Hyperion EPM Week In Review: October 25, 2016

So now I’m extremely late…  On the bright side, there is a ton of great content, including several Hyperion Patches!
Hyperion EPM Week In Review

Hyperion EPM Patches and Updates:

Hyperion Essbase 11.1.2.4.013 has been released.  This patch includes almost all products (Server, RTC, Client, MSI, EAS Server, EAS Console, and APS).  The notable exception is Essbase Studio.

Hyperion Smart View for Office 11.1.2.5.610 has been released.  This patch has some pretty cool features.  The most notable that I’ve seen fixes a giant issue with Smart View.  They have added a VBA function that will allow you to submit a range of cells without doing a refresh.  This means that you can now send out your templates, get back numbers, and not have it blow them away!

HFM 11.1.2.4.203 has been released.  This has a variety of defect fixes, including a sizable number related to performance.

The OBIEE 16108 patch is now available.  This crosses three version: 11.1.1.9.16101812.2.1.0.161018, and 12.2.1.1.161018.  These of course continue the long-running pattern of the longest patch names imaginable.

Hyperion EPM Blog Posts:

Sibin is still staying busy with two posts since our last update.  First he takes a look at Essbase password encryption.  In his next post he sticks with that same theme, this time he looks into how secure the encryption really is.

Cameron also has a pair of posts.  He starts off covering the new Activity Reports feature in PBCS.  That’s the happy topic…then the sad topic:  License Compliance.

Everyone has two posts, including Gary!  He first tells us that the new Smart View has been released.  He then goes on to release his own updated SV++ Utility!  This includes a variety of new features, the most exciting of which are Shortcuts!

Keeping with our theme of two posts, the DEVEPM crew has a pair (of posts).  First they tell us about OTN Appreciation Day…which I totally missed.  They also have a webinar coming up in December.

Opal has a pair of posts as well.  She also has an OTN Appreciation Day post.  Hers features EPRCS.  She goes on to talk about your default interface in PBCS in her second post.

Eric is our first blogger with only one post.  He has an OTN Appreciation Day post about the Log Analysis Tool.

Luckily, Jason had three posts to even it out.  He shows off a new feature in the Next Generation Outline Extractor.  Jason also has a post caused by me pestering him for help related to getting data out of Essbase.  He then took that post and extended it into Drillbridge.  Cool stuff.

Dmitry has some really cool stuff on using Essbase with Oracle Data Miner and Oracle R.  First he gets things set up with ODM and ORE.  Next he runs clustering models in ODM.  Finally, he uses those clustering models as data sources for regressions.  This is really cool stuff too.

John Goodwin has parts three and four of his EPM and ORDS series.

Vijay has a post on a simple DRM error.  He runs through how to unlock properties to prevent error messages around security.

Patrick has a post on using the backslash escape character in Essbase dim builds to retain quotes.


Hyperion EPM Week In Review: August 29, 2016

HyperionEPMWeekInReviewMonday!  I got this done for Monday!

Hyperion EPM Patches and Updates:

No on-prem updates this week…but we have updates for the cloud!

First up, PBCS and EPBCS has a pretty good list of updates.  The activity report is at the top of the list.  This will show your users, how long their requests are taking, and general usage information.  There are a bunch of other updates, but I’ll let you check out the PDF here.  I will note that Workspace is dead…long live the simplified interface.  Unless of course you are developing, in which case I recommend picking up a torch and pitchfork and going after Oracle due to the insane number of additional clicks required…

Next up, FCCS has some of the same updates, like the new activity report.  I’m specifically interested in the new Sample Application.  More on that later.

Both patches will be applied starting this Friday, September 2, 2016.  Production patches will start hitting Friday, September 16, 2016.

Hyperion EPM Blog Posts:

Celvin shows us how to tell which version of Smart View was installed.  Oracle forces us to the registry of all places to make this determination.

Keith tells us all about his transition from EPMA and to Classic Hyperion Planning.  I imagine we’ll be seeing more and more of this as things move forward.

Jason has released an update to his Camshaft tool for executing MDX queries against Essbase.

Cameron has a recap of the South Florida EPM meetup from the 18th of August.  We’ll be having another meetup here in the DFW area pretty soon (more on this later).

