As we all know, or at least should be aware, Oracle continually updates and improves its Oracle Cloud EPM products through the patch release cycle. Over the past 2-3 years, the patch releases for Oracle Cloud PCM have had little in the way of new features and functionality, which made releasing a monthly blog on the patch release not worthwhile. Now that Enterprise PCM has been released and we are seeing a steady stream of updates, we have decided to release a monthly blog on the upcoming patch.
If you are new to Oracle Cloud EPM or would like to know more about the patch cycle, I would encourage you to read one of our previous blog posts detailing how patches are applied in the cloud.
These blogs will be released on the Friday following the latest release. This gives us enough time to test the release and provide the following:
- Details about the latest patch regarding new features as detailed by Oracle and the results we experienced while testing
- Any bug fixes that we are aware of that will be in the latest patch that was not explicitly detailed in the patch releases and were able to confirm were fixed
- The need to perform regression or smoke-testing
So with the introduction complete, let us see what got released in the latest 22.11 patch.
Most Important Features of the 22.11 (November 2022) Patch:
EPM Platform Automation Updates:
EPM Automate Updates:
- exportEssbaseData Command (EPCM Only)
- This command exports data from an application cube (Essbase cube) to an archive. You can export just the level 0 data.
- This command is helpful when backing up applications or migrating data between separate applications. It is important to note that this functionality exports data in the native Essbase ASO format, which can only be imported to an Essbase ASO application with identical dimensions and members.
- This command does not replace the ExportQueryResults command in PCM or the export level 0 Data Exchange functionality in EPCM, as it cannot convert the data to columnar format and/or filter the export on specific member intersections.
REST API Updates:
- Migration REST APIs (EPCM Only)
- This new version contains all parameters in the payload and does not require URL encoding while calling the REST APIs. The latest version is backward compatible, so no changes are needed for existing REST APIs
- More information on the Migration REST APIs can be found at Migration REST APIs
EPM Platform Reporting Updates:
Activity Report Updates:
- Activity Report Enhanced with Version Status and Outline Warnings (PCM & EPCM):
- The Activity Report displays the version status next to the EPM Cloud environment version. The version status is displayed only if the environment is not on the latest monthly update or weekly patch and indicates the reason for it
- The outline Warnings table indicates issues that would result in bad performance of forms and reports. Clicking on the warning takes you to the EPM Cloud Operations Guide section, which helps you fix this issue.
EPM Platform Data Integration Updates:
Quick Mode Data Synchronization
- In Data Integration, you can now use Quick Mode to move data between cubes in a single EPCM application or between two EPM Cloud business processes in different environments.
- Quick Mode does not support mapping. All transformations can be done using Import Expressions.
- This is a BIG deal for EPCM as it allows us to efficiently move data between the Calculation (PCM_CLC) and Reporting (PCM_REP) applications
Enterprise PCM Updates:
Training:
- Oracle has released a new training video on Creating Models and Rules in Enterprise PCM. If you are new to PCM, check out this video!
Best Practices Documentation:
- Creating efficient and maintainable EPCM applications relies on following best practices. To help consultants and clients, Oracle has released EPCM Best Practices documentation.
- While this documentation does not contain all best practices that may be relevant to a specific client, it is a good starting point.
Rounding Precision Now Respected by All Allocation Rules:
- All allocation rules can round their calculated results according to the "Allocation Precision" value set in the "Profitability and Cost Management" section in Application Settings.
- Before this patch, not all Allocation Rules were subject to the Rounding Precision set. This was problematic as users could not control whether an Allocation Rule would be subject to rounding.
- It's important to note that Rounding Precision will still not apply to Custom Calculation Rules!
Rule Validation Report Rounding:
- The Rule Data Validation report now allows rounding the values displayed in the report. The default is two decimal places; you can round up to ten decimal places. The rounding precision applies to both the Source and Driver data values.
- The Rule Data Validation Report is an underrated report that many clients seldom use but can be incredibly useful when tracking unallocated costs due to missing driver information.
Ability to Delete Multiple POVs From the Control Page:
- You can now delete more than one POV at a time from the Calculation Control page. This is useful during the development phase and/or if the client would like to remove historical data that is no longer required.
Regression Testing Requirement:
We suggest that clients institute monthly regression or smoke testing in their test environments each month after a patch is released before it's released to their production environment. This helps clients identify any issue with the latest patch that Oracle or their consulting partner does not catch.
That said, it's not always practical for clients to do detailed smoke testing, so in these blogs, we will identify the level of testing we suggest clients do to ensure the continued smooth running of their application in Production.
PCM Regression Testing Requirement:
For the 22.11 Patch, we suggest doing your normal level of regression/smoke testing, as there are no critical bug fixes or features that will potentially break your application.
Enterprise PCM Regression Testing Requirement:
For the 22.11 Patch, we suggest that you do a moderate level of testing due to the update on the Allocation Rule Rounding Precision, which can potentially change post-allocated results.
The 22.11 Patch is scheduled to be pushed to the Production environments on the 18th of November, so be sure to be done with any Regression testing soon!
For comments, questions, or suggestions for future topics, please reach out to us at infosolutions@alithya.com. Visit our blog regularly for new posts about Cloud updates and other Oracle Cloud Services such as Planning and Budgeting, Financial Consolidation, Account Reconciliation, and Enterprise Data Management. Follow Alithya on social media for the latest information about EPM, ERP, and Analytics solutions to meet your business needs.