Release 12.1
Part Number E13481-03
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This chapter covers the following topics:
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting is an enterprise application that provides rich functionality to control the business processes of planning, budgeting, and forecasting. Enterprise Planning and Budgeting is deployed as a Web based solution using the power of Oracle relational technology to deliver scalable, multi-dimensional analysis and monitoring.
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting is built on the unified Enterprise Performance Foundation (EPF), which amalgamates all types of financial and operational data and serves as the single source of data. The Enterprise Performance Foundation provides an open environment that accepts data from sources such as data warehouses, transactional systems, and spreadsheets. The data model holds the common definitions for all metadata.
For information, see the Enterprise Performance Foundation User's Guide.
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting provides a framework for managing planning, budgeting, and forecasting. Business areas support user-defined metadata, data, and security settings. Within a business area, administrative users can define unique business processes for which the owner specifies the data model, business rules, tasks, and schedule. For example, a strategic plan may look five years out at a high level and involve statistical forecasting and modeling; it may be repeated every other year. At the same time there may be a second process to develop a detailed annual plan to the end of the fiscal year, projecting historical information with collaborative data entry. A third process defined for budgeting might cascade data entry down the organization, picking up headcount and salary budgets and projecting other costs, with targets and approval required at each level. A fourth process may generate a quarterly rolling forecast for the next 18 months.
Within each process, the business process owner can control and automate variance identification, exception analysis, and notifications.
For business processes that support multiple currencies, users can prepare budgets and plans in local currency or in a specified currency. Users can also convert plans and budgets between currencies when consolidating up and distributing down the organization.
Users can create multi-dimensional documents that support organizational reporting requirements, as well as ad hoc what-if and exception analyses. Documents can be annotated, exported to a variety of formats, and shared with other users. Integration with Oracle XML Publisher supports the generation of professional quality documents that can be distributed to specified users.
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting provides a suite of calculation templates for commonly used business formulas. These templates enable users to define simple or complex calculations. Calculations, like documents, can be shared across the enterprise.
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting supports security on data and objects. The Security Administrator maintains user accounts for authorized users and specifies data access (data ownership, read access, write access, and metadata scoping) for each account. He or she can also assign shadow users who can assume responsibility for an account on a permanent or ad hoc basis.
As users create objects such as documents, saved selections, and calculations, they can grant other users access to these objects.
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting uses the following objects to organize data:
A dimension categorizes data into a single object. Examples of dimensions are Time, Organization, and Product. Dimension members are the individual items that make up a dimension. For example, San Francisco and New York might be members of an Organization dimension.
When a business process runs, it populates a shared data view. Views are displayed as members of the View dimension and can be easily selected by users. For example, a user might choose to work with an Actuals View or a Budget View.
Line Item is a unique dimension whose members store or calculate data values. Line Item dimension members typically reference account codes or other types of financial, statistical, or performance measures. The Line Item dimension is generally the Line dimension in the Enterprise Performance Foundation. However, it may consist of several merged line type dimensions and may have a different name, such as "Account."
Depending on business area in which you are working, a Currency dimension may also be available.
Dimension members may be arranged in levels, with each level representing the aggregated total of the data from the level below. For example, a hierarchy for the Organization dimension might consist of levels for World > Continent > Country > Site > Cost Center — each aggregating up to the parent above. Members belong to specific levels: for example, Europe would be a continent, France would be a country, Lyons a site, and so forth.
Hierarchies specify the levels through which data is aggregated and allocated. When users view documents, they can drill up and down a hierarchy to see data at various levels. They can also select data by level.
A dimension can have multiple hierarchies: for example, Organization might have both a geographic hierarchy such as World > Continent > Country > Site > Cost Center and a managerially driven hierarchy such as Total World > Line of Business > Cost Center.
An attribute is a property or qualifier that describes a dimension member in Enterprise Planning and Budgeting. An attribute may be a date, a number, or a character string. For example, the Organization dimension may have an Population attribute that designates how many people live in a geographic area.
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting supports the following user responsibilities:
The application also supports assignment of shadow users who can assume full or notifications-only responsibility for an account as needed.
An Analyst creates and manages documents and folders and may enter data via worksheets. He or she can also monitor business process status and define personal exception alerts.
A Business Process Administrator is responsible for a functional area. He or she has full Analyst privileges. In addition, he or she is responsible for the following functions:
Establishing, maintaining, and managing business processes for one or more functional areas.
Defining and distributing worksheets for collaborative data entry.
Defining controlled calculations.
Managing shared views.
A Controller is likely to be in a senior role within the organization's Finance or Operations departments. The Controller has full access to all data and can perform all of the functions associated with Business Process Administrators and Analysts. In addition, he or she is uniquely responsible for the following functions:
Maintaining and refreshing business areas.