Opal gives us a recap of her first onsite visit to the Kscope17 venue.  Like Opal, I’m very existing to have Kscope back in Texas for 2017.  Can’t wait to see everyone again!

Harry takes a break from cubeSavvy and turns his attention to Power Query.  This is a Microsoft product built into the new version of Excel.  Interesting read.

Sibin has a pair of posts this week.  First he covers the the Planning meta-data extract format.  Specifically he is looking at a better way of parsing the CSV generated.  Next he takes a look at the REST API for On-Prem Planning.  Jake covers this topic for PBCS users here.

ODTUG GeekAThon

Another quick shout out for the ODTUG GeekAThon.  For those of us real geeks out there, they have a competition worthy of the maker community.  You can find the announcement here.  You can find the competition website here.  And a quick re-cap:

GeekAThon Announcement

GeekAThon Competition Website

A few important dates for those of you interested:

You must register by August 15, 2016, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

You must submit your video entry by September 23, 2016, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

You must submit your solution document by September 23, 2016, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

And for those of you who need a visual to assist in your procrastination, the red are the days past as of this post.  The green is the day you should be ready for, but will likely need to work right up until 11:59 to meet. 😉

Calendar2016080129

Calendar2016080109

Now go build something awesome!


Hyperion EPM Week In Review: August 24, 2016

HyperionEPMWeekInReviewSo…it’s technically Wednesday.  Next week I’m totally shooting for Monday!

Hyperion EPM Patches and Updates:

No updates…

Hyperion EPM Blog Posts:

 

Tim has an extremely technical (and awesome) post on maintaining aggregate views after adding a dimension to an ASO cube.  This is great for those of you adding a dimension and ties in nicely with his last post.

Jason has a pair of posts this week.  His first novel post is about Dodeca’s dynamic grouping functionality with relational data.  And while he is on the topic of relational data, he has another post about his Virtual Essbase JDBC driver (Vess) and Dodeca for the purpose of subvar management.  Lot’s of great content.

Tim has a great post on using some of the often overlooked functionality of MDX.  He focuses on dimension properties and the PROPERTY_EXPR function.

Harry has a new version of his cubeSavvy tool…in Russian.  His post is also in Russian.  I had to translate the post to make sure it was what I was expecting…

Sibin has a pair of posts this week as well.  First he shows us how to install ODI 12c in standalone mode.  Then he covers a migration problem with LCM in PBCS related to FDMEE.  This is related to source systems not being created.

Kyle has a great set of slides about PBCS.  These are really cool info-graphics that I plan on stealing borrowing for my own use. 😉  Remember…Kyle is awesome, so always give him credit for his amazing contributions to the EPM Community.

Ricardo has his first part in a series on some of the new features in ODI 12c.  He’ starting off with Dimension and Cubes.

Summer has a great post on deleting orphaned users from the Planning Repository.  I’m actually working on an in-depth article on the topic of how security is stored in the Planning Repository, but her use is probably more widely useful than mine.

Opal, not to be outdone, also has a pair of posts this week.  First she covers her journey of going from the “check-in” to a “carry-on” bag.  I now know far too much about her toiletries…but otherwise a cool non-EPM topic.  She also has the final post in the year-long ODTUG Member Series.  So go find out about Jayson and his drones.

Cameron has the second part of his series on Dynamic Load Rules in Essbase.  And Glenn, we can never have too much content out there…even on Dynamic Load Rules.

Celvin has an update to his NUMSysCMDLauncher utility that adds some great functions around user security.  Clearly I need to get to know Celvin more so I can get him to add cool functions to his already cool tools for me.  Perhaps I can have him add a -ForBrian?  Just a thought Celvin!

John has a post for those of you running Essbase 12c.  Don’t stop reading yet!  This will eventually apply to 11.1.2.4, Oracle is just a little…behind on adding that into Provider Services.  The functionality in question?  Smart View and Runtime Subvars with Calc Scripts.

Jake has Groovy new post on using the REST API’s in PBCS with LCM.  As we have come to expect from a Jake, a very thorough and detailed post with a ton of great ready-to-steal content.  My question is…do I really need EPM Automate if I have mastered the REST API’s?  Also…I wonder if the REST API could let us clear ASO regions?  So many fun and interesting questions…so little time.  Oh, and don’t miss Jake at Oracle Open World this year!  He will be in the Moscone South, Room 303 on Sunday, September 18th at 1PM.  His presentation will cover Hybrid Essbase.  Chances are, after you attend you will be an expert.

