Oracle Hyperion Planning Best Practices
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This document discusses key considerations for a successful Hyperion Planning implementation. It covers important project phases like analyze/design, build, test, and rollout. It recommends building techniques such as application definition, delineating plan types, defining dimensionality, integrating metadata and data, building forms, developing calculations, and defining process flow and security. Critical success factors include clearly defined goals, stakeholder participation, finance and IT involvement, thorough testing, and consistent project management.
Oracle Hyperion Planning Best Practices
- 1. Key Considerations for a Successful Hyperion Planning Implementation Issam Hejazin
- 2. Agenda • INTRODUCTIONS • KEY PROJECT PHASES • RECOMMENDED BUILD TECHNIQUES – – – – – – – – – – Application Definition Delineate Plan Types Define Dimensionality Metadata Integration Data Integration Building a Planning Model Development of Forms Development of Calculations Process Flow / Control Define Security
- 4. About Ranzal Founded in 1996, Ranzal has implemented Hyperion solutions for 500+ companies (800+ projects since the acquisition) Oracle / Hyperion Platinum Partner - Highest Status Hyperion “Americas Reseller” & “Partner of the Year” › 1999, 2005 & 2007 Certified EPM Consultants & Instructors Vertical Expertise with High-Profile Clients from Coast to Coast › East Coast & West Coast Presence Sound Project Methodology Insures Project Success › Support Business Applications from start to finish One of the Largest Hyperion Practices in the U.S. “Best Planning & Essbase Practices with Best HFM Practice” › Hyperion Development utilizes Ranzal for Planning, Essbase and HFM product direction Regarded in the industry as one of the "BEST” at leveraging OLAP technology to develop EPM Applications
- 5. Application & Industries Our team has been involved in 800+ successful EPM Implementations › › › › › › Financial Consolidation & Management Reporting Budgeting & Planning Profitability Management Solutions Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Infrastructure Planning and Performance Tuning Business Process and Project Management Strong client portfolio across leading Industry Sectors including Certified consultants and instructors › › › › › › › Financial Services Insurance Retail / Consumer Packaged Goods Manufacturing Pharmaceutical & Hospital Hospitality / Travel / Entertainment › › › › › High Technology / E-business Energy / Utilities Distribution Government Other Hyperion Essbase, Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Financial Management, HPCM, Hyperion Enterprise, Hyperion Strategic Finance, Hyperion BI+ (Web Analysis, Financial Reports, Interactive Reporting, Production Reporting), Hyperion Data Relationship Management, Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management, Data Services (including ETL, Warehousing)
- 10. Analyze vs. Design Analyze Requirements unknown or undefined Existing business processes need to be updated Existing business processes not known or documented Desire to re-engineer to align with business vision or industry best practices Deliverables As-Is vs. To-Be Processes Functional Requirements Technical Requirements Project Roadmap & Timeline (High Level) Design Key requirements are understood Future business processes are known Basic understanding of technology being used for build Deliverables Design Document Proof of Concept / Prototype * Infrastructure Architecture Finalize Scope, Schedule & Budget Project Strategies (Training, Testing, etc)
- 11. Biggest Risks to Planning Projects LACK OF AVAILABLE METADATA & DATA – Clients often underestimate the effort required to source and validate data and master data, and this is a frequent reason for project delays – The level of effort must be aligned with the quality of data, number of data sources, and degree of change (e.g., new COA) LACK OF CLIENT RESOURCES – Technical – It is critical to identify the administrators of the new system early on, and ensure they are properly trained for rollout – Functional - Clients sometimes do not dedicate enough resources to the project effort as the project is viewed as simply a technology implementation LACK OF CLARITY IN BUSINESS PROCESSES – Planning systems by their nature attempt to predict the future. Clients sometimes have difficulty identifying which disparate elements of their planning process should go into the application, particularly if different areas of the organization have different models.
