There is a storm brewing for companies still using on-premise Oracle Hyperion. In the distance, we can hear thunder rolling as the end-of-support deadline quickly approaches. According to Oracle's support plan, you have until December 2021 to either:

Upgrade on-premise Oracle Hyperion to 11.2
Move to Oracle Cloud EPM
Switch to a different EPM/CPM provider

Each of these options must be considered carefully and our consultants have discovered some tips and challenges that are not covered in the release notes so we wanted to share our findings with you.

EPMA to DRM is not as easy as 1, 2, 3

Considering the upgrade? Typically, a point release upgrade should be a straightforward process. However, several significant nuances make this upgrade to 11.2 an expensive and labor-intensive fix that almost certainly requires the involvement of an expert.

A few examples of issues our consultants have encountered as we upgrade clients to Hyperion 11.2:

One of the biggest headaches stem from the loss of EPMA and trying to restore its functionality using Oracle DRM. DRM doesn’t have this functionality built in. Much time will be needed to build exports and validations to deploy your DRM metadata to your EPM targets.
If you were using EPMA data synchronizations to update non-numeric data, you’ll have to find another method since the functionality to process smart lists, text, and other non-numeric planning data types no longer exists in the 11.2 upgrade.
Does your Planning application have an Aggregate Storage (ASO) plan type? Fun fact: The ASO-specific properties don't exist within Oracle’s EPMA-to-Planning DRM templates, so you’ll need a new way to implement them throughout the DRM process.
With the rebuild of the 11.2 Financial Reporting module, you’ll need to consider how users will add or update generic job applications. Users who were accustomed to launching batch processes or running self-service jobs in previous Hyperion versions could be very frustrated without a workaround.

Necessity of re-evaluation

Before spending time and pouring money into upgrading to 11.2 or re-implementing to Oracle Cloud EPM, many customers are stopping to consider the costs and benefits of upgrading versus evaluating the new EPM/CPM options on the market.

We encourage many of our long-term Oracle clients to consider:

Does your current solution meet your needs? Will upgrading make life better?
Are there additional benefits to upgrading or switching solutions other than maintaining technical support?
What functionality will be gained in a new version?
What is the level of impact on users by upgrading versus switching?
Are there new EPM/CPM solutions you should consider? Which solutions, and why?

**Download our HFM assessment guide to help you chart the right path for upgrading your Oracle Hyperion EPM on-premise environment to 11.2

A new EPM/CPM solution on the horizon

Even upgrading to a minor point release can take several months, tying up internal staff and often requiring the services of external consultants.

Preparing and paying for such an upgrade can require an enormous effort, so it is always appropriate to consider other EPM/CPM solutions altogether. The primary option that many Oracle EPM clients are evaluating is to move to a single-unified EPM/CPM platform such as OneStream Software.

OneStream touts itself as being the one optimal application to streamline financial consolidation, reporting, budgeting, planning, forecasting, analysis, and data quality. When you eliminate spreadsheets, manual processes, and workarounds, you can improve finance team productivity. For example:

Reduce the time, effort and cost of maintaining legacy applications
Improve finance productivity, spend more time on value-added analysis
Enhance your focus on value-added analysis of your business

There are also cost-of-ownership benefits when compared to legacy solutions, so keep that in mind as you explore your options.

Conclusion

It’s important to understand how much of your team’s time and effort will go into upgrading on-premise Hyperion to 11.2 and whether you have the bandwidth to sacrifice it. As partners with both Oracle EPM and OneStream, we offer risk-free, unbiased assessments to "look under the hood" of your planning environment, provide a detailed diagnosis, and prescribe a roadmap that meets your business requirements. Then we can help you implement it.

Don't attempt this journey alone. You need an experienced technical resource with the niche expertise to help you navigate this upgrade while reducing your time and dollars spent, minimizing interruptions to your business, and preventing easily avoidable errors.

Who is Tevpro?

Our EPM/CPM consultants are passionate about solving the most complex IT and finance challenges. To discuss your options in more detail, schedule an assessment call today.

Erik West