This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:
| Date | Module | Feature | Notes | 21 DEC 2023 | Created initial document. |
|---|
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Column Definitions:
Report = New or modified, Oracle-delivered, ready to run reports.
UI or Process-Based: Small Scale = These UI or process-based features are typically comprised of minor field, validation, or program changes. Therefore, the potential impact to users is minimal.
UI or Process-Based: Larger Scale* = These UI or process-based features have more complex designs. Therefore, the potential impact to users is higher.
Features Delivered Disabled = Action is needed BEFORE these features can be used by END USERS. These features are delivered disabled and you choose if and when to enable them. For example, a) new or expanded BI subject areas need to first be incorporated into reports, b) Integration is required to utilize new web services, or c) features must be assigned to user roles before they can be accessed.
| Ready for Use by End Users Reports plus Small Scale UI or Process-Based new features will have minimal user impact after an update. Therefore, customer acceptance testing should focus on the Larger Scale UI or Process-Based* new features. |
Customer Must Take Action before Use by End Users Not disruptive as action is required to make these features ready to use. As you selectively choose to leverage, you set your test and roll out timing. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feature |
Report |
UI or |
UI or |
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There are no new features in this update.
Test Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, January 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, January 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.
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, January 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.
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 Spotlight features have significant scope and impact to the user experience. In 2024, new EPM Spotlight features will be highlighted in the What's New document.
In 2023, the following EPM spotlight features were introduced that apply to NetSuite Planning and Budgeting:
EPM Cloud Platform
- Operational Dashboards for Tasks, Alerts, Supplemental Data, and Enterprise Journals
- Reports Support for Valid Intersections
- Forms 2.0 and Dashboard 2.0
- Pipeline Feature in Data Integration
Planning
Business Benefit: EPM Spotlight features help you understand which updates have the greatest impact on the EPM Cloud user experience.
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 the EPM Cloud Platform.
EPM CLOUD PLATFORM
Plan to Display One Day of Data on the Jobs Status Page Instead of Three
In the 24.03 update, the Jobs status page will, by default, display only the last day's data. (Today, the Jobs status page defaults to display three days of data.) With the change, the Jobs status page will default to display data for the last one day and the filter’s start and end dates will default to yesterday and today to have a one day difference. Users can change this default display.
Plan to Discontinue Support for Infolets
In the April (24.04) update, Oracle plans to stop supporting the creation of infolets. Applications using the Redwood Experience will no longer see the option to create infolets on the listing pages. In applications using non-Redwood themes, the Create button on the Infolets page will be disabled. There will be no future enhancements or support for infolets after 24.04.
Plan to Discontinue Support for Non-Redwood Experience Themes
Oracle's Redwood UX Design is helping organizations improve user productivity, reduce training costs, and increase user satisfaction. As such, it has gained wide adoption across our Oracle Cloud user base.
Within Cloud EPM the Redwood Theme has had significant adoption, and major new platform innovations over the past few years have primarily been released only within the Redwood theme.
Going forward, future innovations in Cloud EPM and Redwood UX Design patterns are likewise targeted to be available within the Redwood theme only. Customers are encouraged to deploy their applications using Redwood theme only.
Towards the end of first quarter of 2024 (subject to change, safe harbor applies), the Redwood Experience will offer 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.
In a later update planned for the second quarter of 2024, Oracle will automatically convert non-Redwood theme environments to the Redwood Experience.
If you're a customer and you're not already using Redwood Experience, you're encouraged to move to the Redwood Experience as soon as possible to take advantage of its user experience advantages.
Customers are encouraged to watch the Cloud Customer Connect session in April 2023: EPM – Why You Should Be Using The Redwood Theme in EPM Cloud
This session covers why users should be adopting the Redwood theme, customizations available within the theme (such as company logo), and the future plans around non-Redwood themes for Cloud EPM.
Future Deprecation of Native Mode Option for Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior Application Setting
Native Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior mode is currently still available for Cloud EPM Platform-based applications.
Standard is the ad hoc mode upon which all enhancements in the Cloud EPM Platform are being delivered.