- 12. Critical Success Factors Clearly Defined and Communicated Project Goals Key Stakeholder Participation and Approval Finance and IT Involvement Throughout Entire Project Clearly Defined, Reviewed, and Approved Application Design Ownership and Accountability for Project Tasks Thorough Quality Assurance and Testing Communication of Company-wide Benefits Proper Administrator and End User Training Consistent Project Management
- 14. Basic Build Approach Application Definition Delineate Plan Types Define Dimensionality Metadata Integration Data Integration Building a Planning Model Development of Forms Development of Calculations Process Flow / Control Define Security
- 15. Application Definition SINGLE PLANNING APPLICATION – Allows for three custom plan types – Two “modules” – Workforce & Capex APPLICATION SETUP – Classic – EPMA COMMON PLAN TYPES – – – – – – Core – GL Account, Entity Revenue – Product, Customer Salary / Workforce – Employee, Position Capital / Capex – Asset Category, Projects, etc. Sales – Customer, Sales Rep Balance Sheet / Cash Flow
- 16. Application Definition SINGLE APPLICATION BENEFITS Metadata is shared across an application Common Versioning, Scenarios between plan types Business Rule Efficiency within same app (XREF) Shared Interface for forms and rules between plan types Leverage common set of task lists, right click menus, smart lists, and personal variables MULTIPLE APPLICATION USE CASES Common for separate operating units w/ disparate planning processes Allows for distinct processing windows – US vs. Intl Security – Financials vs. Salary Detail Ran out of plan types
- 17. Delineate Plan Types WHAT ARE THE CAPEX / WORKFORCE MODULES? A set of pre-built forms, rules, and menus for planning Salary and Capital expenditures. Pre-built functionality – fully customizable Out of the box functionality to calculate: – WFP – Salaries, Payroll Taxes, Benefits, etc. Based on attributes associated with the employee. – Capex – Depreciation, Capital Spending by Asset Categorization. EXPECTATIONS No one will use the modules out of the box with no customization. Key is to use out of the box functionality with the right blend of customization. Expected customization includes: – Updating Smart List attributes for use within an organization – Modification to forms / rules to allow for budget & forecast processes that converge. – Updating metadata – Employees, Asset Category, etc. – Adding a requisition number input field
- 18. Delineate Plan Types WHEN DO I NEED A NEW PLAN TYPE A model needs a different set of dimensionality – – – – Revenue modeling for the organization is done by product and customer Salary modeling is done by employee and position Project Planning is done by Project Number Capital modeling is done by asset classification Inter-dimensional Irrelevance – Does my Core GL plan type need Product, Employee and / or Project #? – Impacts performance of forms, business rules, and reports. – Want to minimize number of stored dimensions for each plan type. IMPACTS OF A NEW PLAN TYPE Data Movements between Plan Types Additional Essbase Cube to optimize Metadata & Data Integration Considerations
- 19. Define Dimensionality DIMENSION Stored hierarchies within an application Core – Accounts, Entities, Time, Years, Scenario, Versions Revenue – Core + Product, Customer, Sales Person Capital – Core + Asset Category, Project Salary – Core + Employee, Position ATTRIBUTE Associated with a base dimension A dimension member can be associated with a single attribute member from an attribute dimension. Examples – – – – Start Date (Employee) Address (Customer) Brand (Product) Growth, Productivity, Maintenance (Project)
- 20. Define Dimensionality SMART LIST A member in an outline (often an account) that is represented as a drop down within the data grid. Smart Lists can be used to drive business rules Smart Lists cannot be sliced and diced like dimensions * Smart Lists can be reported on within Hyperion Reports Stored as numeric value in Essbase Textual Value show in Planning Forms Can be predefined in Essbase Smart Lists – No adapter, load right to tables 11.1.2 supports model to ASO for increased reporting capabilities
