FDM, ERPI, EPMA, DRM, EAL -

UNDERSTANDING THE

ALPHABET SOUP OF

INTEGRATION

About Me

• Oracle ACE – One of 29 in the world focused on BI

• Over 12 years of experience across the EPM suite

• Oracle certified for Hyperion Financial Management – System 9 & Fusion 11

• FDM Practice Manager @ Edgewater Ranzal – www.ranzal.com

• www.FDMGuru.com

Terminology

• Metadata

– Master Data / “Data about data”

– Dimensions: Accounts, Entity, etc

– Hierarchies/rollups

• Integration

– Process of extracting, transforming & loading data and metadata from source systems to target systems

– Data and metadata management/movement within the EPM suite

Metadata Integration

EPMA

• Enterprise Performance Management

Architect

• Available since System 9 release of Hyperion

• Web based - Integrated into workspace

• Intended to managed EPM applications –

HFM, Planning, Essbase, HPCM (required)

• Free tool

• “DRM lite”

EPMA Key Benefits

• Share common dimensionality across multiple applications – reduced build and administration time

• Ability to easily duplicate applications for testing

• Ability to secure individual dimension maintenance

• Ability to compare deployed application to EPMA shared library or app view

• Ability to rename a member in HFM and not lose the data associated with the member

• Metadata properties are prebuilt; application accelerators

• Change audit

EPMA Short Comings

• Intended to manage metadata for EPM

applications only

• Does not currently support HSF (on the

roadmap)

• Import options are limited and restrictive

• Limited automation

• Performance can be suboptimal

• No workflow

DRM

• Data Relationship Management

• Former Razaa product, previously known

as MDM but rebranded after Oracle

acquisition of Hyperion

• Enterprise level master data management

hub

DRM Key Benefits

• Programmatic business logic

• Comprehensive audit trail

• Versioning ability

• Tool agnostic

• Robust automation capabilities

• Integrations with Oracle BPEL (Workflow)

DRM Short Comings

• Cost

• Not integrated in Workspace (pre 11.1.2.2)

• No application administration

• Lacks pre-population of EPM specific

properties

Common Questions

• Do I have to use EPMA?

• Should I buy DRM?

• Do I have to use EPMA when I use DRM?

• Can I use DRM and EPMA together?

• Are DRM and EPMA my only options?

Data Integration

FDM

• Financial Data Quality Management

• Formerly Upstream WebLink

• Data transformation, not an ETL tool

• Intended to load data to EPM applications

FDM Key Benefits

• End user tool, very easy to use & maintain

• Web based

• Very robust audit & process monitoring

• Strong automation capabilities

• Prepackaged target system specific integration enhancements – Intersection validation

– Consolidation

– Data Protection

– Journals

• Mature product – Limited bugs / low severity

FDM Short Comings

• Not intended to manage “big data”

– Performance

• Security model is not able to address more

complex security schemes

• Technology is old and losing support

– Only capable of running on Windows & IIS

• Not integrated in WorkSpace

• Does not support loading data to ASO cubes

• Not the strategic direction of Oracle

ERPi

• Enterprise Resource Planning Integrator

• The future of data integration in the EPM

suite

• Leverages Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) as

its processing engine

• Currently licensed as part of FDM

ERPi Key Benefits

• The strategic direction of Oracle

• Enables direct connectivity for many Oracle ERP systems & SAP (prebuilt) as well as other source systems (configuration)

• Enables drill through to the source data in the source system

• Enables metadata to be sourced from the source system to update EPM applications

• Provides the ability to write back budget data from Planning and Essbase to the General Ledger

• Integrated into WorkSpace

• The use of ODI supports far larger data volumes

• Utilizes JAVA web services

ERPi Short Comings

• Does not currently include all of the functionality that are standard use in FDM

• Not an overly mature product, but progressing very rapidly

– Body of knowledge is limited

• Learning curve for organizations & consulting partners

• Potential additional licensing expense

• No LCM support (prior to 11.1.2.2)

ODI

• Oracle Data Integrator

• A world class ELT solution

ODI Key Benefits

• Many times provided at no additional cost

• World class ELT tool capable of

integrating nearly any source for data and

metadata

• Very robust processing capabilities

• Prebuilt Knowledge Modules to integrate

with the EPM suite

ODI Short Comings

• Complex

– True IT tool, requires strong SQL skills as well

as data modeling

– Not intended for end users

• Thick client

• Migration is sensitive

• Build times can be longer

Kitchen Sink

Key Benefits Short Comings

EPMA Data

Sync

• Integrated in Workspace

• Can interact with the

Planning relational repository

• Not the strategic direction of

Oracle

• Mapping capabilities are

limited

DIM /

Informatica

• World class ETL

• Handles large volumes

• Additional licensing expense

• Very complex

Essbase Studio /

EIS

• Provides drill through

capabilities

• Can manage dimension

builds as well as data loads

• Often requires a data

warehouse

• EIS is not the strategic

direction of Oracle

Load Rules • Proven

• Fast

• Mappings are difficult to

manage

• Not exposed to end users

• Limited audit

Common Questions

• We bought HFM, Planning, FDM, ERPi

and Oracle gave us ODI. Which should

we use?

• Do I have to use FDM with ERPi?

• Why should I use FDM with Essbase?

• Can I get my fish back / can I change the

fish in FDM?

Data Movement Within the EPM Suite

EA

• Extended Analytics

• Module of HFM & Hyperion Strategic

Finance

• Creates star schemas or flat files

• Acceptable performance since System 9

release

EA Key Benefits

• Included in HFM licensing

• Extracts data from any level of any

dimension

• Can be scheduled using HFM Task Flows

• Can be executed via the API

EA Short Comings

• Extract profiles are specific to individual

users

• Flat file extracts are zipped

• Only provides data extracts from HFM or

HSF, not Essbase or Planning

• Does not load data to “target” system

EAL

• Essbase Analytics Link

• Formerly the HyperRoll product

• Provides a real time data flow from HFM to

Essbase

• Generates an Essbase cube on the fly

EAL Key Benefits

• Real time results from HFM reflected in

Essbase

• Managed at the application tier

• Prepackaged solution

EAL Short Comings

• Additional cost

• Essbase cube is dynamically created

– Need to create partitions or write XREF or

XWRITE calcs to populate Essbase “target”

• EAL cube mirrors HFM dimensionality

• Data movement is unidirectional

Other Approaches

Key Benefits Short Comings

EPMA Data

Sync

• Native functionality • Basic Mapping

• Classic apps not supported

• Not real time

FDM • Able to handle complex

mapping

• Strong automation

• Can interact with key

EPM applications

• Bi-directional

• Additional licensing

• Does not include

native/prebuilt adaptors to

source data from EPM apps

• Not real time

ERPi • Strategic direction

• Utilizes ODI

• Pre-built connections

(future enhancement)

• Bi-directional

• Additional licensing

• Limited automation

• Lacks all of the FDM

functionality (future state)

• Not real time

Common Questions

• Can FDM be used to move data between

HFM & Essbase?

• I don’t own EA, how much does it cost?

• Are there any other options?

In Closing

• There is not a “right” answer

• Challenge the status quo

• Chose the right tool for the job while

thinking about your end users

Questions

Tony Scalese

ascalese@ranzal.com

www.fdmguru.com