tested with file V44215-01
5/24/2015
The README for Patch 17529887: (Release 11.1.2.3.500 Patch Set Update (PSU): 17529887)  indicates you can apply to 11.1.2.3.0 and that there are no prerequisites beyond the usual Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package.

This is not exactly the case, as various Windows OS prerequisites impact whether the patch is applied successfully.

As others have noted, the ADF patches often do not truly apply. I have applied the superpatch on nearly a dozen systems without having any issues so was surprised to finally see the ADF patch deployment failure today.

A new interesting quirk came up as well, when installing the patch with local accounts on a multi-node system. The Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host will fail to process vbscripts like:

D:\software\17529887\custom\scripts\create_version_history.vbs(32, 1) Microsoft VBScript runtime error: Path not found

The intrepid Windows administrators had not set up Windows with cohesive Region and Language settings.

steps

Rollback the patch

D:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\OPatch\opatch rollback -id 17529887 -oh D:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1 -jre D:\Oracle\Middleware\jrockit_160_37

Check that Region and Language settings match the System Locale. This was corrected by changing the Region and Language setting from “English (United Kingdom)” to “English (United States)“.

Reapply the patch.

Verify after restart that the expected versions are picked up and showing in Workspace > About.

description

None

external links

None at this time

RT @hyperionepminfo: Get the latest EPM documentation updated February 2013, oracle.com/technetwork/mi….

— Oracle Analytics (@OracleAnalytics) February 18, 2013

This post is part one of a primer on epm analysis.

Interpreting Financials

First, EPM systems are a window on reality; They are a perspective on reality, not reality itself. Having a window allows one to study linkages between operations and finance. Assessing financial opportunity is to predict and direct financial consequences for the enterprise by analyzing what is. The methodology is a window for finding opportunity.

Second, EPM systems typically provide the three elements of financial management: cash flow statement, income statement, and balance sheet. EPM systems facilitate analysis by quantifying relationships among production, inventory, sales, receivables, collection, cash, taxes, interest, dividends, investment, assets, depreciation, liabilities and equity–sometimes called cash flow. EPM opportunity assessments sometimes look at this version of cash flow within the production cycle.  The operating or production cycle of company is a process or cycle of generating cash flows via operations and working capital. All the sources and uses of cash are but one aspect of the financial statements.  Typical EPM systems provide the other two key elements of management, a balance sheet and an income statement.

Third, EPM systems provide access to a variety of measures beyond traditional GAAP perspectives of solvency, profit, return on equity and the host of accounting principles. EPM systems in conjunction with domain experts generate key performance indicators useful for the identification of financial opportunity across domains (e.g., Sales, Marketing) or for special interest areas (e.g., R&D).

Evaluating Performance

The rationale for building EPM systems is not that one can (and does) produce with extreme accuracy magnificent software systems that provide windows at any level of granularity into the accounting and finance of the business. The practitioner of EPM often begins with extreme focus on accounting and finance components for evaluating the health of a company (its financial statements), then extends this rationale by leveraging  experience and insight for EPM systems that evaluate other domains within the company.   The practical benefits of building an official system of record for executive management goes well beyond the scorecard and a few key performance ideas, but the return on investment is likely possible even if limited to evaluating performance in one domain (e.g., finance). The exponential value of an EPM system occurs as the EPM domain is applied to evaluating performance across the enterprise.

This post is part one of a primer on epm analysis. In the third installment of this series we will further consider financial planning as an extension of interpreting financials.

1. Overview
2. Requirements
1. ESXi Server
2. DNS Server
3. AD (PDC) Server
3. Database
4. Network
5. EPM System Software
6. Scaling Out
7. Clients
8. Financial Reporting
9. Introduction to ETL

In expending capital for the purpose of performance management, create an electronic  representation of enterprise activity that may be useful for decisive action. Such mimetic expenditures are rarely purely the expression of genius; The knowledge or skill gained through involvement, participation or exposure to enterprise performance management is a lever for generating a sufficiency of return upon the expended capital. Simply, use a proven thought process to produce success in action.

A Methodology

The thought process of EPM is not exclusively of finance, operations or information technology. Each generates some degree of valence that should be factored into corporate EPM strategy.

Adopting A Framework For EPM Success

A value of partnering with an Oracle is the accretion of leading practices for the creation of enterprise value, in excess of costs of implementation. After the jump, a summary of The Path To EPM Success, An Oracle White Paper designed to stimulate thought process towards creating long-term success in EPM centers.

