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Getting the Most out of EPM:
Upgrading to 11.1.2.4 and Other Technical
Considerations
June 12, 2015
Frank Zidar (fzidar@finitsolutions.com)
Dawn Mathews (dmathews@finitsolutions.com)

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Finit Overview
• Founded in 2002
• 75+ employees in 20+ states
– Mostly CPAs, MBAs
– We have extensive Hyperion product and financial reporting
backgrounds
• 80+ HFM Clients
– Managed several of the largest EPM projects in the U.S.
– Including the largest roll-out of HFM in North America
• Market Leader in ARM/FCM
• World Leader in FDM implementations and custom solutions
• 50+ Planning / Essbase Clients

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EPM Services
• Finit Answers
– Technical Support
– Functional / Admin
Support
– Access to Hyperion SMEs
– Dedicated support team
and guaranteed response
times
– Customer Service Focus
– Flexible Time and
Material support
packages
• ‘Pay as you Go’ option
• Oracle Financial Close Suite
‒ Hyperion Financial
Management
‒ Financial Close Manager
‒ Account Reconciliation
Manager
• Hyperion Planning & Essbase
• Infrastructure
• Data Services
• Project / Program
Management
• Redesign / Enhancements
• Product Upgrades
• Application enhancements /
redesign
• Performance optimization
Dedicated
Support
Upgrades
Full Cycle
Implementations

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Finit Solutions Introduction
Finit as a company:
Who we are…Why? How?

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• We make and deliver personalized financial
reporting solutions and experiences.
– By listening, questioning, and analyzing
– By building relationships
…not company to company, but person to person.
– We are Makers and Doers
WHY is Finit Here?

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We Run Finit like a Family
• Invest in our employees
• All owners actively involved in the
business
• No debt or external owners
– Prioritize the customer, not profitability
• Long term stability
– Hire employees, not subcontractors
• Compensation model based on client
satisfaction
HOW do we achieve our beliefs?

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Our values, on which we ask you to provide
consultant feedback:
Finit Values

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Our values, culture, and approach to
becoming a trusted advisor to customers
has led to 100% customer success for every
Finit client (220+) and for every Oracle
Hyperion project (400+)
Finit Customer Success

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Some Finit Customers

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Question and Answer

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About the Presenters
Dawn Mathews
(dmathews@finitsolutions.com)
• Practice Director, Finit Answers
• Eleven years Oracle EPM experience
• HFM, FDM, Hyperion Enterprise
• Project manager in multi-product
projects
• Oracle HFM 11 Certified
Implementation Specialist
• Support lead for 60+ clients

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About the Presenters
Frank Zidar
(fzidar@finitsolutions.com)
• Practice Director, Infrastructure
Services
• Nearly 25 years experience with
software and information systems
• Specializes in environment design
and sizing, performance testing and
tuning, disaster recovery

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• Common Questions and Technical Background
– Virtualization
– Exalytics and Exadata
– Disaster Recovery and High Availability
– Oracle’s Version Numbering
• Upgrade Methodologies (11.1.2.4)
Agenda

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• What is it and why are IT departments moving
to it?
– Virtualization means simulating computing
resources on a physical host server (computers,
storage, networking, etc.)
– Significant benefits to IT
• Faster server provisioning
• Consolidation of resources
• Spreading computing workload
• Easier hardware upgrades
• Disaster recovery and backup
Virtualization

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• Nearly all of our customers employing some
level of virtualization
– Most often used for non-production environments
– Many production environments have
virtual/physical mix
– Some have corporate mandates to go 100% virtual
• Will EPM work in a virtual
environment and what happens with
support?
Virtualization

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• Everything about Oracle’s stance on virtualization is
detailed in doc ID: 562663.1 on Oracle’s support site.
At a high level:
– Oracle will support but does not certify EPM in a virtualized
environment
– Only certified on Oracle VM
– Oracle may ask you to try to replicate an unknown issue in a
physical environment
• We have not encountered such a situation
• All of EPM works perfectly with virtualization
• Can be problematic for Finance team
Virtualization

