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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Essbase Analytics Link Gets Updated

Oracle Essbase Analytics Link for Hyperion Financial Management (let's just say "EAL") is a very handy product if you want to take data out of HFM and create reports out of it in Essbase (or using OBIEE for example). The product is not quite integrated with the rest of the Oracle EPM product suite though and it also hasn't received too many updates lately. Now it looks like EAL has awakened from its slumber as Oracle has produced Patch Set Update 11.1.2.2.400 for the product. The most important change is that EAL finally has official support for the EPM 11.1.2.3 release:
Analytic Links 11.1.2.2.400 can be used with the Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System 11.1.2.2.xxx and 11.1.2.3.xxx EPM System releases only. Pre-11.1.2.2.xxx EPM System releases are not supported.
Another new feature is that migration of HFM security to Essbase has been improved for more fine grained control when using Shared Services groups with HFM security classes. And as usual, lots of bugs have been squashed. See the Patch Details page on Oracle Support for full description of the update: Oracle Essbase Analytics Link for Hyperion Financial Management Patch Set Update (PSU): 11.1.2.2.400

Note that this update requires a full installation of EAL (uninstall previous version, install updated one, configure the updated version).

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Smart View Version 11.1.2.5.215 Available

Oracle has released an updated version of their Swiss army knife add-in for MS Office. The installer for Oracle Smart View 11.1.2.5.215 is currently only available in form of a patch on Oracle Support (Patch 18977986: Patch Set Update: 11.1.2.5.215 for Oracle Smart View for Office) but I expect the Smart View page on OTN also to be updated soon.

As of this version Smart View is certified with Windows 8.1. Most of the other changes are bug fixes to make the add-in work more smoothly with Oracle BI products but a handful of other issues have been addressed as well. As always, have a look at the readme file on Oracle Support to get the full details. Also note that two server-side patches are required in order to get full benefits of the fixes related to OBIEE.

Update: Oracle has now released a knowledge base document on My Oracle Support to clarify supported OS and Office versions and interoperability between Smart View and other Oracle products:

Monday, August 18, 2014

EPM Product Versions Supported By Smart View

The Oracle EPM System Supported Platforms document, often also called the Certification Matrix, includes a compatibility chart that can be used to determine interoperability between EPM versions and other Oracle software (such as the versions of ODI you can use with Essbase 11.1.2.3). When Smart View started living a life of its own after the 11.1.2.5 release, the product was removed from the common EPM certification matrix. This change has made it harder to figure out what exact EPM versions you can use with the latest Smart View release; even the readme files included with the SV installer do not mention this information anymore. It seems that the following Support articles are the only place for finding this knowledge at the moment:

To make life easier for EPM admins I decided to collect the Smart View specific information from the articles in the table below (status for Smart View 11.1.2.5.210 as of August 18th 2014). Please use the links above to double check the latest Smart View version in case you are reading this post later.

EPM System product versions supported by Smart View 11.1.2.5.210:


Essbase*HFMPlanning
11.1.1.3.50011.1.1.311.1.1.3
11.1.1.411.1.1.411.1.1.4
11.1.2.x11.1.2.x11.1.2.x


*) Note: Some Essbase specific features introduced in Smart View client version 11.1.2.1.102 are only available when you use Essbase server 11.1.2.1.102 or later release.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

PSU 11.1.2.2.500 And Other New Patches

I'm still enjoying my summer holiday but wanted to briefly switch into working mode just to point out that the long-awaited Patch Set Update 11.1.2.2.500 has now been released. The Oracle Business Analytics Proactive Support blog sums the patch up nicely in their post Patch Release: EPM 11.1.2.2.500. I find it quite odd that the readme file for 11.1.2.2.500 does not specifically mention added support for Internet Explorer 10 even though this is considered the most important change in this patch bundle. The EPM Certification Matrix document has been updated to include new browser specific information for 11.1.2.2 though.
"Internet Explorer 10.x is supported only in 11.1.2.2.500, and only with Windows 7 and Windows 8."

Several EPM products have recently received new updates in the 11.1.2.3 code branch as well. See the following blog post for more details: EPM Patch Set Updates - June 2014. Note that the HFM PSU .501 (patch nr. 18792393) is also available although it's not included in the list.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Kscope14 Just Started Up!

