2. Hyperion Financial Reporting:
Top 10 Tips and Tricks
Edward Roske, CEO
Oracle ACE Director
info@interrel.com
BLOG: LookSmarter.blogspot.com
WEBSITE: www.interrel.com
TWITTER: Eroske

3. About interRel
 Reigning Oracle Award winner Consulting
EPM & BI Solution of the year
 Three Oracle ACE Directors for
Hyperion Press Training
 Oracle Platinum Partner
 One of the 100 fastest growing
tech companies in the USA
(CRN Magazine, 2007-2010)
Infra
Support
structure
 Authors of the 8 Best Selling
books on Hyperion & Essbase
Focused exclusively on
 Only 4 books in the world on v11 Oracle EPM & BI
 All available on LuLu.com
3

4.  8 Hyperion Books Available:
 Essbase (7): Complete Guide
 Essbase System 9: Complete Guide
 Essbase System 9: End User Guide
 Essbase 11: Admin Guide
 Essbase Studio 11
 Smart View 11: End User Guide
 Planning: End Users Guide
 Planning: Administrators
 To order, check out www.LuLu.com
•4 •Copyright © 2007, Hyperion. All rights reserved.

5. Disclaimer
These slides represent the work and opinions of
the presenter and do not constitute official
positions of Oracle or any other organization.
These material has not been peer reviewed and is
presented here with the permission of the
presenter.
These should not be copied, recorded or
reproduced without the expressed written
permission of interRel Consulting.
5

6. Agenda
 Top 10 Tips and Tricks for Faster FR Reporting
 What’s New for FR 11X
6

7. Top 10 Tips for Faster Reports
1. Is it Essbase or FR? Optimize for Retrievals
2. Grid Point Of View
3. Limit Page Members for PDF Viewing
4. Limit Conditional Formatting
5. Limit Number of Combinations
6. Utilize expanded data segments when possible
7. Push calculations to the Essbase Server
8. Efficient Report Calculations
9. Multiple Print Servers
10. Data Query Optimization
7

8. Slow Report – Is it Essbase or FR?
 Run the same report using the Microsoft Excel Add-in or
Smart View
 If the report runs fast in Excel and slow in Reports, the
issue is on the Reports server
 Check out the following tips for faster reports
 If Essbase is the culprit, review your Essbase design
 Dense / Sparse settings
 Hierarchy settings
 Caches
8

9. Using a Grid POV
 Grid POV vs Paging Members
 Grid POV – can be set up to allow users to change Grid
POV (works similar to a “Page”) without all of the
processing
 When page is selected, the report will run for all of the
page members
 Also a good way to “fix” a member selection for a report
9

10. Limit Page Members for PDF Viewing
 All pages must be rendered so limiting the number of
members in pages leads to faster reporting.
 See the tip about using Grid POVs.
10

11. Limit Conditional Formatting
 Limit Conditional Formatting – Slows down the report
 ESPECIALLY when you use a function that requires
Essbase
 Essbase processes the request line by line; this will tie up
the Essbase server, Reports server, and the network
 Example – If Gen 2 then X, else if Gen 3 then Y.
11

12. Limit Number of Combinations
 Instead of saying DIMBOTTOM, narrow down the
member selection to reduce the number of combinations
that will be retrieved from the server.
 E.g
12

13. Expanded Data Segments
 For data queries, use Expanded Data Segments when
you know “data exists”
 Expanded data segment is a row or column that can be
expanded (Children of, Descendants of…)
 Dynamically update the report based on the Essbase OTL
 … so if new members or levels are inserted into the Essbase OTL, the
report will automatically refresh
 Limitation - formatting is applied across all members in the
expanded data segment; Conditional formatting could be used
to address this issue
 If you have detailed formatting or calculation requirements, then
you must use single data segments
 Flip side – if you know it is only one or two members
that will have data, just pull those members (vs. pulling
everything and suppressing data
13

14. Expanded Data Segments
Use conditional formatting
to apply formatting by
level or generation – see
earlier tip.
14

15. Push Calculations to the Hyperion Essbase
Sever
 Hyperion Reports has an expansive list of formula and
calculation capabilities
 But… this means processing on the Reports server
 If you can, push calculations back to the Essbase server
 Benefits
 Faster
 Standard formula across all reports accessible to
users
 (Data integrity)
 Central place for business rule / calculation logic
 (Update the formula once vs. several times
throughout all reports)
15

16. Efficient Calculations / Functions
 Use row / column formulas (vs. cell formulas)
 Use reference properties
 Any row, column, or cell reference can have a
property associated with it
 Example: Two formulas that reach the same result
 Row reference - [1:5].sum
 Sum Function - Sum([1:5])
 First formula executes faster since it is being used as
a reference property
 Remove unnecessary parenthesis from formulas
16

