Cloud Readiness / Oracle Fusion Cloud Strategic Workforce Planning
What's New
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  1. September 2023 Update
  1. Revision History
  2. Overview
  3. Feature Summary
  4. Strategic Workforce Planning
    1. Strategic Workforce Planning
        1. Monthly Update Schedule
        2. Helpful Information
        3. Oracle Cloud Readiness App
    2. Features
        1. IPM Insights Enhancements
        2. Connections Changes
        3. New Tutorial
        4. Enterprise Performance Management Resource Center on Cloud Customer Connect
        5. New Resources for Your EPM Center of Excellence
        6. getEssbaseQryGovExecTime and setEssbaseQryGovExecTime Commands
        7. REST APIS to Get and Set Essbase Query Governor Execution Time
        8. Groovy Feature to Run a Scenario Rollup in an Application That Has Strategic Modeling Enabled
        9. Updated EPM Books Extension for Smart View
        10. Export Groups to CSV Functionality in Access Control
        11. New Locations Page in Data Integration
        12. System Settings Supported in Data Integration
        13. Announcement: Data Management Feature Migration to Data Integration
        14. New File Operations Job Type in Pipeline
        15. New Continue and Stop Pipeline Execution Options
        16. Support for Passing Substitution Variable as Input Parameter in Pipeline Variables
        17. Copy URL Option Now Available for Non-Administrative Users
        18. View Ever Been Late Tasks
  5. IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations

September 2023 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 Module Feature Notes
25 AUG 2023     Created initial document.

Overview

HAVE AN IDEA?

We’re here and we’re listening. If you have a suggestion on how to make our cloud services even better then go ahead and tell us. There are several ways to submit your ideas, for example, through the Ideas Lab on Oracle Customer Connect. Wherever you see this icon after the feature name it means we delivered one of your ideas.

GIVE US FEEDBACK

We welcome your comments and suggestions to improve the content. Please send us your feedback at oracle_fusion_applications_help_ww_grp@oracle.com.

DISCLAIMER

The information contained in this document may include statements about Oracle’s product development plans. Many factors can materially affect Oracle’s product development plans and the nature and timing of future product releases. Accordingly, this Information is provided to you solely for information only, is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

This information may not be incorporated into any contractual agreement with Oracle or its subsidiaries or affiliates. Oracle specifically disclaims any liability with respect to this information. Refer to the Legal Notices and Terms of Use for further information.

Feature Summary

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
(Feature Delivered Enabled)

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
(Feature Delivered Disabled)

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.

Feature

Report

UI or
Process-Based:
Small Scale

UI or
Process-Based:
Larger Scale*

Strategic Workforce Planning

Features

IPM Insights Enhancements

Connections Changes

New Resources for Your EPM Center of Excellence

getEssbaseQryGovExecTime and setEssbaseQryGovExecTime Commands

REST APIS to Get and Set Essbase Query Governor Execution Time

Groovy Feature to Run a Scenario Rollup in an Application That Has Strategic Modeling Enabled

Updated EPM Books Extension for Smart View

Export Groups to CSV Functionality in Access Control

New Locations Page in Data Integration

System Settings Supported in Data Integration

Announcement: Data Management Feature Migration to Data Integration

New File Operations Job Type in Pipeline

New Continue and Stop Pipeline Execution Options

Support for Passing Substitution Variable as Input Parameter in Pipeline Variables

Copy URL Option Now Available for Non-Administrative Users

View Ever Been Late Tasks

>>Click for IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations

Strategic Workforce Planning

Strategic Workforce Planning

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, September 1, 2023.

Production Environments: Oracle will apply this monthly update during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, September 15, 2023.

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, September 1, 2023.

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

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 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.

Give Us Documentation Feedback

We welcome your comments and suggestions to improve the content of the What's New document and the product documentation.

Please send us your feedback at EPMdoc_ww@oracle.com. In the body or title of the email, state that you are inquiring or providing feedback, and indicate for which EPM Cloud service and the monthly update cycle.