- 21. Define Dimensionality DATA ELEMENT (TEXT / DATE) Allow user to input text and date directly into a cell in Planning Can leverage in Hyperion Reports Text stored as numeric lookup relationally – HSP_TEXT_CELL_VALUE Date stored as number 20090101 Can be predefined in Essbase No adapter, load right to tables
- 22. Metadata Integration METADATA MANAGEMENT VS. ETL TOOLS They are not the same thing A metadata management tools provides you with a graphical interface to manage your metadata across disconnected applications. An ETL tool moves data from one place to another METADATA MANAGEMENT TOOLS EPMA – – – – – – Relatively new tool (BPMA,) Essentially “DRM” for EPM Applications Ability to synch Planning, HFM & Essbase dimensions across multiple applications V11 – Stable, Much Improved Update via Interface Tables – ETL, or Flat File EPMA File Generator – Creates ADS Files DRM Full blown metadata management tool Supports metadata management across any toolset – Hyperion, ERP, etc. Agnostic – read from any source, write to any source Does not have adapters to source / target systems Flat file extracts created from DRM to load into Planning
- 23. Metadata Integration ETL TOOLS ODI – “HAL Replacement” – Limited Use ODI Bundled with EPM toolset – Planning must be a source or target to use – Relational Staging Repository where a lot of the work is done – ELT – Extract, Load and Transfer Tool DIM – Adapters that connect directly to Planning – Additional Licensing Costs – For Informatica shops – Functionally very similar to ODI HAL – Not an option for new clients – Still works in 11X for legacy clients but not supported OTHER UPDATE METHODS Essbase Outline Load Batch Utility
- 24. Data Integration SOURCES General Ledger – Lawson, Oracle, Peoplesoft, SAP, Great Plains Payroll – Ceridian, Lawson HRIS Fixed Assets – Lawson, Oracle Project, Navision Project Tracking – Oracle Project, JDE Billing System Order Management EDW Manual Load File Collect via Planning Form – Currency Rates – Benefit Rates (FICA Max, FICA %) INTEGRATION OPTIONS Essbase Load Rules – – – – SQL Interface Flat Files MAXL Automation Simple ETL ODI / DIM / HAL – ETL Tools, use when there is heavy file manipulation
- 25. Data Integration
- 26. Building a Planning Model KEY CONSIDERATIONS What data is needed to facilitate input? What data needs to be collected from end users? Are there supporting drivers that must be input? Are there calculations that need to be processed before input? Read vs. Write on data form elements Are there calculations that need to be processed after input? Before Input? TIPS Break the process into steps if possible Use menus or task lists to drive navigation Simplify the user experience, provide tools to facilitate navigation Try not to clutter and overcomplicate a form
- 28. Development of Forms PERFORMANCE Balance performance with functionality Load Performance – 3 seconds or less Save Performance – 3 seconds of less Hone business rules – – – – Focus on fewer blocks – FIX (Entity), FIX (Scenario, Version) Don’t calculate more than you need to Balance form calculations with an hourly ‘sweep’ Poorly performing business rules can stack up and kill Essbase performance PERFORMANCE TIPS Suppress Missing Rows vs. Suppress Blocks Rows vs. Columns vs. Page Isolate Performance Issue – Form vs. Rules Query Issue – Size or Poorly Designed Essbase Cube? Block Size Balancing Act – Query vs. Calculations
- 29. Development of Forms DESIGN TIPS Large Sparse Dims on Rows – (Improvements to GUI in Talleyrand) Turn on Attribute Display Suppress Missing Block Show member formulas
- 30. Development of Forms DESIGN TIPS Startup Message to Guide Blank Forms Column Definition Drivers & Commentary in BegBalance Member Data Values in IDESC (YearTotal)
- 31. Development of Forms Use Flag Members to drive form layout – Smart List to drive Flag – UDA’s to drive form definition – Flag Member – Set flag based on UDA definition and Smart List Selection
- 32. Development of Forms Simple Form Enhanced Forms
- 33. Development of Forms Control Navigation with a Menu