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• Extra layer of software and complexity
– Shared server resources means variable
performance
– Difficult to diagnose performance issues
– Processing overhead
• You will not be able to achieve the same level of
performance as you can with physical
• Mitigation with CPU and RAM affinity might go against IT
policies
• We have encountered all of these situations at clients
Virtualization

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• Recommendations
– Essbase, database, and potentially HFM app server
are physical in production
– No concerns with Java application layer
• FDMEE, Planning, Workspace, Financial Reporting, etc.
• If virtualization is employed:
– Avoid unscheduled vMotion
– Use dedicated host for EPM related
servers
• Avoid impact of other applications
Virtualization

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• Pre-built, highly optimized servers
– Built using industry standard components (Intel)
which are fully tested, optimized and loaded
with an operating system (“plug-and-play”)
– Extremely powerful: significant RAM and CPU
• Each kind of server has separate purpose
– Exadata: designed for the single purpose of
running Oracle Database
• 6TB+ RAM
• 120+ CPU cores
• Flash storage (much faster than traditional physical disk)
• Preconfigured with Oracle 11g or 12c database
Exalytics and Exadata

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–Exalytics: general purpose server
• Up to 2TB of RAM
• 2.4TB of PCIe flash storage memory
• 60 CPU cores
– Exalytics runs an optimized version of Oracle
Enterprise Linux v5.8 or 5.10
• Operating system is installed by default but you still need
to install and configure the EPM software
– Limited use to EPM product
suite until version 11.1.2.4
• Before now Planning, Essbase, FDMEE, FR
Exalytics and Exadata

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• 11.1.2.4 has extended HFM server OS compatibility
with Linux and eliminated classic FDM
• This allows very nearly the entire EPM product suite
to run on an Exalytics machine
• Product exceptions for Exalytics support
– EPMA Dimension Server
• Provides back-end services for dimensionality, applications, and jobs
console
• Web and Data Synchronization front-end components are
supported
– DRM
– Will need separate Windows servers
Exalytics and Exadata

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• Additional benefits of Exalytics
– Essbase has special optimizations on Exalytics to MDX query
engine and parallel operations
• Take advantage of the number of CPU cores
– HFM consolidation times will be reduced because of
available RAM and number of cores
• Entire application can be loaded into memory (“In- Memory
Machine”)
• Network and database latency are dramatically reduced
– Drawbacks to keep in mind
• Pre-built Linux server - no virtualization
• Single point of failure
Exalytics and Exadata

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• Disaster recovery and high availability are very
different in terms of what they are attempting to
accomplish
• High Availability – how to maximize up time of system
– Also called fault tolerance
– Multiple machines for each EPM function clustered
together in an environment
• Other machines take over immediately in the event of a failure on
another
– Automatically handled via WebLogic and HFM application server
clusters – users automatically routed to various servers in the cluster(s)
– Allows I.T. to handle scheduled system maintenance without down time
Disaster Recovery and High
Availability

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• Additional benefits of a highly available configuration
in EPM
– Load balancing
• Multiple servers means more horsepower available
• For larger clients this is more important than HA
– Performance scaling
• If you outgrow your system, easy to add additional servers to the
cluster
• As always, this creates added complexity
– Multiple servers means it will be much more challenging to
debug sporadic issues
Disaster Recovery and High
Availability

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• Disaster Recovery
– What to do if there is a complete
disruption of service at primary
data center
• Networking or technology failure
• Natural disaster
• Fire, power outage, human error, etc.
– Reports need to be filed -- how long can the business afford
to have EPM offline?
• Speed of recovery will determine how best to approach DR
• Discuss SLA with I.T.
• Design and implement prior to go-live
Disaster Recovery and High
Availability