Create and Run an EPM Center of Excellence

A best practice for EPM is to create a Center of Excellence (CoE). An EPM CoE is a unified effort to ensure adoption and best practices.

Business Benefit: A CoE drives transformation in business processes related to performance management and the use of technology-enabled solutions.

Learn more:

Join Oracle Cloud Customer Connect

Please take a moment to join Cloud Customer Connect and its EPM Cloud forums. Customer Connect is a community gathering place for members to interact and collaborate on common goals and objectives. It's where you will find the latest release information, discussion forums, upcoming events, and answers to use-case questions. Joining takes just a few minutes. Join now!

To join, go to https://community.oracle.com/customerconnect/ and select Register in the upper right.

After you have joined and logged in, to access the forums (Categories), from the Cloud Customer Connect home page, select Categories, then Enterprise Resource Planning, and then make your selection under Enterprise Performance Management.

To ensure that you are always in the know, confirm that you have your notification preferences set for EPM Announcements as well as each Category you're following.

  • To set notification preferences for EPM Announcements, go to Categories, then Announcements, and then Enterprise Performance Management. Next, select the Notification preferences drop down.
  • To set notification preferences for each Category, navigate to the Category page and select the Notification preferences drop down. You must go to each category page separately and select the Notification preferences drop down.

NOTE: The Settings and Actions menu 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.

TIP: Bookmark the Enterprise Performance Management Resource Center to quickly find useful information on all things EPM. As a community member, you have access to important product announcements, best practices, known issues, training highlights, and more.

Follow Us on Social Media

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

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

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

Oracle Cloud Readiness App

Use the Readiness App available on the Oracle Cloud Application Update Readiness site to review information about features released for Oracle Cloud. The app provides an .xlsx file listing all features released for one or more Cloud product(s), module(s) and update(s) that you designate. The EPM Cloud Features tool will not be updated beginning in this update.

From the Readiness site, click the red Try Our Readiness App! button in the upper right, or use this URL to access the app:

https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/tutorials/tutorial/readiness/app/index.html

NOTE: To ensure a complete feature listing, select EPM Common in addition to the business process(es) you wish to view. To determine whether an EPM Common feature applies to your business process, review the Applies To information in the Short Description column of the .xlsx file.

NOTE: The Readiness App includes features from Oct 2021 and later. The EPM Cloud Features tool includes EPM features from March 2018 through June 2, 2023 only.

Business Benefit: The Readiness App is an interactive tool that allows you to view a comprehensive listing of all features that have been released for one or more product(s), module(s) and update(s) that you designate.

Features

IPM Insights Enhancements

IPM Insights has been enhanced with the following new features:

  • IPM Insights Analyzer view has a new option to highlight explainability for insights. You can also view historical data for prediction insights.
  • You can now define impact magnitude thresholds by absolute value, not just by percentage.
  • You can now define insights to analyze at the parent level for Period members, not just at the leaf level.

Highlighting Explainability in Analyzer View

To highlight explainability, in the Analyzer view for an insight, click  to see additional details. For each insight type, you see details including metrics and methods used in the insight, making the information about the insight more prominent. You can also click Comments to enter your comments, for example to explain a variance to a colleague.

Forecast Variance and Bias Insight Explainability Example

Additionally, for prediction insights, you have the option to view the historical data along with the prediction data. Click Show historical data (at the bottom of the Analyzer screen). The chart is updated to show historical data as well as future data.

Show historical data option

Specifying Absolute Values for Impact Magnitude Thresholds

When configuring insights, administrators can now specify absolute values (rather than only percentage values) for the impact magnitude thresholds. When insights are displayed on the Insights dashboard, this setting categorizes insights into High, Medium, and Low groups based on the absolute value or percentage impact calculated for each insight. This helps planners focus attention on the insights that have more extreme variations.

