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.

Fixed Issues in Forms 2.0 and Dashboard 2.0

Many of the gaps and issues that customers have raised for Forms 2.0 and Dashboard 2.0 through Cloud Customer Connect forums have been addressed in 24.04. We encourage you to use Forms 2.0 and Dashboard 2.0 to ensure that your use cases are being met.

The issues that were addressed 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.

Allow access to static.oracle.com

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

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

Plan to Upgrade All Environments from Non-Hybrid Essbase Version to Hybrid Essbase Version

Within the next 2 months, Oracle is planning to upgrade all environments on a non-hybrid Essbase version to a hybrid Essbase version. This change affects the Essbase version used in Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud; it does not affect the cube configuration in your application. For example, if the application is configured to use non-hybrid cubes, this update will not change it to use hybrid cubes. For detailed information on the use of Essbase in Strategic Workforce Planning Cloud, see About Essbase in EPM Cloud in Getting Started with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud for Administrators.

To ensure that your application is compatible with hybrid Essbase version, we've implemented a new utility which verifies your member formulas and provides a report so you can fix any issues. The Essbase Outline Validation menu option is in the Application Overview Actions menu. Select the Pre validate Outline option to perform a validation of your application, and then select Outline Pre-validation Report to view a list of member formulas that need to be fixed to be compatible with hybrid Essbase version. After you have fixed the member formulas, you can use the Pre validate Outline option again to make sure that all issues are resolved.

To verify member formulas:

  1. From the Home page, click Application, and then click Overview.
  2. Click Actions, select Essbase Outline Validation, then select Pre validate Outline.
  3. To view the validation report, select Outline Pre-validation Report.

If your environment is on a non-hybrid Essbase version, make sure to use the Essbase Outline Validation option to resolve all issues within next 2 months to avoid any issues after your environment is upgraded to hybrid Essbase version. If your environment is already on hybrid Essbase version, you don’t need to take any action.

To check whether your environment is on a hybrid or non-hybrid Essbase version, look at the value of Essbase Version supports Hybrid Block Storage Option in the Activity Report. If the value is Yes, it means that your environment is on hybrid Essbase version. If the value is No, it means that your environment is on a non-hybrid Essbase version.

For more information about this option:

Plan to Remove Users Administration and Groups Administration from Audit Reports

Currently, you can get information on Users Administration and Groups Administration from the Audits Reports available in the Identity Console. You can also get this information using EPM Automate and EPM Cloud REST APIs. In an upcoming monthly release, information on Users Administration and Groups Administration will no longer be included in audit reports.

In the Enable Audit dialog box, the Users Administration and Groups Administration options will remain available for some time to allow customers who already have these records to view any existing user and group provisioning records. However, after this change, no new records will be displayed in the Audits Report.

Additional Execution Sequencing Routines for Task Manager Jobs

In a future update, Task Manager Jobs will include additional execution sequencing routines to insure application and data integrity. When potential conflicting jobs are executed simultaneously, the service will sequence the jobs to ensure application integrity. While the individual job’s execution times will not be impacted, the job’s start time may be delayed due to the optimization sequencing.

Change in the Default Format When Exporting to Microsoft Excel

In a future update, the default format for exporting table data to Microsoft Excel from Task Manager, Supplemental Data Manager, and Enterprise Journals will be changed to .XLSX instead of .XLS.

Plan to Discontinue Support for Infolets

Oracle plans to stop supporting the creation of infolets later this year. Applications using the Redwood Experience will no longer see the option to create infolets on the listing pages. In applications using non-Redwood themes, the Create button on the Infolets page will be disabled. There will be no future enhancements or support for infolets.

Future Deprecation of Native Mode Option for Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior Application Setting

Native Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior mode is currently still available for EPM Cloud.

Standard is the ad hoc mode upon which all enhancements in the EPM Cloud are being delivered.

Oracle plans to stop supporting Native mode by the end of year 2024. Customers on Native mode are advised to convert the Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior application setting for their environments to Standard mode and test their use cases. Any gaps found should to be logged as an enhancement to Standard mode. Enhancements should be logged on the Customer Connect EPM Platform Idea Lab by end of April 2024 for Oracle to review.

