Oracle EPM 11.1.2.1 is Available

Gentlemen, begin your upgrades.  Oracle EPM 11.1.2.1 has finally shipped.  Those who've been waiting for the migration (and slightly more stable) releases of Essbase, Hyperion Planning, HFM, and the rest for around a year can finally get real lives.


I know: I'm shocked it's out too.  It's not on edelivery.oracle.com yet (at least as of 4:15PM Eastern on April 7, 2011) but it is available for download on download.oracle.com.  I made a bit.ly link to the exact page:
Oracle EPM 11.1.2.1


Tell everyone and impress your friends.


UPDATE: As of April 8, 2011, EPM 11.1.2.1 is now available in nice Media Packs on eDelivery.oracle.com for the following operating systems:

• HP-UX (Itanium)
• IBM AIX (64-bit)
• Linux (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Solaris (64-bit only)
• Windows (32-bit and 64-bit)

As mentioned before, the EPM docs (including all the new features and yes, there are some new features) on 11.1.2.1 can also be found here:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17236_01/index.htm

Oracle EPM 11.1.2.1 - Releasing No Sooner Than April 10

In a posting back in February, I relayed that development was virtually promising that Oracle EPM 11.1.2.1 would be out sometime in March. I then padded that to be sometime by March 31. Here's what I was told from multiple sources (not one of which is Glenn Schwartzberg): apparently, development discovered two bugs during testing just this week. They are being immediately corrected and then the patch should release to manufacturing (meaning it can be bundled up and posted on edelivery.oracle.com).

This jibes with a public announcement that Oracle made during a Customer Advisory Board meeting in Copenhagen this week. A customer that was there told me that Oracle announced they were releasing 11.1.1.2 to edelivery on April 10. This is the first time I've ever heard of an exact date spoken in a semi-public forum.

No I think that the more likely date is April 11 (which is a Monday and as such, a lot more likely than Sunday). That said, the earliest I would expect it is April 11 since, well how do I put it gently, Oracle has been working this for around a year now and has lost pretty much all credibility with estimating patch release dates.

To add to the bad news, it looks like support for other application servers (like WebSphere) will NOT be in this patch. Looks like it will be delayed until to 11.1.2.2 (and who really believes that will really release by year-end?).

Keep watching here and I'll let you know when 11.1.2.1 gets posted for downloading.

Oracle EPM 11.1.2.1 - Looks Like March

Disclaimer
I don't work for Oracle.  Everything you see below is what I've heard said in public forums followed by some speculation of my own.  Oracle not only does commit to release dates, they don't even commit to specific future functionality.  For that matter, they won't even go on the record that there will actually be any future releases of products.  So take this whole entry for the best guess that it is. 


Why Do I Care About a Little Dot Release?
Based on the disclaimer above, I have been really hesitant to go on the record with any information about Oracle EPM 11.1.2.1 (sometimes called "Talleyrand SP1" or "11.1.2sp1" or "The Patch" or "The Migration Patch" or "The Dot Release" although personally I like calling it "Waiting for EPM Godot").  The initial release of 11.1.2 dates back to April 2010 (yup, we're going on 10 months now) and there's still not an official service pack.  That doesn't mean there haven't been bug fixes.  They just slip them in as minor fix releases (like 11.1.2.0.02 and the rest).  What we're really waiting for are some of the things that should be in 11.1.2.1:

• Bug Fixes.  Supposedly, all of the big show stopper bugs (like some of the Life Cycle Management issues and the almost complete unusability of the EAS fat client) are fixed in this release.
• Migration.  11.1.2.0 was released with no migration tools from earlier releases.  It was what was called a "greenfield release."  In other words, you could install it, but you couldn't get there from any earlier version.  Now my company like many others have done several "upgrades" to 11.1.2 of as many parts as we can, but officially, there's no way to migrate to 11.1.2... until 11.1.2.1.  This version should have wizards and conversion utilities to migrate from multiple versions including 9.2, 9.3 and 11.1 (well, specific point releases of those).  In other words, you'll finally be able to do a supported migration and it should be easier than the manual methods we're doing now.
• Wider Server Support.  11.1.2.0 was released with support only for Oracle WebLogic 10.  Unlike earlier versions, it did not support Apache Tomcat nor IBM Websphere.  Now the good news was that Oracle was kind enough to issue a limited use WebLogic license.  The downside obviously was if you were not already a WebLogic shop.  Taking on a new application server infrastructure isn't easy.  The patch should support Tomcat and Websphere as well as Windows 2008r2 from an OS standpoint.  While it's on the client not server side, also expect to see Office 2010 support in 11.1.2. 
• Performance Improvements.  With all the new functionality in EPM 11.1.2 (especially in Hyperion Planning), some things just aren't very speedy.  Development has said publicly that they are working on improving the speed of many of these new features including workflow and the new drag-and-drop forms designer.

