Oracle Smart View - When and How to Update

Oracle Smart View is an add-in for Microsoft Office and is used across EPM and with Cloud ERP. There are also several extensions that add features and functions to the add-in. Smart View gets updated usually twice a year and the extensions less frequently. This post talks about how EPM admins can check if users have older Smart View versions and how users can check for and then update the extensions themselves.

You might be wondering about why not talk about updating Smart View itself. In many organizations users do not have security access to install or update Smart View and/or installations are centrally managed and pushed out as needed but users can usually do the extensions. But basically to update Smart View itself, download and unzip the new file and then run the executable within.

Note this process is not as seamless as the Oracle Update Advisor for Oracle AI Database (which sounds pretty awesome). Then again, OUA is geared for a maximum availability database architecture, so way beyond the tech level of Smart View. Check out these posts from Oracle for more information.

https://blogs.oracle.com/maa/announcing-oracle-update-advisor

https://blogs.oracle.com/maa/from-green-lights-to-gold-tiers-maa-oracleupdateadvisor

Admins

Admins can use the Activity Report within each application to monitor the Smart View versions in use. Specifically in FCC, use the Navigator icon to go to Overview (in the Application section) and then click Activity Report. Click one of the available options and then scroll down to the Usage section at the bottom. The report shows which versions are in use for browsers, Smart View, Excel, and EPM Automate. There is also a section not shown below that will report specific users that are on much older versions. Version 25.100 shown below is only one version behind the current version (25.200) so no specific user report was warranted.

Note that the activity report does not report on the extensions and the versions of the extensions in use. This will need to be done by the users.

Users

Cloud ERP and EPM users themselves can check their own Smart View version by using the Help > About menu item on the Smart View ribbon.

The extensions can initially be downloaded by users directly from within Oracle Cloud EPM. Click the user ID at the right and select Downloads... The available downloads will be listed. Other then Smart View itself, click the Download button and then double-click the downloaded file in order to install the extension. Users are typically able to install extensions but not Smart View itself. And note that downloading Smart View itself must be done from the Oracle Technology Network which requires an Oracle ID that users typically do not have.

To check for updates for installed extensions, users can select the Options button on the Smart View ribbon and then click Extensions on the left side of the resulting window. Click the blue "Check for Updates, New Installs, and Uninstalls" link at the bottom. After selecting the desired server, the software will provide the status for each installed extension (below, the top three have updates available). Click "Update Available" in order to update the extension.

There is an option to check for updates every time that Office starts but the extensions are not updated frequently enough to warrant checking that frequently. Also, the extension updates are reported in the monthly update summary.

Oracle FCC: Which Metadata Editor is Best for Catching Errors?

Those who have worked with Oracle EPM for several years know there is usually more than one way to do things (although we consultants sometimes think that "our" way of doing something is the correct way!). With Oracle FCC and Planning there are at least five different ways of editing metadata (entities, accounts, etc.). These options have varying levels of edit checks available, at least for FCC. This post will talk about the five with a particular focus on edit checks. There is no one "right" way here, but there are "better" and "not as good" options. 

Option 1 - "simplified" or "new" metadata editor

This option is built into the software and is accessed by selecting Navigator icon > Overview (from Application menu section) > Dimensions > select dimension. This option presents the metadata in a grid format where parents can be expanded/collapsed, columns moved around, valid choices presented as dropdowns, etc. Attributes can be copied and pasted across multiple members which is helpful.

There are pros and cons related to edit checks. If you try entering an alias with more than 80 characters, you are allowed to do so but you can't save [thanks to Jake Turrell for the info]. Kinda good (can't save) but kinda bad (allowed to type the extra characters). But where this editor shines with FCC are the visual attribute edits. Here, Average is not a valid exchange rate type for FCC and the software is adding the red border to indicate that. This change was made in the old editor (option 2) and in the new editor, Average isn't even a choice. But it still shows the field as something that needs to be corrected.

Disclosure: this is my default choice out of the options presented but will use another option below when needed, so keep reading.

Option 2 - "classic" or "old" metadata editor

The classic/old Essbase metadata editor is accessed by selecting Navigator icon > Dimensions (from Create and Manage menu section) > select dimension. This option was the original metadata editor in FCC and has been available for several years after Oracle said they were going to remove it (when the "new" one came out). I think there are larger priorities and if people are used to using this editor with earlier versions or with Essbase or with Planning then why not. 

The metadata is presented as a hierarchy but each member must be edited individually: no copying/pasting to multiple cells like in option 1.

However, as far as editing goes, it does lack some features. It will correctly not allow an alias to be entered that's greater than 80 characters [again, thanks to Jake]. But it will allow for invalid attribute choices to be selected. They may be valid for Essbase and/or Planning, but not everything is valid for FCC. Here, the Average option is not valid for FCC but can be selected and saved and there is no notification that this will be a problem.