Perform the following steps to begin working with Standard mode in your test environment:

  1. In Application Settings, change Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior to Standard.
  2. Open worksheets from Smart View and reconnect.
  3. Refresh the sheets.

NOTES:

  • The expectation for existing Native-mode worksheets is that they will work “as is” when the setting is changed to Standard. New ad hoc sheets will only be created in Standard mode using Standard features.

  • Smart Forms are not supported in Standard mode and there is no plan to support them in Standard mode.

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

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

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

Removal of Enhanced Integration API and Drill Type UI Options in Data Management System Settings

As of the June (23.06) update, the Enhanced Integration API and Drill Type UI options have been removed from the list of options in the System Settings option of Data Management.

Formerly, the Enhanced Integration API setting was added temporarily to address backward compatibility considerations.

The Drill Type UI setting formerly enabled users to select either the Classic or Simplified user interface when drilling down in Oracle Enterprise Performance Management. The default drill type user interface is now the Simplified User Interface and the Classic option for the user interface of Drill Landing Page is no longer available.

Announcement: Data Management Feature Migration to Data Integration

The user interface pages listed in the table below are no longer available in Data Management, but are available in Data Integration. Data Integration is available from the Data Exchange card from the home screen, and users can access these features in the current Cloud update. Data Management is not going away – we are only moving a few features now that have 100% parity with Data Integration. 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 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.

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

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

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

Removal of Support for Custom Application in Data Management

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

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

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

Calculation Manager Errors and Considerations Enforcement

In a future update, Calculation Manager will enforce the execution of the Errors & Considerations diagnostic tool for any rule being launched, validated, or deployed. This enhancement is scheduled to coincide with the enhancement to the Rules listing page. Administrators will see the Rule Status indicating if there are Errors and/or Considerations in the listing page in addition to the Errors & Considerations tab in Calculation Manager.

Rules will continue to deploy and execute even with Errors or Considerations. In all cases, existing rules that are already deployed will continue to run as-is without any change in behavior. However, Oracle Support will require all Errors to be cleared before reviewing any issues submitted for such rules. Any remaining Considerations will require justification for why they are not cleared before Oracle Support will review any such rules.

Change in Behavior for Grids Created from Groovy and REST APIs for ASO Cubes

In a future update, the suppression behavior for grids created via Groovy DataGridDefinitionBuilder and the exportdataslice REST API for ASO cubes will be made consistent with that of the run time data grids created using the Form Designer. Previously, if a grid was built for an ASO cube in Groovy or REST API, then the system used the NON EMPTY MDX clause to suppress missing rows when the suppressMissingBlocks flag was true. Now, when a grid is built for an ASO cube, it will use the NON EMPTY MDX clause when suppressMissingRows is true, and suppressMissingBlocks will be ignored. This means that ASO grids with suppressMissingRows true and suppressMissingBlocks false will now start using MDX. Likewise, ASO grids with suppressMissingRows false and suppressMissingBlocks true will no longer use MDX. Grids where the suppressMissingRows and suppressMissingBlocks flags had the same value will not be impacted. These changes may result in a change in behavior or performance for some ASO grids. If this happens and is undesirable, consider toggling the value of suppressMissingRows from the builder or the JSON payload in case of the REST API.

Report Import/Export to Excel: Font Installation Requirements for Text Boxes in Excel

Due to performance and rendering quality enhancements to Report text boxes when exported to Excel, Report text boxes may appear distorted or with overlapping text while importing or exporting to Excel when the fonts used within the text boxes are not installed on the client machine. To fix this, install the missing fonts used within the text boxes on the client machine.

Oracle Financial Reporting Statement of Direction

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

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

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

For more information:

  • 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.

An Updated User Interface is Coming Soon for Editing Text Boxes and Notes in Reports

Starting in the May (24.05) update, the editor user interfaces for Text Boxes and Notes will be updated. While the functionality remains the same, the Toolbar buttons, color picker, and shortcut key information have a new look and feel.

New Text Box Editor

New Text Box Editor

New Text Box Editor

New Note Text Box Editor