Any New Functionality?

The four items above are as close to 100% definite as you can get.  They might change the specific versions you're allowed to upgrade from (current rumor is 9.2.1, 9.3.3, 11.1.1.3, and 11.1.2) but there will be lots of bug fixes, a migration path, wider server support, and performance improvements in 11.1.2.1 most assuredly.  Where we get into a grayer area is, like the iPad 2, when we start speculating about any new features of functions in the release.  So here's what may or may not be in there (and don't base any buying decisions off my wild ass speculation):

• Data Relationship Management.  This is straight from Oracle themselves, so it's very likely to be in there.  From the excellent though sporadically updated "Versioned Hierarchy of Reality" blog (ya, I'm one to talk), 11.1.2.1 should contain:
• Performance Improvements
• Upgrade Support
• Console Improvements
• Property Namespaces
• Single Sign On
• URL-based Navigation
• Job Status and Cancellation
• Action Script Options
• Disclosure Management.  Both Disclosure Management and Financial Close Management saw their initial releases in 2010.  As such, they should both be seeing substantial functionality improvements as Oracle tends to do in dot releases after the initial major release.  For Disclosure Management, the only major improvement I've publicly heard multiple times is for the UK folks: the ability to do XBRL income tax returns for HMRC.
• Financial Close Management. It looks like the main improvements to HFCM (Hyperion Financial Close Management) have to do with direct integration to PeopleSoft.  Expect to see direct PeopleSoft 9.0 and 9.1 integration with AP, AR, BI, AM, and GL into HFCM.  For details, scroll down to page 17 of a presentation Oracle delivered to the NorCal OAUG. Looks like Oracle eBS integration won't make it into the 11.1.2.1 release of HFCM but should be out by the end of 2011.
• Smart View.  There will either be a bunch of improvements to Smart View in this release or they'll delay them to 11.1.2.2. A lot of the new Smart View features we've seen demoed in the last year have to do with a new look for Smart View that makes it look a whole lot like Essbase classic (such as the ability to hide the POV). I'm expecting that these User Interface improvements will actually make it into 11.1.2.1, but I wouldn't bet on it.

The ones above are what I would be willing to wager make it into 11.1.2.1.  There will doubtless be some minor improvements that I'll try to detail once the product makes it out the door.  As for some of those other big development things you've been hearing about (like custom dimensionality in HFM, account reconciliations in HFCM, project planning module for Hyperion Planning, micro-costing in HPCM, etc.) is probably going to end up waiting until 11.1.2.2.  The most recent public EPM roadmap presentation from Oracle (scroll down to page 12) seems to reflect that other big items are being held.

So When Does It Come Out?

Talk about burying the lead.  The post is almost over and I'm just now getting to what I mentioned in the subject line.  Every person who's talked about release dates to this point has been wrong.  It went from August to fall to October to 2010 year end to January to "when Dallas freezes over the same week they host the Super Bowl."  Well, we all thought that was never going to happen, but then last week leading into the Super Bowl festivities, Dallas spent 100+ hours below freezing and it snowed several inches too.  So recognizing an apocalyptic sign, I reached out to a very high up source in Oracle EPM development...

... and was told March.  Further, the person  was almost willing to guarantee it if I promised to not mention her/his name.  "March?" I asked incredulously, because I had frankly lost all belief in release dates for 11.1.2.1.  Development then explained to me why 11.1.2.1 has been delayed for so many months.  And here's the thing: it's actually not development's fault nor legal's fault nor sales nor marketing nor any of the other groups that would tend to cause holdups like this.