- 35. Development of Calculations TIPS & TRICKS • Calculations & Forms Should be Developed in Tandem • Calculation Manager – – – – Graphical Web Based Rules Builder Pre-built Templates Requires EPMA Integration (Talleyrand support for Classic) Ability to Convert HBR to CM Rules • Alternatives to Drive Calculations – Member Formulas – Business Rules / Calc Manager Rules – Essbase Member Calc Formula
- 36. Development of Calculations Essbase Member Formula – – – – – Simple Member Calculation Dependencies - Outline Order Important Calculations that don’t require user input Calculations don’t require moving data between plan types Can be run upon save of form – ‘Calc members on form’
- 37. Development of Calculations Business Rules – – – – – – Allow for user input to the rule Allow for passing through variables from the form to the rule Multiple Members Calculated Upon Form Save with Dependencies Can be launched on save, or from a right click menu Typically more procedural than member formula Leverage BR to move data between plan types
- 38. Development of Calculations Essbase Member Calc Script – – – – – – Write multiple member formula’s in an Essbase member Place member on form, and hide Allows for procedural member formulas ala Business Rules Run on save of form Cannot allow user input to calc Cannot move data between plan types
- 39. Development of Calculations DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS Minimize Calculations – Run Time Prompts – Align w/ Page – IANCESTORS (Run Time Prompt) to aggregate instead of CALC DIM Beware Run on Save / Load Launch Rules from Right Click Menu Sequences – Calculation in Current Plan Type – XREF Data to Core Plan Type XREF Dangers – Slow across applications – Create Block Issues • Create Blocks in Business Rule • Schedule hourly “sweep” to catch any issues - DATAEXPORT Currency Conversion Limitations – Rates stored High – Manual Input of Rates – Pros – Entity has requirement to plan in different local currencies
- 40. Process Flow / Control
- 41. Process Flow / Control Form / Folder Organization – Logically name forms and folders – Order based on ‘Steps’ Right Click Menus – Jump to other forms – Launch Rules – Launch Reports Task Lists – Guide user through a task list – User can check off items as they complete – Review completed vs. outstanding tasks Workflow Being rewritten due to current limitations Targeted for Talleyrand (next release)
- 42. Security
- 43. Define Security PROCESS 1. 2. 3. Setup Groups & Users in Shared Services Assign Access in Planning & Workspace Push Security to Essbase SETUP USERS & GROUPS IN SHARED SERVICES Define Groups – – – ALL_PLANNING_GROUP - Handles basic provisioning tasks – Version, Scenario, Accounts ENTITY_PLANNING_GROUPS - Most detail security occurs along the Entity dimension FUNCTIONAL_PLANNING_GROUPS - In charge of a functional area – for example – margin detail Assign Users to Groups PITFALLS / SUGGESTIONS Groups within Groups AD Groups vs. Planning Level Groups 11X – Apply Security to Folders
- 45. Key Considerations for a Successful Hyperion Planning Implementation
Editor's Notes
- #5: Ranzal has over 10 years experience developing Business Performance Solution. We are a platinum partner as a company certified in Essbase which only a few have met the stringent guidelines for and the ONLY Hyperion partner CERTIFIED on Planning which no other partner could accomplish so we are very PROUD of that We have a very innovative development style. We are looking for “QUICK WINS” during development. Phases completed in weeks and months, not years. This helps management see results and continue project investment.
- #8: Talk to the different phases in this slide Activities involved in each phase - Requirements vs. Design (more next slide) - Build - Infra build - Application Install - Back end build - Front end build - Test - Unit testing – Done during dev usually - Integration testing – integrated testing of moving parts. End to end process testing - UAT – Scripts, Informal - Rollout - Training - Prep material - Formal classroom - Train the trainer - Cutover to prod (or back to dev) - LCM - Go live support
- #11: Requirements – Often done independent of product selection. Can be used to help drive RFP process for product / vendor selection Requirements – What are we implementing? Design – How are we implementing?
