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EPM Shared Services- New Features

Release 11.1.2.3.00
Venkat Maddipati

Agenda

New features and changes in EPM Lifecycle

Management
New features and behavior changes in EPM Shared
Services Security
New features and improvements in Shared
Services
Demos

EPM Lifecycle Management New

Features

Upload/Download from Browser

LCM support for Essbase Studio
LCM support for Account Reconciliation Manager
Backward Compatibility Support
Will publish a patch on 11.1.1.4,11.1.2.2 and
11.1.2.1 in that order
Artifact Change Report (ACR)
EPM Clone Utility
New Artifacts for LCM
In Planning, HFM, Essbase, FCM, FDMEE

EPM Shared Services Security New

features or improvements
Flush out the idle connections in the connection pool periodically
to improve login performance after EPM System idle for
sometime
More Robust group caching mechanism
Propagate ECID across EPM products to help debug issues

Shared Services New features or

improvements
Shared Services UI inside Workspace
Improved Shared Services UI screens to be consistent with the
look and feel of Workspace
One place to change the user password
Purge Data periodically
Command line Log Analysis tool for easy debugging

EPM Lifecycle Management

Enhancements

Upload Download Feature

Ability to upload and download from browser.
Downloaded Lifecycle Management artifacts are
saved in a .zip file. The .zip file can be uploaded
to another environment.
Download option is available only if the file system
folder is a .zip file on the Foundation Services Server.
The file system folder is zipped by Lifecycle
Management during the export operation only if the
size of the zip file is <= to 1.8 GB. For content greater
than 1.8 GB, mechanisms such as FTP should be
used to move content over to other servers.

Upload Download Feature(Contd..)

Download content from server

Upload Download Feature(Contd)

Upload content to server

LCM Support for Essbase Studio

Lifecycle Management can be used to migrate the
Essbase Studio Catalog artifact

Essbase Studio Migration Option

LCM Support for ARM

Backward Compatibility Support

LCM to support import of artifacts from older releases.

Specifically, to support artifacts exported from 11.1.1.4 or 11.1.2.2 or

11.1.2.1 releases.
Helps in migrating one application at a time

User Flow:
Customer will export application artifacts in release 11.1.1.4 or
11.1.2.2 or 11.1.2.1 after applying the patches on respective
releases.
Copies the exported folder to 11.1.2.3 LCM file system location
Uses LCM to Import the artifacts onto 11.1.2.3.

Artifact Change Report (ACR)

Artifact Change Report (ACR) gives visibility to which
artifacts have been modified.
Report generated from Lifecycle Management User Interface

Artifact Change Report (Contd..)

Artifact Change Report can also be generated from command line.
The ACR utility(acr.bat/acr.sh) can be invoked from
EPM_ORACLE_INSTANCE\bin folder. This utility takes in the following
arguments:

input.properties - File with username and password.

user=jdoe
password=xyz..
d: Number of days. Values are:
-X = Fewer than x number of days
For example, -1 generates the report for artifacts changed in the last day.
+X = More than x number of days
For example, +3 generates the report for artifacts changed more than 3 days ago.
-app: Application name

Report is generated in the Lifecycle Management default file system

location in a folder named Reports.

Ability To Identify Modified Artifacts

Modified Since is a new menu option available on the
file system content, to get the list of artifacts that got
modified since export was done.
Feature useful to export changed artifacts from last
export.

EPM Clone Utility

Utility to clone applications supported by Lifecycle Management
across environments.
User Flow
Use epm_cloneexport located under
EPM_ORACLE_INSTANCE\bin, to export all LCM enabled
applications. This generates EPM_CloneExport folder in the
Lifecycle Management default File System location.

EPM Clone Utility(Contd)

In target environment where you want to clone
these applications, copy the cloned export content
to the default LCM file system location.
Use epm_cloneimport to import all applications in
the target.

Sample input.properties file:

user=jdoe
password=xyz

Command Line Utility

Running exports from command line utility ,exports
content in .zip format, provided the content is 1.8GB
or less.