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• Approaches
– “Hot site”
• Completely separate installation of EPM that is always up and
running in a separate data center
• Different URLs and separate databases
• Data kept in sync via LCM, RDBMS backups, HFM CopyApp process
• Refreshed nightly or potentially more frequently
– This can be a significant drawback
• Benefit of a nearly instant failover
• Can also be used as a DEV/QA system to overcome waste of
resources for a system that is *hopefully* never used
Disaster Recovery and High
Availability

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• Approaches
– “Cold site”
• Separate EPM installation that is completely offline
– This allows IT to perform operations that are not possible with a
live system
• Best configuration has databases replicated between
data centers
– Almost up to the minute data/information
• FDM data replicated
• LCM extracts taken nightly for Financial Reports, user
provisioning and stored in the DR data center
• Will take time to get system back online
Disaster Recovery and High
Availability

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• Approaches
– “Cold site” (with virtualization)
• Virtualization systems have some kind of DR mechanism
built in to replicate entire active virtual machines to
other facilities
• In the event of a disaster, full and complete replications
of the existing PROD systems can be booted up in DR
data center
Disaster Recovery and High
Availability

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• Whatever method is chosen, you must
document and test!
– Solid, simple, and repeatable process
– Must simulate an actual outage to know for sure
Disaster Recovery and High
Availability

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• Very different from traditional software versioning
• Broken into 2 major parts
• Oracle keeps major platform and maintenance release
consistent across many products
– Tied to Oracle DB, WebLogic
– Core of the system
• Fusion Middleware
– Application support stack
– SOA
– ADF (dev. framework)
– Java
– Developer tools
Oracle’s Version Numbering

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• For EPM, only the last 2 digits are truly important
– Going from version 11.1.2.3 to 11.1.2.3.500 is a patch (ex. PSU500)
• Patches are done in place on existing environments – sometimes system wide, other
times just very specific products
– Going from version 11.1.2.3 to 11.1.2.4 is an upgrade
• Upgrades generally require a full system rebuild with new servers, application
upgrades/migrations, data reconciliations, UAT, etc.
• wef
Oracle’s Version Numbering
• HFM 11.1.2.1 --> .2 was a
complete rebuild of the web
front end (look and feel
changed)
• HFM 11.1.2.3 --> .4 was a
complete rebuild of the HFM
consolidation engine
• Also FDM to FDMEE

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• Reasons you may want to upgrade:
– Oracle Premier Support
• 11.1.2.x versions on Premier Support until April 2018
• Extended support until April 2021
– Additional third party software support
• Windows 8
• IE11
• Office 2013
– Platform independence, including Exalytics
– New modules desired, such as SDM
– Substantial application enhancements desired
To Upgrade, or Not to Upgrade:
That is the Question

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• Reasons you may not want to upgrade:
– Loss of older third party software support
• Windows XP (11.1.2.3.500+)
• Office 2003 (11.1.2.3+)
– User interface changes
– Insufficient resources to:
• Re-shell HFM application
• Convert FDM scripts to FDMEE
• Reconcile data
• Train users
– Deprecated utilities disrupt current process
To Upgrade, or Not to Upgrade:
That is the Question

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• Once your organization has decided to move forward
with an upgrade, how you go about doing it needs to
be determined
• Two methods: In place (existing servers) vs. out of
place (new servers)
– In place upgrade is also known as a “maintenance release”
– Oracle promotes maintenance releases as the preferred and
tested method to upgrade EPM systems
– Because of this, over time Oracle has been reducing the
supported paths and options available during the upgrade
process…
Upgrading EPM

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• Older versions of the EPM Configurator utility
had options to upgrade databases
• Version 11.1.2.2
• Version 11.1.2.3
• Version 11.1.2.4
Upgrading EPM

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• How do you get a system to version 11.1.2.4?
– 11.1.2.x
• Apply 11.1.2.4 maintenance release
– 11.1.1.4.x
• Upgrade to release 11.1.2.3
• Apply 11.1.2.4 maintenance release
– 11.1.1.0.x to 11.1.1.3.x
• Apply 11.1.1.4 maintenance release
• Upgrade to release 11.1.2.3
• Apply 11.1.2.4 maintenance release
• Not everyone agrees with this approach
Upgrading EPM

