It’s that time of the month again to release our monthly patch blog detailing the most notable updates and bug fixes that have been released to Oracle Cloud PCM and EPCM. As always, this blog will aim to highlight the most critical updates coming to the Oracle Cloud PCM and EPCM instances but be sure to check Oracle’s 23.11 Patch Release for the full list of updates.
This month’s patch release doesn’t see any updates to Oracle Cloud PCM, some minor updates to Oracle Cloud EPCM, and some major updates for the Oracle Cloud EPM Common Platform (which will impact EPCM).
The most important features of the 23.11 (November 2023) patch:
EPM Common
Standardized application role names (PCM & EPCM)
- Application role names have been standardized across EPM Cloud ensuring the functionality assigned to a user within an application role is easier understood.
- Although this applies to both PCM and EPCM, the impact is limited in PCM due to the inability to assign application roles at a granular level.
Forms 2.0 (EPCM only)
- Forms 2.0 has now been released!
- We have been waiting for quite some time for this release. It provides a huge number of benefits including, but not limited to, usability improvements, better scalability and enhanced performance, calculation on the fly, and enhanced POV member selection.
- For more information on Forms 2.0 check out this excellent webinar by Oracle.
- To work with Forms 2.0 you must enable the Redwood Experience and enable Forms 2.0 through the application settings. No migration process is required to migrate from Forms 1.0 to Forms 2.0.
Functionality to keep up-to-date on
- Groovy – If you have started to utilize Groovy in your EPCM applications, ensure you are keeping up to date on the latest functionality related to Groovy and Business rules
- Pipeline – Oracle is continually adding functionality to Pipeline. Even if you haven’t started utilizing the functionality be sure to keep up to date on the latest functionality enhancements.
Enterprise PCM updates (EPCM only)
Total Number of Rules Processed added to the Calculation Statistic Report
- The Total Number of Rules Processed is now displayed in the Calculation Statistic report.
- This update can help in diagnosing performance issues.
PCM updates
There are no updates for PCM in this patch release.
- Clients still on PCM should consider moving to Oracle Cloud EPCM. For more information, consult Oracle’s Statement of Direction for PCM.
Regression Testing Requirement
This month’s patch does not include any new functionality, changes to the calculation process, or bug fixes that should impact the current running of the application but, as always, clients are advised to do their due diligence in the regression testing to ensure no unexpected impacts are realized in production.
If you are on EPCM, it is worth enabling Forms 2.0 in the test environments and familiarizing yourself with the functionality prior to its release in production.
Enterprise PCM regression testing requirement:
For the 23.11 Patch, we suggest clients do their normal level of regression testing but take special notice of the new functionality being released and how it could potentially be leveraged within their organization.
PCM regression testing requirement:
There are no PCM-specific updates in the 23.11 patch but clients are advised to execute a normal level of regression testing.
The 23.11 Patch is scheduled to be pushed to the Production environments at or after 22:00 UTC on Friday, November 17, 2023, so be sure to complete any Regression testing soon!
In case you missed it: highlights of profitability patch release – October 2023 (23.10)
The October patch release brought some exciting updates, and below are highlights of October’s patch release.
EPM Common
Data Integration Pipeline (EPCM only)
- Oracle continues to add functionality to Pipeline.
- This month Oracle released additional Job Types for: Delete File Option For File Operations – enables users to delete a file from a source directory
- Other new Job Types have been released but are not available to Enterprise PCM.
Additional properties viewable in member information dialog in SmartView (EPCM only)
- Users are now able to view additional information about a specific member through SmartView. This functionality enables users to better understand the members available to them and any associated UDAs, Formulas etc., that may be relevant.
Enterprise PCM updates
New “How Do I…” Help Center Tab
- The new Help Center Tab is available aimed at answering the most common questions about EPCM.
- The Help Center Tab is organized along common tasks and ensures the user has access to all relevant documentation, guides, videos, and tutorials in one place.
- This guide can be used by individuals just starting their journey on EPCM and seasoned professionals looking to troubleshoot a specific issue.
- A link to the guide can be found here.
Access to Calculation Manager
- Users can now have access to Calculation Manager to create Groovy business rules, view database properties, and execute a range of actions against the appropriate database (such as exporting/importing data, clearing data, executing aggregations, and so on).
- Groovy Business Rules opens a huge amount of possibilities in EPCM applications but extreme care should be taken when creating Groovy business rules against the PCM_CLC or PCM_RPT databases. Users should never create business rules that could impact the traceability of the application and should always use the EPCM Custom Rules or Allocation Rules as far as possible.
- Groovy Rules can be created through Script Mode against the PCM_CLC and PCM_RPT databases and in Graphical and Script Mode against all other databases.
About Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Profitability and Cost Management (PCM)
A purpose-built allocation solution can make organizations more effective and provide greater insight into profitability and costs within key business dimensions. Profitability and Cost Management strikes the perfect balance between a business-owned allocation engine and a rich analytical tool to discover the fundamental drivers of cost. This solution accomplishes both by providing an innovative allocation framework that provides step-by-step transparency to calculations – all while ensuring ease of use and upgradability of an Oracle cloud-based solution.