• View Prompt Labels while Selecting Prompts in Reports
• Improved Behavior of User Preferences Dialog
• Support for Indentation of Column Headers with Totals
• View Distinct Page Member Names in Pages for Forms
• Verify Registration Status of DLLs in Health Check
• Microsoft Edge WebView2 Now Enabled by Default
• Retain Smart List on Clearing Cell Value Using the Delete Key
• Specify the Maximum Number of Cells Displayed in Data Validation Panel

Business Benefit: This Smart View release includes the latest features, improvements, and defect fixes.

Steps to Enable

Download and install Smart View. See Downloading and Installing Clients in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud.

Key Resources

• Oracle Smart View for Office Readme
• Working with Oracle Smart View for Office

Data Integration

Reliability and Performance Improvement of EPM Integration Agent Using Basic Authentication

Oracle has implemented significant optimizations in basic authentication for the EPM Integration Agent to improve its reliability and performance.

Business Benefit: This update improves the reliability and performance for customers who use the basic authentication method to establish a proxy authentication for EPM Integration Agent sessions.

Key Resources

• Configuring the EPM Integration Agent Startup Parameters in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Account Reconciliation

Efficient Management and Running of Account Reconciliation Jobs

Account Reconciliation identifies user jobs that could conflict with other jobs and provides execution sequencing routines that prevent conflicting jobs from running simultaneously. When users run a job that could conflict with an ongoing job, this job is added to a queue and is run after the ongoing job completes. The Job Details dialog includes information about the parameters used to run the job. In case of a conflict, the dialog includes the name of the job that is conflicting with the current user job.

The user who submits a job receives an email notification if the job is delayed, ends in an error, or is deferred.

The Job Summary panel provides summary statistics for the jobs run. Details for each type of job include the total time taken, the average time taken, and the number of times this type of job was run. You can use filters to specify the time period for which jobs are displayed.

Business Benefit: This feature helps manage jobs efficiently and ensures application and data integrity. Email notifications about the status of user jobs provides enhanced user experience.

Key Resources

• About Jobs in Account Reconciliation in Administering Account Reconciliation
• Filtering Jobs in the Jobs List in Reconciling Accounts with Account Reconciliation

New Report for Cosmetic Changes in Transaction Matching

For Transaction Matching profiles that are integrated with Reconciliation Compliance, the Cosmetic Changes Report displays all cosmetic changes for a reconciliation during a specified Period. Cosmetic changes are operational changes made after a reconciliation is submitted and they do not result in the reconciliation being reopened.

Business Benefit: This feature enhances usability by providing a single report containing all cosmetic changes made to a particular reconciliation. Auditors can also easily view and track changes made to a reconciliation from the time it was submitted until date.

Key Resources

• Using the Cosmetic Changes Report in Reconciling Accounts with Account Reconciliation

New Columns While Loading Transactions from camt.053 Format Bank Statements

Additional columns have been added when using Data Integration to load transactions from camt.053 format bank statements.

Business Benefit: This feature provides improved flexibility and usability when using camt.053 format bank files for loading transactions.

Key Resources

• Integrating BAI, SWIFT MT940, and CAMT.053 Format Bank File Transactions in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

NetSuite Integration

Oracle EPM Connector and Account Reconciliation Sync 2024.1

Versions 2024.1 of the Oracle EPM Connector and Account Reconciliation Sync SuiteApps were released on March 6, 2024.

What Is New?

The 2024.1 release of the Oracle EPM Connector and Account Reconciliation Sync SuiteApps introduces the following new features:

• 3rd party integration through SFTP connections

You can configure SFTP connections to automate data load from external systems into NetSuite Account Reconciliation.

• Data load rule jobs for Account Reconciliation

You can configure data load rule jobs in the NetSuite UI to automatically load transactions into NetSuite Account Reconciliation. This lets you process NetSuite transactions as well as data files uploaded from an SFTP server in NetSuite Account Reconciliation.

