EPMExportAll (EPM_CloneExport.bat) is a new Oracle EPM (Hyperion) 11.1.2.3 Lifecycle Management (LCM) command-line utility that exports all LCM-enabled artifacts to the file system. It is very similar, in use and function, to the Lifecycle Management Utility (utility.bat), with a few subtle, yet key differences:

• Unlike the Lifecycle Management Utility (utility.bat), the EPMExportAll utility does not utilize a Migration Definition File to specify which artifacts you want to export. Rather, the EPMExportAll utility grabs all LCM-enabled artifacts by default – whether you want them or not – without specifying a Migration Definition File
• Although the EPMExportAll utility does not use a Migration Definition File, it does require a properties file as input. The properties file does not come installed, so it must be created and named “input.properties” The input.properties file then needs to be populated with the EPM username and password, to be used by the EPMExportAll utility, each time it runs
• The EPMExportAll utility does not accept any command-line arguments. The Lifecycle Management Utility accepts some command-line arguments that can be used to list information or to specify a base path
• While the EPMExportAll utility grabs all LCM-enabled artifacts, it will not grab any artifacts that are not LCM-enabled (e.g., Application Groups  Foundation  Deployment Metadata  Shared Services Registry). The Lifecycle Management Utility (utility.bat) will allow you to select these artifacts

The EPMExportAll utility is executed by running a file called “epm_cloneexport.bat.” This file should be on the Foundation Server, in the Middleware_Home/user_projects/epmsystem1/bin directory (the file may be on a different server and directory, depending on how the installation was done). Here are instructions on how this utility works:

1. Once you’ve located the epm_cloneexport.bat file (in the same directory that the epm_cloneexport.bat file is in), create a blank file and name it input.properties. Open the input.properties file and add the following two lines where mylcmusername and mylcmpassword are the Shared Services credentials for the account that you want the utility to use (Important tip: The password in the input.properties file will be overwritten with an encrypted password during the first run of the utility)

• user=mylcmusername
• password=mylcmpassword

2. Save and close the input.properties file.

3. From a command line, cd to the directory that contains the epm_cloneexport.bat file, and run the following command:

epm_cloneexport.bat input.properties

4. When completed, you should see a message that says: “Migration Status: Success.”

5. Exit the command window.

6. In Shared Services, under “File System,” you should now see a folder called EPM_CloneExport. This folder should contain all of the LCM-enabled artifacts.

7. If you go back and open the input.properties file, it should now display the encrypted password (Important tip: At the time that this was written, there appeared to be a potential bug with this utility, whereby the utility created a sort of ad-hoc MDF file, named epmexportall.xml, and put it in the default File System location, alongside the EPM_CloneExport folder. This file contained the unencrypted version of the password from the input.properties file. The file is generated every time the utility is run. We currently have a ticket open with Oracle to see if this is a bug. In the meantime, as a work-around, I am running the utility in a script and having the script delete the epmexportall.xml file after the epm_cloneexport.bat completes):

Author: Ivan Agudelo, Performance Architects

For versions of Oracle EPM 11.1.2.2 and earlier, Oracle ERP Integrator (or ERPi, now part of Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management Enterprise Edition or FDMEE in Version 11.1.2.3) and Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management Architect (EPMA) had problems properly handling changes to an E-Business Suite (EBS) hierarchy.

For example, when members are moved to a different parent in EBS, EPMA creates a new primary instance of the member at the new location in the hierarchy. However, the originally placed member is also retained, but is switched to a shared member. The reason this happens is that, by default, ERPi imports metadata using the “Merge as Primary” process type, which will not delete or move existing members, but rather switch them to ‘shared’ while creating a new primary instance of a member based on the current location in the EBS hierarchy. This behavior is especially problematic because this will lead to double-counting, and application deployments from EPMA often fail in cases where the member was moved lower in the hierarchy. This causes an error where a shared member is encountered before the primary instance.

In the image below, member A50300 was originally a child of parent A501AM. After an EBS hierarchy change, the member is now a child of parent A501AP; however ERPi and EPMA failed to remove the member from the original parent, and instead made it a shared member. A deployment attempt with the hierarchy in this state would fail because the shared member will be encountered before the primary member.

This behavior is a known bug in Oracle that was not fixed until Version 11.1.2.3 in ERPi’s replacement product, Financial Data Quality Management Enterprise Edition (FDMEE). In versions prior to 11.1.2.3, Hyperion administrators must be fully aware of any and all EBS hierarchy changes so they can monitor for this behavior. When an administrator identifies the problem, they must manually delete the shared member prior to deploying the application. This known bug necessitates a very strong business process to be in place so admins are made fully aware of all EBS hierarchy changes.

As of EPM Version 11.1.2.3, FDMEE now provides the option of choosing how hierarchy changes will be handled by EPMA. There is now an option to choose “Merge as Move,” which would likely be the most typical and preferable way for handling EBS hierarchy changes. The originally placed member is actually moved from its original parent, and placed under the new parent, leaving only a single primary instance of the member in EPMA. Administrators will need to be cognizant of the version of EPM they are on, and ensure the proper business processes are in place to handle the inherent limitations of the product.

Author: Shane Hetzel, Performance Architects

As many of you know, Oracle Data Relationship Management (DRM) was originally called “Razza DS” and was acquired by Hyperion. The product name was then changed to Hyperion Master Data Management (MDM). Shortly after Oracle acquired Hyperion, the product was again renamed to Data Relationship Management (DRM) and is now one of several Oracle offerings in the data governance and integration arena (what Oracle calls its “Data Relationship Governance” or “DRG” solution set).

DRM is a master data management tool used for building and maintaining the consistency of non-transactional, master data. It is a technology-independent solution that supports integration of all data sources and targets and supports data governance by driving a consistent set of master data definitions down to various targets.

