Author: Kirby Lunger, Performance Architects
For many years, Oracle has been the leader in the enterprise performance management (EPM) (also called corporate performance management or CPM if you follow Gartner) arena with a suite of products called “Oracle EPM.” These products started on-premise, and Oracle has very quickly migrated this functionality to the cloud since the release of its first EPM cloud product back in February 2014.
For those of us who have been in this area for a while, the rapid product evolution can be confusing…so this blog post attempts to clarify the state of the world right now in terms of what Oracle is offering in on-premise and in the cloud (as software-as-a-service or SaaS solutions).
Oracle EPM History
These products have a storied history, having started back in the 1990s as Arbor Software (which marketed Essbase, the database that still powers most of the Oracle EPM solutions today) and Hyperion Software, which merged with Arbor Software to become Hyperion Solutions. Oracle eventually acquired Hyperion in the mid-2000s. As a result, many of the on-premise Oracle EPM applications have “Hyperion” in the title.
Oracle EPM On-Premise Solutions
This chart from Oracle demonstrates a variation of the four functional focus areas of the Oracle EPM (Hyperion) product suite (as many of you know who’ve been in this area for a while, there are several variations of this chart floating around, so please consider this “representative”):
Oracle’s major EPM on-premise product offerings map to these functional areas in the following way:
- Planning and Forecasting (also often referred to as “Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting”)
- Oracle Hyperion Planning (Planning)
- Oracle Hyperion Public Sector Planning and Budgeting (PSPB)
- Oracle Hyperion Strategic Finance (HSF)
- Oracle Hyperion Workforce Planning (Workforce Planning)
- Oracle Hyperion Capital Asset Planning (Capital Planning or CapEx Planning)
- Oracle Hyperion Project Financial Planning (PFP or Project Financial Planning)
- Strategy Management (note this often gets merged into the “Planning” category above)
- Oracle Hyperion Strategic Finance (HSF)
- Financial Close and Reporting (also often referred to as “Financial Close and Consolidation”)
- Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM)
- Oracle Hyperion Financial Close Management (FCM)
- Oracle Hyperion Disclosure Management (Disclosure Management)
- Oracle Hyperion Tax Provision (Tax Provision)
- Profitability Management
- Oracle Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management (HPCM)
There are also “horizontal” capabilities that map across these product categories that are also offered as either products or “named” functionality within products that are useful to know about; these include:
- Reporting and Analysis
- Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting (FR)
- Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting (BRIO)
- Oracle Hyperion SQR Production Reporting
- Oracle Hyperion Web Analysis (Web Analysis)
- Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office (SmartView or Smart View)
- Data Management and Integration
- Oracle Data Relationship Management (DRM)
- Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management Enterprise Edition (FDMEE)
- Oracle Data Relationship Governance (DRG)
- Oracle Data Integrator (ODI)
- Oracle GoldenGate (Golden Gate)
- Oracle Reports Services
- Oracle Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)
Oracle SaaS/Cloud Solutions
Oracle’s EPM (Hyperion) software-as-a-service (SaaS or cloud) solutions also map to the same four functional focus areas of the Oracle EPM (Hyperion) product suite:
- Planning and Forecasting (also often referred to as “Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting”)
- Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (EPBCS or E-PBCS)
- Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS)
- Important note: As of the date of publication of this blog entry, Oracle is exploring simplifying the name of these solutions to “Oracle Enterprise Planning Cloud” and “Oracle Planning Cloud,” but this isn’t definitive yet; also, many of the modules offered in addition to Oracle Hyperion Planning on-premise such as capital, workforce, and project financial planning are offered as part of the EPBCS suite and the pricing/bundling model for this is evolving as of the date of publication of this blog entry.
- Strategy Management (note this often gets merged into the “Planning” category above)
- This became a feature of E-PBCS called “Strategic Modeling”
- Financial Close and Reporting (also often referred to as “Financial Close and Consolidation”)
- Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud Service (FCCCS or FCCS)
- Oracle Account Reconciliation Cloud Service (ARCS)
- Oracle Tax Reporting Cloud Service (TRCS)
- Profitability Management
- Oracle Profitability and Cost Management Cloud Service (PCMCS)
Just like on-premise, there are also “horizontal” capabilities that map across these product categories that are also offered as either products or “named” functionality within products that are useful to know about; these include:
- Reporting and Analysis
- Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting (FR)
- Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office (SmartView or Smart View)
- Oracle Enterprise Performance Reporting Cloud Service (EPRCS)
- Data Management and Integration
- Oracle Data Integrator Cloud Service (ODICS)
- Oracle GoldenGate Cloud Service (GGCS)
Where’s Essbase?
Going back to the history of how this all started, you may recall that there’s a database underlying most of these solutions on-premise – and pretty much all of these solutions in the cloud – called Essbase…and you’re probably wondering why it’s not listed as a separate product in either the on-premise or cloud lists above. This is because Oracle’s team views it as a “foundational” offering (a database) as opposed to a “business application” (like the four functional categories listed above).
What this means is that Essbase is grouped internally at Oracle with its technology-oriented offerings (its platform-as-a-service or PaaS solutions) within the business analytics/BI arena. This means that it’s sold by a different team than the EPM team – and is viewed as a separate product line – at Oracle.
With a nod to its roots in EPM – and because at the end of the day, EPM is how you spell out your strategy and BI/business analytics is how you report your strategy – here are the on-premise Essbase/BI/business analytics products for your reference:
- Essbase
- Oracle Essbase (Essbase)
- Oracle Essbase Integration Services (EIS)
- Oracle Essbase Studio (Essbase Studio)
- Business Intelligence (BI or Business Analytics)
- Oracle Data Visualization (DV)
- Oracle Big Data Discovery (BDD)
- Oracle Endeca Information Discovery (OEID)
- Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBI or OBIEE)
- Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (BI Publisher or BIP)
These translate to the following platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions in the cloud, which are now all grouped in one category:
- Business Intelligence (BI or Business Analytics)
- Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC)
- Oracle Business Intelligence Cloud (BICS)
- Oracle Data Visualization Cloud Service (DVCS)
- Oracle Essbase Cloud (Essbase Cloud)
- Oracle Day by Day (Day by Day)
- Oracle Synopsis (Synopsis)
The Current View of the World: Oracle EPM (Hyperion) On-Premise versus Cloud Solutions Taxonomy
What this means is that there’s almost a 1:1 parity in terms of functional categories between on-premise and cloud EPM offerings at Oracle, as demonstrated in this chart:
However, as always, the devil is in the details. Almost all of the on-premise products have been commercially available for over ten years, while many of the cloud products were only released in the last 12 months or less. This means that Oracle is racing (and doing a good job, by the way) to provide the same breadth and depth of functionality that they offer on-premise in their cloud solutions. Various cloud offerings offer varying levels of parity with their on-premise products (feel free to contact us directly if you want a more detailed comparison at a product level).
Still need help? Please contact us at communications@performancearchitects.com or contact me directly on LinkedIn and we’ll help clarify!