I arrived in Seattle on Friday and have been busy taking in this great city and its surroundings. I will post cool photos later but now it's time for business as the Kscope14 conference has officially started. Be sure to stop by our booth #312 in the exhibition area so we can meet and have a chat!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Quick Test With PSU 11.1.2.3.500

I did a quick test of applying the recent Patch Set Update .500 (patch nr. 17529887) on top of my existing EPM 11.1.2.3 virtual installation. At this moment I have Foundation, HFM and Financial Reporting installed on the VM (running on Server 2008 R2). As already noted by Cameron in his blog post and also by Oracle Support (see doc ID 1640411.1) the patch is not always installed successfully... Below you can see how your system should look like during the process and after applying the patch.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Patch Set Update 11.1.2.3.500 Released For All EPM Products

Damnit John, you beat me to it... ;) Read the details about the long-awaited PSU that brings support for IE10 (among other changes) on John Goodwin's blog: EPM patch 11.1.2.3.500 has landed.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Essbase 11.1.2.3.500 Released

Looks like Essbase has been the first product in the EPM 11.1.2.3 code line to receive the PSU 500 treatment. The following patches have been released for Essbase and its helper applications on Monday:

Component
Patch ID
Essbase Client MSI (Windows)
Essbase Client (OPatch)
Essbase Runtime Client
Essbase Server
Essbase Administration Server
Provider Services


The updates include a large number of fixes but this is not just a bugfix release, especially not for Essbase Server. Take a look at the list of new features after the jump:

Friday, February 7, 2014

Infratects Top Gun 2014 Event

This year's Top Gun event is drawing closer. You still have an opportunity to sign up and get your share of this exceptional selection of technical EPM/Hyperion content:
  • Keynote Speaker Kash Mohammadi (VP Product Development EPM/BI at Oracle) will be covering the latest developments in Oracle EPM products.
  • Presentations with topics ranging from EPM customer projects to troubleshooting, tools, integrations and more presented by Infratects staff, our customers and Oracle.
  • Chance to meet and greet the Infratects staff and other Hyperion professionals from customers and partners.
The two-day conference will be held in the respected Hotel Okura in Amsterdam on March 14th and 15th. Visit the Events page on the Infratects website for registration information: http://www.infratects.com/events.

See you in Amsterdam!


Top Gun 2014 logo



Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Backup Utility And Index Update Utility for HFM 11.1.2.2 And Later

In my previous post I mentioned the following information that was originally included in the readme file for HFM 11.1.2.2 Patch Set Update 306 (the rows have later been removed though):

  • Defect Fixed: 16317490 - HFM application backup utility provided for 11.1.2.2.X.
  • Defect Fixed: 12332259 - HFM Index update utility provided for 11.1.2.2.X.

I thought this meant that the aforementioned utilities would be included in the PSU package but this was not the case. The Application Backup Utility has been updated to support HFM versions 11.1.2.2 and 11.1.2.3 but you still have to log on to Oracle Support and open the following article to download it: How To Use HFM Application Backup Utility (HFMApplicationBackUpUtility.exe)? - Doc ID 1515967.1

Please note that the HFM Application Backup Utility is not meant for production use (as a means to back up your HFM applications for example). But I still find it handy for extracting single applications from a running system (the tool produces a single zip file) and loading them into a virtual machine for testing or troubleshooting purposes. The utility includes options for anonymizing data values and strings, making it safer to transfer applications into sandbox environments.

The HFM Index Update Utility is still a mystery though. The original Support article written about the utility (How to Find the FMIndexUpdateUtility for Hyperion Financial Management? - Doc ID 1535195.1) tells me that I should find an updated version included in the new HFM PSU package but either I am blind or it just is not there. I have just asked Support about the utility and will update the post once I receive their reply.

2014-02-03 - Update from Oracle Support about the Index Update Utility (thanks Usha):

It seems that the statement about the updated HFM index utility has been added to the documents in error:
"Development are currently working on an indexing utility that will work with 11.1.2.2.x, but currently there is no such utility available"

Thursday, January 9, 2014

December Patch Set Update Bonanza

Quite a few Patch Set Updates were released for the EPM products in December. The latest ones for HFM and Planning 11.1.2.2 (both PSU 306) are probably the biggest updates and include lots of fixes for both products. HFM for example has received further improvements to web data form performance and two handy utilities - HFM Application Backup Utility and HFM Index Update Utility - have made a comeback. Have a look at the readme files for more details and the prerequisites!

Oracle Business Analytics - Proactive Support blog: December EPM "Patch Set Updates" released