Alternative-facts aside, Oracle made some updates over the past few winter months to DRM, EPM, and the cloud. Here’s a quick round-up of the news, fun new features, and resources to get more information.

 

DRM 11.1.2.4.343 Patch

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Oracle released the .343 patch on January 6, with just a few new features in the release. The patch does require an 11.1.2.4 minimum installation, under patch number 25144391 on Oracle Support.

This patch’s only New Features are two new properties available for use with the RequestItemDetailObject when using dynamic scripting (JavaScript) in workflow tasks:

  • HasCalcValue
  • CalcValue

Dynamic scripting allows for more mobility within DRM than the inherent DRM formula language. When working through a workflow request item using dynamic scripting, you are now able to use 1) if there is a property with a calculated value, and 2) what the calculated value is.

This patch New Features list is pretty small, but if you are not yet on the .341 or .342 patch of DRM which includes many DRG fixes, you might as well go up to .343.

Also a number of bug fixes. Includes DRG/workflow updates, export updates, and automation/insertion issues when running batches or action scripts.

Defect Number Defect Fixed
15863761 Transaction audit filtering is case sensitive.
19921447 RemoveProp on a global, defined, ListGroup property does not work manually.
20456656 Not able to get appropriate response for API call StartHierExportByName().
20779105 For Associated Nodes property, the Select Nodes area of dialog is moving over the previous selection.
21627992 Saving copied version gets error message: The Insert statement conflicted with the Foreign Key constraint.
23124986 Request Age on worklist resets to 0 after request committed/rejected.
23508088 Shared node children not displaying property correctly.
23556445 DRM data format not using system region format selected.
23578579 DRM memory footprint continues to rise when saving versions.
23594462 Error when name of View From member gets changed.
23710595 Action script does not load quoted values correctly.
24289544 Sort order and sort limbs first not working correctly.
24332592 Workflow item in details not showing correctly:  showing default in Current Value but showing current value in New Value.
24506101 Session not terminated when running books via batch.
24573185,24683570 Export performance slow in 330 release.
24574224 Error “Node cannot be added as a child of parent node” when adding sibling to shared node.
24660412 Validation error of missing child dependency when JavaScript has property reference.
24663618 Version copy being attempted on version that has not been loaded.
24674558 Load status for large version never gets updated to Loading from Initialized.
24737962 Unable to expand certain shared node hierarchy.
24791069 DRG does not update local properties on shared nodes.
24810108 Running export books and compare exports will flip previous version with current version.
24826257 Books created at the API do not allow configuration of CombinedFileCodePage.
24836960 Split workflow task getting stuck on skipped stage.
24897933 Copy option not working correctly in IE11.
24906620 Node Access Group rights not applied correctly for Access Manager role.
24958942 Property delete causes timeout due to dependency checking.
25192124 Workflow task that calculates name based on derived property requires extra step.

 

FDMEE Patch11.1.2.4.200

Oracle released the .210 patch to FDMEE in late December 2016, which included tons of new features and functionality. Before installing this patch, FDMEE should be at least 11.1.2.4.000 (or greater). On Oracle support, search for bug #23041471 to get the readme and download links.

Notable features and improvements:

  • Text-based data loads for all data types
  • Loading multi-column numeric data
    • This functionality was available in the16.10 update of Data Management Cloud Service first, by the way.
  • Loading multi-period in single file
    • The import format now supports definition for periods, year, and the period number
  • Support for FCCS and Fusion GL Fusion Cloud Balances
    • Covers integration both to and from FCCS and GL Fusion Cloud
    • Helps synchronize data from on-prem GLs to FCCS, or from GL Fusion Cloud to other applications (both on-prem and cloud, like PBCS)
  • Executing custom scripts from command line

Francisco Amores has done a wonderful (and more timely) job recapping all the features and functionality of this patch in his blog Fishing with FDMEE – check out his post here.

