Highlights from the October 2023 Release

New Smart View Version

This month’s version heralds the introduction of Smart View version 23.200, which includes the following features:

• Search for Reports, Documents, and Task Lists in Smart View
• Member Selection Available for POV and Prompts in Reports
• Insert Multiple Reports in the Same Workbook
• New Search Field in Business Rules Dialog
• Formula, Label, and Comment Rows and Columns Supported in Flex Forms
• Set Formatting for Numbers in Oracle Essbase
• Support for Special Characters in Oracle Essbase
• Compatibility of Oracle Essbase Ad Hoc Grids Between Smart View and Smart View (Mac and Browser)
• Support for Microsoft Office Themes (Including Dark Theme) for Extensions in Smart View

For specific details on any of the below, see Oracle’s readiness page at this URL:

https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/tutorials/tutorial/cloud/epm/wn/epm/releases/Oct23/23oct-epm-wn.htm

EPM Cloud Platform

Among the Platform changes this month is a new option (Validate Metadata) to autocorrect member identity mismatches between your business process (Planning, Workforce, etc.) and the underlying Essbase cube during a Refresh (in the Application >> Overview refresh dialog only).

When using this option, the refresh will take a bit longer, and a report (named XXX_autocorrect.csv) detailing any member movements will be generated in the Outbox. The file is overwritten on each run.

Other new features this month include:

• Pipeline: New Import Metadata and Export Metadata job types, a new Delete File option for the File Operations job type, and a new Integration Pipeline job type in the Job Scheduler
• A new Show Only My Tasks option in the Digital Assistant
• In User Preferences, large profile pictures are automatically resized

Planning (Workforce)

• The number of Additional Earnings, Benefits, and Taxes has been increased to thirty.
• Members associated with the Merit-Based Planning and Additional Earnings, Benefits Taxes, and Earnings features are only created if the corresponding feature is enabled. This avoids the creation of unneeded members in the Account and Property dimensions.
• A new form, Identify Invalid Financials Mapping, is available to identify missing or invalid mappings when mapping accounts to Financials.
• Workforce Rules and Templates have been updated to include descriptions and comments. This is helpful when determining whether and how to modify these artifacts.

Other Important Notices

These are the highlights of upcoming platform changes. For the full list and more detailed explanations, see the URL at the end of this post.

• In the 23.11 update, the default Essbase Query Limit will be set to 900 seconds (15 minutes), replacing the current indefinite value.
• Coming in future updates, Application Role Names will undergo significant renaming, support for non-Redwood Experience themes will be discontinued, and Forms 2.0 and Dashboards 2.0 functionality will be available within the next six months. In addition, the Print option in Web Ad Hoc Grids and Forms 2.0 will be disabled in the 23.11 update.
• Within 6-12 months the “Native Mode” Smart View Ad Hoc Behavior will be deprecated. If you are using Native Mode, you are encouraged to convert to Standard Mode and test. Any enhancements or issues you find should be reported in the Customer Connect EPM Platform’s Idea Labs by the end of November 2023, for Oracle to review.
• Finally, in a future update, Calculation Manager will enforce the execution of the Errors and Warnings diagnostic tool for any rule that’s launched, validated, or deployed.

Update Timing and Information

These changes are scheduled to take place during the next maintenance period on or after 2 AM ET on Saturday, Oct 7, 2023 (test environments) and on or after 2 AM ET on Saturday, Oct 21, 2023 (production environments).

Customers needing more information or with questions about any of the changes summarized below should contact us. Oracle’s web page for the full contents of the update can be found here:

https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/tutorials/tutorial/cloud/epm/wn/epm/releases/Oct23/23oct-epm-wn.htm