The important thing to note about these modules is that just because you using Hyperion for these purposes or in these industries, it does not necessarily make sense for you to immediate go out and buy these modules.  It all depends on HOW you are using the product.  For example, why would you buy one of these modules if you plan to just rip it apart and do your own customizations anyway?

So I encourage you to really look under the covers to these modules before purchasing them.

Still confused?  Jump on this Web Session that Sean Bernhoit is putting on next week where he goes though the details on some of Oracle newest and most popular modules:

• Hyperion Probability and Cost Management
• Workforce Planning
• CapEx
• Public Sector Planning

Webinar Registration

Join Linium Insight Vice President, Sean Bernhoit, for “Everything You Need to Know About the Out-of-the-Box Modules from Oracle” via a free webinar on Wednesday, Dec. 14th at 3pm EST.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from Sean’s real-world experience and explore more about what you can expect from out-of-the-box modules from Oracle including Hyperion Profitability & Cost Management, Workforce Planning, CapEx Planning, and Public Sector Planning.

Oracle’s business intelligence capabilities offer the most comprehensive system for enterprise performance management. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how these out-of-the-box Oracle solutions can drive your efficiency and innovation.

Register here:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/987208562

For anyone considering upgrading Hyperion/EPM, BI, or R12, this is a must.

Eric will be be speaking at 2:30pm on the 15th:

EPM and OBIEE Architecture and Internals

Sycamore Meeting Level 2, North Tower

Oracle ACE Director Eric Helmer will break down the internals of the latest Oracle EPM version 11.  This Session will be geared for IT professionals who are considering implementing or upgrading to Oracle EPM version 11 and want more information on it’s inner workings.  Learn the different components of the EPM suite including foundational software and Shared Services.  This session will also cover architecture and data flow, as well as required system administration activities, and upgrade considerations.

For more information and to Register:

http://connectionpoint.oaug.org/2011/atlanta/

As I am sure you are aware, Oracle Open World is right around the corner.  As usual, the events is held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.  This year it will be October 2-6.

Linium will be at Booth #100!

We have many events planned this year.  Here is  a quick update.  As always, please let me know if you are attending to make sure you get a personal invite to ensure you get a personal invite.

Here is the latest

1.)  Linium will be hosting their annual VIP happy hour event on Monday night.  The event will feature a drawing for a Wii and of course the special signature Linium cocktail – the Linium Lightening!

Click the following link to sign up:   http://www.linium.com/vip

2.)  Linium has a limited number of Oracle Open World discover passes to give away.  Let me know if you are interested.  The Discover pass allows special access to areas and events.

3.)  This year Linium is featuring a an “Ask an Expert” program where you can make an appointment with a Linium expert to discuss anything Hyperion. We will have a team of experts on hand to answer technical, IT, and functional inquiries.  Weather it is an issue you are having or you want to get an idea of the best way to upgrade and roadmap your project, this is a great way to get to know the team and take away some great info!

See the following link for more details and schedule an appointment today:

https://linium.wufoo.com/forms/signup-now-to-meet-with-linium-at-openworld/

4.)  Looking for a career Hyperion  EPM and OBIEE consulting?   Linium staffing experts will be on hand.  Be sure to stop by the booth and bring a resume.

5.)  Attend Linium’s feature presentation with Four Seasons Hotels

Date: Tuesday, October 4th at 5:30 PM, St. Francis – California West (Session 15611)

 The presentation, “Introduction to Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Planning Suite” on Tuesday, 05:30 PM, St. Francis – California West (Session 15611) will include a case study of a very successful Linium Oracle Hyperion Implementation for the Four Seasons Hotel. Speakers include Mike Suter, Director of Finance from Four Season’s Hotels along with Oracle’s Bala Subramanian and Ivo Bauermann, Sr. Director EPM, and Linium’s VP of Financial Technology and CFO Advisory, Sean Bernhoit.

For more information about Linium at OpenWorld, See the following link

http://www.linium.com/event_mini_sites/insight/openworld

See you there!