• Support for OAuth 2.0 in NetSuite

OAuth 2.0 provides better security and prevents integration issues when a password expires or is changed.

• Incremental data load for transaction matching saved searches

The incremental data load feature lets you schedule transactions data loads in NetSuite to load only newly created records into NetSuite Account Reconciliation.

• Importing the updated Transaction Matching data from Account Reconciliation back to NetSuite

Transaction Matching adjustments in your NetSuite Account Reconciliation can be automatically imported back into NetSuite. In NetSuite, these transactions are recorded as Journal Entries.

• New NetSuite EPM menu in the NetSuite UI

After installing the Oracle EPM Connector SuiteApp in your NetSuite account, the NetSuite EPM tab appears in your NetSuite account. This tab will include navigation menus for SuiteApps installed for NetSuite Enterprise Performance Management on your NetSuite account.

• Support for non-OneWorld and Single Currency accounts

The new version of the Account Reconciliation Sync SuiteApp can be installed on non-OneWorld or Single Currency accounts. This option was not supported for the previous versions of the SuiteApp.

What Has Changed?

The 2024.1 release of the Oracle EPM Connector and Account Reconciliation Sync SuiteApps changes the following:

• Navigation menu for Account Reconciliation Sync in the NetSuite UI

Some menu options have changed for the Account Reconciliation Sync SuiteApp in the NetSuite UI.

• New menu in the NetSuite Help Center for NetSuite EPM products

All help topics for the supported NetSuite Enterprise Performance Management products are now available under NetSuite Enterprise Performance Management in the NetSuite Help Center.

• End of support for Account Reconciliation Sync LCM imports

The Account Reconciliation Sync SuiteApp no longer enables downloading the integration configuration package (LCM) from NetSuite and importing it to NetSuite Account Reconciliation.

Steps to Enable

The 2024.1 version of the Account Reconciliation Sync SuiteApp requires installation of the Oracle EPM Connector SuiteApp in your NetSuite account.

• For instructions on the installation and setup of Oracle EPM Connector, see the NetSuite Help Center topic Oracle EPM Connector Installation and Setup.

• For information about installing and configuring Account Reconciliation Sync, see Account Reconciliation Sync SuiteApp Installation and Setup.

Tips And Considerations

If you require assistance or more information, please contact NetSuite Customer Support.

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.

This update includes Important Actions and Considerations for:

• EPM Cloud Platform
• Account Reconciliation

EPM CLOUD PLATFORM

Allow access to static.oracle.com

Customers are reminded to allow access to static.oracle.com. For the Oracle Redwood Experience to work, Customers must allow access to static.oracle.com, which provides image files, JavaScript, and other static content.

See About Redwood Experience in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators.

Transition from Identity Cloud Service (IDCS) to Identity and Access Management (IAM)

EPM Cloud environments on OCI (Gen 2) are transitioning from Identity Cloud Service (IDCS) to Identity and Access Management (IAM) domains. For information on IAM, see Overview of Identity and Access Management.

After this transition, existing IDCS administration and My Profile functionalities remain the same, but are hosted on Oracle Cloud Console. The Oracle Cloud sign-in page has an updated design to match the latest Oracle Cloud design guidelines. To learn more on what to expect with this transition, see Introducing OCI IAM Identity Domains: What customers need to know.

Announcement: Data Management Feature Migration to Data Integration

The user interface pages listed in the table below are no longer available in Data Management, but are available in Data Integration. Data Integration is available from the Data Exchange card from the home screen in the Cloud EPM Business Process, and users can access these features in the current Cloud EPM update. Data Management is not going away – we are only moving a few features now that have 100% parity with Data Integration. Profitability and Cost Management customers are not affected by the migration and do not see a change in their Data Management user interface. REST APIs are not impacted by this change.

