Companies today are facing difficult decisions with timing their upgrades for Oracle Hyperion EPM environments as well as the supporting operating systems, browsers, and office applications. So how do you figure out when you should upgrade to Hyperion 11.1.2.4?
Many IT departments are coming to terms with the fact that Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 lost Mainstream Support as of January 13, 2015. Currently, their only option for support from Microsoft is through Extended Support, which is expensive and should only be used as a short-term migration strategy. Along the same lines, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 also lost Mainstream Support as of July 8, 2014, with Extended Support only available. Consequently, IT departments throughout the world are making plans to migrate to Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2012.
IT departments with Oracle Hyperion environments need to exercise the customary due diligence and collaborate with the Hyperion stakeholders to ensure planned upgrades of Windows Server and SQL Server do not interrupt Hyperion service. Oracle Hyperion requires version 11.1.2.4 for installation / configuration on Server 2012. Prior versions will simply not install on Windows Server 2012 R2.
Enterprises with Oracle's Hyperion EPM products — such as Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Financial Management, and some versions of Hyperion Essbase — will need to upgrade to version 11.1.2.4. For environments that have FDM (note: FDMEE, the Enterprise Edition), this will also include converting from FDM "Classic" to FDMEE. While this may sound somewhat daunting, it is actually a tremendous opportunity to revitalize data flow processes, simplify tool selections, and strengthen data integrity.
It is important to know that one of the main benefits of FDMEE 11.1.2.4 is that HFM is now available as both a source and a destination. The opportunity to streamline and optimize data flows and integrations with this feature cannot be overstated. Many companies either have a time-consuming manual extract then import process or have implemented a custom solution with various technologies to schedule and automate data integration processes. This is driven by the need to use one tool to extract data from HFM, another tool to import it into Planning, and yet another to schedule and automate the entire process.
With FDMEE 11.1.2.4, administrators can run the entire data integration process from within FDMEE. It can extract specific data from HFM and load it to Planning, all scheduled and automated within the same product. Updating settings, scripts, variables, pathways, and parameters within multiple data integrations may now be simplified greatly. Removing the third-party tools and complexity of numerous touchpoints not only optimizes data flows, but it also removes layers of risks, improves internal controls, and potentially eliminates the costs of licenses for third-party products as well as resource skillsets.
Other enhancements with respect to version 11.1.2.4 of FDMEE include:
New Target Applications
Integration with Financial Close Manager
Graphical Import Format Builder
Again, the main motivation to upgrade to 11.1.2.4 for many companies is the need to get off of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as SQL 2008. When planning to do so, whether in IT or Finance, key stakeholders should be sure to look closely at Hyperion version 11.1.2.4 and time the upgrade of Server Operating Systems carefully. Also, when upgrading to FDMEE 11.1.2.4, take time to review new features and functionality to streamline the data integration routines and reduce risk throughout the EPM platform.
To discover more new features in Hyperion 11.1.2.4, view the Best of Hyperion 11.1.2.4 video.