Setting the business area parameter for Current Periods.
Loading exchange rates from General Ledger.
Maintaining Batch Distribution of Worksheets.
Customizing the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Home page.
The Security Administrator controls user access to data within a business area. He or she is responsible for the following functions:
Adding authorized user accounts.
Maintaining settings for data ownership, write access, read access, access to metadata and controlled calculations.
Assigning shadow users to accounts.
Reassigning or removing data access for expired users.
A shadow user is a user who has an account in Enterprise Planning and Budgeting and who has also been granted access to an account that is not his or her own. The Security Administrator authorizes Business Process Administrators to shadow other Business Process Administrators and Analysts to shadow other Analysts. A Controller can always access the account of a Business Process Administrator; special authorization is not necessary.
This section provides an overview of the steps that you follow to implement Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting. For details, you are referred to other manuals or sections.
Install and patch Oracle Applications and Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting. Refer to the My Oracle Support Knowledge Browser for more information.
Create users in Oracle Applications. Give one user the following responsibilities:
Enterprise Performance Foundation Administrator
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Controller
Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Security Administrator
Identify external data sources and configure and implement data acquisition.
If you are using Oracle General Ledger, you use the General Ledger integration. For more information, see the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Implementation Guide.
Configure the Enterprise Performance Foundation (EPF). This includes functions such as granting access to security folders, setting the unique index on the Balances Table, setting the processing key on the Balances table, and more.
For more information, see the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Implementation Guide and the Enterprise Performance Foundation User’s Guide.
Configure Enterprise Planning and Budgeting. This includes the following tasks:
Create one or more business areas. For more information, see About Business Areas.
Refresh the business area to bring in the current metadata from the Enterprise Performance Foundation. For more information, see Refreshing a Business Area
Set the ownership dimension or dimensions. For more information, see Setting Global Ownership Dimensions and the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Implementation Guide
Add users to the business area and grant access privileges. For more information, see Adding Users and the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Implementation Guide.
Set the current periods for the business area. For more information, see Setting the Parameter for Current Periods.
Create business processes in Enterprise Planning and Budgeting. For example, you might create an Actuals business process, a Budget business process, and a Forecast business process. For more information, see Overview: Creating a New Business Process and the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Implementation Guide.
You access Enterprise Planning and Budgeting through a corporate portal or through Oracle Applications. Your Administrator will tell you which method to use and provide the URL for the application.
Following are some guidelines for logging in:
Ensure that your browser accepts cookies.
If you are using a popup blocker, turn it off.
Bookmark your Enterprise Planning and Budgeting home page for easy access. Set the bookmark before you load a document into the workspace.
Maximize your browser window. This ensures that the application will run at full size.
Change settings for optimum screen resolution.
If you will be using a language other than English, ensure that your browser is set to that language.
Note: Sessions have a preset maximum idle time. Your session will terminate automatically if it is idle for this time period.
When you have been assigned to act as a shadow user with full access to an account, you can switch to that account after you log into Enterprise Planning and Budgeting. At any time you can switch back to your own account.
Note: You will not be able to get access if the account owner is currently logged in, or if another shadow with full access is logged in.
Log into Enterprise Planning and Budgeting with your own user name and password.
If you have multiple responsibilities, chose the responsibility for the user you will be shadowing.
If prompted, choose a business area.
Click Switch User at the top of any page.
The Switch User Profile page opens, listing the accounts that you have been authorized to shadow for this responsibility.
Click Select for the account in which you want to work and click Apply.
From this point on, you will be accessing the account as the owner.
Click Return to Self at the top of any page.
As a Controller, you can access a Business Process Administrators' account as that individual.
Note: You will not be able to get access if the account owner is currently logged in.
Log into Enterprise Planning and Budgeting with your own user name and password.
If prompted, choose a business area.
Click Switch User at the top of any page.
The Switch User Profile page opens, listing Business Process Administrator accounts in the business area.
Click Select for the account in which you want to work and click Apply.
From this point on, you will be accessing the account as the owner.
Click Return to Self at the top of any page.
Although it is the Security Administrator who authorizes shadow users, each account owner can view, set, and change the current privilege level for any assigned shadow. For example, if you are going on vacation, you might grant a shadow Full Access to your account; when you return, you might change the privilege level to No Access.
Note: The Security Administrator can also change the privilege level.
Log into Enterprise Budgeting and Planning with your usual user name and password.
If you have multiple responsibilities (for example, Analyst and Business Process Administrator), select the responsibility for which you want to set or change privileges for an assigned shadow.
If prompted, choose a business area.
