Share your experience using SAP BusinessObjects EPM [EOL]

I have been working with Oracle HFM for five years. It is primarily used for reporting.

Oracle HFM is excellent for consolidation and reconciliation. It helps me see the general overview of the business across several locations.

The drill-through reporting enhances accuracy in financial analysis. Oracle HFM has a schedule that requires reporting, especially one that ties back to my general ledger. I have to report each line item that comprises that number. It helps me fact-check reported numbers with a schedule. For example, with payables, Oracle HFM allows me to have a list of numbers reported per supplier. This provides comfort that the numbers are not fictitious. Additionally, it has a feature that performs fact-checking from P&L to balance sheet. For instance, if depreciation is reported, it must align with what is in the profit or loss account. These features ensure integrity in the reported numbers and allow for quick error detection while serving as a reconciliation tool.

The currency conversion feature provides a global view from entity currency to local currency perspective, enabling value checks in different currencies for the company as a whole. In Nigeria, I report in Naira, and I don't need to report in my parent currency. The entity can report in their currency into Oracle HFM, and the parent company converts to their currency. By inputting budget rates, I can convert to any reporting currency, particularly the parent company currency. This feature saves time, increases speed, and allows the parent company to value its subsidiaries quickly.

Regarding data integration capabilities for ensuring data consistency and accuracy, it deserves a high rating. For example, with inventory, if there is an impairment, the reported amount in P&L should match the balance sheet's inventory impairment. This level of checking provides confidence in the accuracy of reported figures.

In my first experience with Oracle HFM, navigating to input numbers was cumbersome. For instance, when reporting revenue, I have to navigate to the revenue section. There should be a link where clicking on 'revenue' takes me directly to the reporting section, similar to a summary or search tree with shortcuts.

Currently, I don't see any missing features that should be included in future releases. As it functions primarily as a reporting tool rather than an accounting tool, it meets my usage requirements adequately.

I have been using Oracle HFM for approximately 11 years.

There are measurable benefits from using Oracle HFM as it reduces manpower and eliminates work duplication. Being in a different country than my parent company, once I report, it becomes straightforward for others to analyze and consolidate the company as a whole, reducing time and labor costs.

For organizations considering Oracle HFM, I recommend it for its ability to view the entire company at once through consolidation, its simplicity of use, and detailed reporting capabilities.

I rate Oracle HFM 8 out of 10.

The usual use cases for Oracle HFM that I support are for financial institutions, crewing for ships, and an Australian airlines company. They use the application mainly for management reporting purposes, reporting for taxation, and specialized business operations.

In my current role, a hierarchy is being maintained for the types of class in an airline, such as business class and economy class, to name a few.

The features of Oracle HFM that I have found most valuable are the highly customized applications that I've handled for the needs of my clients. Even though Oracle HFM rule is phased out, I still handle the version that includes HFM rules, which is similar to Visual Basic language. It is really helpful in improving the serviceability and efficiency of the system according to the needs of the client. The journal adjustments that can be done within the application are also very helpful for last-minute reporting adjustments that cannot be performed from the source applications. These two qualities stand out in using Oracle HFM.

For organizations I handle that have a global presence, the currency conversion feature of Oracle HFM is very flexible and comes in handy in meeting all currency translation requirements of their organization. It provides good insight into which parts of the business perform up to par with the expectations of the whole organization. In the HFM rules, there are other features or improvements we can add to how these currency translations perform during consolidation. It's easy to use and understandable for a normal business user of Oracle HFM when they pull up their report.

Oracle HFM's drill-through reporting has enhanced my customers' financial analysis significantly. In my past employment, users could drill down to the base level in each of the dimensions, such as account dimension and entity dimension in HFM. If set up correctly and if FDMEE is used, it can even drill down further using Smart View within the Oracle HFM connection to access the very granular level of general ledger cost centers. The reporting of each business segment is made faster, and they understand their numbers better in a more efficient manner, making the whole process more effective for their targets and deadlines.

Oracle HFM's data integration capabilities have many ways to ensure data consistency and accuracy. Options include FDMEE, offline files, or creating a Visual Basic or a VBA-based program in an Excel template to upload journals directly into Oracle HFM. Additionally, flat files can be uploaded, and Oracle Data Integrator can also be used for a more organized setup of the business process in loading data into Oracle HFM.

For analytical insights in Oracle HFM, they include financial reports or data forms that can be very intuitive. A user, given enough access, can create their own templates, forms, and grids for whatever purpose they may be used. This can include creating formal financial reports that are sent out on a scheduled basis, such as system reconciliation reports sent to the whole finance community every morning after a general ledger data load occurs from a source application into Oracle HFM. Delivery will be instant as scheduled, and the audience will be notified immediately of any variances after a consolidation event in Oracle HFM.

Oracle HFM could be improved or enhanced in handling metadata or the dimensionality. I currently handle updates in the dimension hierarchies and properties manually. There is a way for it to be centrally managed through Data Relationship Manager, another application, but I find that option cumbersome to perform. The handling of dimensionalities and properties of Oracle HFM dimension could use enhancement.

I have not personally experienced any shutdowns or abrupt stops in Oracle HFM because of the application itself. However, issues can arise from the company's network. As an application, it is dependable and does what it is expected to do, as long as the network and infrastructure supporting the application are stable.

Regarding the scalability of Oracle HFM, I find it ideal for multinational corporations with a presence in various parts of the world, allowing them to take advantage of the multicurrency reporting feature. In terms of scalability, due to the features Oracle HFM offers, it readily accommodates any organizational expansion. For example, on average, I add somewhere around 5 to 10 entities on a monthly basis to my client's entity dimension, and the system shows no lag in performance regarding data retrieval, running consolidations, or accessing different features. It is scalable, but it is best suited for large organizations; those with just a singular currency can use it but won't fully benefit from all features intended for Oracle HFM.

I do not often communicate with Oracle's technical support for this solution. My interaction with Oracle support has been minimal; it only occurred once in my previous organization, and it boiled down to user error in handling HFM rules.

Negative

I do not usually participate in the initial setup of Oracle HFM. I come into the picture at the last phase when Oracle HFM has been rolled out, ready for production and business use, and they need someone to become the system admin, which is my role. I haven't been part of implementing Oracle HFM projects from a legacy application into HFM.

I am not familiar with Oracle HFM's advanced rules engine if it is similar to the HFM rules that I encounter and have experience with. Technology now is geared towards cloud solutions, not on-premises, so organizations would prefer the latest version of Oracle EPM, which is cloud, and not HFM anymore, but FCCS. Based on my overall experience with Oracle HFM, I would rate it 7 out of 10. It is reliable, does the job as expected, and this rating also reflects that it's an old system. I am sure there have been improvements after Oracle HFM and in the newer FCCS version on the cloud, but it remains a reliable tool being used by well-known organizations with a global presence.