Above command, exports a zip file

Export.zip under folder C:\LCMExport

Command Line Utility (Contd)

New Command Line Utility Options
[-ls -ms] argument lists artifacts that have been
modified in the system since the last.
[-ls -lmu] argument lists the artifacts modified by
a specific user.
Strict validation of Migration Definition File format
enforced.

Sample MDF File

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Package>
<LOCALE>en_US</LOCALE>
<User name="admin" password="password1"/>
<Task>
<Source type="FileSystem" filePath="/hssfs"/>
<Target type="Application" product="HUB" project="Foundation"
application="Shared Services"/>
<Options option="operation" Value="create/update"/>
<Options option="maxerrors" Value="100"/>
<Artifact recursive="true" parentPath="/Taskflows" pattern="*"/>
<Artifact recursive="true" parentPath="/Native Directory"
pattern="*"/>
</Task>
</Package>

New Planning Artifact

AdHoc Options

New HFM Artifacts

Application Base Level Data, Application Module
Configuration.
To export/import Financial Management Data
artifacts in a distributed EPM installation, Lifecycle
Management must have a shared file system path.

New HFM Artifacts(Contd)

New Essbase Artifacts

Database Properties, Disk Volumes, Table Spaces,
Drill-Though Definitions, Custom-defined Macros and
Functions

New Essbase Artifacts(Contd)

New Essbase Artifacts(Contd)

New FDMEE Artifacts

User Settings, Query Definitions, Report Definitions,
Report Groups, Logic Groups, Check Rule Groups,
Check Entity Groups, Security

New FDMEE Artifacts(Contd)

New FCM Artifacts

Filters and User Preferences added for Financial
Close Manager application

Improved Migration Status Report

MSR messages now grouped product wise
to improve readability of the report.

Improved LCM Log Messages

Errors that are IT Errors and can only be fixed by
Administrators/Engineers are classified as Error.
Business User errors, namely errors that the user
performing the migration can fix and are information
are set as Notification in product log file, and sent as
Error to LCM, which gets displayed in the MSR.

EPM Shared Services Security

Enhancements

Improved Login Performance

Login performance is improved when users login after the EPM
System is idle for sometime, by recreating the master context for
the LDAP/MSAD provider periodically. So, this connection is
closed even before it is terminated at the Firewall or Load
Balancer
Set <masterContextTimeToLive> attribute within the
LDAP/MSAD provider in the CSSConfig file. Default value is 15
minutes. Best practice is to set this value to 1 or 2 minutes less
than the Firewall or Load Balancer timeout. Time is in minutes
<ldap name=MyLDAP>

<url>ldap://myldap.oracle.com:389/dc=oracle,dc=com</url>
<masterContextTimeToLive>10 </masterContextTimeToLive>

</ldap>

Robust Group Cashing Mechanism

It is possible that group cache could be empty if there is some
error while building it. Thus it is empty till the next cache refresh
interval. During this time if a user is logged in who is provisioned
via groups, wont get proper roles.
Now group cache is attempted every time a request comes to
group cache and gets built eventually

Easy Debugging using ECID

ECID (Execution Context Identifier) is passed across the EPM
products. You can stitch the user flow using ECID and debug the
issue much better. Use Log Analysis Tool and pass ECID to it

EPM Shared Services Enhancements

Architectural Changes
Shared Services UI Inside Workspace

Consistent Look and Feel

Improved Shared Services UI screens to be more consistent
with the look and feel of Workspace to present consistent UI to
the user

One place to change the user

password
Native users can change their password via Tools->Change
Password menu. Taken out from the edit user screen within the
Shared Services Console

Purging Stale Data Periodically

Clean up the data in Shared Services database periodically to
have better house cleaning
Over a period of time lot of old data continue to reside in Shared Services
Database.
This data doesnt add any value and needs periodic house keeping to keep the
data within an acceptable age.
Purge activity is a background process that starts when Shared Services
Webapp starts.
Housekeeping thread interval is configurable default value is 24 hrs (1 day).
Can be changed by setting deltaTableCleanupInterval property in EPM
Registry under Shared Services Product
Cleanup to happen at periodic intervals for all the modules CSS, LCM, CES,
Audit
CSS DELTA CACHE cleanup is already implemented in 11.1.2.2 and is
integrated into house keeping thread mechanism in 11.1.2.3
To SKIP purge for any module, set the purge time as 0 in registry.