Option 3 - Oracle Smart View

Smart View can also be used to edit metadata directly in Excel. This option does have some ease of use: built in extract/submit buttons, cut/copy/paste, Excel features like AutoFilter and use of functions to build metadata components, etc. But it lacks the edit checks as shown above.

I do use this one frequently when doing initial metadata building. It's commonplace to begin a project where someone gives me an Excel file with the chart of accounts, legal entity hierarchy, etc. 

Option 4 - Export to text file, make changes, upload

This option is probably the simplest in theory, but the hardest to make work successfully. Export the metadata to a text or CSV file, manually make the changes, and load back in. With this option there are no edit checks and lots of room to create errors (like leave out a comma [delimiter]) but technically it does work.

Option 5 - Oracle Enterprise Data Management

Why worry about edit checks if you can eliminate the errors altogether? Enterprise Data Management is a part of the Oracle Cloud EPM suite that adds governance, rules, workflow, and other features around metadata management. Each target application can have the edit checks around what's valid and not valid set up. This is usually an additional cost (unless you already have Enterprise licensing for Oracle Cloud EPM and can work with less than 5,000 members) and does involve a project to implement but there are a lot of benefits that none of the other options can match.

These are five of the common ways to work with FCC metadata. All of these are valid approaches although the manual editing with the text file is probably the least likely to be used. If administrators are still working with option 2 (the old editor) then some serious consideration should be given to switch to option 1 (the new editor). The grid format allows editing multiple members at the same time and the visual attribute edits (the red borders) are two features that the old editor simply can't match.

Oracle EPM Reporting - Trick for Period Reporting

A fellow consultant reached out for help on solving a problem with building a report with a specific requirement regarding periods in the columns. Like many things here on the blog, I'm adding the solution here for everyone (including me) to reference and find in the future.

The problem involves reporting a range of periods. The customer wanted to select a period in the point of view and then show the remaining periods in the quarter (not the year, which would be a simple RANGE function). So (assuming a calendar year setup) if the user selects January then show February and March and if the user selects February then only show March. With Essbase calculation scripting there are functions called LSIBLINGS and RSIBLINGS that can do this (show siblings before and after the current member). But in reporting, either within Narrative Reporting or within Reporting within the applications, there are no such functions.

My initial thought was to specify all the periods in the columns and then apply a bunch of conditional suppresses. It would work but I knew there was a better way, so I reached out to super star Opal Alapat for help. 

So, here's what to do: use the INTERSECT function. The function returns all members that meet all of a list of specified criteria. The issue is figuring out which criteria to use where the combination yields the desired result.

For this particular problem, there are two criteria to specify. First, use the SIBLINGS function to return all of the siblings of the current point of view period (which will be user specified). If a user selects January, this function will return February and March (which coincidentally meets the requirement). But if the user selects February, the function returns January and March (which doesn't work).

The second criteria filters out the prior periods. Use the RANGE function to show periods from the current point of view to December (or the last period if a non-calendar application). So if the user point of view is February, then this function will return all months February to December.

This is where the magic of the INTERSECT function comes in. The function looks at the two criteria and returns only the members that are in all the criteria sets. Here's what it looks like in the member selector and after returning to the grid.

And after clicking OK, the function shows this way in the report grid.

The solution works well: both easy to set up and understand. And avoids the hassle of creating a bunch of conditional suppresses.

Bonus: If there is a need to report months before the current point of view in the quarter, then change the RANGE to go from January (or the first period) to the current point of view.

Change to EPM Software Release Cycle

 Oracle recently made an important announcement for all EPM environments that all administrators need to know.

First, some history, then what's happening, and then the consequences.

In the fall of 2025 the Essbase version in some products was upgraded to 21c. There were some product issues in the October 2025 and there was some communication from a group within Oracle advising customers to skip the updates. Probably more for the confusion as much as product issues, Oracle skipped the November and December 2025 releases and the January 2026 release (which usually doesn't have much anyway as it happens during year end close for the majority of customers).

Now, after further review and I'm guessing out of an abundance of caution, Oracle is skipping the February and March 2026 updates as well. The next scheduled release will be the April 2026 release. If following the normal cadence, the test environments will be updated on April 3 and the production environments on April 17.

So, consequences. The EPM Automate skipupdate command doesn't need to be used to skip these periods like was required for the October 2025 release. But, once April comes the environments will not have been updated in more than three months, so the skipupdate command won't work then either. To skip the April update (quarter end close for a majority of customers) an SR is required and Oracle will have to do it. 

Customers will need to make a choice regarding the test environments. Currently, the test environment is most likely either the same version as production or one version ahead, meaning that an artifact snapshot (application backup) can be moved back and forth. If both production and test are not updated in April, then that will continue but the new version won't be available for testing. If the normal update cadence described above is followed, then the test environment won't be able to import the production snapshot during the two week testing window (more than one version different).

