Oracle Analytics Cloud for Oracle EPM Part 2 – The Test Drive

The Intro

Hey Friends! This blog is second part in a series covering the use of Oracle Analytics Cloud for Oracle EPM. You can check out the first blog in this series here:

• Oracle Analytics Cloud for Oracle EPM – Part 1 Lets Intro

I had touched on Covid-19 impacts being felt across the world in my last post. I recently watched a very interesting limited series documentary on Netflix on Covid-19, called: Coronavirus, Explained.

Watching the series it was good to know that there is some incredible work going into finding a cure / vaccine and lots of scientific innovation feeding that process. Highly recommend checking this series out.

Since my last post I have had a family members catch the virus and really struggle with it, but all have since recovered. In Australia, we have had a second wave / spike in cases in a few places like New South Whales and Victoria.

I really hope that everyone is doing everything they can to keep well and safe and I really hope that they find a cure/vaccine soon…

Today I will aim to cover: Testing the OAC for EPM new connectivity and if there are performance or capability/functionality improvements.

Setup

Login to Oracle Analytics Cloud and Ensure You are On Oracle Analytics Version 5.6 or later (If you are on Gen 1 you will need to patch if on Gen-2 and still not on this version, contact Oracle Support):

 Create a New Connection:

Enter connection information. Note the following:

1. You can connect to Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, and Tax Reporting
2. You will need to include the Domain at the end of the URL
3. You have three connection authentication options: 1 option will allow you to define set credentials and the others will rely on the user’s session or the user to enter credentials (select what suits you, keep data security in mind with the selection here)

Go to Connections You Should See The Created Connection Here. Select this Connection to Create a Data Set. Then Select the Cube you want to create a Data Set for (note: you can create multiple data sets from the one connection). Note: You do not get much options here to prepare / enrich / profile the data. Once done click create project.

If you would like to see an output video sample of a dashboard, check out this video post from Benjamin Arnulf: 

• New EPM real-time connector for Oracle Analytics!!!

Findings

To simplify this I am going to break this down into the good and the needs improvement buckets:

• Good
  • Automatic Generation Definitions Based on Hierarchies in Oracle EPM

• • Performance Seems Reasonable (only high level testing conducted)
  • Use of the OAC Capability for EPM Data (Example: Narrate Functionality)
  • Display data from multiple data sources including EPM on the same dashboard/canvas or within the same project
  • Very easy setup (minutes type thing)
  • No longer requires enterprise edition of OACS as there is no need for RPD (cost effective solution)
  • I believe this is the only analytics tool in the market with a direct connector to Oracle EPM / Other Oracle SAAS products
• For Improvement
  • Inability to link data sets to Oracle EPM Data sets (this was possible using the legacy RPD approach)
  • Hierarchies Functionality / Drilling Capability – Whilst the generation definitions are a good step towards this and you can drill into the next generation from the current; I would like to see hierarchy definitions and seamless drilling as default capability
  • Encountered a bug related to using new generation attributes with data (displaying incorrect data when not specifying generations below the current in focus. Will log this and hopefully gets resolved quickly)

In general, I do see good progress being made on this front and only see that it will get better with time. Would recommend to keep an eye out for upcoming improvements in the Public Road Map or Whats New for Oracle Analytics Cloud.

I will log the bug mentioned and have added the other points to Customer Connect as ideas (Inability to link and Hierarchy Improvements), please like these to help us improve our Analytics tool further.

TIP

• Ensure in your EPM application aliases exist for all members, OACS doesn’t default to member names when Alias is not present, possibly another improvement area.

A Message

Stay safe and healthy. The force is forever your friend and ally!