- #13: Clearly defined goals – Organization wide… - Don’t drop a new planning app on your users a week out. Important to evangelize the benefits of the new system. - Improved reporting, clarity in budget vs. actual, ease of variance reporting, etc. Integral to include feedback from key stakeholders – especially those that are actually using the system. Don’t develop what you think they need. - Solicit feedback, Create POC’s, gain acceptance. Don’t surprise users. - We use POC’s a great deal during design to help shore up concepts and allow users to visualize the end state Finance vs. IT – Not going to work if you have one group trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the other group. Testing is critical, Recommended approach is about 20% of project hours, some company’s demand 30-40%. Proper Admin Training – Planning Admin Training, Essbase Boot Camp – Looking for folks with business background, and technical leanings. Folks who are comfortable in Access, writing simple SQL statements, etc. but are typically fall under the finance umbrella are good choices. Project Management – Client & Implementation Partner… It is important to have PM’s that have managed HYPERION specific implementations before. They know and understand the pitfalls.
- #15: Carried out after the design. Design will help make the determinations for the build Application Definition – How many apps? - Vary by functional business unit? - Vary by country - Are we using Workforce, Capex Modules - # of plan types per app Plan Types Defined by Application – go hand in hand with dimensionality Integration – ETL tools, Update Protocol for metadata and data Building Model – How are different accounts derived? Driver based, simple input. Need to model out the components of the planning process. This drives form and calc development.
- #16: Simply define what makes up a planning app - 3 custom + modules Classic Planning - Manage dim’s within planning, not EPMA - Deploy applications the old way – not through EPMA library - Business rules, not Calc Manager - CAN upgrade a Classic App to EPMA EPMA - Manage dims and apps within EPMA - Uses Calc Manager Review common variants of plan types
- #17: Application layout and design… Driven by: - Different functional business units - Different geographic business units - Can apps coexist? - Common COA’s - Common metadata structures – Products, Projects, Entities, Departments? - Common source systems? - Common Processes? - Common Business Rules, and Calculation Definition Spoke & Hub Model - Different business unit models for margin - Common shared services model for common overheads – salaries, capital, G&A expense, balance sheet - Consolidation Model for aggregated data
- #18: Modules – When to use them and why? Good – Prebuilt FICA w/ limits, Prebuilt Depreciation & Amort Calcs Bad – Misconception that this cuts down significantly on build time. Unless a company is willing to use out of the box functionality, can still be a significant build effort.
- #19: Impacts - Need to write scripts to move data from Salary Core, Revenue Core, etc.. - Business rule on forms, hourly process to sweep all data - Plan Type = New Essbase Cube - Metadata + Does your new plan type need all of the same dimensionality as the existing plan types? Will have ETL to limit the dimensionality for the different plan types. Example – does your salary app need your entire COA? - Data + New data loads for additional plan type to be thought through
- #20: Highlight the difference between dimensions, attributes, smart lists, and data types How do you decide between dimension, attribute, smart list, and text/date members, etc. Dimension – + Planning specifically by these members. + Select the member to prepare a plan, input by these members. Attributes Dim– + Associated w/ base dim – one to one (no slowly changing in planning yet) + Reporting attributes for base members + Can display on forms, use to drive form definition + Example – Product SKU Base Dim, Attributes could be Brand, Color, Size, etc. UDAs + Primarily for delineation on calcs, BR’s + Talleyrand will allow definition in forms by UDA
- #21: Other ways to ‘dimensionalize’ smart lists. Create an additional dimension, have all selections for the smart list go into ‘Input Member’, then create the rest of the members as dynamic calcs based on the selection in the smart list. Can make this ‘smart list’ dimension Dense, as it will have only one stored member. Smart List – + Allows user to select an ‘attribute’ or a metric via a text drop down + Report on the smart list tag, but cannot ‘group’ out of the box + Can create reporting mechanism to expose these + Talleyrand – 11.5 Smart List to ASO conversion for reporting…
- #22: + Have to use the planning connection to report on these in FR + Display as text, date in planning forms.