Over the past year or so, the Oracle EPM (Hyperion) product management team has focused in a lot more detail on the concept of Data Relationship Governance (DRG) and how this applies to further data integration efforts within the Oracle EPM (Hyperion) product suite, going so far as to implement DRG capabilities in the most recent releases of its data governance and integration tools.

The 2013 Oracle DRM 11.1.2.3 release included a major shift to this new Data Relationship Governance (DRG) model. Before this release, change management, workflow and approvals (if desired) required a customized solution that used the DRM Application Programming Interface (API) and Business Process and Execution Language (BPEL), along with a strong dose of Java programming capabilities. This type of solution usually required third party resources and added another layer of complexity and cost both during development and during ongoing operational ownership. Now, with DRG, there is a configurable tool available right out of the box within DRM that includes a governance workflow and approval process.

To summarize (courtesy of Oracle),the DRM DRG capabilities include:

• Workflow models. Controls user tasks, stages of workflow, and types of data involved with governing a set of changes to data in DRM.
• Workflow requests. Initiates changes or corrections to be completed, approved, enriched, and committed by other users using governance workflows.
• Governance work list. Provides a central location for interacting with change and remediation requests. From the work list, users may submit change requests or review and participate in requests assigned to their user group.
• Alerts and notifications. Offers DRM alerts and email notifications to governance users and data managers for requests with which they are associated. The configuration of workflow model stages for a request controls whether users are notified of activities taking place in a particular stage and which users get notified.
• Workflow path. Identifies the stages of workflow to be completed for a request; the active stage for the request; the completion status of previous stages; and the approval count for the active stage. The workflow path enables participating users to understand how long a request may take, how many approvals may be involved, and where a request is positioned in the overall approval process.
• Workflow tags. Allows governance users to assign a due date for completion of a request and to mark the request as urgent.

With the latest 2014 DRM 11.1.2.3.500 release, much of the focus is still on enhancing Data Relationship Governance (DRG) functionality. Added features and updates include:

1. Copy workflow models and tasks

• a. Create new models and tasks based on existing configurations
• b. Apply changes to support different workflow requirements over time
• c. Hide a model to make it unavailable or to retire it
• d. Rename models to replace an old model with a new one

2. Automatic updates for request items

3. Governance web service API

• Initiate workflow requests via external sources or systems without logging into DRM 
• Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete (CRUD) operations for building a request, validate/submit, and monitor status
• DRM web service can be used to find existing nodes to include in request items

4. Database integration

• Imports from read-only tables and DB views
• Write to external database tables
• Query database objects using a schema and/or object filter
• Select or manually add a database table/view to a connection
• Improves configuration for database external connections and validates database objects defined for the external connection

5. External workflow

• Workflow development kit integrates external workflows (includes external BPEL processes)

6. Patch 11.1.2.3.302

• Stateful sessions for DRM web service 

i. Uses stateful sessions when performing multiple API operations together
ii. Improves performance by minimizing overhead of creating/terminating user sessions
iii. Allows for tighter code and better control when interacting with the DRM web service

7. Patch 11.1.2.3.304

• Indexes for defined properties, which improves performance
• Provides version deletion in the background, which improves responsiveness for other system operations during delete process
• Enhances password security

Oracle has also provided additional Certifications for release 11.1.2.3.500, including:

• Windows 8
• IE 10
• Firefox 24 ESR
• Oracle DB 12c
• Excel 2013

Other release compatibility updates include Shared Services 11.1.2.3.500, EPM Architect 11.1.2.3.500 and Fusion Middle Ware (FMW 11.1.1.7).

According to the Oracle DRM Product Management team, in the 11.1.2.4 release, we can expect further enhancements to DRG along with some added investment in integration with other EPM modules. Capabilities may include:

1. DRG enhancements

• Conditional workflow stages that offer the ability to add conditional logic to the stages of a model
• Load request items from file
• Request auditing (the ability to track down requests, models, and users of requests both completed and in-flight or what we refer to as “The who, when and what”)
• Request attachments (attach documents to your workflow)

2. EPM integration

• Enable DRM to work with Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) for seamless integration with Hyperion Planning regardless of how a customer is using the application (on premise, hybrid, cloud)
• Integrate with Financial Data Management Enterprise Edition (FDMEE) integration to send and receive data from FDMEE for two core DRM use cases:

i. DRM (Dimension Master) to provide a target for metadata within FDM for managing dimensions outbound to EPM (GL->FDM->DRM->EPMA)
ii. DRM (Mapping Master) to chart mapping/sourcing in addition to dimension management for managing DRM outbound to FDMEE (DRM->FDMEE->HFM)

• Allow for DRG approvals via the Oracle EPM Mobile App for “approvals on the fly”

3. Enterprise readiness

• Offer OAG 2.0 (VPAT)

4. DRM core functionality new features

• Create hierarchies from orphans during import
• Import from single section file
• Assign validations and hierarchy groups during import
• Provide hierarchy groups for exports
• Offer substitution parameters for queries/compares/imports/exports
• Provide dynamic export columns
• Improve quoted string handling

In closing, there is plenty here to look forward to in the world of Oracle EPM (Hyperion) data integration and governance capabilities. With the addition of the DRG module, DRM is now a full-fledged and enterprise strength master data management solution that includes both workflow and audit capabilities.

Author: Jason Sawicki, Performance Architects

Welcome to Part 1 of a four-part series on a basic install of Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM or Hyperion) 11.1.2.3! This series covers the installation of Oracle Essbase and Oracle Hyperion Planning on a single Windows Server 2008 R2 machine. The goal is to (hopefully!) help you to stand up your own local install for development and learning purposes, with minimal fuss.

Unlike the standard and rapid deployment guides from Oracle, this guide forces you to configure the applications across several different schemas and individual WebLogic application servers. This helps replicate the standard Performance Architects installation, which provides clear visibility into the database structure for each application. This also allows you to recover an individual product from a backup if something goes wrong, or to easily start over!