No, it seems to be because of Fusion.  Oracle EPM is part of the Fusion Middleware team, and it is built on several other Oracle technologies both Fusion and otherwise.  The delay is because one of the key technology "tentpole" components in Oracle EPM coming from the Fusion side keeps changing.  Every time that underlying technology changes how it's implemented, they have to go modify the code for Oracle EPM.  In other words, EPM 11.1.2.1 is just sitting there waiting for the tentpole technology to stop changing.

March, Seriously?

So how did development come up with March?  It seems that there's been a line drawn in the sand and that supporting Fusion tech will be finalized this month (February) which makes sense since it's the last month of Oracle's quarter.  Then it's just a quick change to Oracle EPM, some regression testing, and voila: Oracle EPM 11.1.2.1 will finally be released.  That said, I'd bet on March 31 to be a whole lot more likely than March 1.

I know a lot of you will be waiting until the patch comes out, but please don't blame me if the date slips again (but give me kudos if I turn out to be right).  My infrastructure team at interRel is gearing up for all our clients that have managed to be dissuaded from going to 11.1.2 until the patch comes out, so we're concluding that this delivery date is real.  We're expecting busy times in March and April with all the migrations.  Keep watching here, and I'll let you know when 11.1.2.1 finally shows up on edelivery.oracle.com.

BREAKING NEWS: EPM 11.1.1.1 Is Available (AKA Hyperion on All Platforms with Bug Fixes)

Oracle EPM 11.1.1.1.0 - Generally Available

Well, that certainly took long enough.  On July 12, Oracle released the newest version of Hyperion (so called 11.1.1.0.0) and all was great and wonderful except for one thing.  For the first time in my recollection, it was only released for Windows platforms.  The versions for other platforms (Unix and the like) were supposed to follow shortly after.

Then months went by with only Windows to keep us warm.

Finally, during the wee hours last night approximately 4 months after the Windows release of Hyperion 11x, we now have the full platform release.  To download the other platforms, go to http://edelivery.oracle.com/ and click on the product pack for "Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System."  You'll now see that there are multiple platforms available:

• HP-UX (32-bit and 64-bit)
• IBM AIX (only 64-bit)
• Linux x86 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Sun Solaris (only 64-bit)
• Windows (32-bit and 64-bit)

Lots of bugs are fixed

You'll also notice that the Windows media packs now come in two versions: 11.1.1.0.0 and 11.1.1.1.0.  The version with the extra "dot one" has patches for some of the more egregious bugs.  I've read the Read Me file for 11.1.1.1.0 and there are 8+ pages of defects fixed in this release.  Some of them seem fairly major.  There are still 13+ pages of known issues in this release.  Personally, I like when the list of bugs fixed exceeds the known bug list, but with a version this major, I'm just happy as can be that they're actively fixing the major bugs.

For those of you who already installed 11.1.1.0.0, Oracle has been kind enough to allow us to install the patched version (with the extra "dot one") without reinstalling (hallelujah, by the way).  If you've already installed the initial 11 release, just make sure you select the "Apply Maintenance Release" option when you rerun the EPM System Installer.

New Features

You may be surprised to find out that there are some new features in this version (minor, but they're there).  I'm going through the Read Me files right now, but here are the new features I've spotted so far:

• Essbase
• Block storage cubes can now have the same date/time member intelligence that ASO began supporting in 9.3.  This also means that there are some new block storage calcs to work on these members: @DATEDIFF, @DATEPART, @DATEROLL, @FORMATDATE, and @TODATEEX.
• When Essbase log files reach their maximum size (normally 2Gb), the log file will begin writing to a second file (or more than that).  This is simple but impressive.  Older versions of Essbase would just crash when the max file size was reached, but now they will keep generating new log files while preserving the old ones.
• Visual Explorer is dramatically enhanced and now supports perspectives, has enhanced workspace capabilities, enhancements to dashboards, and most impressive of all, can be used to generate data mining scenarios (it even writes MDX for you).
• Also, there is at least one feature that's been removed in this version: reference cubes are no longer supported for speeding up of @XREF calculations.  
• Essbase Studio
• Netezza is supported as a data source.
• Migration is now supported (of metadata) from EIS (Essbase Integration Services) to Essbase Studio.
• Financial Data Quality Management
• Drill back from HFM, Strategic Finance, Essbase, and Planning to FDM.
• Drill back from FRM to Oracle eBusiness Suite.
• Support for Shared Services for user provisioning and authentication.
• New adapters for Strategic Finance and Oracle eBusiness Suite.
• Other random front-end enhancements.
• Hyperion Financial Management (HFM).  So far as I can tell from the Read Me, there are no new features.
• Hyperion Planning.  The Planning Outline Load utility has been updated and may now actually be helpful for building dimensions.
• Profitability and Cost Management.  There are pages and pages of new features for HPCM.  I'll refer you to the hpm_11111_readme.pdf for more information on this.  Needless to say, someone was very busy adding features to HPCM since its initial release in July.
• Reporting and Analysis (FR, IR, SQR, WA).  Nothing, so far as I can tell.
• Smart View
• Firefox is now supported for the web client.
  