On Friday, July 15th at 3pm EST/12pm PST don’t miss this exciting webinar Preparing your IT department for a Hyperion Deployment | Upgrade from Linium Insight solutions expert and Vice President and Oracle ACE Director Eric Helmer via a free webinar.

Details:
Oracle Ace Director Eric Helmer gives a complete introduction to the Oracle EPM suite from a technical perspective.  Learn how you can prepare for EPM and understand the impact on your IT department.  Topics include services sizing, hardware and software considerations, operating systems, helpdesk integration, database administration, and on-going system administration support expectations.

Learn from the mistakes of others as Eric helps you prepare for Oracle EPM.  Learn what you can expect when rolling out a new EPM solution in your IT department.

Register Now!
Don’t wait, register for our webinar on July 15th at 3:00PM Eastern (12:00PM Pacific) to learn more about this critical topic.

To Register:   https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/631453266

The OAUG presented the Hyperion Special Interest Group with the 2011 certificate of distinction award at this year’s Collaborate 11 conference.

Congrats to all the board members and domain leads!

Here is the link to the documentation:

Here is the link to the software:

More information:

http://www.linium.com/practices/insight/blog/liniuminsightannouncesoracleenterpriseperformancem

Have Fun!

April 10-14, 2011
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, Florida

Get the scoop:   http://www.linium.com/practices/insight/collaborate

For those of you who are attending this year’s Collaborate conference in Orlando, please stop by the session:

“Under the Covers: An Architectural Breakdown of System 11.1.2 “

Date: Thursday, April 14

Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Room: W304D

Abstract:

Oracle ACE Director Eric Helmer will break down the internals of the latest Oracle EPM version 11.  This Session will be geared for IT professionals who are considering implementing or upgrading to Oracle EPM version 11 and want more information on it’s inner workings.  Learn the different components of the EPM suite including foundational software and Shared Services.  This session will also cover architecture and data flow, as well as required system administration activities, and upgrade considerations.

Also covered is a comparison of 11.1.1.3. 11.1.2, and 11.1.2.1 – which version should you go with?  Stop by and get the latest.

Also, Linium will be in booth 1038.  Be sure to stop by for the many giveaways and special Linium VIP event invitations.

Please shoot me an email if you plan on attending Collaborate so that we can make sure you get your invitation.

The vision is a radical change from a monthly meeting format to a quarterly training day format.  We will be chancing the focus to giving our members what they want – good technical content that can help them day to day, while minimizing marketing fluff.

Each Quarterly training day will have a particular theme of that should be of interest to anyone involved in EPM/BI and would like to learn new important skills.

To get started, we will be opening the first quarterly meeting this year with “Road map 360″.  The theme is around what is new and what to expect in EPM 11.1.2 and 11.1.2.1.  the “360″ components means that we are attacking it from both an IT/architectural AND and functional perceptive.

As I have posted before, version 11.1.2 is the biggest Architectural change I have seen with this product and there are many considerations when considering going to that version.  Therefore, I will be speaking on the I.T. Side of the road map.   For the functional side, Kelliann  Hoelscher will be talking about new features and functionality that you will want to consider in the 11.1.2.x suite.

Come by March 18th from 4-6 pm at the NEW Oracle Building in Las Colinas, Tx.  Come meet the new DOUG BI Forum leadership, and get a feel for it’s new direction and focus.  We welcome any input to make this the best regional Oracle user group experience in the nation. Plus… there will be refreshments, and that’s not too shabby.

Address: 6031  Connection  Drive,  Las Colinas, Tx. Room  #9072-­‐907.  Open and free to anyone.

Linium has posted open requirements for qualified senior Hyperion/EPM infrastructure consultants.  If you ore someone you know is interested, please contact me for details.

Thank you.

Now that the books are closed on 2010, we now finally have an opportunity to reflect on our EPM/Hyperrion Strategy for 2011.

But, what version should you upgrade to? It’s confusing….. 11.1.1.3?  11.1.2?  Wait for 11.1.2.1?