Full list of new features:

  • Loading Multi-Column Numeric Data
  • Loading Multi-Period in a Single File
  • Hybrid Support for Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud and Fusion GL Cloud Balances
  • Limit Number of Parallel Jobs
  • Executing FDMEE Custom Scripts from a Command Line
  • POV Lock/Unlock Enhancement
  • Support Skip Rows for Delimited Files
  • Using a ~ (Tilde) As a Delimiter
  • Support for Selecting Delimiter for Mapping Export
  • Integrating SAP HANA Based Data Warehouse

There was also a long list of defects (a whopping 50 bugs!) that were fixed in this patch, since there hasn’t been a patch release since April 2016. There were several updates to adapters and integration methods with EBS, JDE, PeopleSoft, and Cloud, as well as several updates to defects with mapping functionality.

Defect Number Defect Fixed
25191503 An error occurs in the validation step when mappings are missing.
25086656 Support the Skip Row feature for delimited files.
25073281 Uploading the mapping file in merge mode takes 7 hours.
25070982 Locking all (POV) locations, periods and categories is required; documentation shows step as optional.
25058979 The journal description is not loaded correctly in Hyperion Financial Management.
24831061 Intersection Check Report jobs fail.
24790410 Write-back to PeopleSoft Commitment Control fails with an ORA-00904: “GLI”.”LOADID”: INVALID IDENTIFIER.
24719210 Multi-period loads between EPM sources fail when the archive mode is set to “Move.”
24704033 Target application properties are not created for Public Sector Planning.
24696709 Add a method to drill back to EBS using data synchronization.
24660228 The file extension is missing from an Open Source Document in the Data Load Workbench.
24615582 The application takes a long time to export maps to Excel resulting in a time-out error.
24581883 EBS write-back produces multiple lines for a multi-period load.
24581817 Open batch replace load tag in export mode for Essbase does not work.
24507793 The open batch process does not complete before another process starts in serial mode.
24481231 Unable to export data from FDMEE in an Oracle Managed Cloud Service to Planning in an Oracle Public Cloud.
24409145 Unable to save source filters in the data load rule for data synchronization.
24398268 After Batch script executes before batch has completed in parallel mode.
24346113 The name and type of the source system do not show in Chinese.
24334010 Cannot restrict number of batch loads.
23749615 (Mapping) Member Selector screen does refresh properly when dimensions are changed.
23741243 Multi-dimension mapping import removes [ ] (open/closed square brackets) from the dimension value.
23712261 A data synchronization import format error occurs when you add a second source column to the target dimension.
23704903 Batch jobs are deleted when “Maintain Process Tables” job is launched.
23608036 JDE adapter hangs the FDMEE database.
23601294 Data protection does not work correctly when entities have the same string in the entity name.
23570299 Users without access privileges are able to fix mappings.
23570139 Map Monitor reports do not save all changes that are made in a single session.
23569307 Increase length of dimension members to 80 characters when loading data.
23534813 Target member with trailing spaces fails during validation but loads correctly.
23521228 Duplicate data import and export steps occur in an open batch when Archive Mode is enabled.
23332225 Export mode always defaults to “Replace” regardless of the target option setting.
23299982 Unable to unlock periods when selecting the POV.
23244868
FDMEE uses a batch file and not the shell script for the Data Relationship Management (DRM)/FDMEE integration on LINUX.
23236688 Check report fails when a “-1” parameter is used to return the prior year.
23153744 When exporting mappings into Excel, the export works correctly, but no output is written to the Excel file.
23100637 Support Replace by Security with open batch.
23094407 When the Global POV is set to “yes,” users receive an ADF error when executing the data load rule.
23031907 In Life Cycle Management, when the import format has concatenated fields, then the sorted order of the concatenated fields is incorrect in the target environment.
23003251 Users can duplicate explicit data load mappings.
22996594 Data file generated by FDMEE custom application does not have correct order.
22975695 Import from EBS fails with a SQLSYNTAXERROREXCEPTION: INVALID COLUMN NAME ‘SEGMENT1’ error.
22747940 Check report shows wrong results.
22685686 When concatenating JDE accounts and the sub-account is null, no data is displayed for the source account.
22588695 Import script does not execute the last field when the field is blank.
22219833 Variance reports show zero regardless of the selected time period.
21968085 Unable to change column delimiter in import and export mapping tables.
21928674 Add support for Data View metadata tag (DV) in the Excel Trial Balance.
21910911 The Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) export file shows data for multiple periods in alphabetic order instead of period order.
21746465 Unable to load the date field into FDMEE.
21683139 Need to export string data to Planning application using FDMEE.
21622537 An intermittent failure to show goldfish occurs after the Import, Validate, or Export steps have been executed successfully in the Data Load Workbench.
21611707 In some cases “Recalculate” does not run when the data load rule is executed as scheduled.
20969139 When viewing validation errors in the Data Load Workbench, the full set of errors are not displayed in some cases.
20892186 Validation errors tab shows one dimension at a time.
20583965 Alternate hierarchies for local dimensions are not marked as shared.
20512084 In multi-dimensional mapping, square brackets are removed for special account values such as [ICP NONE] and [None].
19304596 Add ability to move the source system information in FDMEE using LifeCycle Management.
18550239 The text box for the target value in member mappings does not expand when the column width is increased.