• Essbase substitution variables can be used in Excel spreadsheet retrieves.
• There's a new "Disconnect All" menu item that disconnects from all data sources.
• There's a new POV Control that can be used in the Report Designer (the new dashboard-like interface in Smart View 11x).  The POV control allows for greater member selection capabilities than the Slider control.  POV controls and sliders cannot both be used on the same report (they're mutually exclusive).

There are also some enhancements to some of the more minor supporting products that I didn't bother listing.  As you can tell, there aren't a lot of impressive features, but there are more than you'd think considering the minor updating of the version number.

What's Missing?

EPM/Hyperion 11.1.1.1.0 is still English-only.  The last road map I saw in a public forum (i.e., that I'm able to talk about) said that the localized versions of the product should be out by the end of 2008.  With there being only 6 weeks until the end of 2008 and Oracle just getting around to the platform release in English, I seriously doubt we'll see Hyperion in Spanish, Japanese, and the like until the first quarter of 2009.

Also, there's no 11.1.1.1.0 version of either Strategic Finance or Performance Scorecard.  I have no idea on when these will be released.

How long until Oracle informs everyone?

If you want to amuse yourself, see how long it takes for Oracle to let their users (and their own sales force) know that the full platform release is available.  I'm betting it's not until at least next week (if at all).

9.3.1 is Generally Available

As of 1:30AM (Central), Hyperion System 9.3.1 is now generally available from http://edelivery.oracle.com/. The Media Pack consists of 39 parts comprising a total of 9.6 Gb.

What's interesting about this "patch" is that it seems to contain a ton of new enhancements/features. Here are some of the amazing things I spotted immediately:

• Essbase ASO supports trickle feeds and simultaneous data loads. This enhancement allows for virtually real-time data marts in Essbase using ASO.
• Financial Reporting allows bundling in of external documents in FR Books. You can now include Excel sheets and Word documents in your financial books.
• EPM Architect has improved navigation. My hope is that this makes EPMA a usable product.
• Planning now allows direct setting of most every Essbase option including DTS (Dynamic Time Series), hierarchies in Scenario/Version dimensions, alternate Time hiarchies, and more.
• Interactive Reporting has a new speedier Essbase query section. Rumor has it that IR against Essbase is now as fast as FR (Financial Reporting) and WA (Web Analysis).
• Shared Services has improved performance. If this true, it's about time.
• HFM supports disconnected forms through SmartView.
• Planning and HFM now ship with sample applications.
• No more License Server. To quote: "Hyperion no longer ships or requires Oracle's Hyperion License Server (or standalone license files) for use with Hyperion products." Thank you, Jesus.

There seems to be more - a lot more - so why am I worried? 9.3.0 had a number of bugs that 9.3.1 was supposed to fix. Even if 9.3.1 fixed all the known issues, isn't it likely that all these new features have introduced bugs of their own?

Well, let's take a look at one of the ReadMe's: Hyperion Reporting & Analysis (basically, all of BI+ except Essbase, all of Shared Services, User Provisioning, etc.). This document is 60 pages long. Pages 43-58 highlight the defects fixed in 9.3.1. Pages 10-43 detail the known issues still in 9.3.1 when they issued it. Now to be fair, the defects fixed are usually listed on one or two lines while the known defects often take up a paragraph or more, but 33 pages of known defects in just BI+ and the supporting layers?

Oracle, while we thank you for 9.3.1, when will 9.3.2 be coming out?