EPM

• Objectives: Define objectives that align with individual business units, development teams, the overall enterprise.
• Strategy: Present a coherent strategy for the design of EPM within the organization.
• Services: Define the services and deliverables the center will provide, recognizing that the list will change over time as the center matures and funding either goes up or down.
• Communication plan: Develop a communication plan that informs the rest of the organization of the center’s services, as well as the successes it achieves over time.
• Staff: Develop a staff capable of delivering services to its internal customers. The plan may include hiring and training internal staff and/or procuring outside consulting services.
• Metrics: Identify metrics to monitor the ongoing performance of the center.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Establish a clear charter.
• Establish requirements for EPM projects and initiatives that meet the needs of users and the organization.
• Train users on EPM tools, including how to access and leverage the data provided by the EPM system.
• Provide analytical expertise by performing complex, ad hoc analysis for business units.
• Ensure uniformity of analytical approaches used to address common business issues across the enterprise.
• Coordinate the definition of master data and metadata in the enterprise, including the definition of common business terms.
• Establish standards for EPM tools used throughout the enterprise.
• Develop prototypes of EPM applications as proofs of concepts.

Scope Of Governance

1. Corporate applications (strict, centralized control)
2. Cross-LOB applications (based on reuse and common methodology, for shared performance objectives across lines of business)
3. Departmental applications (consulting provided with reuse and common methodology, yet designed to the specific requirements of the sponsor)
4. Special-purpose applications (targeted to super-users and special projects in an entrepreneurial, ungoverned manner with an intent to to learn which technologies and best practices can be adopted and deployed on a broader scale)

EPM Specific Tasks

Self-service:

Many of the center’s tasks will help guide users toward self-service performance management. It might offer training on tools for querying, reporting, and analysis, as well as how to interpret data and how to reuse reports and systems. For example:
• Report writing assistance
• On-the-job training for business unit “power users”
• Promoting the reuse of applications, rules, and reports

Analysis:

The EPM Center of Excellence can design dashboards and scorecards and offer assistance for writing rules and reports. The center might also develop analytic frameworks and perform ad hoc analysis for users until they learn to do these tasks themselves. Example tasks:
• Dashboard and scorecard creation
• Rule writing
• Performing ad hoc analysis

EPM custodian:

As the company’s EPM custodian, the center oversees EPM vision, design, and application development, as well as promotes a common business language and master data list. Example tasks:
• EPM vision management
• EPM design ownership
• Data and metadata mapping
• Master data management support
• Financial data quality management
• Analytic frameworks, including profitability analysis, customer churn analysis, cross-sell and up-sell analysis, and visualization technique
• Promoting a common business language, including definition of terms; for example, customer, full-time equivalent (FTE)

Technology management:

The IT experts in the EPM Center of Excellence oversee the various tools and technologies and optimize the use of the technology:
• Planning application development, updates and changes, including:
• Corporate security (for example, LDAP) integration
• Performance tuning and optimization

EPM Location and Ownership

Management teams generally start an EPM center headed by Operations, IT or Finance. Given the global governance of Finance, it is often the best choice to initiate an EPM center. Regardless of location, if the executive in charge drives for supporting all business domains, an EPM center  will succeed, especially if it is given ownership of all EPM initiatives in the company. After successful build-out, moving the EPM center into a shared corporate services organization with its own executive and a mandate to support standards and practices for all functional areas makes sense. EPM success depends upon the quality of its people–business people, analytic people and IT people.

EPM Funding Models

Long term success is dictated by funding the EPM center, demonstrating value, adding value, eliminating barriers to implementation, and allocating costs effectively.

Seven Mistakes To Avoid

See p. 18

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

An EPM system is most effective when it is applied to the entire organization. But a completely centralized approach to EPM is unrealistic in most large companies.  For companies that have  many different EPM initiatives underway, an EPM Center of Excellence can help standardize technologies and processes to maximize the potential of every EPM project. This white paper introduces the concept of an EPM Center of Excellence and recommends best practices for creating a center that will succeed in the long term. Although we use the term EPM Center of Excellence in this paper, the same principles apply to the related technology of business intelligence (BI). Some organizations create an EPM Center of Excellence, while others focus on a BI
Center of Excellence. Either way, the objective is the same: to empower organizations to become smarter and more agile and to increase organizational alignment.

The authors extend special thanks to Dr. Raef Lawson, director of research for the Institute of Management Accountants and co-author of Scorecard Best Practices: Design, Implementation and Evaluation and Howard Dresner, author of Performance Management Revolution for their contributions to this paper.

Toby Hatch, et al. “The Path To EPM Success” An Oracle White Paper: Web. June 2008.
Copyright © 2008, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

1. Oracle BI EE
2. BI Publisher
3. EPM Workspace
4. Essbase Server
5. Essbase Studio
6. Financial Reporting

The format is columnar by:

I have release… | I want to… | Supported versions | Links to documentation

EPM Information Development Team. “Integration Roadmap for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition and Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System” Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System (EPM System) / Business Intelligence White Papers: OBI/EPM System Integration: Web. November 2012.
Copyright © 2011, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

As a resource for your company, I:

• Use extensive experience of applications administration and development in a “Fortune 10” setting to make performance management decision systems work.
• Demonstrate deep competence in technology to meet the needs of the business.
• Am effective installing Oracle EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) 11.1.1.3, 11.1.2.1 and 11.1.2.2+ systems.
• Am experienced in upgrading and migrating Hyperion System 9 and System 11 enterprise applications to the current release.
• Am experienced in building, maintaining and patching Oracle EPM systems.