Performing Insight Analysis at Parent Levels for Period Members

You can now define insights that analyze at the parent level for Period members. Previously, you could define analyses for Period members only at the leaf level. In IPM Configuration, on the Select Calendar page, for Future Data, you can now define Future Periods that are not at the leaf  level. For example, if you have monthly data, you can perform the analysis at the quarterly level.

Business Benefit:

  • Analyzer enhancements provide explainability, which provides planners more information about the insight and makes the information about the data point more prominent. The analysis is more transparent so you can trust the results. The historical data provided for prediction insights give you a more holistic view of the data.
  • Impact Magnitude Thresholds help planners focus analysis on insights that have the highest priority and the most impact on the business. The ability to define the thresholds by absolute value or percentage provides more flexibility.
  • Performing insight analysis at parent levels for Period members gives you more options for analysis. For example, now even if your planning data is monthly, you can perform the analysis on a quarterly basis.

Tips And Considerations

  • For impact magnitude thresholds, when entering an absolute value for impact magnitude thresholds, the currency defined in the slice definition applies to the absolute value. If you have multiple currencies defined, you can’t apply an absolute value magnitude threshold; the option is not available.
  • For performing analysis at parent levels, note that leaf level and middle level parent members are allowed. Top level parent members, anything directly below Period, are not supported.
  • For Auto Predict, analysis must always be at the leaf level.

Key Resources

Connections Changes

Sales Planning and Strategic Workforce Planning are no longer available as provider types in Connections. Instead, select Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud. You can use the Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud provider type to connect Sales Planning and Strategic Workforce Planning applications to Planning Modules or Custom Planning through Connections, and connect the applications using Data Integration or Data Management for data movement.

Business Benefit: Sales Planning and Strategic Workforce Planning are now available as application types in the EPM Enterprise Cloud Service Planning business process. This change supports the enhancement for connected planning across Finance, Sales, HR and other business functions.

Tips And Considerations

See Important Actions and Considerations for further details.

Key Resources

New Tutorial

A new tutorial is available:

Setting Up Security in Cloud EPM Business Processes

This tutorial describes the layers of security in Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud business processes and shows you how to manage security using Access Control and access permissions.

Business Benefits:  Tutorials provide instructions with sequenced videos and documentation to help you learn a topic.

Enterprise Performance Management Resource Center on Cloud Customer Connect

We are pleased to announce the new Enterprise Performance Management Resource Center on Cloud Customer Connect. This resource center provides a dedicated location for community members to find useful information on all things EPM.  As a community member, you have access to important product announcements, best practices, known issues, training highlights, and more.

The Enterprise Performance Management Resource Center is part of the new ERP Resource Center on Cloud Customer Connect.

To ensure that you are always in the know, confirm that you have your notification preferences set for EPM Announcements as well as each Category you're following.

  • To set notification preferences for EPM Announcements, go to Categories, then Announcements, and then Enterprise Performance Management. Next, select the Notification preferences drop down.

  • To set notification preferences for each Category, navigate to the Category page and select the Notification preferences drop down. You must go to each category page separately and select the Notification preferences drop down.

Business Benefit: Using the new Enterprise Performance Management Resource Center ensures quick access to important product announcements, best practices, known issues, training highlights, and more.

Key Resources

New Resources for Your EPM Center of Excellence

To help you make the most of Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud, we've provided valuable new resources in the EPM Center of Excellence (CoE). You also have access to this webinar: Planning Your Success with EPM Center of Excellence.

You also have a dedicated Oracle web page for the EPM CoE where you can find blogs, videos, and documentation. You can click Contact Us if you have questions or if you'd like help with starting your own EPM Center of Excellence.

A CoE is a best practice for Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud. An EPM CoE is a unified effort to ensure adoption and best practices. It promotes the most effective use of Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud and helps you deliver better business results.

Learn more:

Business Benefit: A CoE drives transformation in business processes related to performance management and the use of technology-enabled solutions.

