Should we upgrade to Oracle Hyperion EPM 11.2?

    There is a school of thought that says ‘...if it ain’t broken...don’t fix it’. And to some extent this still remains true, especially for customers running stable releases such as 11.1.2.4. However, as soon as a real issue does arise, the first question from Oracle will be ‘...are you on the latest supported release?’.

The recurring question our Hyperion clients pose is “should we upgrade or not?”

·       The premier support for Oracle EPM V11.1.2.4 ends in Dec-2021. That is our reason #1.
Is that the only reason to consider this upgrade to new version – V11.2?
Absolutely not. Though it is one of major reasons, there are several factors behind this.

·       Reason 2:
Oracle has confirmed extended support for on premise EPM modules HFM, planning to 2031 via their Applications Unlimited programme. To benefit from this you need to plan an upgrade to 11.2, its latest maintenance release, 11.2.x

·       Reason 3:
Hyperion EPM 11.1.2.4 is compatible with Windows Server 2008 & 2012 and Microsoft Office 2016. One of our clients is on Windows Server 2008 and another client is on Windows Server 2012. Not sure if it is more related to applications, but performance is better with Windows Server 2012. Some of our Hyperion customers have IT departments that are now advocating corporate standards of Windows Server 2016 / 2019 and the use of the latest Office 2019 releases. This requires an EPM 11.2 Hyperion platform. Or should we say EPM V11.2 requires Windows Server 2016/2019. Whatever we say , that contributes to our reasons list.

·       Reason 4:
Often the prompt to update Hyperion environments comes from IT. This is particularly the case where security exposures have arisen in underlying components such as weblogic or JDeveloper - software that Hyperion requires in order to function properly.

This latest version covers much of Oracle’s product portfolio. That translates into mitigations for 398 security vulnerabilities. Wading through those to get to the Hyperion EPM-related patches - including the supporting back-end framework dependencies - is not trivial.

If you are running Oracle Hyperion EPM 11.1.2.4.xx – patched up-to-date to the Quarterly Critical Patch Released in Apr-2020 - then an update to 11.2 directly brings:

Ø  several technical updates for Hyperion Financial Management (Maximum Base score 4.2)

Ø  a single technical update for Hyperion Financial Reporting (Maximum Base Score 2.4)

Ø  no fewer than 12 technical updates for WebLogic Server 10.3.6.0 (Base Scores from 4.3 to 9.8)

Ø  additional unrated dependencies (e.g. on underlying software components such as JDeveloper) required for implementing these updates.

We actually applied almost 60+ patches for one of our customers to get Oracle Hyperion EPM ready for this upgrade.

We strongly recommend to upgrade your Oracle Hyperion EPM to V11.2.x and get set for another decade of your financial consolidations, planning etc

How we can help

If you are facing pressure to move off legacy releases of Hyperion, do keep in mind that you have choices. Our consultants are well-versed in helping customers meet their IT Audit requirements, or in helping them validate technical and application upgrade implications.

Next step

Considering which version of V11.2.x will be another due diligence to follow in blog soon.