The four blog posts related to this subject include:

• Part 1.  Covers the download and assembly of the installation folder, as well as the creation of required product schemas.
• Part 2.  Reviews the installation of Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.
• Part 3.  Outlines the configuration process.
• Part 4.  Shows how to install the 11.1.2.3.500 patches for both Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase. 

A few assumptions you’ll need to take into account before you start:

• Your machine that handles your instance of EPM is up and running.
• You have access to the Oracle E-Delivery and Oracle Support web sites.
• You are installing on an Oracle Database (for which I’ve provided the “Create User” scripts). If you are installing on SQL Server, then you will have to create each database individually. If you do not have a database installed, follow this quick guide that shows you how to install your own instance of Oracle 11g! http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/10/oracle-11g-step-by-step-installation-guide-with-screenshots/
• You are comfortable asking questions if you need answers!

Without much further ado, let’s go ahead and get started. The rest of this post covers the steps required to prepare for an install: specifically, getting your local machine ready, downloading the prerequisite installation files, and creating the installation folder.

1. Take a brief read over the following document: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/epm_standard_deploy.pdf. This contains some information regarding minimum hardware specifications.  I would suggest installing in an environment that has at least 4CPUs and 12GB of RAM. This is debatable, so feel free to comment if you think differently.

2. Check to make sure that you have administrative privileges for the machine you are installing on. If you don’t know, or don’t know how to check, see the following link: http://www.technipages.com/how-to-check-for-administrator-rights

3. Disable “User Access Control” by clicking “Start” and then typing “UAC”. Select “Change User Account Control settings”.

4. Set the level to “Never Notify” and click “OK.”

5. Download the relevant assemblies from the Oracle E-Delivery site. This includes the installation documentation.

6. Log in with your Oracle ID by clicking “Sign In / Register”

7. Read the “Terms & Restrictions,” and if so inclined, agree to them to move forward. Pay particular attention to the following clause: “You agree that neither the programs nor any direct product thereof will be exported, directly, or indirectly, in violation of these laws, or will be used for any purpose prohibited by these laws including, without limitation, nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons proliferation.”

8. Select “Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System” from the first drop down. Select the appropriate platform for the second drop down. For this installation, I have selected “Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit)”. Click “Go.”

9. Select the “11.1.2.3 Download” option and click “Continue.”

10. From here, you need to select the appropriate files for download. I have listed them below. When you download these files, put them in the following directory: C:\oracle_install_files.

Assemblies to download:

• V46965-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 Installation Documents and Readmes
• V45339-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 for Microsoft Windows (64-bit) Part 1
• V37945-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 for Microsoft Windows (64-bit) Part 2
• V37933-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 Part 3
• V37946-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 for Microsoft Windows (64-bit) Part 4
• V45341-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 for Microsoft Windows (64-bit) Part 5
• V37948-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 for Microsoft Windows (64-bit) Part 6
• V37949-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 for Microsoft Windows (64-bit) Part 7
• V37950-01: EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 for Microsoft Windows (64-bit) Oracle HTTP Server
• V44215-01: EPM System Patchset Release 11.1.2.3.500 for Microsoft Windows (64-bit)

11. While all these assemblies are downloading, you need to create the required database schemas.

12. Log in as a user with SYS rights to your Oracle instance.

13. Execute the create user statements to create all of the users you need for the install. If you don’t know how to create the EPM_TABLESPACE or you need to access the create user statements, please send me a note requesting access. The users are:

• EPM_HSS
• EPM_RA
• EPM_CALC
• EPM_PLAN
• EPM_PLAP1
• EPM_EAS
• EPM_ODS (consider this a hint to a later surprise!)

The minimum privileges include:

• CREATE ANY SYNONYM
• CREATE CLUSTER
• CREATE INDEXTYPE
• CREATE PROCEDURE
• CREATE SEQUENCE
• CREATE SESSION
• CREATE TABLE
• CREATE TRIGGER
• CREATE TYPE
• CREATE VIEW
• DROP ANY SYNONYM
• UNLIMITED TABLESPACE

14. Once you have executed the scripts, you should see the various schemas listed in Toad (or SQL Developer).

15. While those assemblies continue to download, grab a cup of coffee!

16. Once all of the assemblies are downloaded, you should have a folder that looks something like this:

17. Now it is time to unzip all of these files into the same directory, to create the Installation folder. Create a folder on your local drive called C:\oracle_installer. Once this is done, unzip the first file into this directory:

18. After this first extract is complete, the installation folder will look like this:

19. Continue to unzip all of the assemblies into this directory. You do not need to unzip V44215-01.zip into this directory.

20. Once complete, the directory should look as follows:

With this complete you now have an installation folder ready to go! At this point, refill the coffee cup, and take a breather. From here it is time to install the products! Stay tuned for Part 2 of this installation series for next steps.

Author: Tom Blakeley, Performance Architects

Welcome to Part 2 of a four-part series detailing the installation, configuration, and patching process for a basic Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM or Hyperion) environment containing both Oracle Essbase and Oracle Hyperion Planning.

The four blog posts related to this subject include:

• Part 1.  Covers the download and assembly of the installation folder, as well as the creation of required product schemas.
• Part 2.  Reviews the installation of Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.
• Part 3.  Outlines the configuration process.
• Part 4.  Shows how to install the 11.1.2.3.500 patches for both Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.

Feel free to read Part 1 to catch up!

After prepping your local machine, downloading assemblies, and creating the installation folder, you can begin the installation process – which is fairly straightforward!

1. With the installation folder prepped, you can go ahead and launch the installer. Find the file called “installTool.cmd” located in the C:\oracle_installer directory. Right click, and run as administrator.

2. Choose a language and click OK.

3. The installer will review several prerequisites, and note any issues at the bottom. As demonstrated below, the system passes validation. Resolve any errors before continuing. Click “Next.”