Tips And Considerations

  • Visit the Oracle EPM Center of Excellence page to access blogs, documentation, and videos. Click Contact Us to get answers to your questions or if you'd like help with starting your own EPM Center of Excellence.

Key Resources

getEssbaseQryGovExecTime and setEssbaseQryGovExecTime Commands

The new version of EPM Automate introduces the getEssbaseQryGovExecTime and setEssbaseQryGovExecTime commands.

getEssbaseQryGovExecTime Command

This command retrieves the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that an Essbase query can run to retrieve and deliver information before the query is terminated.

setEssbaseQryGovExecTime Command

This command sets the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that an Essbase query can run to retrieve and deliver information before the query is terminated.

Business Benefit: These commands help you fine-tune the time allocated for running Essbase queries to avoid them being terminated.

Key Resources

REST APIS to Get and Set Essbase Query Governor Execution Time

Two new REST APIs are available to get and set the Essbase Query Governor Execution time.

  • Get Essbase Query Governor Execution Time returns the Essbase Query Governor Execution Time (maximum number of seconds that a query can run before Essbase Server terminates it) of all the Essbase cubes.
  • Set Essbase Query Governor Execution Time sets the Essbase Query Governor Execution Time (maximum number of seconds that a query can run before Essbase Server terminates it) for all the Essbase cubes.

Business Benefit: These REST APIs help you fine-tune the time allocated for running Essbase queries to avoid their termination.

Key Resources

Access Requirements

  • Service Administrator

Groovy Feature to Run a Scenario Rollup in an Application That Has Strategic Modeling Enabled

You can now use EPM Groovy rules to run a Scenario Rollup in an application that has Strategic Modeling enabled. The instance of the ScenarioRollup class can be used to perform multiple operations on a Scenario Rollup along with the passed model as selected model.

Operations supported by this object include the following:

  • Add a new root business case
  • Remove an existing root business case
  • Verify whether a business case is available
  • Obtain a list of all defined business cases
  • Obtain a list of all leaf node scenarios
  • Add a business case to the execute list
  • Execute a scenario rollup with selected business cases

For details and examples, see ScenarioRollup in EPM Cloud Groovy Rules Java API Reference.

Business Benefit: Using Groovy rules gives you flexibility and allows you to automate running the scenario rollup.

Tips And Considerations

Key Resources

Access Requirements

  • Calculation Manager Business Rule Designer

Updated EPM Books Extension for Smart View

An updated EPM Books extension for Oracle Smart View for Office is now available to download and install. This update includes general improvements and bug fixes.

Business Benefit: Downloading and installing the latest EPM Books extension for Smart View gives you access to the latest features, improvements, and defect fixes.

Key Resources

Export Groups to CSV Functionality in Access Control

Service Administrators and Access Control Managers can now export all Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud Group names and descriptions to a Groups.csv file using the Export to CSV button in Manage Groups tab of Access Control. The Export to CSV button is disabled if there is no group in Access Control to export.

Business Benefit: You can now export and review group information using Groups.csv file.

Key Resources

New Locations Page in Data Integration

A Location page is now available in Data Integration. Customers can view available locations and optionally delete any unused locations.

The Locations page can be accessed by selecting Locations from the Action menu.

On the Locations page, you can view all available locations.

Image Shows The Locations Page.

Business Benefit: Customers can view location detail such as the import format, or the source and target for the location.  Additionally, customers can delete unused locations on the Locations page.

Key Resources

  • Viewing Locations in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

System Settings Supported in Data Integration

Predefined system-level options can now be set in Data Integration. You can set, update and clear values that apply to the entire system.

System-level options can be accessed by selecting System Settings from the Action menu.

On the System Settings page, select the option to add or change.

Image Shows The System Settings Page.

Application-level settings and User-level settings can only be set in Data Management.

Business Benefit: You can set system-level values on the fly to accommodate various business needs in Data Integration. Previously system-level options could only be specified in Data Management.

