With regard to Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (EPBCS), topics such as master data, data management, security, and workflow are key areas of interest to administrators.
Master Data
EPBCS provides no less than four methods for administrators to add, modify, and delete master data (dimension members, attributes, hierarchies) in the applications.
- From a web browser, administrators can build dimensions manually in the Manage > Dimensions screen.
- For mass updates, a comma-delimited or tab delimited file can be loaded using the Import button.
- From Excel, the Planning Administrator extension for Smart View allows administrators to modify master data in the dimensions in a “write back” fashion. After updating the master data, the administrator must perform an application refresh to commit the changes.
- EPM Automate is a client application to perform remote administrative tasks against the EPBCS instance. The importmetadata and refresh data commands can be used to automate the load and refresh of master data.
Data Management
Included in EPBCS is a data transformation and data quality tool called Data Management. Under the hood, it is a scaled-down but very capable edition of Financial Data Quality Management Enterprise Edition (FDMEE).
Data Management is critical to the data governance capabilities of the platform. Data Management can read, map, and transform a delimited-file or Fusion ERP Cloud source. Validations can be built into the load process, including intersection validation and data completeness/data quality. Administrators can configure the load to be a fully automated, “lights out” process or require operating company controllers to load and certify their results as part of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and reporting.
Note: At the time of this writing, Data Management can’t access on-premises Hyperion applications directly. Currently, EPM Automate must be called programmatically to transfer data files in/out of the cloud instance. For direct on-premises to cloud transfer, it’s recommended to use the on-premises edition of FDMEE.
Certainly, this limitation could change in the near future. Future releases of the EPM cloud will make integration across clouds (Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud Service and Account Reconciliation Cloud Service, etc.) more seamless as well. There are plans in the Oracle roadmap to allow mashups of clusters and cards in the simplified interface, such that users are unaware they are even crossing clouds.
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Security
Users are granted access to the EPBCS instances by primary service administrators. User accounts can be “native” to the instance or integrated with an LDAP or Microsoft Active Directory repository with SAML authentication enabled.
Data access privileges are set at the granular level, allowing highly sensitive information to be stored. Regardless of access method (web browser or Excel) the data will conform to read/write/no access privileges set at the group or user level. Forms, task lists, comments, and attachments can be secured as well providing another layer of security.
A common challenge with Excel-based planning and forecasting is the lack of change data capture. Typically, late changes to the plan are discovered just before an important presentation, and knowing how/when/why data changed is often impossible. EPBCS includes a Change History feature at the data cell level showing user, timestamp, and prior value.
Workflow
Navigation though the web user interface is controlled using “clusters” and “cards.” Similar to the user interfaces of iOS and Android, you think of them as collections of apps. Clusters are typically arranged by function or business segment and secured accordingly.
Navigation within Smart View Excel is similar to Hyperion Planning. The Smart View panel for a planner/reviewer is generally restricted to task lists that provide a guided flow through the budget and forecast cycles.
EPBCS builds on Hyperion Planning’s familiar workflow features which include default approval paths, intelligent approval routing, input form validations, email notifications, and out of office delegations. Administrators can have tight control over version copies or include this as a step in the user workflow.
Collectively, these tools give administrators the ability design intelligent navigation by scenario and version and have fine-grained control over iterations of the plan/ forecast.
