Quick Review Of HFM Patch Set Update 11.1.2.4.200

Oracle has released another big PSU to HFM 11.1.2.4. This one has been in the works for a long time so I was eager to test the update ASAP even though I'm still jet-lagged after returning from a two-week vacation in the Far East.

Version number reads "Oracle Hyperion Financial Management, Fusion Edition - 11.1.2.4.200.5149"

New Features

Let's start with the most interesting bits. The list of new features included in the readme file is long but slightly misleading... Most of the "new" functions have already been included in PSU .100 and just listed again as this is a cumulative patch. Read on to find out what actually is new in this Patch Set Update.

FDMEE Patch Set Update 11.1.2.4.100

Here's a quick update for those who are running FDMEE version 11.1.2.4. The big Patch Set Update .100 has been released - just in time for Christmas! Because my friend Francisco is the real expert when it comes to the product in question, I'll let him explain you what's new in this update.

• Blog post: FDMEE 11.1.2.4.100 released (PSU100) - Part 1

Oracle resources (Oracle account required):

• Readme file for FDMEE PSU 11.1.2.4.100 
• Download the PSU (patch 20648390)

HFM 11.1.2.4 PSU 100 - Fixes And New Features

EPM version 11.1.2.4 was released in February and as you probably already know it brought a lot of changes to Hyperion Financial Management. Application performance is promised to be better and the new simplified HFM architecture has other benefits as well. Still it's common for many customers to be careful after major changes like this and to wait for at least one Patch Set Update to become available before picking up the new version. After a long wait, HFM PSU 11.1.2.4.100 was released on Friday last week. You can download PSU .100 (patch nr. 20455650) on Oracle Support. Let's have a look at the list of changes in this update.

New Features

The following new features are introduced in the PSU.

Patch Set Update .700 - IE11 Support Comes To EPM 11.1.2.3

Oracle seems to be in the process of releasing patches belonging to Patch Set Update 11.1.2.3.700. There is a handy list of all .700 patches in the readme file for the Financial Reporting patch that is already downloadable. Note that all of the packages mentioned in the list are not yet available as I'm writing this post and I'm also not sure whether or not PSUs will also be issued for Essbase.

Update on July 2nd: Added the patches for Shared Services and Workspace that were missing from the original list

Product Name	11.1.2.3.700 PSU Patch Number
Oracle Data Relationship Management	21107706
Oracle Financial Reporting	20838970
Oracle Hyperion Calculation Manager	21292109
Oracle Hyperion Disclosure Management	20619384
Oracle Hyperion Financial Close Management	20768349
Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management Enterprise Edition	20779592
Oracle Hyperion Financial Management	20955781
Oracle Hyperion Performance Management Architect	20929659
Oracle Hyperion Planning	20643564
Oracle Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management	20915688
Oracle Hyperion Reporting and Analysis Framework	20768325
Oracle Hyperion Tax Provision	21219363
Oracle Hyperion Web Analysis	20880421
Oracle Hyperion Shared Services	20675028
Oracle EPM Workspace	20612400

The most important update in this PSU is native support for Internet Explorer 11:

"Apply this patch to use Internet Explorer release 11 in standards mode instead of in Enterprise Mode. After you apply this patch, you can no longer use Enterprise Mode. You must apply the 11.1.2.3.700 PSU for all EPM products in your deployment."

The EPM System Certification Matrix document will undoubtedly be updated to match this information soon. The .700 patches must be applied to all EPM products in each environment so you have to be patient and wait for all of them to become available. Have a look at the readme files for each individual patch as there are numerous fixes made to the products. Also note the prerequisites as some of the patches seem to rely on newly released ADF patches.

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:

• Smart View Support Matrix and Compatibility FAQ (Doc ID 1923582.1)

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.

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.

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)	17767307
Essbase Client (OPatch)	17767301
Essbase Runtime Client	17767299
Essbase Server	17767302
Essbase Administration Server	17767309
Provider Services	17767293

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:

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"

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

First PSU Out for HFM 11.1.2.3

Oracle has released the first Patch Set Update for HFM 11.1.2.3 last week. The PSU .100 (patch number 16956060) includes one new "feature":

The HFM UI has been tested in accordance with the software accessibility standards required by the US Federal Rehabilitation Act (Section 508).

Besides mentioning this accessibility feature the rest of the readme is stuffed with fixed defects (41 in total!). One of the most important corrections is that the web form performance fixes already released for HFM 11.1.2.2 have now been brought over to 11.1.2.3 as well. For the rest of the list please see the readme file on Oracle Support.

Note that this PSU requires three patches to Oracle common components: ADF patch 16788543 and two general Fusion Middleware patches: 13866584 and 16810628. Make sure you get the correct version (111170_Generic) of these packages when downloading them from Support.

Update: There are quite a few PSUs released for other products as well. See the Oracle Business Analytics Proactive Support blog for the lengthy list: October EPM patch set updates released.

September Patch Set Updates

Here's a quick update if you want to check the latest PSUs released for EPM products this month... The main attraction is Essbase 11.1.2.2 PSU 104.