Downloading Hyperion Just Got Easier

For the last several years, Hyperion has used SubscribeNet to host the downloads of it's software. For the moment, it's still there:
http://hyperion.subscribenet.com/
The problems with this site were too numerous to list, but let me try:

• You had to have a super-secret ID and password to get into the Download Center. What products you could download were determined by what someone at Hyperion Towers granted you the rights to see. If you bought Strategic Finance but the Tower People didn't want you to download it, you couldn't see it until you screamed really loudly at the right people. Half the time, the screaming just made the Tower Protectors drop boiling oil on your head.
• Products often appeared under different names depending on what marketing called them when they were released.. At one time, I had access to products called Hyperion Essbase, Essbase Standard Edition, Essbase Classic, Essbase XTD, and System 9 BI+ Analytic Services each one of which contained a version (or several) of Essbase... and those are just the sections I remember.
  
• You had to go through several unnecessary screens to get to the actual links to download product. No one ever thought to ask you all the questions (products, operating systems, and so forth) all at once, so some screens only existed to ask a single question.
  
• If you wanted to install System 9, you had to go to several different products to download the installation guides (and the installation files themselves). There was no one "master" place to download all the guides at once, so you never quite knew where to begin. This made installing System 9 something that should only be undertaken either by highly priced (but deservedly so) consultants or people with a lot of time on their hands to try to figure out the correct installation order.

On July 1, Oracle did something deliciously unexpected and killed off the Download Center. The old Download Center is still there (though older versions of many products have been pulled due to Oracle's "quality control" processes). The new and much improved location for downloading is Oracle's eDelivery site. Once you get through the "Export Validation" silliness, click on the “Hyperion Performance Management and BI” product pack to get to all the Hyperion products.

Why do I love the new site? Let me count the ways:

• Simplicity of login. No longer are the products you can download tied to your ID. Feel free to visit the link above and start downloading Hyperion products to your heart's content. You don't need to request access from any people in any towers. The only people who should theoretically have trouble are those in evil countries not allowed to download from Oracle (I'm guessing here, but presumably Iran and North Korea are on the "no download" list).
  
• Simplicity of interface. There are three basic steps for downloading all products (Export Validation, Search, and Download). Every product is also now contained under a "Media Pack" that has all relevant installation files for every product grouping. There are currently 5 Media Packs (though the one most of us want is the top one) for Windows 32-bit (my example):

1. Hyperion Performance Management and BI (9.3.x)
2. Hyperion Performance Management and BI (9.2.x)
3. Hyperion Enterprise Release (6.4.1)
4. Hyperion Business Modeling (4.0.5)
5. Hyperion Application Link (9.x)

• All installation documentation in one place. Once you get into, say "Hyperion Performance Management and BI (9.3.x)", the very first option is "Hyperion System 9 (9.3) Start Here: License File and Installation Documents". If you download this 83 Mb file, you'll see that it contains ZIPped copies of every single installation guide for every single System 9 product. Nirvana! No more highly priced (but deservedly so) consultants showing us where the install guides are hidden!
• All product documentation in one place. From the HPM & BI media pack, click on "Hyperion System 9 (9.3) Product Documentation" and you'll download all of the documentation for all System 9 products wrapped up nicely in a 150 Mb box.

Well, there you have it. Stop what you're doing and go download your a copy of Oracle Hyperion System 9.3. You can't use it legally, of course, but there's something inherently fun about being able to tell all your friends that you have your very own 8.7 Gb copy of Hyperion. One day, you can brag that you can afford a license so you can actually install it.

Dare to dream, boy. Dare to dream.

System 9: Order to Start Services

System 9 was built on a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) which seems to mean that 14+ Windows services have to be started just to open your first Hyperion application. While I understand the benefits of SOA, the whole thing strikes me as a house of cards. While card houses can be quite stable, the key is to know which cards to place first. Until recently, the only way to determine the order to start the 14+ services of Hyperion System 9 was through experience.

Oracle finally decided to publish a document that shows the order of the services. It's called:

hsys9_930x0_install_start_here.pdf

It can be found on the eDelivery site under the installation documentation for System 9.3. This document also has some interesting configuration worksheets that won't exactly make System 9 easy to install, but they will definitely make it easier than it was before.

One of the traditional problems with Hyperion is that it's complicated to install, configure, and get running. Once you get it running, it's a beautiful thing to behold, but a whole lot of companies throw up their hands in frustration before they ever get there. I sincerely hope that Oracle is going to correct and simplify the installation/configuration process and that the creation of this new Start Here guide is the first step of many in the right direction.