IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations

One-Week Lag Between Readiness Documents Live and Help Center Live

Because Oracle readiness documents (What's New and New Feature Summary) are live one week before the monthly update is applied to Test environments, some links to documentation included in the readiness documents will not work until after the Oracle Help Center update is complete when the monthly update is applied to Test environments.

Strategic Workforce Planning Statement of Direction

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

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

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

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

Within the next 3 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 EPM 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 EPM 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 3 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, see Managing Applications.in Administering Planning.

Allow access to static.oracle.com

The Getting Started with EPM Cloud for Administrators Guide is updated to remind customers to allow access to static.oracle.com. For the Oracle Redwood Experience to work, customers must allow access to static.oracle.com, which it provides image files, JavaScript, and other static content.

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

Removal of Support for .xls Format When Exporting to Microsoft Excel

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

Plan to Display One Day of Data Instead of Three Days of Data on the Jobs Status Page

In the March (24.03) update, the Jobs status page will display, by default, one day's worth of data. (Today, the Jobs status page defaults to display three days of data.) With the change, the Jobs status page will default to display data for one day and the filter’s start and end dates will default to yesterday and today to have a one day difference.

Plan to Discontinue Support for Infolets

n the April (24.04) update, Oracle plans to stop supporting the creation of infolets. Applications using the Redwood Experience will no longer see the option to create infolets on the listing pages. In applications using non-Redwood themes, the Create button on the Infolets page will be disabled. There will be no future enhancements or support for infolets after 24.04.

Plan to Discontinue Support for Non-Redwood Experience Themes

Oracle's Redwood UX Design is helping organizations improve user productivity, reduce training costs, and increase user satisfaction. As such, it has gained wide adoption across our Oracle Cloud user base.

Within Cloud EPM the Redwood Theme has had significant adoption, and major new platform innovations over the past few years have primarily been released only within the Redwood theme.

Going forward, future innovations in Cloud EPM and Redwood UX Design patterns are likewise targeted to be available within the Redwood theme only. Customers are encouraged to deploy their applications using Redwood theme only.

Towards the end of first quarter of 2024 (subject to change, safe harbor applies), the Redwood Experience will offer a default Oracle theme and these two additional appearance options: Custom Light and Custom Dark. The appearance of all EPM Cloud environments that currently use the Redwood Experience will automatically be shifted to either the default Oracle theme or the Custom Dark theme based on currently deployed background appearance of these environments.

In a later update planned for the second quarter of 2024, Oracle will automatically convert non-Redwood theme environments to the Redwood Experience.

If you're a customer and you're not already using Redwood Experience, you're encouraged to move to the Redwood Experience as soon as possible to take advantage of its user experience advantages.

Customers are encouraged to watch the Cloud Customer Connect session in April 2023: EPM – Why You Should Be Using The Redwood Theme in EPM Cloud

This session covers why users should be adopting the Redwood theme, customizations available within the theme (such as company logo), and the future plans around non-Redwood themes for Cloud EPM.

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

Native Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior mode is currently still available for Cloud EPM Platform-based applications.

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

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

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

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.

Plan for the User Variables Dimension Column to Honor the Alias Setting in User Preferences

In a future update, the Dimension column on the User Variables page within User Preferences will honor the Alias Setting in User Preferences. So if an alias name is defined for a dimension, then the Dimension column on the User Variables page will show that dimension’s alias based on the alias table selected in User Preferences. If no alias is defined for the dimension, the dimension name will be displayed.

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

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

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

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 Warnings Enforcement

In a future update, Calculation Manager will enforce the execution of the Errors & Warnings diagnostic tool for any rule being launched, validated, or deployed from it. If there are errors that result from this new process, Calculation Manager will not execute, validate, or deploy the rule. This new process will apply to all new applications once released. Existing applications will have a finite period of time to bypass this new process to allow you to modify the rules that violate the new Errors & Warnings diagnostic analysis. In all cases, existing rules that are already deployed will continue to run as-is without any change in behavior.

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

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

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

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

Oracle Financial Reporting Statement of Direction

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

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

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

For more information:

• See Appendix B in the Designing with Reports Guide: Migrating Reports from Financial Reporting.

• On June 8, the most recent Oracle Cloud Customer Connect event, Migrating Your Financial Reporting to Reports, was presented. There is a presentation, an event recording, and an FAQ sheet accessible. In order to view the event recording and documentation, you must log in to Cloud Customer Connect.