 

Mini EPM Cloud Updates

There aren’t been any radical updates to any cloud applications so far in January 2017 (17.01 release), but Oracle is still communicating the stoppage of support of the Financial Reporting Studio Desktop Client, which is currently scheduled for May 2017, which includes distribution.

“Oracle will not distribute Financial Reporting Studio desktop client after May 2017.”

Even with this dire news for Financial Reporting Studio desktop client, they did make a few defect fixes in December 2016 with patch 11.1.2.4.704. It’s just an in-place install, so you can install it over your current instance to get the following updates:

Defect Number Defect Fixed
20888991 Select Financial Reporting Preferences dialog in Polish result in error.
22456928 ‘ScheduedBatchCacheTime’ preference is not working properly.
23634461 Reports with Member function cause a performance loss.
23641337 Permissions not inherited from Snapshot Books and Reports.
24336995 Missing first column when using sub heading.
24400587 Ability to insert space (blank lines) before and/or after each line in TOC template file.
24442067 Book have extra page number compare to previous Financial Reporting version.
24476719 Removed Fonts from Client machine still shows in Financial Reporting Studio.
24595348 Allow Financial Reporting Web Studio the ability to format rows and/or columns and not lose any prior formatting.
24608482 Dimensions name with a colon character result in Books POV missing.
24608683 Dimensions name with a colon character cannot be Books Export/Import in Workspace
24615697 Member names with a colon character results in Books error.
24719050 PDF output does not include all members from the Page Dimension when Page Dimension is set to print additional reports to the Same Page.
24745886 Chart component displays incorrectly in HTML Preview.
24749955 Graph is not displaying negative numbers as negative(below zero line).
24792831 Long row may not work properly for PDF Preview.
24802761 After updating to 703, Charts in Financial Reporting Studio show as blank boxes.
24925353 Conditional Formatting may not working for the Essbase when using for Essbase shared members.
24942882 The FRCONFIG value, ExportFolders, cannot be changed.
25027711 Batch Bursting fails when using pipe symbol in member name.
25078304 Reports with large text members failed to render in PDF format.
25078500 Condition Suppression failed on Essbase hierarchy with level zero shared Member.
25109398 When using Planning data source, if string is large integer, Export to Excel may output as Date type.
25167114 Bottom border is not displaying in reports.
25177305 Original defect 25059253: HTML view of book not loads reports.

 

However, the Financial Reporting Studio Web Client has made significant improvements in features and functionality, and should have most of the functionality of the legacy desktop client at this point. If you are starting your reports build, my suggestion would be to build them in the Web Client.

I was expecting to see the functionality from the PBCS 16.12 update (that potentially caused SmartView connectivity issues) that was not released to Production, but haven’t seen any updates on this so far for January 2017.

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