4.Select a location for the installation. I am using the default location specified (C:\Oracle\Middleware).

5. Elect to perform a new installation.

6. From here you can see a list of all the available products for installation. Since the assemblies containt the required files for other products such as Financial Data Management Enterprise Edition (FDMEE), Hyperion Strategic Finance (HSF), and Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management (HPCM), they are listed as available for install.

7. Click Uncheck All. This clears all of the available products, providing an empty list to choose from.

8. Check the following products:

• Under Foundation Services:All Foundation Components
  Calculation Manager

• Under Essbase:Essbase Administration Services Web Application
  Provider Services Java Web Application
  Essbase Server
  Essbase Server Samples

• Under Reporting and Analysis:Framework (which contains Framework Java Web Application
  Framework Services and Common Libraries

• Under Planning: Planning Java Web Application
  

9. At this point, you have an opportunity to review the EPM install. Each product is listed for installation:

10. Click “Next” to move on to the installation.

11. As each product is installed, a check mark will appear next to the product.

12. Almost there!

13. Once the installation is complete, you can either choose the “Configure the EPM System” option or the “Finish” option.

14. Click “Finish.”

15. Reviewing the C:\Oracle\Middleware folder you can see that the base installation deployed a variety of capabilities including the Common Middleware Framework, as well as the System 11 EPM files.

16. With the installation complete, you can move on to the configuration process, which is covered in the next blog in this series.

Author: Tom Blakeley, Performance Architects

Welcome to Part 3 of a four-part series detailing the installation, configuration, and patching process for a basic Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM or Hyperion) environment containing both Oracle Essbase and Oracle Hyperion Planning. The four blog posts related to this subject include:

• Part 1.  Covers the download and assembly of the installation folder, as well as the creation of required product schemas.
• Part 2.  Reviews the installation of Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.
• Part 3.  Outlines the configuration process.
• Part 4.  Shows how to install the 11.1.2.3.500 patches for both Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.

This post focuses on the configuration process. The configuration process deploys all of the Java web applications; registers all of the various products with the Shared Services instance; creates database objects in each schema; and creates the HTTP server. Essentially, we are transitioning installed software to a functioning environment.

Note: Prior to beginning the configuration process, check to make sure that the local database instance is up and running. If you have not created the required schemas, you can find the scripts here.

1. To begin, start the EPM System Configurator by right-clicking, and then select “Run as Administrator.” The EPM System Configurator can be found here:

2. After the EPM System Configurator launches, you will first need to specify the “Middleware” home directory, as well as an instance name. I’ve elected to use the base directories specified automatically by the Configurator. Click “Next.”

3. From here, you’ll need to connect to a local database instance, specifically for Shared Services.

4. Enter in the connection information for your database. For Shared Services, you will need to use the EPM_HSS user created during Part 1 of this blog series.

5. The Configurator will try to connect to the database and verify the connection.

6. Once the connection is successfully verified to the database, you will be able to select the available installed products for configuration.

7. Expand out the list so that you can see the following products available for configuration. You should configure all of these products, so accept the defaults and click “Next.”

8. Use the default values when configuring the common settings, as you’ll need services created for each of the products. You won’t be configuring a mail server. The “LCM Export/Import” folder can be changed if required (I typically choose the default location).

9. By default, the “Configure Database” screen sets the database schema for all products to the one specified during the Shared Services set up.

10. We will be configuring the installation across multiple schemas. Uncheck each of the individual products. Once this is complete, change each user name and password to the cooresponding schemas created during Part 1 of this guide. Click “Next.”

11. Once the connections have been verified to the database schemas, individual application settings can be configured. Accept the defaults for “Reporting and Analysis.”

12. At this point, you need to specify the domain and credentials for the WebLogic domain created during the configuration.

13. Specify a password and note it down. The password should be eight characters long.  Click “Next.”

14. By default, the applications are deployed to a single managed server.

15. Uncheck the box “Deploy the Java web application to a single managed server”. Click “Next.”

16. At this point, it is time to configure the Essbase Server. Accept the default values.

17. Similarly, accept the default values for the “Reporting and Analysis Framework Agent Ports.”

18. Accept the default value for the “Planning RMI Port.”

19. The Configurator then configures the Web Server. Accept the default values.

20. At this point, the Configurator registers and initiates the Oracle Configuration Manager. Uncheck the box labelled “I wish to receive security updates via My Oracle Support”. Click “Next.”

21. Acknowledge the warning and click “Yes.”

22. Specify a Shared Services password and click “Next.”

23. All of the configuration tasks should be listed on the following screen:

24. The configuration begins when you click “Next.”

25. Once the configuration is complete, review the results/status.

26. With everything successfully configured, click “Finish.”

27. Congratulations!  The installation is now complete!  A variety of new services now exist in the “Services” menu. To access Services, type “services.msc” into the “Start” bar.

28. To better manage the local system as well as system resources, change the Oracle services “Startup Type” from Automatic to Manual. To do so, right-click on a service and select “Properties.” Change “Startup Type” to “Manual.”

29. Setting the services to manual startup requires them to be managed via the Start/Stop scripts.

30 Finally, disable “Oraclec_oracle_middle~1_epmsys~1c_oracle_middleware_user_projects_epmsystem1ConfigurationManager.” service.

At this point, the configuration is largely complete, and services could be started. However, as this install is base Version 11.1.2.3, I would consider taking the time to patch to the latest version. See Part 4 for a guide on post-configuration steps coming up next week!

Author: Tom Blakeley, Performance Architects

Welcome to Part 4 of a four-part series detailing the installation, configuration, and patching process for a basic Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM or Hyperion) 11.1.2.3 environment containing both Oracle Essbase and Hyperion Planning. The four blog posts related to this subject include:

• Part 1.  Covers the download and assembly of the installation folder, as well as the creation of required product schemas.
• Part 2.  Reviews the installation of Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.
• Part 3.  Outlines the configuration process.
• Part 4.  Shows how to install the 11.1.2.3.500 patches for both Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.