Key Resources

  • System Settings in Administering Data Integration for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

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 Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud 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 Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud 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 Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud 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 Planning provides 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.)

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

Business Benefit: Data Integration is the next generation of the Data Management user interface. It enables users to build and manage Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud integrations more easily.

Key Resources

New File Operations Job Type in Pipeline

The new File Operations job type in the Pipeline enables you to run the following operations at run time:

  • Copy a file.
  • Move a file.
  • Unzip a file.

All file operations enable you to specify the source directory, source file name, target directory and target file name (not required for an unzip file operation).

Business Benefit: The File Operations job type enables customer to copy, move, and unzip a file at runtime.

Key Resources

New Continue and Stop Pipeline Execution Options

When running a Pipeline, you now have options to continue or stop the processing of a stage when a step in a stage fails.

Use the “On Success” option to continue processing a stage when steps in the Pipeline definition are executed successfully. You can also skip a stage in the case where you want to bypass a stage that is only executed on failure, and proceed to the following stage.

Use the On Failure option to continue or stop processing a stage when a step in a stage fails. You can either continue processing the subsequent steps in the stage or stop processing the current stage, and skip to perform any cleanup step.

Business Benefit: The new On Success and On Failure options provide you with a way to stop processing when a step in a a stage fails or continue to the next stage.

Key Resources

Support for Passing Substitution Variable as Input Parameter in Pipeline Variables

You can now use a substitution variable as an input value in Pipeline Variables. The substitution variable must be defined for all cubes to be used as an input value.

Business Benefit: In prior updates, variables in a Month#Year format were supported for data loads only. In this update, you can use a single substitution variable as an input for all pipelines.

Key Resources

Copy URL Option Now Available for Non-Administrative Users

The Copy URL option, formerly only available to Service Administrators, is now available to all users so that direct URLs to artifacts can be shared.

Use the Copy URL option on the artifact listing page to copy the unique URL for the following artifacts in your Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud business process:

  • Dashboards
  • Forms
  • Infolets
  • Reports

For example, the primary report builders in your organization might be non-administrative users. These users can create and modify reports. Now they can then use the Copy URL option to share reports with other users by providing them with a direct URL link. Sharing direct URLs is an easier and simpler approach than having other users log in, navigate to reports, and then search for the correct report.

To copy the unique URL for a Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud artifact, open the listing page for the artifact, click the Actions icon (...) next to the artifact, and then select Copy URL.

NOTE: Only users with access to the targeted artifact can perform actions on it.

Reports Listing Page Showing the Copy URL Option Under Actions

Business Benefit: Allowing all users to use the Copy URL option to share a direct URL link to a report, dashboard, form, or infolet, provides a better user experience.

Key Resources

View Ever Been Late Tasks

Task Manager is enhanced with a new task system attribute called Ever Been Late, which automatically updates to indicate if the task has ever missed a scheduled due date within its workflow. This new attribute allows you to easily identify any task, which missed one or more of its scheduled due dates. Even if the task is currently not late but if the Assignee or any Approver has ever been late with their workflow, then the Ever Been Late attribute is set to Yes.

Business Benefit: The Ever Been Late attribute allows you better visibility into task execution by easily identifying the tasks which missed scheduled due dates.

Key Resources

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.

Strategic Workforce Planning Statement of Direction

Please refer to the Statement of Direction for Oracle Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud Service (SWPCS): Oracle Support Document 2963631.1 (Oracle Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud Service Statement of Direction). Oracle will discontinue offering Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud Service (SWPCS) in September 2023. The replacement product for SWPCS is Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Enterprise Cloud. There will be no loss in functionality with this change in product licensing. Strategic Workforce Planning is scheduled to be a separate application type within the EPM Enterprise Cloud Planning Business Process.

The timing of this change and discontinuation of old price list product numbers is scheduled for September 2023. Customers should plan to replace their SWPCS subscriptions with EPM Enterprise Cloud. In order to avoid interruption to your SWPCS subscription, Oracle recommends executing a replacement order at least sixty (60) days in advance of the SWPCS Date of Termination. Customers should speak with their Oracle Sales Representative to prepare for this change.