Oracle Business Analytics - Proactive Support blog: EPM September patch set released

Support For OBIEE And Other Goodies Added To Smart View

Oracle has just released Smart View Patch Set Update 11.1.2.2.310 which brings dozens of fixed defects but also a big bunch of new features into everyone's favorite Office add-in. Read on to find out what's new in this release.

New Feature Highlights 

Support For Oracle BI EE

Smart View now allows users to connect to OBIEE 11.1.1.7 or later - after this long-awaited version gets released first. The following features are (or will be) available:

• Connecting to OBIEE Presentation Server
• Viewing the contents of the Presentation Catalog
• Importing BI Answers views from Presentation Catalog into Office programs (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
• Copying OBIEE Dashboard content and pasting it into Smart View client documents. The data, metadata, and view layout are all copied.
• Programming OBIEE features using Visual Basic: adding OBIEE objects, managing prompts etc.

For complete overview of the OBIEE features in Smart View 11.1.2.2.310 see the Readme file for the PSU on Oracle Support.

Shared Connections Definition File

This feature seems to have been invented because EPM Workspace does not (yet) integrate with OBIEE. To use OBIEE connections in the Shared Connections menu in Smart View, you need to create an XML file which contains the provider connections for your EPM and OBI environment. The path to the XML file is then specified in the Shared Connections URL field in the Smart View Options dialog box, after which the entries should appear in the Shared Connections menu.

Office Table Report Object

A new MS Word only feature allows you to insert a table that is formatted just like tables in Office applications normally are. Office tables can be imported into for example HFM Smart Slices and then used as a part of Word documents. Table formatting tools and styles can be utilized and they are preserved when data and members are refreshed.

Other New Features

Smaller additions that are also worth mentioning:

• Document Contents is a new pane that displays the structure of the current Office document in a tree format 
• Cells containing HsGetValue functions can now be copied between Office applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• Shared Connections can be used in functions for HFM, Essbase and Planning

Be sure to log on to Oracle Support and study the full Readme file for PSU 11.1.2.2.310 as the file also contains information about fixed defects and known issues and their workarounds. And remember that according to the EPM Certification Matrix you can use Smart View 11.1.2.2 with older EPM/Hyperion releases too (HFM, Planning and Essbase 11.1.2.x, 11.1.1.4, 11.1.1.3 and 9.3.3 are compatible - see the Certification Matrix document for full details).

PSU 600 Brings IE9 Support To EPM 11.1.2.1

The following Patch Set Updates have been made available on Oracle Support with the primary purpose of adding support for Internet Explorer 9 into Oracle EPM System Release 11.1.2.1.

• Patch Set Update: 11.1.2.1.600 for EPM Architect (patch ID 14224664)
• Patch Set Update: 11.1.2.1.600 for Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) (patch ID 14354419)
• Patch Set Update: 11.1.2.1.600 for Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management (patch ID 14548006)
• Patch Set Update: 11.1.2.1.600 Hyperion Planning (patch ID 14464109)
• Patch Set Update: 11.1.2.1.600 Shared Services 11.1.2.1 (patch ID 14142678)
• Patch Set Update: 11.1.2.1.600 Workspace 11.1.2.1 (patch ID 14119724)

You should apply the PSUs for Shared Services and Workspace in all environments and include the other specific updates depending on what products are installed. Take time to study the readme files carefully as some of the updates (especially the one for Planning) includes quite a few prerequisites and also instructions to work around known issues.

I'm not sure if these will be the only products to receive (or to require) the IE9 treatment but this information will hopefully be added to the EPM certification matrix document soon. It's also worth noting that the readme file for the Planning PSU mentions that even with these updates applied, Internet Explorer 9 is still supported in compatibility view mode only.

A Ton Of Updates For EPM 11.1.2.2

I just noticed that the long awaited Patch Set Update for HFM has been released yesterday. And Financial Management is not the only product to get the PSU .300 treatment - read below for a full list of recently released updates for EPM 11.1.2.2.0:

HFM 11.1.2.1 PSU 104

Here's a quick heads-up note for HFM customers: HFM 11.1.2.1 has received another update in the form of Patch Set Update 104. The update includes one new feature - logging capability for the Task Automation module which helps in troubleshooting taskflow issues. The PSU is cumulative so it includes all previous HFM Patch Set Updates and also a lenghty list of new fixes.

Review the readme file and download the package for HFM 11.1.2.1 PSU 104 on Oracle Support.

Index Of Current Patch Set Updates For EPM Products

"Patch Set Update" or PSU is the Oracle equivalent for update packages that used to be called Service Packs in the Hyperion times. An article which lists the currently available PSUs for the following EPM products has recently been published on Support.

• Financial Management (HFM)
• Reporting and Analysis
• Financial Reporting
• Interactive Reporting
• Planning
• Essbase
• Financial Data Quality Management (FDQM)
• Enterprise Performance Management Architect (EPMA)
• Calculation Manager

Bookmark the article or add it to your Favorites list on Oracle Support so you can easily go back and check the latest recommended updates for the products installed in your EPM/Hyperion environment.

Oracle Support: Available Patch Sets and Patch Set Updates for Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management Products [ID 1400559.1]