This post focuses on the patching process, along with instructions on how to tune some of the Java heap sizes to better manage system resources on a smaller local machine. At this point, you should have a local machine instance of EPM installed and configured. In addition, you should have downloaded the patch set from Oracle E-Delivery. As part of this process, you will also download several additional Essbase patches from Oracle Support.

1. To begin, you first need to download a few patches from Oracle Support. First, navigate to support.oracle.com

2. Sign in with your Oracle ID. Once logged in, select “Patches & Updates” from the menu page.

3. Download the following series of patches from Oracle Support, by entering both the patch number and the operating system.

4. These patches can be downloaded into the “C:\oracle_install_files folder”  The patches include:

• p17767307_11123000_MSWIN-x86-64
• p17767302_11123000_MSWIN-x86-64
• p17767299_11123000_MSWIN-x86-64
• p17767309_11123000_MSWIN-x86-64

5. You first need to unzip the patches into the “Oracle Middleware OPatch” directory. Locate the files in the “C:\oracle_install_files” directory.

6. Right-click, and unzip the file into the “C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\OPatch” directory.

7. After the file is extracted, you will see the following in the “OPatch” directory.

8. Continue to extract all of the patches into the “OPatch” directory.

9. With all of the patches extracted, it is time to apply them using the command line utility. Open up a “Command Line” session, making sure to select “Run as Adminstrator.”

10. First, change the directory to the “OPatch” folder by using the following command:

“cd C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\OPatch.”

11. At this point, you can now apply a patch. Apply the first patch using the following command: “opatch.bat apply 17529887_WIN64 –oh C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1 –jre C:\Oracle\Middleware\jdk160_35.”

12. Once the patch executes, look for a “Success” message.

13. Once you apply this patch, apply the remaining patches. The commands required are noted below:

• opatch.bat apply 17767299 -oh C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1 -jre C:\Oracle\Middleware\jdk160_35
• opatch.bat apply 17767302 -oh C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1 -jre C:\Oracle\Middleware\jdk160_35
• opatch.bat apply 17767309 -oh C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1 -jre C:\Oracle\Middleware\jdk160_35

14. After all of the patches are applied, run the following command to confirm. You should see each of the applied patches listed: “opatch.bat lsinventory –oh C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1.”

15. With these patches applied, navigate back to the “OPatch” directory using the Windows Explorer.

16. Run the “EssbaseClient.exe” as an administrator.

17. With the installer launched, click “Next.”

18. Once the installer finishes, click “Finish” to close.

19. The patches process is now complete. You’re almost done!

20. Since this installation focuses on a personal laptop or desktop with limited resources, you’ll need to tune the Java applications.

21. Navigate to the following directory: “C:\Oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\bin\deploymentScripts.”

22. This directory contains the deployment scripts for each of the products that offer a Java web application. The out-of-the-box settings for the Java Heap allow for significant growth, which may not be possible on a smaller machine. I recommend reducing the upper-limit of the heap setting to establish consistent performance on your machine.

23. Open the “setCustomParamsAnalyticProviderServices.bat” file in a text editor. I am using Notepad++, a free text editor.

24. Change the upper limit (maximum size) from “Xmx4096m” down to a more reasonable “512m.”

25. Save the text file, and from there continue to edit the remaining files. Set each upper limit to 512m.

26. One this is complete, you can finally switch from a cup of coffee, to a cup of something a little stronger! In my case, a glass of red wine…

27. Now you can start services!  Open the “Start” menu, and navigate to “Oracle EPM System.”  From there, navigate to the “epmsystem1 Foundation Services”. Finally, run the “Start EPM System” script.

28. Services will begin to start.

29. Once services restart, we can access the “Workspace” URL. Replace “#comptuer# name” with your local machine name.

30. Horah! Login with your username & password.

31. With your new instance up and running, check the remaining products.  Access “Planning Administration” to check Planning (Navigate –> Administer –> Planning Administration).

32. Open up “Calculation Manager” (Navigate –> Administer – > Calculation Manager).

33. Access “Web Launcher” for “Essbase Administration Services. “

34. Log in to EAS. Once logged in, right-click on “Essbase Servers “and” Add Essbase Server.”   Add the default values.

35. You now have a functioning environment that offers the opportunity to now build Essbase applications, deploy Planning apps, and – if you want – expand your environment.

Please post questions and comments below! Thanks!

Author: Tom Blakeley, Performance Architects

To say that I am a big fan of Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Management Enterprise Edition (FDMEE) would be an understatement. After a couple of blog posts and multiple implementations, I’ve become mildly obsessed. I want to teach you how to use the product because FDMEE is the go-forward application for on premise Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM or Hyperion) solutions data management, as well as the data management option for Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) (the software-as-a-service version of Oracle Hyperion Planning).  The four blog posts related to this subject include:

• Part 1.  Covers the download and assembly of the installation folder, as well as the creation of required product schemas.
• Part 2.  Reviews the installation of Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.
• Part 3.  Outlines the configuration process.
• Part 4.  Shows how to install the 11.1.2.3.500 patches for both Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase.

This is the first blog post, of many, about how to use the FDMEE solution. In order to follow along, you need to have a local installation of the tool. To do so, I am expecting that you have an existing environment locally installed; if not, I’ve created a blog series on how to locally install Oracle Essbase and Oracle Hyperion Planning to help you get started.

One important note: this installation is on a Windows Server 2008R2 machine.

1. First, access your local Oracle database instance and create a separate table space (make sure to set it to “No Logging”).