Recommendations. If you want to test the new version in the test environment, do a fresh clone from production to test right before the update gets applied to test (like on April 2). Also consider creating an extra environment so the current test environment can skip the update (if needed to support production and/or migration policies) and the new test environment can get updated (best of both worlds).

Oracle really doesn't love acronyms

This post is a little off topic and definitely not technical. There is something that bugs (software pun intended) me about how many people refer to Oracle's products, including Oracle employees. And this issue isn't related to just Oracle; I see this everywhere, both in tech and non-tech.

Particularly with the Oracle Enterprise Performance Management products with which I work, there are a lot of abbreviations: EPM, ARCS, FCC, etc. And elsewhere in Oracle there are terms like AI, OCI, ERP, and many, many others. You're probably thinking "Yes, yes, we know all these acronyms and use them all the time. So what?"

Well, here's the issue: most of these are NOT acronyms. Really. They are actually initialisms. The difference between an acronym and an initialism is how one pronounces the grouping of letters. If the letters are spelled out individually, like EPM, AI, OCI, etc, then it's an initialism. If the letters are pronounced all together as a word, like ARCS (pronounced as "arcs") then it's an acronym.

If you don't believe me, look it up: here's one link.

https://www.grammarly.com/commonly-confused-words/acronym-vs-initialism

Epilogue: out of curiosity, I checked a free version of ChatGPT to see if their AI had any self-awareness. Looks like not yet.

Update: same happens with Google Gemini.

Oracle Cloud EPM - Renaming Stuff

Like most people I'm learning new things in Oracle Cloud EPM all the time. Many items (probably like this one) are most likely things that others have known for years and take for granted. Anyway, here is something I recently ran across that's a followup to my February 2025 post about migrating away from Financial Reporting.

Once all of the migration work is done for the reports, users should go to the Reports tab within the Reports card and not the Financial Reporting tab which unfortunately still shows.

The Financial Reports tab will be there until Oracle takes it away. Having it there may be a temptation for users to keep going there out of habit. We could delete the reports or change security to them all, but if they're needed during the first cutover close, either of those options would slow things down. So, here's an idea.

There's a menu item under the Tools cluster called Artifact Labels. This screen allows renaming practically anything. Well, at least within the web interface as the renaming occurs by browser language. The idea is for language translations or making something user friendly if the real label or name is cryptic.

So, go to Tools > Artifact Labels and click the Filter icon. From the extensive list (and you'll see you can rename just about everything), select Tab. Use the Add Language dropdown to select the desired browser language. Then scroll down to the Financial Reports line and enter the desired text and click Save.

When renaming a navigation flow item like this, closing the browser and logging back in may be necessary. But now, when a user goes into the Reports card, they see this.

The tab still works and the reports are all still there and work but hopefully the users get the hint.

For more extensive changes, create a line item like above and then export to CSV, make more changes, and then import as shown above with the Actions dropdown.

I'm thinking all of these renames could get out of hand but when used thoughtfully this is a great hidden gem of a feature.

FCC Consolidation Status - "Completed" does NOT mean Successful

UPDATE - September 2025 - this is looking to be fixed. A consolidation with this error now shows Error on the main jobs screen.

FCC has a similarity to Microsoft Excel on manual calc. Change data, then press F9 for the calculations/formulas to run. In FCC, the similar process is consolidation, just like it was in its predecessors MicroControl, Hyperion/Enterprise, and HFM. This process is central to how all four products work. Unlike those great products of the past, however, FCC consolidations have one big deficiency: the status reporting. Did the consolidation work or not? Without going to multiple screens, you don't always know.

Look at these two consolidation results from the Jobs listing. One of them failed and one succeeded. Can you tell which is which?

Looking at the details of one of the consolidations, can you tell now? No, you can't.

Actually, this consolidation failed. Clicking the word "Completed" shows that the consolidation didn't even run.

It could be that "Completed," internally, means someone started the process, the process started running the software code that Oracle told it to do, and the code reached the end of the process. Whether the process actually encountered an issue during that; well, that's up to you the user/admin to figure out. In my mind, this is like saying whether I have eaten. I start the process of eating: something goes in mouth, I chew, I swallow. Ok, I ate something. Did I like it, did I hate it, did I get sick, did I eat something poisonous and die, am I still hungry: who knows.

I posted an enhancement idea on Oracle Cloud Customer Connect on this over four years ago. Maybe everyone is okay with this level (I want to use other words here but am trying really hard not to) of status reporting. I'm thinking that Oracle can do better. If you want to upvote the idea - please do -  here's the link:

https://community.oracle.com/customerconnect/discussion/558521/consolidation-jobs-should-indicate-error-not-just-complete

Since FCC has been reporting consolidation status this way for so long, you'd think everyone would know about it. That's not true - I just had this conversation with a client today. The issue appeared in downstream processes: reporting was weird, data wasn't correct, etc. So if your consolidations run but you don't get the results you expect, unfortunately a little digging is required.