Here is some information to help you make that decision, from the I.T. Side…

There are many factors in choosing a version from an IT perspective.  I break down each release and discuss considerations on supported upgrade paths, 32-bit/64-bit, operating system support, supported client side software, and other technical considerations.  For this article, I will focus on Windows, perhaps later I will write up something focused on Unix/Linux.

Version 11.1.1.3

Upgrade Path

While most products on this version can be installed on a 64-bit operating system, don’t be fooled…MOST of the binaries in this release are 32-bit applications.

Products like HFM, EPMA, and Essbase are 64-bit applications, however  most of the other applications in this release are native 32-bit binaries such as Data Relationship Management, EPM Workspace Services, FDM, Financial Reporting Services, Interactive Reporting Services, Shared Services (embedded Native Directory OpenLDAP service), Smart Search, and Strategic Finance.

So while you may feel better about getting things installed on a 64-bit platform, you are not really taking advantage of the overall 64-bit performance.

There are also some issues when attempting to co-locate 32-bit and 64-bit applications together on the same machine. For example, it is a common configuration to co-locate HFM and FDM on the same server, however that will cause problems on the same 64-bit machine as HFM is 64-bit and FDM is 32-bit.

Co locating Strat FI, or FDM on the same server as HFM-64 or EPMA-64 is not supported.

In many cases because of these limitations, some machines in my 11.1.1.3 designs end up being 32-bit operating systems as we have more flexibility on product placement.  Careful consideration should be made here.

Operating Systems

Windows 2003 SP1 and SP2, 32-bit or 64-bit are supported.  Note that Windows 2008 is not supported at all.  Remember with Windows 2003, if you have more that 4 GB of memory you must install the Enterprise edition of the operating system in order for the Operating System to use it.

Client Side Software

Internet Explorer 6, 7 and Firefox 2.0.x (Except DRM, FDM, and IR)

Office 2002 (XP), 2003, 2007

Java JRE Plugin (For Web Analysis and Performance Scorecard): 1.5.0_17+

Other Considerations

11.1.1.3 is certainly more widely adopted, as it has been out longer.  There are a lot of patches that have been released and it is quite stable.  Since it does have a fully supported upgrade path, you may consider upgrading to this release.

However, please know that for your next hop to 11.1.2.x, you will not want to upgrade-in-place, as the underlying architecture for 11.1.2.x is dramatically different. So your next upgrade will be a full fresh install of 11.1.2.x on fresh hardware, and you will need to migrate applications from 11.1.1.3.

See my article on the architectural differences in 11.1.2

Version 11.1.2

Upgrade Path

As I have stated before, 11.1.2 is intended for a new installation/adoption only.  Reading the literature, you will see that Oracle does not have a supported upgrade mechanism.  Let me explain what that means…

That means you will not be able to upgrade-in-place from any older version to 11.1.2.  But how does that effect “migrating” objects from an older version to 11.1.2 via export/import?

11.1.2 does not come with any upgrading wizards.  For example, historically, when upgrading a Planning application we would copy the relational repository associated with it to an application in the newer version.  Then, when we logged into Planning, it would notice that the version is older and offer to happily upgrade it for you.  This functionality is an example of what is missing in 11.1.2.  Likewise the upgrade wizard for HFM is not included in 11.1.2.

However most objects can be exported and imported.  All Essbase objects, security, reporting objects, etc. can be moved to 11.1.2.

We have “upgraded” many customers to 11.1.2, simply by moving what we can, and rebuilding what we need to.  For Planning, we simply need to recreate the planning application and dimensionality.  So for those shops that only have 1 or 2 planning applications, this is not that big of a deal in most cases, as we can do some creative things such as using ODI to extract the dimensionality and rebuild it in the new version.

Operating Systems

11.1.2 is the first version to support Windows Server 2008 R1, both 64-bit and 32-bit.  What is even more exciting is that most all the products are now true 64-bit binary applications, with the exception of FDM, Financial Reporting Print Server, Interactive Reporting Services, and Strategic Finance. Regardless, all products now will run on Windows Server 2008 64-bit without restriction. Note that Windows Server 2008 R2 has a lot of issues and is not supported.