2. Second, run the following script to create an FDMEE user.

• CREATE USER EPM_FDMEE IDENTIFIED BY password
• DEFAULT TABLESPACE “EPM_FDMEE”
• QUOTA UNLIMITED ON “EPM_FDMEE”; 

• GRANT CREATE ANY CLUSTER TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE ANY INDEXTYPE TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE ANY PROCEDURE TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE ANY SEQUENCE TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE ANY SYNONYM TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE SESSION TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE TABLE TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE TRIGGER TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE TYPE TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT CREATE VIEW TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT DROP ANY SYNONYM TO EPM_FDMEE;
• GRANT UNLIMITED TABLESPACE TO EPM_FDMEE;

3. Start up the Oracle installer. If you don’t have one created, look to my previous blog posts to get started. Once up and running, click “Next.”

4. Select to install into the directory previously used by your EPM instance if expanding out an environment (like I am here).

5. Perform a new installation.

6. Uncheck all and then select “FDM Enterprise Edition” from the product components list. The database clients will autoselect along with the “HFM ADM” driver.

7. Note that Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) will install automatically!

8. Once the installation is complete, click “Configure” to launch the Configurator. When the Configurator launches, confirm the “Home” directory and EPM Oracle Instance.

9. Choose to configure the “FDMEE Database,” and deploy it to the application server. You can choose to uncheck “Configure DCOM” if you do not have an installation of Hyperion Financial Management (HFM).

10. Utilize the schema created earlier for the database user for this configuration.

11. Deploy to your existing WebLogic domain.

12. Deploy to a separate server.

13. Confirm the configuration.

14. Allow the configuration to run.

15. Once configuration is complete, FDMEE is set up.

16. Depending on your instance version, you may need to patch FDMEE up to a newer release than the base 11.1.2.3 version.

Author: Tom Blakeley, Performance Architects

Author: Andy Tauro, Performance Architects

One of the prerequisites for installing Oracle EPM (Hyperion) software on servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 or later is to disable User Account Control (UAC). In Windows Server 2008 R2, one can do this via the System Configuration tool (Windows Key + R, type ‘msconfig.exe’). On the “Tools” menu, launch “Change UAC Settings” and move the slider all the way down to “Never Notify.”

In Windows Server 2012 R2, however, this is not sufficient, since UAC is still active at this point. In order to disable UAC completely, the registry key “EnableLUA” needs to be updated with the value of ‘0’ from the default of ‘1’. This key is at the location “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system.”

A system reboot is required for this to take effect.

This is also described in this article on the Microsoft TechNet website.

Author: Andy Tauro, Performance Architects

Seeing some weird behavior in Oracle Hyperion Workspace? Is the mouse pointer in one place, and when you click it, something else opens up, like in this image below?

In this example, the mouse pointer was aimed at the “Users” folder to open it up, but instead a sample report underneath it opened up, which is obviously annoying. The problem may be that the “Zoom” level in the browser tab may have been set to a value other than 100%. This is a known issue in some versions of Internet Explorer as well as Mozilla Firefox.

Oracle Hyperion Workspace navigation tends to have problems like this when the browser zoom is set to a value other than 100%, and this is also evident in other tree-based navigation screens, like in Hyperion Calculation Manager. Oracle Support offers a document entitled “EPM Workspace Zoom In Feature Has to be Set to 100% to Avoid Browsing Issues When Using Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) (Doc ID 2009053.1)” that highlights this issue in Internet Explorer (IE) 11, and the document recommends setting the zoom level to 100% for an optimal browsing experience.

Have you experienced this or similar issues when using Workspace? Do you need additional help? Perhaps we can work together to fix some of your issues. Either way, we would enjoy hearing about your experiences in the “Comments” section below, or send us a note at sales@performancearchitects.com and we’ll see how we can help.

Author: Andy Tauro, Performance Architects

During a recent project, where we were upgrading the base operating system (OS) of an Oracle Exalytics X2-4 In-Memory machine to Oracle Linux 6 image, we had to create a temporary pre-production server. This machine was meant to stand-in for production support activities, while the Oracle Hyperion Planning environments that the Exalytics machines hosted were offline. As part of this, the solutions deployed on the Exalytics machine were migrated over to the temporary server, and one of the tools used was the LCM (Life Cycle Management) utility. This is a popular utility for moving solution objects between environments of the same version.

After we migrated the solution artifacts during the usual health check, we discovered that every user, be it an Administrator, or a Report Viewer, was getting this error when they open the “Explore” module of Oracle EPM Workspace to access their reports: “The startup folder specified does not exist in the repository.”

As per Oracle KB article 2132131.1, the cause is due to an incorrect interpretation of user preferences as they were imported into the target environment.

To fix this for an individual user, the user must update ‘Preferences.’

The ‘Default’ and ‘New Document’ folders point to incorrect locations.

These folders need to be changed to point to a valid location, such as the ‘Root’ folder.

Once both options have been updated, log off and log back in and the error message should not appear anymore.

Author: Zack Carman, Performance Architects

The introduction of Oracle’s Planning and Budgeting Cloud Services (PBCS) not only saw Oracle EPM’s (Hyperion’s) introduction into the cloud but also the addition of more acronyms. One of these acronyms, EPMA, has caused confusion because this acronym describes different capabilities within PBCS versus on-premise Oracle Hyperion Planning solutions. So, what’s the difference?

Enterprise Performance Management Architect (EPMA) is an on-premise component that is used for creating and managing Oracle EPM (Hyperion) applications. Within EPMA, Hyperion applications can be created and deployed from a shared library, which contains a centralized repository of hierarchies and members. By using this piece of Hyperion software, administrators can streamline the addition of applications across multiple Hyperion technologies, including Essbase, Planning, and Hyperion Financial Management (HFM).

EPM Automate is an Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Services (PBCS) tool that is used to communicate with server utilities for situations including automation, or repetitive manual jobs. EPM Automate requires an installation wherever it needs to be called, whether that be on a server or an administrator’s desktop. Through the use of the tool, EPM Automate can run metadata loads, data loads, business rules, etc. This functionality allows EPM Automate to be the true communication source of any lights-out automation that may be needed.

