Did the FCC consolidation work?

You run a consolidation in FCC (or FCCS as originally known), wait, maybe wait some more, and then you go to the jobs list and see the status is complete. Great! But then you look and see data isn't there or the data status is unchanged. What gives?

A consolidation job status of "complete" DOES NOT mean success or fail. It means simply that the process has finished running. But what you really want to know is the success or fail status. Where do you find this?

In the job listing click on Consolidate to see the details.

Here, you will see some details about the POV and how long the job took. 

But you STILL WON'T know whether it succeeded or not (but if the time duration is really quick then failed is probably the answer). Click Completed at the top left by Job Status.

There, now you get to see whether the consolidation succeeded or failed. Whew!

If you think there should be a better way, can you do anything about it! YES! On Cloud Customer Connect there is an idea posted already. What you can do is to "upvote," meaning click the thumbs-up icon. After clicking, either add a comment if you want or click Skip. The more companies that like an idea, the more likely it will be considered. You can also lobby your Oracle contacts when you see them on calls, etc. Let your voice be heard! Here is the link - both as a link and as raw text for those who don't like clicking links.

https://cloudcustomerconnect.oracle.com/posts/8d62090b81

https://cloudcustomerconnect.oracle.com/posts/8d62090b81

FCCS Smart View - showing both label and alias/description

I haven't done a blog post in a while so it's past time for one. And after reading this and seeing my previous post, I am glad there is continuity.

Let me start by saying I'm liking FCC. It's the next evolutionary step in Oracle consolidation just like HFM was an evolutionary step above and beyond Hyperion Enterprise. But sometimes with these processes there is a step back. And yes, there are bits of Enterprise that were never replicated in HFM and are still missed to this day. This post describes one area like this, offers a workaround, and asks for a favor.

For HFM users, and this was true for Enterprise, when you used the spreadsheet add-in of the day to do ad hoc analysis you had a choice something like this. Ignore Indentation and Ancestor Position - they are headings for other fields that are hidden by the expanded dropdown.

So when you're in an ad hoc grid you can choose to see the member labels, member descriptions, or both. Both would look like 100 - Petty Cash.

When using Smart View with FCC or Planning, the same dropdown has different selections.

Both of these are versions of the member label. To see the alias or description, there is a second button that appears on the ribbon called Change Alias.

With these options, choosing None will show the labels and choosing one of the aliases (this application only has one called Default) would show the alias instead.

THERE IS NOT AN OPTION TO SHOW BOTH. And this is the departure from HFM, etc.

So, here's the solution. Note this wasn't my idea but was proferred and confirmed by people smarter than me in these areas. Create another alias and populate it with the combination of label and the regular alias. Users can choose that as they desire. You can also use it for reporting if you want. The downside is you have two fields to maintain instead of just one. If you are using EDM, DRM, or other metadata management tool, then you can use a formula to calculate this field. Regardless of how you do it, just watch the overall length though.

Now, the favor. There is something you can do. If you read the previous post on this blog, it describes how to go to Oracle Cloud Customer Connect and submit and like ideas. Someone already created an idea for this topic. So here's the favor: if you agree, please log into CCC and like this idea. Here's the link. I have seen ideas that get liked in this fashion make it to the product, so it is not a pointless exercise. Guaranteed, no, but not pointless.

https://cloudcustomerconnect.oracle.com/posts/c676227152

I think FCC is great, but I do miss the simple things in life sometimes.

Cloud Customer Connect - Liking Ideas

Hopefully all Oracle cloud customers know about this topic, but maybe not. There is an Oracle website, cloudcustomerconnect.oracle.com, where users can post forum questions and submit enhancement requests (they're called ideas). Oracle staff regularly review the items on CCC and comment. Also, there are webcasts announced via CCC on new product features and other items and the replays of these webcasts are also available.

All of that is good, but there is a feature that doesn't seem to get used all that often. Submitting an idea is good, but it is helpful if others review the idea and like/dislike it. If something is important to all users, then all users should weigh in which would raise the importance of the idea in Oracle's eyes.

For example, I searched this morning for an idea and didn't find it, so I created the idea.

In case you're wondering, yes, you can drill down on shared members in forms but not via Smart View ad hoc or Financial Reporting expansions, both of which are used much more than forms.

If this idea (or any idea that's out there) is important to you, click the green circle with the thumbs up. You're presented with a comment box so you can easily explain why this is important to you. You can also just cancel out of the comment box if you don't wish to leave a comment.

Note you can only like/dislike three ideas within a minute, so go slow and don't get click happy.


If ideas are not supported, then there is a perception that the idea has little importance to the users at large. Oracle reviews the ideas and categorizes them. For example, this idea from 2018 has been tagged as planned. This is also one of the most liked ideas in the FCCS arena, so if only 25 people are weighing in there is a lot of room for improvement in participation.

So, in summary, go to cloudcustomerconnect.oracle.com, use the forum and the webcasts, but also do two things: (a) submit ideas and (b) weigh in on other ideas. Or, to use another term that's popular in the USA periodically, go vote!


P.S. While you're in CCC, if you want to support my idea at the top about drilling down on shared members, it would be much appreciated!!!! Here's the link:

https://cloudcustomerconnect.oracle.com/posts/f5e1dd2fed