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• In place upgrades do not allow you to make
other system-wide changes:
– No server operating system updates
• On July 14th, 2015 Windows 2003 will have all support
end – this includes mainstream and extended support
– I.T. departments are forced to move forward with a new
platform or face security risks
• On January 13th, 2015 Windows 2008 saw mainstream
support expire
– Only security updates until January 14th, 2020
• Version 11.1.2.4 enabled Windows 2012 support so
upgrading the OS and EPM together makes sense
Upgrading EPM

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• When you perform an in place upgrade, you
lose the ability to upgrade hardware
– Performance issues are generally not solved by
upgrading your software
– This is not as important with virtualized
configurations
• You will not be able to restructure your
environment
– Unable to solve performance issues
– Looking to add a new product (FCM, Planning, etc.)
Upgrading EPM

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• Oracle is not good at cleaning up after itself
– Old applications and data are left behind
• Upgrading to 11.1.2.4 will leave FDM classic intact!
• Shared Services database often has incorrect data remaining that
can cause issues down the road
• Running an in place upgrade on production means
bringing down the environment for an extended
period of time
– Risky
– No opportunity to do proper UAT and data reconciliation
• Version 11.1.2.4 had consolidation engine rebuilt to
support Linux – you will want to tie out your data
Upgrading EPM

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• For all of these reasons, we almost always see
out of place upgrades
• Prior to version 11.1.2.4 the process was:
– Step 1: Build new system
– Step 2: Migrate applications and data
• HFM Copy App utility
• Database backup and restore
– Step 3: Upgrade the databases to the latest version
• HFM and FDM schema update utilities
Upgrading EPM

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• With version 11.1.2.4 the *ONLY* truly supported
method is the maintenance release
– CopyApp and Schema Update are removed
• What does this mean?
– Out of place upgrades will require a manual re-shell of
applications
– In place upgrades will be the only option for those who
want to copy entire applications as-is
– There are pros and cons for both an in place and out of
place upgrade of HFM
Upgrading EPM

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• Updates application using maintenance release
– All application elements copied over
• Including data, calculation status, Process Control history, original
timestamps for documents and journals
• Data reconciliation effort *should be* less time-
consuming than re-shell option
• Requires a “double install”
• In order to not see remnants of previous versions, the
environment used for the upgrade will need to be
copied to a fresh environment
– Environment where upgrade occurred would be a “throw
away”
Upgrade In-Place

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• Provides opportunity to perform application
enhancements
– General application ‘clean up’
– Use of additional or new functionality
• Does not retain audit trail
• Process Management will be at Not Started
• Consolidations will be required
– After reloading data, rules and other artifacts
Application Re-shell

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HFM Re-shell Requirements
HFM
Upgrade
Maintenance
Metadata
Security
Rules
Artifact
Migration
Data &
Data
Recon
FDM
Reports
Smart
View
Models
• Metadata
• Security
• Rules
• Artifacts – Data Forms, Grids,
IC Reports
• Data extract / re-load
• Consolidations
• Data Reconciliation
• Import of Reports
• Smart View model updates

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Noteworthy Finit Solutions EPM 11.1.2.4 Webinars
– Introduction to Oracle Hyperion Planning - New Features in
11.1.2.4
– Hyperion Financial Management - Deep Dive into 11.1.2.4
– Introduction to FDMEE - New Features in 11.1.2.4
Getting the Most out of EPM

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Questions?
Email us for a
copy of the slides or
link to the recording.
Thank you for attending!
- > Frank Zidar
(fzidar@finitsolutions.com)
- > Dawn Mathews
(dmathews@finitsolutions.com)
- > Insights@finitsolutions.com
- > General Questions
 Greg Barrett
(gbarrett@finitsolutions.com)
 Joe Mizerk
(jmizerk@finitsolutions.com)