You can migrate your existing applications to EPM Enterprise Cloud. See the Oracle Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud Service Statement of Direction for details.

Change in Application Role Names

In a future update, Oracle will rename some application roles to align role names across business processes. The following application role name changes will be made:

Current Application Role Name Proposed Application Role Name

Access Control Manager

Access Control - Manage

Ad Hoc Grid Creator

Ad Hoc - Create

Ad Hoc Read Only User

Ad Hoc - Read Only User

Ad Hoc User

Ad Hoc - User

Manage Alert Types

Alert Types - Manage

Announcements? Manage

Announcements - Manage

Manage Announcements

Announcements - Manage

Application Creator

Application - Create

Mass Allocation

Application - Mass Allocate

Approvals Administrator

Approvals - Administer

Approvals Ownership Assigner

Approvals - Assign Ownerships

Approvals Process Designer

Approvals - Design Process

Approvals Supervisor

Approvals - Supervise

Auditor

Audit

View Audit

Audit - View

Run Calculation

Calculation - Run

Delete Calculation History

Calculation History - Delete

View Calculation History

Calculation History - View

Consolidation Journals - Approve

Consolidation Journals - Approve

Consolidation Journals - Auto-Post after Approval

Consolidation Journals - Auto-Post after Approval

Consolidation Journals - Create

Consolidation Journals - Create

Consolidation Journals - Manage Periods

Consolidation Journals - Manage Periods

Consolidation Journals - Post

Consolidation Journals - Post

Consolidation Journals - Submit

Consolidation Journals - Submit

Consolidation Journals - Un-Post

Consolidation Journals - Un-Post

Reconciliation Manage Currencies

Currencies - Manage

Data Integration Administrator

Data Integration - Administrator

Create Integration

Data Integration - Create

Drill Through

Data Integration - Drill Through

Run Integration

Data Integration - Run

Manage Data Loads

Data Loads - Manage

Documents - Manage

Documents - Manage

Reconciliation View Jobs

Jobs - View

Migration Administrator

Migrations - Administer

Create Model

Model - Create

Delete Model

Model - Delete

View Model

Model - View

Task Manager - Manage Dashboards

Operational Dashboards - Manage

Task Manager - Manage Reports

Operational Reports - Manage

Manage Organizations

Organizations - Manage

Manage Periods

Periods - Manage

View Periods

Periods - View

Create POV

POV - Create

Delete POV

POV - Delete

Clear POV Data

POV Data - Clear

Copy POV Data

POV Data - Copy

Edit POV Status

POV Status - Edit

Reconciliation View Profiles

Profiles - View

Manage Profiles and Reconciliations

Profiles and Reconciliations - Manage

Create profit Curve

Profit Curve - Create

Edit Profit Curve

Profit Curve - Edit

Run Profit Curve

Profit Curve - Run

Reconciliation Manage Public Filters and Views

Public Filters and Views - Manage

Reconciliation Commentator

Reconciliation - Commentator

Reconciliation Manage Teams

Reconciliation - Manage Teams

Reconciliation Preparer

Reconciliation - Preparer

Reconciliation Reviewer

Reconciliation - Reviewer

Reconciliation Manage Reports

Reports - Manage

Create / Edit Rule

Rule - Create / Edit

Delete Rule

Rule - Delete

Run Rule Balancing

Rule Balancing - Run

Mass Edit of Rules

Rules - Mass Edit

Task List Access Manager

Task List - Manage Access

Task Manager - Approver

Task Manager - Approver

Task Manager - Assignee

Task Manager - Assignee

Task Manager - Manage Artifacts

Task Manager - Manage Artifacts

Task Manager - Manage Public Filters and Views

Task Manager - Manage Public Filters and Views

Task Manager - Manage System Services and Settings

Task Manager - Manage System Services and Settings

Task Manager - Manage Tasks

Task Manager - Manage Tasks

Task Manager - Manage Users and Teams

Task Manager - Manage Users and Teams

Task Manager - View Audit

Task Manager - View Audit

Run Trace Allocation

Trace Allocation - Run

Reconciliation Manage Users

Users - Manage

Run Validation

Validation - Run

View Creator

Views - Create

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 Strategic Workforce Planning 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 Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud 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.