- #23: EPMA file generator – format not great, similar to HFM dim load format. Much improved though in 11x. DRM with a simple metadata mart to help manage change control, and loads to various systems. Can use views to support different file formats (Planning vs. Essbase build requirements).
- #24: Other Update Methods - Essbase – Build and maintain outline via Essbase cube, extract using outline extractor (which can be driven via a command line utility and automated). We have done this at a number of clients that have Essbase & Planning. - Outline Load Batch Utility – Simple upload utility. Requires a specific format. Some ETL might be required to get source files in the proper format. Have used SSIS in the past to do basic manipulations. Some cleanup can also be done on the source extract. - Manual – Some clients don’t have hierarchies maintained anywhere, and need Planning to be the source for their hierarchy. In these instances, hierarchies can be maintained in planning. New metadata elements can be integrated from data kick outs from loads.
- #25: Data Sourcing – + Data Marts to support Hyperion applications – EIS / Studio + Can integrate w/ existing Essbase application data + EDW – commonly source for revenue, units, sales, etc.
- #27: Key Considerations - Does the user need to see historic run rate of information to help with the process? - If forecast, what’s the process of moving actual data into a new closed month - What data is collected from users – - Is the data direct input, or going to be a derivation of supporting drivers and user input - If there are drivers, how will the drivers be input? Do we want drivers on the same form, different form? Smart list to drive calculations? - Setup calculated accounts as ‘read only’ on core forms - Can run business rule or ‘calc form’ on load of form, or on save of form.
- #29: The majority of performance issues are related to poorly performing business rules. Limit what is being brought onto a form – leverage suppression options Do we have issues with the size of the query, or with poorly performing queries Target block size – 40k-200k – balance calc vs. retrieval performance. Often times this is a balancing act. Careful w/ Suppress Missing Block – won’t work if you have a Dynamic Calc member, or Attributes. No “Calc Dim (Dimension)” on forms Calcs stack up, kill Essbase performance
- #30: If you’re using large sparse dims on rows, leverage suppress missing blocks. Trade-off, can’t use attribute display on the form with suppress missing block. Grid redesign in Talleyrand – will support larger grids in web forms. Embedding multiple large sparse dim’s on rows can cause a form to exceed limit of # of cells that can be brought back.
- #31: New feature – startup message for blank forms. Can use to have user take an action. Leverage Beginning Balance as a ‘No Time’ bucket. Leverage a usable alias for forms.
- #32: Workaround for not being able to use UDA’s on the forms… Can drive different form layouts for different items. In this example have defined two different views: Simple, Enhanced. User UDA’s to help drive whether the account members need to show up in a simple or enhanced form.
- #33: Different forms displayed for different smart list selections.
- #34: Right clicks to launch other forms, or run BR’s. Can pass Page Members to BR’s and between forms Right click on a member in the grid, and that can be passed to another form or business rule
- #36: Tandem – - Inputting info into a salary form. Input a new employee, want to see salary distribution, benefits and taxes calc’ed after save…
- #40: Minimize Calculations – + Don’t want to calculate more than what is needed in the form for the user interacting with the system. + For example – if a user has access to one cost center, don’t need to calculate ALL cost center’s salaries and benefits when a user saves the form for their particular cost center. Just calc their cost center. Leverage RTP’s and pass from Page. + If we want to aggregate data – don’t do a Calc Dim, Do @IANCESTORS(RTP) Understand Calc Times if using Run on Save / Load Create Block Issues – Same issue as in Essbase. Particular issue when XREF’ing to another plan type that may not have blocks created.
- #44: Groups within groups – problematic in early 9x versions, seem to have stabilized in 11x AD Groups vs. Native Planning groups – can hinder performance and login times. Need to work w/ security team to troubleshoot and ensure that we are focused on a succinct node, not the entire AD structure. Read Security on a form means user can access. Write means they can edit – if they are Interactive users. Nothing to do with database level security.