The December updates for Oracle's Account Reconciliation Cloud Service (ARCS) have arrived. In this blog post, we’ll outline new features in ARCS, including integration improvements between Reconciliation Compliance and Transaction Matching, and more.
We’ll let you know any time there are updates to ARCS or any other Oracle EPM cloud products. Check the US-Analytics Oracle EPM & BI Blog every month.
The monthly update for Oracle ARCS will occur on Friday, December 21 during your normal daily maintenance window.
ARCS New Features
Integration Improvements Between Reconciliation Compliance and Transaction Matching
In this release update (18.12), Transaction Matching is more integrated with Reconciliation Compliance making it easier to use both modules with similar set up and configuration. Customers using Transaction Matching can also now benefit from available features in Reconciliation Compliance such as a more robust Reconciliation List view with ability to select columns and use filtering, use of bulk upload, and use of teams functionality.
Highlights of the changes are:
- Transaction Matching will now use the concept of Formats and Profiles in order to create reconciliations as is done in Reconciliation Compliance.
- Formats can be any of these three new methods:
- Balance Comparison with Transaction Matching;
- Account Analysis with Transaction Matching; or
- Transaction Matching Only
- Formats can be any of these three new methods:
- Balances can now be loaded the same way as period-end Reconciliation Compliance balances. Note that Transaction Matching transactions will be loaded the same way as previously.
- Transactions Matching reconciliations will be converted to Profiles and linked to Match Types instead of creating or editing reconciliations separately in Transaction Matching.
- Transaction Matching will now use Period end dates for the period end balancing that appears on the Balance Summary dialog. Therefore, there is no longer a need to configure Transaction Matching calendars separately.
UPGRADE CONSIDERATIONS FOR EXISTING TRANSACTION MATCHING CUSTOMERS
As a result of the integration improvements, certain actions will be performed automatically upon release of 18.12.
Migration tasks performed automatically include:
- Transaction Matching reconciliations will be automatically upgraded to Profiles.
- The preparer and viewer set in the Transaction Matching reconciliation will be available in the Profile.
Parallel Review and Approval Enables Multiple Preparers or Reviewers to Act on a Reconciliation
Sometimes you may need to have levels of preparation or review for a reconciliation. An example is if members of an approval team might all need to approve a reconciliation but the order in which they approve does not matter. Now you can assign the profile workflow to all members of a team by using the "Require Action By" field to select “All Preparers” or “All Reviewers.”
Allow Workflow Users to Perform and Approve Reassignment Requests Directly
First, an Administrator has to turn on this feature to allow workflow users to directly perform and approve reassignment of reconciliations rather than submitting requests to an Administrator or Power User for approval. The Administrator allows workflow users this ability through Reassignment Requests under System Settings under Configuration.
Once users can perform reassignments, workflow users will see a Profiles card under Applications where they can request Profiles to be assigned to them. Users can then approve reassignment requests from their Worklist.
New EPM Automate Utility Version
A new version of the EPM Automate Utility, which includes the getdailymaintenancestarttime command, is available with this update. You use this command to display the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) at which the daily maintenance of the environment is scheduled to start.
You must install this version of the utility to use the new command.
Data Management Dimension and Attribute Column Enhancements
Dimension and attribute columns can now accept a maximum of 300 characters. Formerly, the dimension column accepted a maximum of 80 characters, attribute columns 1-7 accepted a maximum of 70 characters, and attribute columns 8-14 accepted a maximum of 20 characters.
In addition, you can now import values into a maximum of 40 attribute columns. Formerly, you could only import a maximum of 14 attribute columns.
System Maintenance Task Options Enhancements
The Maintain FDMEE Data Tables option has been renamed to Maintain Data Tables by Application.
The new Maintain Data Table by Location option allows you to delete data for a specific location by period or category. You can still delete all locations for a target application by using the Maintain Data Tables by Application option.
A new Maintain Setup Data option has been added so that you can view and delete an orphan row or invalid data that cannot be accessed or deleted from the user interface. This data may include an orphan row from an import format, location, or data load rule. It can also include a duplicate row, or a Cloud user id or password defined for a local target application.
Considerations
Academy
In the Academy, some pages and icons may appear different in the video and the Cloud service.
Using Refresh
It is a best practice to use Refresh within the Account Reconciliation Cloud user interface rather than performing a browser refresh.
