Cloud technology is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. To keep up with service quality and new capabilities, Oracle has announced its schedule for monthly updates that will roll out to its test and production environments. This blog post outlines several new features, fixed defects, and considerations when using these tools. Please save these dates in your calendar.
- May 7, 2021 (Friday): Oracle will apply this monthly update to Test Environments during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC.
- May 21, 2021 (Friday): Oracle will apply this monthly update to Production Environments during the first daily maintenance that occurs at or after 22:00 UTC.
Important: Oracle strongly recommends that you download the maintenance snapshot every day to a local server. Also, access to updated documentation will be available in the Help center on May 7, 2021.
What You Should Expect?
Each month, Oracle releases a patch containing bug fixes, code optimization, and feature updates. The patch is usually done on the first Friday of the month for test environments during the next daily maintenance window. Patches for production environments are done on the third Friday of the month.
This month, the following updates will have:
New Tutorials
Two new tutorials will be available for Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules and Tax Reporting. Users will learn how to perform new EPM grid operations and navigate with dynamic tabs.
Updates to the Clone Environment Feature
This update will change the version of Essbase in the target environment to match the
Essbase version in the source environment. Also, the feature called 'Clone Snapshot' will be renamed as 'Clone Environment'. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, and Tax Reporting. The change will address user concerns about the recent feature.
EPM Automate Updates
The new update will make EPM Automate more user-friendly. The new update will support the use of vanity URLs created using third-party link shorteners. Also, this new update includes changes to behaviors: enhancing user, group and role management commands. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Enterprise Data Management, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, and Tax Reporting.
Rest API Updates
You can now assign and remove a user role to a predefined or application role. You may also set a specific password, a unique temporary password, or force a password reset at first login. You can now automate disabling emergency access to the database, as well as see which records failed and the reason why it did with the User Management Rest APIs.
Assign and Unassign Role
Service administrators can now assign and unassign application roles to themselves. This removes the hassle of that extra step when it comes to application role assignments. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, and Tax Reporting.
Configuring Azure AD
You will now have instructions on how to configure and do a single sign-on using Microsoft Azure AD which secures the EPM cloud environments so you can seamlessly access it. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, and Tax Reporting.
The section "Use of Dedicated VPN Connection to Restrict Access" has been enhanced with topics on how to create a secure communication channel to EPM Cloud. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, and Tax Reporting.
Better Activity Report
Now, you can identify the type of cloud infrastructure that your environment uses. There have been changes on some table titles too for better context. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Enterprise Data Management, Financial Consolidation and Close, Narrative Reporting, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, and Tax Reporting.
New Ways to Export URLs File
To help you easily find and filter URLs used for connected EPM Cloud (and other cloud environments), you now have two new columns: Artifact Type and Artifact Name. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, Profitability and Cost Management, and Tax Reporting.
Enhanced Smart View (Mac and Browser)
The new update will have a Validate button in the Function Builder panel. This allows users
to see and correct errors immediately, before executing a function. There will also be new options for filtering rules in the Business Rules panel. You can now search and filter members in the POV dimension drop-down list. This update will apply to Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, and Tax Reporting.
Custom View
You can now define how you want to look at the columns in the drill through on the landing page in the EPM Cloud. This means more options to rearrange the representation of data. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, and Tax Reporting.
Validation Errors
A new validation feature in the Workbench lets you compare dimension mapping to the source. You can now identify unmapped dimensions to ensure that all users are mapped to a target account. This update will apply to Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, and Tax Reporting.
Cell-Level Security for Reports
Users will now have an improved suppression option for Reports, thanks to this newly-released security feature. You can suppress cell-level data intersections that a user has no access to, or apply text replacement labels. This update will apply to Planning, Planning Modules, and Tax Reporting.
New Grid Property
You can now use this new grid property in defining conditions, from conditional formatting to suppression against grid data values. This update will apply to Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, and Tax Reporting.
Copy Members
You can now copy member selections from a row or column segment in the same dimension. That's one less hassle when it comes to defining member selections in a Reports grid. This update will apply to Financial Consolidation and Close, Planning, Planning Modules, and Tax Reporting.
Smart View Extension
Users can now download Smart View extensions separately: Task Manager and Supplemental Data. This update will apply to Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting.
Better Task Manager Report List
The Report Group name is now visible in the Task Manager, on the Report List for all users. This update will apply to Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting.
New Audit Type
Also called Variables -- these let you track changes made to variables, who made these changes, and what values were there before and after the changes. This update will apply to Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting.
Display Label Values
You can now choose where the label values in the reports are displayed to help you read your Financial Reporting bar chart values easier. This update will apply to Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, Tax Reporting, and Profitability and Cost Management.
May 2021 Updates: Summary
- New Tutorials
- Updates to the Clone Environment Feature
- EPM Automate Updates
- Users Running the Role Assignment REST API Can Include Their Own Roles
- REST API to Set Default Password, Force Password Reset, and Set Temporary Password While Importing Snapshot
- REST API to Disable Emergency Access to Database
- User Management REST APIs Now Show Details on Which Records Failed and Why They Failed
- Assign and Unassign Role: Change of Behavior in Access Control
- Instructions for Configuring Azure AD as Identity Provider for OCI (Gen 2) Environments
- New Topics in EPM Cloud Operations Guide
- Activity Report Now Identifies the Cloud Infrastructure in Use
- Additions and Changes to the Export URLs File
- Function Validation in Smart View (Mac and Browser)
- Filter Business Rules in Smart View (Mac and Browser)
- Improved POV Member Search and Selection in Smart View (Mac and Browser)
- Adding a Custom View to the Drill Through Landing Page in Data Management
- Viewing and Fixing Mapping Validation Errors from the Data Integration Workbench
- Reports Support for Cell-Level Security
- Reports Grid Property for Conditional Formatting/Suppression Data Value Handling
- Ability to Copy Member Selections from One Grid Segment to Another
- Smart View Extensions for Task Manager and Supplemental Data Manager
- Task Manager Report List Enhancement
- Auditing for User-Defined and Substitution Variables
- Ability to Choose Where to Display Label Values in Financial Reporting Bar Charts
For more details on these updates, please visit Oracle Cloud Readiness May 2021 Update.