17. Multiple Print Servers
Multiple print servers assist in generation of PDFs. The report
server will distribute print jobs in a round robin format to
multiple print servers, providing a shared workload.
1. Stop all Hyperion Reports services
2. Open with Notepad the hr_repserver.properties file located in "C:Program FilesHyperion
SolutionsHyperion ReportsPackages".
3. Next to the setting "NumberOfPrintServers=", specify the number of print servers you will
use.
4. Add an entry for each print server and specify the machine name or IP address of each
Print Server in the following convention: printserver1=machineA
5. On each print server, install Adobe Acrobat Writer or Ghostscript and install Hyperion
Reports. During the installation of Hyperion Reports, select the box to install only the Print
Server.
6. On each print server, execute the print server batch file through START->PROGRAMS-
>HYPERION SOLUTIONS->HYPERION REPORTS->START PRINT SERVER or by
double-clicking StartPrintServer.cmd file located in "C:Program FilesHyperion
SolutionsHyperion ReportsBin“
7. Start the Hyperion Reports Services in the Hyperion Reports server.
17

18. Data Query Optimization Options
 Suppress Missing on the Hyperion Essbase Server
 For reports with a sparse dimension and at least one
associated attribute dimension in the grid row, “Include”
the the Essbase Sparse option
18

19. Data Query Optimization Options
 Suppress Missing on the Hyperion Essbase Server
 For reports with a sparse dimension and at least one
associated attribute dimension in the grid row, “Include”
the Essbase Sparse option
 New option to use MDX that is selected by default (you
may want to turn off if having performance / other
strange issues
19

20. Other Recent Tip – FR Hanging / Crashing?
 Two clients recently had this issue with FR
 Problem ended up being large PDF jobs that exceeded the JVM
heap for the HRPrinting.exe process
 It would leave an orphan HRPrinting.exe process running using
300MB (visible through Task Manager).
 Once there were 5 orphaned HRPrinting.exe
processes HyS9FRPrint.exe wouldn't spawn any more, if we
killed one of the orphan HRPrinting.exe processes the
HyS9FRPrint.exe would spawn a new HRPrinting.exe and run
successfully (unless it was larger than the allowed memory).
 Solution
 It helped but didn't prevent the problem to increase the JVM
setting from -XMX256M to -XMX512M in the registry at
Hyperion SolutionHReportsJVMJVM Option2 (Can’t set higher
than 512 MB)
 Create smaller batches
20

21. And Don’t Forget…
 Financial Reporting is not designed for dim bottom across all of
your sparse dimensions
 If you are trying to build this type of report, you WILL have
performance issues
21

22. Couple of Final Thoughts
 Planning to Reporting Functionality in Planning 11.1.2
 Map Smartlist Values to Based Dimensions
 Execute Reports within Excel Using SmartView
 More preferable than running in Workspace and then exporting
to Excel
 Sometimes you just have to run the utility to clear the POV for all
users in FR…
22

23. What’s New Financial Reporting 11.1.2
Go Forward Strategy for Oracle EPM and BI

24. Journey from Financial Reporting 9 to 11
9.0 9.3 9.3.1 11.1.1 11.1.2
 Shared  FR Batch  FR Include  Workspace Home  FR HTML
Services Bursting external page  FR Book
 Common  FR Freeze row content in  Integration OBIEE+ enhancemen
Workspace and column books and Publisher to ts
 One place headings  FR Manage Workspace  FRExecute
to get FR,  Portlets POV utility  Better search  FR Tracking
WA, and IR  FR annotations
content  FR define initial
 Common preferences
roles  FR PDF book
(which enhancements (cell
were really docs, bookmarks, pg
confusing) no)

25. New Look for the Workspace
25

26. Tabs Across the Top
26

27. What’s New in Financial Reporting 11.1.2?
Book FR document
FRExecute
enhancements tracking
Support for Formatted
Essbase Text based on user Combines
and Date preference Services
measures setting
Related content
enhancements

28. What’s New in FR – Book Enhancements
 New Properties pane at bottom of the Book Editor that allows
editing properties of the selected Book object/file
 Book dialog settings moved to new properties pane
28

29. What’s New in FR – Book Enhancements
 Define a book with a Table of Contents containing sections and
indented subsections
29

30. What’s New in FR – Book Enhancements
 Insert new book object types
 URL links
 Heading text label and HTML files
 External file types – Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF files and
text files
30

31. What’s New in FR – Book Enhancements
 Custom labels for objects and reports in book table of contents
31

32. What’s New in FR – Book Enhancements
 Cut and paste book
objects and sections for
enhanced book editing
 Move up or down
32

33. What’s New in FR – Book Enhancements
 Display or hide sections and objects in the book table of contents
 Included in the output but not in the TOC
33