At the top or bottom of any page, click Privileges.
The Privileges page opens, displaying a list of users who have been authorized by the Security Administrator to shadow this account/responsibility combination.
Identify one or more shadow users whose current access privilege you want to change and select one of the following:
Full Access — The user is authorized to shadow the account. He or she will be able to switch to the account with full privileges. Copies of notifications for the account will be displayed on the user's Home page.
No Access — The user is authorized to shadow the account, but he or she does not currently have access.
Notifications Only — The user is authorized to shadow the account. Copies of notifications for the account will be displayed on the user's Home page.
Note: To quickly revert to the previous setting, click Revert.
Click Apply.
The Enterprise Planning and Budgeting environment is comprised of the following areas.
Note: The information in this section pertains to a standard Enterprise Planning and Budgeting installation. A portal installation may differ.
The Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Home page is displayed when a user logs into the application and clicks Home.
The Ownership area displays the application name and other information about the application.
The Shortcuts area might contain a list of headings and links.
The Notifications area displays notifications directed to the user.
Analysts, Controllers, and Business Process Administrators use the Documents tab to view folders, open documents, and create new documents. Each user has control over his or her personal documents, folders, saved selections, and calculations and can share these objects with others.
The Controller uses the Business Areas tab define and maintain subsets of Enterprise Performance Foundation metadata. For example, there may be business areas that support corporate divisions or other Corporate Performance Management applications.
The Controller is also responsible for assigning Security Administrators and other Controllers to a business area.
Business Process Administrators and Controllers use the Administration tab to perform the following functions:
Define and maintain business processes.
Manage the data collection process.
Define and maintain controlled calculations.
View business process status and manage running instances.
Manage shared data views.
Controllers can also perform special functions such as loading exchange rates, setting the business area parameter for current periods, setting up batch distribution of worksheets, and customizing the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Home page.
Analysts use the Administration tab to view business process information, monitor the status of business process instances, and add exception alerts to draft business processes.
The Security Administrator uses the Security tab to add authorized users to a business area and maintain settings for data ownership, write access, read access, metadata scoping, and access to controlled calculations. He or she also assigns shadow users to accounts.
Analysts, Business Process Administrators, Security Administrators, and Controllers can use the Requests tab to view the status of a concurrent request. Controllers can also schedule requests.
Analysts, Business Process Administrators, and Controllers can use the Personal Metadata tab to define personal dimension members and levels. They can also view information about dimensions, hierarchies, levels, and attributes in the shared Analytic Workspace.
The following components are available from the Documents, Administration, Security, and Personal Metadata tabs:
Header Area — Located above the tabs, this area contains the product name and logo and the following hyperlinks:
Home — Returns you to the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Home page.
Logout — Exits Enterprise Planning and Budgeting.
Preferences — Opens the e-Business Suite Preferences page where you can specify personal settings for notifications, number and date formatting, and password. You can also turn on the screen reader and set display preferences for currency, language, and time zone.
Switch User — If you are an Analyst or a Business Process Administrator, enables you to log into an account that you have been authorized to shadow. If you are a Controller, enables you to log into a Business Process Administrator's account.
Return to Self — If you have switched to an account that is not your own, returns you to your own account.
Privileges — If shadow users have been assigned to your account, enables you to change their access privileges.
Refresh View — Updates the information on the current page. Equivalent to logging out and logging in again.
Help — Provides information about performing specific tasks in Enterprise Planning and Budgeting. Click Help on any page to access the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Help system.
Note: If you cannot view online Help, contact your System Administrator.
Footer Area — Located at the bottom of the page, this area contains the copyright statement and hyperlinks to the tabs available in your instance of Enterprise Planning and Budgeting.
The Notifications area on each user's Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Home page displays notifications that have been directed to them. If the user has been authorized as a shadow for another user, the page might also display copies of this user's notifications.
Note: To access the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Home page after you log in, choose Home. To access the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Home page when you are working in Administration, Documents, or Personal Metadata, click the Home tab.
A notification might be an informational broadcast that requires no response, or a message that requires a response. The notification might include a link to a document. The Notifications area lists active notifications, ordered by priority and then by date.
To view and respond to a notification, select the notification subject link in the Subject column.
To view the complete list of all your notifications, click Full List.
To sort the list, click the column by which you want to sort: From, Subject, or Sent column heading to sort the list by that column.
For information about notifications, refer to the Oracle Workflow User's Guide.
Exiting Enterprise Planning and Budgeting terminates the application. If you are currently working with a document or process, the system will prompt you to save.
Select one of the following:
Home — Exits the current page and returns you to the Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Home page.
Logout — Exits the current page and closes Enterprise Planning and Budgeting.
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