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 Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud.

Effective during the 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. Appearances of all Strategic Workforce Planning 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.

Environments that have not deployed Redwood Experience will not currently be impacted by this change. In an update planned for the second quarter of 2024, Oracle will automatically migrate these environments to use the Redwood Experience.

Embedding Google Sheets, Google Drive Files, and Microsoft Office 365 Files in Navigation Flows

Customers can embed the third-party pages listed below in Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud Application navigation flows. Though not supported by Oracle, using instructions provided by the third-party sites, you can now embed links to these resources within navigation flow cards, tabs, and sub tabs:

  • Google Sheets
  • Files stored in Google Drive (for example, PDF and Excel)
  • Files stored in Microsoft Office 365

For more information about embedding third-party pages in Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud applications, see the following documentation:

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)

Strategic Workforce Planning 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.

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.

Forms 2.0 and Dashboards 2.0

Within the next 6 months, Forms 2.0 and Dashboards 2.0 functionality will be available. Forms 2.0 and Dashboards 2.0 use Oracle JET technology for faster rendering, sophistication, ease of use, improved flexibility, better visualization, and additional designs. To work with Forms 2.0 and Dashboards 2.0, you must enable the Redwood Experience. Forms 1.0 and 2.0 and Dashboard 1.0 and 2.0 versions will continue to coexist in the same business process at the same time.

Forms 2.0 features:

  • Forms runtime-only improvements
  • Usability improvements
  • Better scalability and enhanced performance
  • Greater consistency between Web forms and Smart View forms
  • Easily switch from Forms 1.0 to Forms 2.0 and back using an application setting

Dashboards 2.0 enhancements:

  • Introduces a new Grid chart type which renders Forms 2.0 inside Dashboards 2.0
  • New URL and Commentary types of Dashboard objects
  • Custom formatting of titles and support for background colors in URL, Commentary, and Grid objects
  • New user interface for associating business rules
  • Ability to display multiple Gauge, Pie, and Doughnut charts inside one Dashboard object
  • New menu options for opening and editing forms directly from the Dashboard
  • New Information icon for the Dashboard and all Dashboard objects
  • Ability to easily convert 1.0 Dashboards to 2.0 individually and at the folder level on the Dashboards listing page

Plan to Disable the Print Option in Web Ad Hoc Grids and Forms 2.0

Starting with the September (23.09) update, we are disabling the print option within Web ad hoc grids. Forms 2.0 (to be released soon) will also not have a print option. You can use the browser's print feature or the Excel Print feature in Smart View if you require printing.

Removal of Support for Custom Application in Data Management

Starting with the September (23.09) update, custom target applications can no longer be added in Data Management. This type of application was used to extract data from Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud, and then the data was pushed into a flat file instead of being loaded to a Strategic Workforce Planning 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.

Mandatory Steps Required to Make the Explore Repository Artifacts Accessible to Users

Prior to the July (22.07) update, Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud used the WORLD pre-seeded group to grant access to Explore Repository artifacts such as reports and folders. Starting with the July (22.07) update, the WORLD group was removed. If you previously used the WORLD group to grant access to repository artifacts, complete these steps to ensure that users can access Repository artifacts:

  1. Create a group in Access Control with all Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud users as its members.
  2. In Explore Repository, grant access privileges to the group you created in the preceding step.

For detailed steps, see Granting Access Permissions to Document Repository Users in Working with Financial Reporting for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud.

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 when 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:

  • 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.