Gary tells us how to disable annoying upgrade messages in Smart View when connecting to HFM 11.1.2.4.  Note that this only applies to HFM, not Planning, Essbase, or any other Smart View connectable product.

ODTUG GeekAThon

Another quick shout out for the ODTUG GeekAThon.  For those of us real geeks out there, they have a competition worthy of the maker community.  You can find the announcement here.  You can find the competition website here.  And a quick re-cap:

GeekAThon Announcement

GeekAThon Competition Website

A few important dates for those of you interested:

You must register by August 15, 2016, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

You must submit your video entry by September 23, 2016, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

You must submit your solution document by September 23, 2016, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

And for those of you who need a visual to assist in your procrastination, the red are the days past as of this post.  The green is the day you should be ready for, but will likely need to work right up until 11:59 to meet. 😉

Calendar2016080124

 

Calendar2016080109

Now go build something awesome!


NTxHUG Meeting This Friday, August 12, 2016

NTxHUGThe North Texas Hyperion User Group (NTxHUG) has a quarterly meeting this Friday, August 12, 2016 at 4:00 PM in Grapevine.  With Kscope16 having just wrapped up, they have opted to just go with a social hour for this quarter.  You can join everyone here:


Build Something Awesome: ODTUG GeekAThon

I included the content of this post in my Week In Review, but I think it deserves a separate post altogether.  ODTUG GeekAThon is the first contest of this type that ODTUG has conducted, so let’s make it a success.  This way we get more contests, more awesome ideas, and more prizes.

So what’s this contest about?  I don’t want to re-cap the entire GeekAThon website, but essentially they want you to build something out of the Beacon that you received at Kscope16.  Using the Bluetooth Low Energy technology of the Beacon…solve a problem.  Then show us how to do the same things.  Go check out the site to find out more:

GeekAThon Announcement

GeekAThon Competition Website

A few important dates for those of you interested:

You must register by August 15, 2016, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

You must submit your video entry by September 23, 2016, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

You must submit your solution document by September 23, 2016, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

And for those of you who need a visual to assist in your procrastination, the red are the days past as of this post.  The green is the day you should be ready for, but will likely need to work right up until 11:59 to meet. 😉

Calendar2016080108

Calendar2016080109

Now go build something awesome!


Hyperion EPM Week In Review: August 8, 2016

HyperionEPMWeekInReviewIt was another light week in the Hyperion EPM blog community.  Oracle however, did not help out with any new product releases.

Hyperion EPM Patches and Updates:

None…

Hyperion EPM Blog Posts:

I posted about converting your applications to Hybrid Essbase this week.

Vijay tells us about a error in the Oracle documentation for DRM.  I’m certain you are all surprised that any of the Oracle docs could have mistakes.  No?  I guess I’m not either.

Celvin shows us where Oracle hid the Migration button for environments where no application has yet been created.  He also has a great post on making LCM content readable.  Given the movement to the cloud and lack of accessibility to the repository in the future…this is great content.  And it should work on-prem as well…if you were no inclined.

Sibin tells us about the Essbase application log parser he is working on.  He then tells us that it is actually available on GitHub.  Go break it for him!

John has a great post on cloud to cloud data movement.  This has a massive amount of potential as clients start to have FCCS and multiple instances of PBCS.

Jason continues his blog series on Dodeca.  This time he shows us how to use SQL and Essbase in a single view.

Cameron has a great post on dynamic load rule columns in Essbase load rules.  Looks like more to come soon as well.

Tim has a message to all of you OTDUG community members.  Read it…and decide what you want to do.  Will you be the next members of the board?  Will you apply for the leadership program?

ODTUG GeekAThon

Another quick shout out for the ODTUG GeekAThon.  For those of us real geeks out there, they have a competition worthy of the maker community.  You can find the announcement here.  You can find the competition website here.  And a quick re-cap:

GeekAThon Announcement

GeekAThon Competition Website

A few important dates for those of you interested:

You must register by August 15, 2016, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

You must submit your video entry by September 23, 2016, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

You must submit your solution document by September 23, 2016, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

And for those of you who need a visual to assist in your procrastination, the red are the days past as of this post.  The green is the day you should be ready for, but will likely need to work right up until 11:59 to meet. 😉

Calendar2016080108

Calendar2016080109

Now go build something awesome!