And there you have it. For further information on either one of these components or how to implement them as part of an Oracle EPM initiative, please don’t hesitate to contact the Performance Architects team at sales@performancearchitects.com.

Author: Andy Tauro, Performance Architects

For folks who are deploying Hyperion Planning (the Oracle EPM on-premise budgeting, forecasting and planning solution) 11.1.2.4.005, or for those of you who are already on that version, the Performance Architects team strongly recommends to apply Patch Set Exception (PSE) 24597360.

One very important consideration: PSEs are usually not compatible with each other. If you already have a PSE applied for 11.1.2.4.005, you may run into conflict and have to choose which one to keep. Patch Set Updates (PSU) do not usually have this problem because they are cumulative starting 11.1.2.4 (except for Shared Services) and include all fixes issued before them.

This PSE fixes two pretty important bugs with data entry web forms.

1. Account dimension fixes

In most uses of web forms, the Account dimension is in the row. However, in cases where one or more of these members are also present in an alternate hierarchy, the row that the member is in does not show in the row labels, but the actual data row for the member does show up, especially when the setting to “Suppress missing blocks” is enabled. As a result, the data form gets skewed at best, and can get completely unusable unless this PSE is applied.

2. Columns widths

Without the PSE, column widths do not respect width settings and instead resize to the width of the column labels. This can be very annoying for users, even if it does not make the web form unusable. For instance, if the header of a column was ‘FY17’, the column width would essentially be four characters wide. Not just would that make for a very slim column that would need to be manually resized to read a number larger than four digits, because all the column headers are most likely not the same, the form will look very ugly.

Please note that this PSE does not completely fix this problem.  On first opening the web forms, the column widths will be sized as per design settings. If any columns are set to be able to expand (such as ‘YearTotal’), the additional columns are squished as well to the size of, for example, ‘Qtr1.’ However, refreshing the web form at that point fixes the additional columns. There is a bug pending with Oracle Development for this (24838130).

If you are seeing any of these issues in your environment, hopefully this note helps you. If you feel that you will require expert assistance in applying this PSE to your environment, or with something else in on-premise Hyperion Planning or Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS), please feel free to drop a note and we will be in touch.

Author: Kirby Lunger, Performance Architects

For many years, Oracle has been the leader in the enterprise performance management (EPM) (also called corporate performance management or CPM if you follow Gartner) arena with a suite of products called “Oracle EPM.”  These products started on-premise, and Oracle has very quickly migrated this functionality to the cloud since the release of its first EPM cloud product back in February 2014.

For those of us who have been in this area for a while, the rapid product evolution can be confusing…so this blog post attempts to clarify the state of the world right now in terms of what Oracle is offering in on-premise and in the cloud (as software-as-a-service or SaaS solutions).

Oracle EPM History

These products have a storied history, having started back in the 1990s as Arbor Software (which marketed Essbase, the database that still powers most of the Oracle EPM solutions today) and Hyperion Software, which merged with Arbor Software to become Hyperion Solutions.  Oracle eventually acquired Hyperion in the mid-2000s. As a result, many of the on-premise Oracle EPM applications have “Hyperion” in the title.

Oracle EPM On-Premise Solutions

This chart from Oracle demonstrates a variation of the four functional focus areas of the Oracle EPM (Hyperion) product suite (as many of you know who’ve been in this area for a while, there are several variations of this chart floating around, so please consider this “representative”):

Oracle’s major EPM on-premise product offerings map to these functional areas in the following way:

• Planning and Forecasting (also often referred to as “Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting”)
  • Oracle Hyperion Planning (Planning)
  • Oracle Hyperion Public Sector Planning and Budgeting (PSPB)
  • Oracle Hyperion Strategic Finance (HSF)
  • Oracle Hyperion Workforce Planning (Workforce Planning)
  • Oracle Hyperion Capital Asset Planning (Capital Planning or CapEx Planning)
  • Oracle Hyperion Project Financial Planning (PFP or Project Financial Planning)

• Strategy Management (note this often gets merged into the “Planning” category above)
  • Oracle Hyperion Strategic Finance (HSF)

• Financial Close and Reporting (also often referred to as “Financial Close and Consolidation”)
  • Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM)
  • Oracle Hyperion Financial Close Management (FCM)
  • Oracle Hyperion Disclosure Management (Disclosure Management)
  • Oracle Hyperion Tax Provision (Tax Provision)

• Profitability Management
  • Oracle Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management (HPCM)

There are also “horizontal” capabilities that map across these product categories that are also offered as either products or “named” functionality within products that are useful to know about; these include:

• Reporting and Analysis
  • Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting (FR)
  • Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting (BRIO)
  • Oracle Hyperion SQR Production Reporting
  • Oracle Hyperion Web Analysis (Web Analysis)
  • Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office (SmartView or Smart View)

• Data Management and Integration
  • Oracle Data Relationship Management (DRM)
  • Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management Enterprise Edition (FDMEE)
  • Oracle Data Relationship Governance (DRG)
  • Oracle Data Integrator (ODI)
  • Oracle GoldenGate (Golden Gate)
  • Oracle Reports Services
  • Oracle Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)

Oracle SaaS/Cloud Solutions

 Oracle’s EPM (Hyperion) software-as-a-service (SaaS or cloud) solutions also map to the same four functional focus areas of the Oracle EPM (Hyperion) product suite:

• Planning and Forecasting (also often referred to as “Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting”)
  • Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (EPBCS or E-PBCS)
  • Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS)
  • Important note: As of the date of publication of this blog entry, Oracle is exploring simplifying the name of these solutions to “Oracle Enterprise Planning Cloud” and “Oracle Planning Cloud,” but this isn’t definitive yet; also, many of the modules offered in addition to Oracle Hyperion Planning on-premise such as capital, workforce, and project financial planning are offered as part of the EPBCS suite and the pricing/bundling model for this is evolving as of the date of publication of this blog entry.

