Oracle On-Prem EPM Planning – Are you ready for the future?

Version 11.2 is slowly sunsetting

Oracle is now well into its 11.2 release of its EPM Planning on-premises product. Further, the former Hyperion applications have now become part of Oracle’s Applications Unlimited initiative, with Premier Support now guaranteed through at least 2033.

Continuous Innovation in this context will deliver updates to your applications and underlying technology stack without a major upgrade. The 11.2 version will provide updates to both new functionality and underlying technologies well into the next decade, with monthly technology releases and new features approximately annually.

But the 11.2 version also has its drawbacks: many of the features of the 11.1.2.x version has been discontinued. These include EPM Architect (replaced with a limited-use version of Oracle DRM with a migration kit), the various Hyperion BI+ products (Interactive Reporting, Production Reporting, and Web Analysis), and the various Planning modules (though existing modules can be migrated to 11.2, new modules can’t be created, nor will the modules be updated going forward).

At some point, your go-forward strategy with Oracle’s Planning solution becomes moving to “the cloud”. But there are important questions you will need to ask: What are the versions and features of Oracle’s EPM Cloud product? How does my current use of Planning translate to a cloud strategy? Which of Oracle’s cloud strategies is right for me?

What do Oracle’s EPM Cloud products offer?

First, let’s explore the differences between Oracle’s EPM Standard Cloud and EPM Enterprise Cloud products (as of October 2023).

For Planning, the Standard product provides module-based planning using the Financials, Capital, Projects, Workforce, and Strategic Modeling modules, along with the ability to create both Hybrid BSO and ASO Reporting cubes. The Enterprise product adds Custom Planning (a highly customizable planning tool that can support detailed business requirements) and Free Form Planning (which enables you to deploy Planning with no dimension requirements and create cubes using an Essbase outline file). Enterprise also adds support for Groovy scripting, which enables the creation or customization of business rules, with features that far surpass the typical business rule script language.

Account Reconciliation provides reconciliation compliance capabilities, and the Enterprise edition adds transaction matching to this.

The Standard edition’s Financial Consolidation and Close product, the successor to HFM, provides Supplemental Data Management, Financial Consolidation, and Close Management capabilities, while the Enterprise edition adds support for complex ownership structures and custom calculations.

Narrative Reporting, in the Standard product, features support for both Reporting Packages and Management Reporting, and the Enterprise product adds Disclosure Management to the mix.

Finally, the Enterprise version adds Enterprise Data Management, Profitability and Cost Management, and Tax Reporting.

How do you currently use Planning?

If, like most customers, you use Planning with a single application, your path forward is to migrate to one of the solutions above depending on the feature set you require. If you convert to the EPM Cloud Standard product, you can upgrade later. There is a migration process that is well documented, but it is definitely a process that takes time and needs to be managed carefully. Current on-prem FDMEE deployments can continue to be used with some modifications and considerations, or you can convert to Cloud’s Data Management product.

If your current on-prem Planning solution contains multiple applications, you will need multiple cloud instances to migrate to. Planning Cloud is a one-application-per-instance product. Oracle can provide more information about licensing in this situation. Otherwise, the migrations will be similar to those above.

If, in addition to Planning, you also have standalone Essbase cubes as part of your Planning implementation, these will need to be migrated to a separate Essbase product, such as Essbase 21C, which can be either on-prem or cloud-based, including deployment on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

Which solution is right for me?

Depending on where you fit with your current use of Planning, your path forward in the cloud can be relatively simple (Standard or Enterprise), or much more nuanced. PARC Consulting would be happy to assess your situation and to work with your team and Oracle to find the solution that is right for you.