Purging Stale Data Periodically

(Contd..)
CSS Delta Cache Data (CSS_DELTA_CACHE table)
Purge age is a combination of Cache Refresh Interval time (from CSSConfig file) + 120 minutes
Default value is 60 minutes + 120 minutes
Any data earlier to this value is to be cleaned up. It is not configurable. Just tied to Cache refresh
LCM MSR Data (LCM_MIGRATION ,LCM_MIGRATION_TASK, LCM_MIGRATION_DETAILS tables)
MSR.PURGE.EARLIERTO.DAYS property in EPM Registry under Shared Services Product controls
which older MSR data to be cleaned up
Default value of this property is 30 days
Any data that is earlier to the value of this property is to be cleaned up.
AUDIT Data (AUDIT_FACT, AUDIT_FACT_ATTRIBUTE tables)
AUDIT.PURGE.EARLIERTO.DAYS property in EPM Registry under Shared Services Product
controls which older AUDIT data to be cleaned up
Default value of this property is 120 days
Any data that is earlier to the value of this property is to be cleaned up.
CES Data (CES_WF_INSTANCES,CES_TASKS,CES_PARTICIPANT,
CES_PARTICIPANT_EVENTS,CES_MESSAGES tables)
CES.PURGE.EARLIERTO.DAYS property in EPM Registry under Shared Services Product controls
which older Taskflows data to be cleaned up
Default value of this property is 120 days
Any data that is earlier to the value of this property is to be cleaned up.

Log Analysis Command line tool

Finding the root cause of a system issues in EPM is
time consuming and requires deep expertise in
interpretation of the various log files.
Customers generally express this problem as
Its a black box. When it stops working, we dont know what to
do.

Internally, this is seen by needing to have multiple

engineers from different teams on the call to debug a
customer issue

Log Analysis command line tool

(contd..)
Log Analysis command line tool allows customers and
Oracle engineers to quickly identify the root cause of
a system issues by analyzing the log files
It is built on top of an internal Oracle tool called
Diagnostics Spy
The tool supports ODL, Log4j, WebLogic, and OHS
log files and formats

On Premise Use Cases

The main use cases that the tool supports for On
Premise Deployment are:
List System Issues within a time period
List Functional Issues within a time period that include some
text
Trace an ECID through all log files

Assumptions
Any user who has access to EPM_ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin; for
example, C:\Oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\bin on a
Windows server can run the Log Analysis tool.
User running the Log Analysis tool must have execute privileges on the
following files:
Windows: EPM_ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/loganalysis.bat
LINUX/UNIX: EPM_ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/loganalysis.sh
User running the Log Analysis Tool must have read permission on the
files and directories within MIDDLEWARE_HOME/user_projects on all
server machines that host EPM System components.
If log files are not stored in a location within
MIDDLEWARE_HOME/user_projects, the user running the tool must
have read permission on the log files in their custom location.

Log Analysis Command Line utility

loganalysis.sh (.bat) will be available under epm_oracle_instance/bin
folder
The options for using the Log Analysis tool is as follows:

loganalysis [-all | -system | -functional | -m [ERROR | INCIDENT_ERROR | WARNING |

NOTIFICATION | TRACE]] [-t [<TIME FROM> <TIME TO>] | -tmin <TIME IN MINUTES> | -thour <TIME
IN HOURS> | -tday <TIME IN DAYS>] -ecid <ecid> -s <SEARCH STRING> -d <Offline log files
directory>

Log Analysis tool creates an HTML formatted report based on the

command options you specify and stores it in
EPM_ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/reports, for example, in
C:\Oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\diagnostics\reports on
a Windows server.

Log Analysis Tool Options

Parameter

Description

-h

Displays usage information.