34. HTML Output
 Generate book output as a static HTML web site with built in search
capabilities
 Templates are provided for HTML layout and page customization
 Generated through scheduled book batch
 Batch bursting not supported for HTML option
34

35. Retrieving HTML Output form Workspace
 Right click on the batch once it is complete
 Select Retrieve Output to download
35

36. 36

37. 37

38. Customized Layout for HTML Output
 Custom header and footer defined in the template.css file
 Table of contents with nested sections and section headings
 Navigation trail that keeps track of your location in the book
 Search the entire “site”, Table of Contents, or content
38

39. FRExecute
 New custom FRExecute function enables users to embed a report,
grid or chart or cell in Word
 Report content is retrieved into Word when the book is scheduled in
batch output
 Primarily used with HTML output
 For (some) details look in the FRWebUser guide
39

40. What is the syntax?
 FRExecute(ReportName[Type={1,2};Component
Type={1,2};ComponentName={Grid1,Grid2,Cha
rt1,Chart2,Chart3};Page={1,2,..;.}Cell=FR
Formula}
 ReportName - name of the report (must include Path if not in Root
directory)
 Type1 - dynamic report; Type2 - Snapshot report
 ComponentType1(optional) is a grid; ComponentType2(optional) is
a chart.
 ComponenentName(optional) - grid or chart name
 Page(optional) - page number
 Cell(optional) – specific cell; syntax is cell=cell[row,col], or
cell=[row,col]
40

41. Steps to Using FRExecute
1. Type the syntax directly in the Word doc as well as a text box.
2. Upload word doc to Workspace
3. Insert doc into book
4. Create batch with book
5. Schedule batch and ran
6. The document is included in the book with the FR Report, grid, etc.
41

42. Create a Word Doc
 .docx not supported
42

43. Import Doc to Workspace
 File >> Import >> File
43

44. Add to Book
 Make sure to
enable
FRExecute
Processing
on Book
Setup tab
44

45. Create and Schedule Batch
45

46. Check Out the Output
46

47. 47

48. FR Tracking
 Tracking for who used a report and when it
was last accessed FRLogging.log
 Output captured in a log file with time/date
stamp, report/book name, user id and
whether report action was preview or design
48

49. Other New Features 11.1.2 FR Features
 Insert a link in a book or as part of related content to document
stored in Content Management System (Oracle Universal
Management, Workspace or third party system)
 Support for Essbase Text and Date measures
 Formatted based on user preference setting
 Annotations on formula cells
 Related content links can be created for any part of the report or
snapshot including formula, text rows and columns, headers,
images, text boxes and cells
49

50. Combined FR Services
 FR Reports server, FR web applications server and FR scheduler
server are combined into one server; Print server is still separate
50

51. XBRL Creation and Management
 Current FR XBRL functionality
 Create a report, map XBRL metadata (concepts, context, units
and footnotes), and export the report output as an instance
document in FR Studio
 All of the XBRL mappings are stored with the individual report
definition.
 Future 11.1.2 Disclosure Management
 Old way will continue to be supported
 No new features
 No migration path
51

52. Disclosure Management
 Manage and create critical
documents (e.g. Debt covenants,
10Q/K, Board package)
 No need for third party filers for
XBRL
 MS Office centered – Word for
authoring
 Hot link to EPM apps
 Multiple report formats
 Word, HTML, PDF
 Embedded XBRL Reporting
Capabilities
 Based on Ubmatrix technology
 Report tagging – MS Office or FR
 Metadata tagging – FM, Planning, EPMA, and Essbase
 Taxonomy management ; support for multiple taxonomies
 Instance documentation creation and validation

53. What’s New?
 Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) System
Cumulative Feature Overview Tool
 The CFO Tool is interactive and offers customers a simple way to
determine the new features between releases
 This first version covers Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance
Management System Release 9.3.1 through Release 11.1.2
 The tool is available on the My Oracle Support site via this link:
https://support.oracle.com/oip/faces/secure/km/DocumentDisplay.js
px?id=1092114.1.

 There is also a 7-min. recorded demo that shows how to use the
tool. Here’s the link to the
recording: http://docwiki.us.oracle.com/wiki/CFO_Tool_Demo
53

54. Keeping up with the EPM Documentation
 Follow On Twitter
 You can follow EPM Documentation info on Twitter here:
HyperionEPMInfo
 Follow On Facebook
 You can follow EPM Documentation info on Facebook here:
Hyperion EPM Info
54

55. Where are the Darn Log Files?
 This info is hidden in the EPM Installation and Configuration
Troubleshooting Guide, page 17:
 http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/epm_ins
tall_troubleshooting.pdf

 This chapter has info on the log file configuration and output
locations for all of the products
55

56. Thank You.
Edward Roske, CEO
Oracle ACE Director
info@interrel.com
BLOG: LookSmarter.blogspot.com
WEBSITE: www.interrel.com
TWITTER: Eroske