Windows Server 2003 64 bit is also still supported, but you have still have to use the 32-bit binaries for a lot of the products and still have the same co-location problems you had with 11.1.1.3.

Client Side Software

Internet Explorer 7.x, 8.x and Firefox 3.5.x (Except FDM, and IR)

Office 2003, 2007 SP2

Java JRE Plugin (For Web Analysis and Performance Scorecard): 1.6.0_14+

Other Considerations

No more OpenLDAP, Essbase Clustering, Weblogic embedded, SSL offloading, new directory structure.

Version 11.1.2.1

Upgrade Path

11.1.2.1 is reported to include an official upgrade path and backwards compatibility from  9.2.1,  9.3.3, 11.1.1.3, and 11.1.2.  This means that Planning and HFM applications, etc. will be able to be migrated from one of these versions to 11.1.2.1 and a wizard will be able to upgrade them for you.  This may not mean that you will be able to upgrade-in-place.

To be honest, even if it is supported and possible, I would not consider upgrading in-place to 11.1.2.1 from any version lower than 11.1.2 because of the massive infrastructure changes to this product that started in 11.1.2.

As for new functionality, most of it is rumored to be around the Planning module.  There are enhancements in approvals, form designer, end user web forms, etc.  There should also be some new ways to export Planning meta-info to CSV and perform lights-out pushing to ASO.  I do not believe there are many, if any, enhancements to Essbase, HFM, or FDM other than the upgrade path.

Operating Systems

11.1.2.1 is the first version to support Windows 2008 R2

Client Side Software

Besides the supported software for 11.1.2, 11.1.2.1 should also include support Office 2010, but 32-bit only.  64-bit Office support will be at a later release.

In Summary

If you are in a lower version and looking to upgrade, I would strongly consider 11.1.2 version now.  Many organizations are now standardizing on Windows 2008 and IE 8, which makes the move to 11.1.2 quite compelling.

For those customers on older versions, I’m sure you are aware that you may be required to take an intermediate step upgrade before going to 11.1.1.3.  However, why not consider  directly to 11.1.2?  In many cases, we have seen shorter upgrade times by simply rebuilding things directly in 11.1.2, and skipping the need for the intermediate step.  As a matter of fact, even if 11.1.2.1 was out today, we may consider rebuilding things anyway.  So you may be waiting for 11.1.2.1 for upgrade tools you may never even use.

Depending on your complexity, considering 11.1.2 now could be fruitful.  The new features, functionality, plus the support for more modern 64-bit operating systems, and 3^rd party software make the move to 11.1.2 now great consideration for Q1.

Are you seriously waiting on Oracle to release 11.1.2.1?  We have heard them say September, then October, then December…now they are saying February or March.  Forget it!  In most cases, you can get to 11.1.2 now and enjoy all the features and functionality now.

Regardless, weather you wait or not, now is the time for IT design.  We need to design a hardware environment now that enables the delivered performance and availability you need going into 2011 and 2012.  We must take into consideration performance, load, high availability/clustering, backup and recovery, disk space and SANs, helpdesk integration, training schedules, desktop software roll-outs, disaster recovery, etc.  Now is the time for strategic IT planning and design, regardless on your targeted version.

Shoot me an email to schedule a design session to create the right design for your needs so you can get your hardware ordered and underway.  You never know, 11.1.2.1 may be released and out by the time you have received, racked, stacked, and prepare the servers.  Either way, stop waiting on Oracle!

For those that are in an even bigger hurry to get started, we have announced the Linium Launch Pad.

The Linium Launch Pad gives your organization the ability to GET STARTED now, by using Linium hosted machines to start your project and development.  We can have a large 4-server hefty environment ready for you in 24 hours.  As your project starts and development commences, we can step back to do proper IT design and hardware provisioning.  Once you receive your hardware in-house, we simply migrate/transfer all application development from our servers to yours.  It’s easy.

For those not interested in hosting hardware internally, we also team up with hosting partners for permanent enterprise cloud services as well.