Example: loganalysis -h

-all

Generates a report listing messages in all log files. Generating this

report may take a while, and may yield a very large report file. Use of
this command option without other parameters that restrict the report
scope is not recommended.
Example: loganalysis -all

-system

Generates a report containing ERROR and INCIDENT_ERROR log

message types.
Example: loganalysis -system

-functional

Generates a report containing messages that are of type WARNING,

NOTIFICATION, and TRACE.
Example: loganalysis functional

-ecid ECID

Generate a report that traces the activities that were performed in a

user session across EPM System components.
Generally, this option is used after you identify an error by running a
report using the -all, -system or functional option, and want to trace the activities that led to the error.
Note: ECID that contains the caret symbol (^) must be enclosed in quotation marks.
Example: loganalysis -ecid "0000Jet8kA6ESOG_Ix5Eif1G^RAF000005"

Log Analysis Tool Options

Parameter

Description

-m
MESSAGE_TYPE

Generates a report containing messages of a specified type. Valid

message types are:
ERROR
INCIDENT_ERROR
WARNING
NOTIFICATION
TRACE
Example: loganalysis -m ERROR

-o

Generates a report with a custom report title.

Example: loganalysis -m ERROR -o "myError Report" creates a report titled myError
Report. html that contains log messages of type ERROR contained in all log files.
Be sure to use quotation marks to enclose the report name.

-s "STRING"

Generates a report on log messages that contains the specified string.

Example: loganalysis -system -s "Failed to connect to DB" -o "DB Connection
Errors" creates a report with the title DB Connection Errors.html that lists all
messages of type ERROR and INCIDENT_ERROR that contains the string Failed
to connect to DB.

Log Analysis Tool Options

Parameter

Description

-t
FROM_TIMETO_
TIME

Generates a report on log messages that were generated within the

specified time period. From time and to time must be space separated.
Further, time must be specified in YYYY-MM-DD-THOUR:MIN:SEC
format using 24 hour clock.
Example: loganalysis -all -t 2012-08-10T12:00:00 2012-08-10T23:59:59 -o "All
Messages on August_10_2012" creates All Messages on August_10_2012.html
that contains all the log messages generated between midnight and 11:50:59 p.m.
on 08/10/2012.

-tmin Time in
Minutes

Generates a report containing log messages that were generated within

the specified minutes.
Example: loganalysis -system -tmin 30 -o "All Messages on August_10_2012"
Creates a report containing ERROR and INCIDENT_ERROR messages
generated in the last 30 minutes.

-thour Time in
Hours

Generates a report containing log messages that were generated within

the specified hours.
Example: loganalysis -system -thour 5 -o "All Messages on
August_10_2012"
Creates a report containing ERROR and INCIDENT_ERROR
messages generated in the last 5 hours.

Log Analysis Tool Options

Parameter

Description

-tdayTime in Days

Generates a report containing log messages that were generated within

the specified days.
Example: loganalysis -system tday 2 -o "All Messages on August_10_2012"
Creates a report containing ERROR and INCIDENT_ERROR messages
generated in the last 2 days.

-d

Generates a report containing log files stored in specified locations. You

use this option to analyze log files that are not stored in the default log
file location of EPM System components. You can specify multiple log
locations by using a comma separated list of locations.
Example: loganalysis -m INCIDENT_ERROR -d c:\logfiles,
z:\OracleLogs, y:\EPMLogs -o "myCustom Analysis Report"
creates a report titled myCustom Analysis Report listing messages of
type INCIDENT_ERROR contained in the log files available in the
specified directories.

Log Analysis Report Structure

Log Analysis Report
-

Generated Date: 2013-05-06:11:03:54

Date Range: Last 2 Hours
Log Files Scanned: 72 in 61 Sec
Total Errors: 1
Total Incidents: 0
Message Type: ERROR, INCIDENT_ERROR

Log Messages
Date

Component ID

Message Type

Message Details

2012-12-20
10:58:04

AdminServer

NOTIFICATION

Initiating distribute operation for application, diagspystandalone [archive: D:\share\diagspy-stand

Log Files Scanned

Log File Name

Size (MB)

D:\Oracle\Middleware\user_projects\domains\EPMSystem\serv
ers\EPMServer0\logs\SharedServices_Security.log

10

Sample Report

Q&A