Data Integration is the next generation of the Data Management user interface, enabling users to easily build and manage Cloud EPM integrations. As feature parity between Data Integration and Data Management becomes complete, Data Management features will be turned off, and users will use the new Data Integration user interface instead.

This transition is gradual; future What's New documents will include information about the first set of planned changes as well as updates about additional changes planned for the future.

All Data Integration features discussed in this document are currently generally available in the Cloud EPM business processes.

Integration definitions built with Data Management are also visible in Data Integration, which enables an easy transition. (Data Integration is a new user interface on the Data Management data model and does not require migration of content from Data Management to Data Integration).

Please note that additional new integration features will only be included in Data Integration, and will not be back-ported to Data Management. Critical bug fixes and security fixes will still be made to Data Management until all features are fully migrated. In addition, all features from Data Management will be migrated to Data Integration with the exception of the following:

• The batch feature will be replaced by the new Pipeline feature. The Pipeline feature was available in the June (23.06) update.

• The Report Definition feature will not be migrated, only the Report Execution feature. Please note that Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning and Tax Reporting provide a feature to report against the Data Integration relational tables using a custom SQL and a BI Publisher report template via Task Manager.

• The ability to create new Custom Applications in Data Management will no longer available, and customers should use the “Data Export to File” application type instead. (Existing integrations using a custom application will not be impacted.) See Custom Application in Data Management under EPM Cloud Platform in the Important Actions and Considerations section of this document.

For reference, please see the Data Integration guide available from the documentation library for your specific EPM business process. Select the desired business process, then Books, and then scroll down to the Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud documentation link.

See Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for more information.

Removal of Support for Custom Application in Data Management

Since the September (23.09) update, custom target applications can no longer be added in Data Management. (Existing integrations that use a custom target application will not be impacted, and will still run without any changes.) This type of application was used to extract data from the EPM Cloud, and then the data was pushed into a flat file instead of being loaded to an EPM Cloud application. The custom application was superseded by the Data Export to File feature in an earlier update. The Data Export to File feature has enhanced functions and capabilities.

If you still have a custom target application, it is recommended that you use the Upgrade Custom Applications option to migrate your existing custom target application to a data export to file application. For more information, see Upgrade Custom Applications at: https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/enterprise-performance-management-common/erpia/upgrade_custom_applications_100x438d5119.html.

The migration converts existing file formats from the custom target application to the file formats used in the data export to file option and retains all the existing setup. When the custom target application has been converted, you can run same integration as before. Data export file applications are available both in Data Management and Data Integration.

Oracle Financial Reporting Statement of Direction

Please refer to the Statement of Direction for Oracle Financial Reporting:

Oracle Support Document 2910806.1 (EPM Cloud Financial Reporting Statement of Direction)

Please note that the Oracle Financial Reporting tentative deprecation dates have been moved to mid-to-late CY24.

For more information:

• See Appendix B in the Designing with Reports Guide: Migrating Reports from Financial Reporting.

• On June 8, the most recent Oracle Cloud Customer Connect event, Migrating Your Financial Reporting to Reports, was presented. There is a presentation, an event recording, and an FAQ sheet accessible. In order to view the event recording and documentation, you must log in to Cloud Customer Connect.

ACCOUNT RECONCILIATION

Limit the Number of Transactional Attachments

In a future update, the number of Transactional Attachments that appear in the Reconciliation Attachment drawer will be capped at 100. This is to prevent display issues with certain browsers.

Change to Options in the Rules Tab of the Add Attribute Assignment Dialog

Starting in the February (24.02) update, in the Transaction Detail section of a format, the option Do Not Display – Anywhere is not available when you specify access details by adding a rule on the Rules tab of the Add Attribute Assignment dialog. However, you can use the Do Not Display – Anywhere option when specifying access details using the Properties tab of the Add Attribute Assignment dialog.

Change in the Default Format When Exporting to Microsoft Excel

In a future update, the default format for exporting the table data to Microsoft Excel will be changed to .XLSX instead of .XLS.