The EPM Week In Review: Week Ending May 7, 2016

Welcome to a very late edition of the EPM Week in Review.  Plenty of great stuff this week…sorry for the delay!

Patches and Updates:

FR 11.1.2.4.701 has been released!  It brings with it features from the cloud like the Web Reporting Studio and charts that don’t look like they came from Lotus 1-2-3.  I’m excited to get this one installed next week

HFM 11.1.2.4.201 has been released.  While not as exciting as the FR patch, it does fix a lot of bugs and the security issues…if you follow the instructions very, very carefully.

Neither of these updates has made it to the Proactive Support blog.  This is why everyone in our space should have a Twitter account.

New Blog Posts:

This week I posted about Drill-Through in PBCS and Hyperion Planning Without FDMEE.

Gary covers the topic of limiting users in Smart View.  He covers the different products and their own governors beyond just the APS governors for Smart View.

Amit gives us his summary of the upcoming June PBCS update.  This monster of an update looks like it removes many of the final technical challenges associated with going to the cloud.

Opal also has a write-up on the new PBCS update.  Is it June yet?

Harry has updated his cubeSavvy beta release.  He has included double-click drilling and the ability to cut people off (license file!).  And another piece of software I haven’t had a chance to install yet.  I need more hours in my day.

Query limits are popular this week.  Tim has not one, but two blog posts on this topic as it relates specifically to Essbase.  His second post is more of a follow-up set of questions to himself.

Keith tells us about working with temporary folders in ODI.

DEVEPM has a 2 minute video giving us a sneak peek at their upcoming Kscope presentation ODI and the EPM stack.

Henri shows off the new FR Web Studio…On-Prem!  Many of us have used this new tool on the cloud, but it is great to see the cloud functionality trickle down to on-prem.

Christian shows us a shortcut to importing financial reports in bulk.  I’ll be trying this out on my next big FR move.

Cameron has a pair of posts as he rounds out his series on PBCS.  First he covers data loads and then he covers calculations.  Good stuff as always.

Other News:

ODTUG has a new award.  The ODTUG Innovation Award.  Good luck to all you innovators out there!

There is a North Texas EPM Lunch schedule for Friday, May 16, 2016 at Seasons 52 in Plano.  We’ll be there from 11AM to 1PM.  Be sure to RSVP if you can make it out:

http://www.meetup.com/Dallas-Oracle-EPM-Professionals-Lunch/events/230687374/

 


North Texas EPM Lunch

It’s time again to get everyone together for a lunch.  We’ll shoot for a Friday in May from 11AM to 1PM.  We generally try to stay near the Addison area to keep it somewhat central.  I’m personally partial to Friday the 13th.  Let me know now if you have a specific conflict *(outside of the NtxHUG).  Go join the Meet Up group to get the invite when we finalize details:

http://www.meetup.com/Dallas-Oracle-EPM-Professionals-Lunch/

 


Officially an Oracle ACE Associate

This just came for me in the mail:

20160302_142832

I now have a pin, a sleeveless fleece sweater, and a shout-out on the Oracle ACE twitter account…I must be a real ACE Associate!

Now how do I get one of those fancy ACE or ACE Director sweaters?


New Quick Links Page

I decided to add a new Quick Links page to the site.  Like many of you, I go from version to version and environment to environment a lot.  This page includes links to all of the active documentation libraries on the Oracle site.  This page also includes the links to the various harder-to-find products like the EAS web console and the Financial Reports mobile site.  You can find it here:

Quick Links

And a preview:

Full DocsEssbase Tech RefEssbase DBAGPlanning Admin GuideHFM Admin GuideFDMEE
11.1.2.4





11.1.2.3





11.1.2.2




11.1.2.1
11.1.1.4



9.3.x

9.2.1


I’d love to expand this page to include other useful information, so feel free to speak up and let me know what I’m missing!  I actually already used this page tonight…twice before getting it fully posted.