Oracle EPM updates for March 2025 are here. Nothing specific to Planning, but there is some good stuff. And lots of updates for Enterprise Data Management if that’s your thing. Updates will go to test environments March 7th and prod environments March 21st. Here are the items I found noteworthy.
Secure HTTPS Protocol Required for New Connections
This is interesting, new connections now require secure HTTPS protocol. Existing connections can continue using HTTP, but trying to import non-secure HTTP using migration will fail.
Only Port 443 Allowed for External Web Services Connections
Related to the use of HTTPS, connections to external web services have to use either 443 or no port specified. Both this and using HTTPS improves security.
Visible Cards Limit on the Home Page Increased to 20
I’ve never hit the current limit of 16 visible items on the home page, but it’s being increased to 20.
Pipeline Runtime Variables Now Included on Email Notification
Another improvement to Pipeline. Instead of having to view the variables in the Pipeline program to know what was used, the completion email generated will include the variable name and value.
New Extract Dimension Viewpoint (EDMCS) and Extract Package (EDMCS) Pipeline Job Types
I usually don’t say much about EDM, but since it’s related to Pipeline, I find it interesting. New Pipeline job types Extract Dimension Viewpoint and Extract Package are available. These can be included as part of the Pipeline to synchronize dimension metadata and member mappings to other EPM business processes.
Support for Time Period Spreading and Grid Spreading in Flex Forms (Mac)
Smart View for Mac continues to get better. It will now support spreading of data for time periods and grid spreading in flex forms. This had been restricted to regular forms.
Support for Grid Spreading in Flex Forms (Google Workspace)
Not to be outshined by Mac features, Smart View for Google Workspace will also support grid spread in flex forms. I still haven’t had the opportunity to test Smart View in Google Workspace, I really need to do that.
New Cards on the Home Page for Reports
The Reports card tabs (Reports, Financial Reports, and Documents) now display as individual cards on the Home page. This had been one Report card that consisted of three tabs. This could impact custom navigation flows, be sure to read the documentation if this change applies.
New ‘Clear Shared Members’ Option when Loading the Metadata Import File
This new option deletes only the shared members not explicitly specified in the load file. Oracle is recommending this import option when importing files from EDM because it allows existing members to be moved to different parents instead of creating new shared members. I’m not sure why they are specifying EDM imports, wouldn’t this be true for any metadata import file?
Using the Zoom Summary Type in Reports GenAI
Causality for Exceptions describes the top 3 contributing children for the specified analytic dimension. Additional parameters will be available to improve the GenAI narrative output.
- Top/Bottom number: Defines how many contributors are returned.
- Auto Text Summary Zoom Type: Select if RELATIVEGENERATION or LEVEL is used to return the contributors.
- Auto Text Summary Level/Generation: Defines the RELATIVEGENERATION or LEVEL number that is used to return the contributors.
Shared Variable Lists in Narrative Reporting
Shared Variable Lists will provide a centralized storage place for static variables used in multiple report packages. This should make maintenance of variables easier.
Updated Narrative Reporting Extension for Smart View
An updated Smart View extension for NR will be available. I recommend updating extensions when they become available to be able to take advantage of new features and bug fixes.
Financial Reports Deprecation
In the Important Actions and Considerations section, de-support of Financial Reports has been finalized for June 2025. Read the full details at Announcing Updated Guidance on Cloud EPM Financial Reports Deprecation. If you have not already migrated FR to Reports, you should do so before June.
There are other updates that may be of interest to you, check out the full document and be prepared when environments are updated.
As always, happy EPM’ng!
Random EPM Notes 