Oracle plans to stop supporting Native mode by the end of year 2024. Customers on Native mode are advised to convert the Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior application setting for their environments to Standard mode and test their use cases. Any gaps found should to be logged as an enhancement to Standard mode. Enhancements should be logged on the Customer Connect EPM Platform Idea Lab by end of April 2024 for Oracle to review.
Perform the following steps to begin working with Standard mode in your test environment:
- In Application Settings, change Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior to Standard.
- Open worksheets from Smart View and reconnect.
- Refresh the sheets.
NOTES:
- The expectation for existing Native-mode worksheets is that they will work “as is” when the setting is changed to Standard. New ad hoc sheets will only be created in Standard mode using Standard features.
- Smart Forms are not supported in Standard mode and there is no plan to support them in Standard mode.
Plan for the User Variables Dimension Column to Honor the Alias Setting in User Preferences
In a future update, the Dimension column on the User Variables page within User Preferences will honor the Alias Setting in User Preferences. So if an alias name is defined for a dimension, then the Dimension column on the User Variables page will show that dimension’s alias based on the alias table selected in User Preferences. If no alias is defined for the dimension, the dimension name will be displayed.
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.
Removal of Enhanced Integration API and Drill Type UI Options in Data Management System Settings
As of the June (23.06) update, the Enhanced Integration API and Drill Type UI options have been removed from the list of options in the System Settings option of Data Management.
Formerly, the Enhanced Integration API setting was added temporarily to address backward compatibility considerations.
The Drill Type UI setting formerly enabled users to select either the Classic or Simplified user interface when drilling down in Oracle Enterprise Performance Management. The default drill type user interface is now the Simplified User Interface and the Classic option for the user interface of Drill Landing Page is no longer available.
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 Management | Data Integration | Data Integration Navigation Path |
|---|---|---|
| Source System |
Configure Connections |
From the Data Integration UI, select the Actions drop down, and then Applications. In Applications, there is an icon next to the drop down labeled Configure Connections. |
| Target Application |
Applications |
From the Data Integration UI, select the Actions drop down, and then Applications. |
| Period Mapping |
Period Mapping |
From the Data Integration UI, select the Actions drop down, and then Period Mapping. |
| Category Mapping |
Category Mapping |
From the Data Integration UI, select the Actions drop down, and then Category Mapping. |
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.
Calculation Manager Errors and Warnings Enforcement
In a future update, Calculation Manager will enforce the execution of the Errors & Warnings diagnostic tool for any rule being launched, validated, or deployed from it. If there are errors that result from this new process, Calculation Manager will not execute, validate, or deploy the rule. This new process will apply to all new applications once released. Existing applications will have a finite period of time to bypass this new process to allow you to modify the rules that violate the new Errors & Warnings diagnostic analysis. In all cases, existing rules that are already deployed will continue to run as-is without any change in behavior.
Change in Behavior for Grids Created from Groovy and REST APIs for ASO Cubes
In a future update, the suppression behavior for grids created via Groovy DataGridDefinitionBuilder and the exportdataslice REST API for ASO cubes will be made consistent with that of the run time data grids created using the Form Designer. Previously, if a grid was built for an ASO cube in Groovy or REST API, then the system used the NON EMPTY MDX clause to suppress missing rows when the suppressMissingBlocks flag was true. Now, when a grid is built for an ASO cube, it will use the NON EMPTY MDX clause when suppressMissingRows is true, and suppressMissingBlocks will be ignored. This means that ASO grids with suppressMissingRows true and suppressMissingBlocks false will now start using MDX. Likewise, ASO grids with suppressMissingRows false and suppressMissingBlocks true will no longer use MDX. Grids where the suppressMissingRows and suppressMissingBlocks flags had the same value will not be impacted. These changes may result in a change in behavior or performance for some ASO grids. If this happens and is undesirable, consider toggling the value of suppressMissingRows from the builder or the JSON payload in case of the REST API.
Report Import/Export to Excel: Font Installation Requirements for Text Boxes in Excel
Due to performance and rendering quality enhancements to Report text boxes when exported to Excel, Report text boxes may appear distorted or with overlapping text while importing or exporting to Excel when the fonts used within the text boxes are not installed on the client machine. To fix this, install the missing fonts used within the text boxes on the client machine.
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.