• Strategy Management (note this often gets merged into the “Planning” category above)
  • This became a feature of E-PBCS called “Strategic Modeling”

• Financial Close and Reporting (also often referred to as “Financial Close and Consolidation”)
  • Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud Service (FCCCS or FCCS)
  • Oracle Account Reconciliation Cloud Service (ARCS)
  • Oracle Tax Reporting Cloud Service (TRCS)

• Profitability Management
  • Oracle Profitability and Cost Management Cloud Service (PCMCS)

Just like on-premise, there are also “horizontal” capabilities that map across these product categories that are also offered as either products or “named” functionality within products that are useful to know about; these include:

• Reporting and Analysis
  • Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting (FR)
  • Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office (SmartView or Smart View)
  • Oracle Enterprise Performance Reporting Cloud Service (EPRCS)

• Data Management and Integration
  • Oracle Data Integrator Cloud Service (ODICS)
  • Oracle GoldenGate Cloud Service (GGCS)

Where’s Essbase?

Going back to the history of how this all started, you may recall that there’s a database underlying most of these solutions on-premise – and pretty much all of these solutions in the cloud – called Essbase…and you’re probably wondering why it’s not listed as a separate product in either the on-premise or cloud lists above.  This is because Oracle’s team views it as a “foundational” offering (a database) as opposed to a “business application” (like the four functional categories listed above).

What this means is that Essbase is grouped internally at Oracle with its technology-oriented offerings (its platform-as-a-service or PaaS solutions) within the business analytics/BI arena.  This means that it’s sold by a different team than the EPM team – and is viewed as a separate product line – at Oracle.

With a nod to its roots in EPM – and because at the end of the day, EPM is how you spell out your strategy and BI/business analytics is how you report your strategy – here are the on-premise Essbase/BI/business analytics products for your reference:

• Essbase
  • Oracle Essbase (Essbase)
  • Oracle Essbase Integration Services (EIS)
  • Oracle Essbase Studio (Essbase Studio)

• Business Intelligence (BI or Business Analytics)
  • Oracle Data Visualization (DV)
  • Oracle Big Data Discovery (BDD)
  • Oracle Endeca Information Discovery (OEID)
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBI or OBIEE)
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (BI Publisher or BIP)

These translate to the following platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions in the cloud, which are now all grouped in one category:

• Business Intelligence (BI or Business Analytics)
  • Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC)
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Cloud (BICS)
  • Oracle Data Visualization Cloud Service (DVCS)
  • Oracle Essbase Cloud (Essbase Cloud)
  • Oracle Day by Day (Day by Day)
  • Oracle Synopsis (Synopsis) 

The Current View of the World: Oracle EPM (Hyperion) On-Premise versus Cloud Solutions Taxonomy 

What this means is that there’s almost a 1:1 parity in terms of functional categories between on-premise and cloud EPM offerings at Oracle, as demonstrated in this chart:

However, as always, the devil is in the details. Almost all of the on-premise products have been commercially available for over ten years, while many of the cloud products were only released in the last 12 months or less.  This means that Oracle is racing (and doing a good job, by the way) to provide the same breadth and depth of functionality that they offer on-premise in their cloud solutions.  Various cloud offerings offer varying levels of parity with their on-premise products (feel free to contact us directly if you want a more detailed comparison at a product level).

Still need help?  Please contact us at communications@performancearchitects.com or contact me directly on LinkedIn and we’ll help clarify!

Author: Andy Tauro, Performance Architects

It is hard to not have heard of the Apache Struts vulnerability that affected major websites, including those of Equifax. When this happened, IT support teams scrambled to check their environments and to apply fixes as quickly as they could be found. Our customers running Oracle EPM (Hyperion) (as well as Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition or OBIEE) on-premise inquired about how to address this as well.

From what we can tell, certain Oracle EPM components use Struts via the WebLogic Application Server (WAS or WLS) 10.3.6 platform. While WAS 10.3.6 comes bundled with Struts 1.x & 2.x, it looks like Oracle EPM only uses Struts 1.x. This particular version of Struts has not been named in the vulnerability that caught the world by storm, Oracle released a fix for WebLogic that updates the version of Struts via a Smart Update (SU) patch.

The patch (26835212) updates the Struts version in WebLogic 10.3.6 to 1.3.9 and 2.3.34. We have applied this over the last security Patch Set Update (PSU) that Oracle released (25869650, in July 2017). To apply this, one would use the BSU utility that is available in the “Middleware Home” directory ({MW_HOME}/utils/bsu). The general steps for this are:

1. Stop EPM services running
2. Extract patch into the “{MW_HOME}/utils/bsu/cache_dir” directory
3. From the location “{MW_HOME}/utils/bsu,” apply the patch as: “bsu.cmd/sh -install -patch_download_dir={MW_HOME}/utils/bsu/cache_dir -patchlist={PATCH_ID} -prod_dir={MW_HOME}/{WL_HOME}” and patch ID for July 2017 PSU = B25A, for 25869650 = UZCY
4. Delete “cache” and “tmp” directories for each WebLogic Managed Server that runs Oracle EPM services
   • These will be found in the location “{MW_HOME}/user_projects/domains/EPMSystem/servers”
5. Restart Oracle EPM

One important note: “MW_HOME” equals “Middleware Home” and “WL_HOME” equals “WebLogic Home” (usually “{MW_HOME}/wlserver_10.3”).  Also, these steps apply primarily to Oracle EPM Version 11.1.2.4.

At this time, we have run basic tests on the various Hyperion modules and have not seen any issues. We are working with our clients to perform more thorough health checks, since every environment has some nuance that makes it unique and sometimes exposes an issue that was not thought about.

Are you thinking of applying this patch and have questions? Feel free to drop a note as we would love to hear from you and share notes on this.