Key Considerations for a Key Considerations for a Successful Hyperion Successful Hyperion

Planning ImplementationPlanning ImplementationJune 29, 2010June 29, 2010

Mark Hite, Practice ManagerMark Hite, Practice ManagerRanzal & AssociatesRanzal & Associates

• INTRODUCTIONS• KEY PROJECT PHASES• RECOMMENDED BUILD TECHNIQUES

– Application Definition– Delineate Plan Types– Define Dimensionality– Metadata Integration– Data Integration– Building a Planning Model– Development of Forms– Development of Calculations– Process Flow / Control– Define Security

Agenda

Introductions

Founded in 1996, Ranzal has implemented Hyperion solutions for 500+ companies (800+ projects since the acquisition)

Oracle / Hyperion Platinum Partner - Highest Status

Hyperion “Americas Reseller” & “Partner of the Year” › 1999, 2005 & 2007

Certified EPM Consultants & Instructors

Vertical Expertise with High-Profile Clients from Coast to Coast› East Coast & West Coast Presence

Sound Project Methodology Insures Project Success› Support Business Applications from start to finish

One of the Largest Hyperion Practices in the U.S. 

“Best Planning & Essbase Practices with Best HFM Practice”› Hyperion Development utilizes Ranzal for Planning, Essbase and HFM product direction

About Ranzal

Regarded in the industry as one of the "BEST” at leveraging Regarded in the industry as one of the "BEST” at leveraging

OLAP technology to develop EPM ApplicationsOLAP technology to develop EPM Applications

Our team has been involved in 800+ successful EPM Implementations› Financial Consolidation & Management Reporting› Budgeting & Planning › Profitability Management Solutions› Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing › Infrastructure Planning and Performance Tuning › Business Process and Project Management

Strong client portfolio across leading Industry Sectors including

Certified consultants and instructors› Hyperion Essbase, Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Financial Management, HPCM, Hyperion

Enterprise, Hyperion Strategic Finance, Hyperion BI+ (Web Analysis, Financial Reports, Interactive Reporting, Production Reporting), Hyperion Data Relationship Management, Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management, Data Services (including ETL, Warehousing)

› Financial Services › Insurance› Retail / Consumer Packaged Goods› Manufacturing› Pharmaceutical & Hospital› Hospitality / Travel / Entertainment

› High Technology / E-business › Energy / Utilities› Distribution › Government› Other

Application & Industries

Key Project Phases

Project Phases

Analyze/Design

Build

Test

Rollout

Infrastructure Build

Application Install

Back-End Build

Front-End Build

Infrastructure (Simple)

Infrastructure (Complex)

Analyze vs. Design

Analyze

Requirements unknown or undefined Existing business processes need to

be updated Existing business processes not

known or documented Desire to re-engineer to align with

business vision or industry best practices

Deliverables As-Is vs. To-Be Processes Functional Requirements Technical Requirements Project Roadmap & Timeline (High

Level)

Design

Key requirements are understood Future business processes are

known Basic understanding of technology

being used for build

Deliverables Design Document Proof of Concept / Prototype * Infrastructure Architecture Finalize Scope, Schedule & Budget Project Strategies (Training, Testing,

etc)

Biggest Risks to Planning Projects

LACK OF AVAILABLE METADATA & DATA– Clients often underestimate the effort required to source and validate data

and master data, and this is a frequent reason for project delays– The level of effort must be aligned with the quality of data, number of data

sources, and degree of change (e.g., new COA)

LACK OF CLIENT RESOURCES– Technical – It is critical to identify the administrators of the new system early

on, and ensure they are properly trained for rollout– Functional - Clients sometimes do not dedicate enough resources to the

project effort as the project is viewed as simply a technology implementation

LACK OF CLARITY IN BUSINESS PROCESSES– Planning systems by their nature attempt to predict the future. Clients

sometimes have difficulty identifying which disparate elements of their planning process should go into the application, particularly if different areas of the organization have different models.

Critical Success Factors

Clearly Defined and Communicated Project Goals Key Stakeholder Participation and Approval Finance and IT Involvement Throughout Entire Project Clearly Defined, Reviewed, and Approved Application

Design Ownership and Accountability for Project Tasks Thorough Quality Assurance and Testing Communication of Company-wide Benefits Proper Administrator and End User Training Consistent Project Management

Planning DesignRecommended Practices

Basic Build Approach

Application Definition Delineate Plan Types Define Dimensionality Metadata Integration Data Integration Building a Planning Model Development of Forms Development of Calculations Process Flow / Control Define Security

Application Definition

SINGLE PLANNING APPLICATION– Allows for three custom plan types– Two “modules” – Workforce & Capex

APPLICATION SETUP– Classic– EPMA

COMMON PLAN TYPES– Core – GL Account, Entity– Revenue – Product, Customer– Salary / Workforce – Employee, Position– Capital / Capex – Asset Category, Projects, etc.– Sales – Customer, Sales Rep– Balance Sheet / Cash Flow

Application Definition

SINGLE APPLICATION BENEFITS Metadata is shared across an application Common Versioning, Scenarios between plan types Business Rule Efficiency within same app (XREF) Shared Interface for forms and rules between plan types Leverage common set of task lists, right click menus, smart lists, and

personal variables

MULTIPLE APPLICATION USE CASES Common for separate operating units w/ disparate planning

processes Allows for distinct processing windows

– US vs. Intl Security – Financials vs. Salary Detail Ran out of plan types

Delineate Plan Types

WHAT ARE THE CAPEX / WORKFORCE MODULES? A set of pre-built forms, rules, and menus for planning Salary and Capital

expenditures. Pre-built functionality – fully customizable Out of the box functionality to calculate:

– WFP – Salaries, Payroll Taxes, Benefits, etc. Based on attributes associated with the employee.

– Capex – Depreciation, Capital Spending by Asset Categorization.

EXPECTATIONS No one will use the modules out of the box with no customization. Key is to use out of the box functionality with the right blend of

customization. Expected customization includes:

– Updating Smart List attributes for use within an organization– Modification to forms / rules to allow for budget & forecast processes that

converge.– Updating metadata – Employees, Asset Category, etc.– Adding a requisition number input field

Delineate Plan Types

WHEN DO I NEED A NEW PLAN TYPE A model needs a different set of dimensionality

– Revenue modeling for the organization is done by product and customer– Salary modeling is done by employee and position– Project Planning is done by Project Number– Capital modeling is done by asset classification

Inter-dimensional Irrelevance– Does my Core GL plan type need Product, Employee and / or Project #?– Impacts performance of forms, business rules, and reports.– Want to minimize number of stored dimensions for each plan type.

IMPACTS OF A NEW PLAN TYPE Data Movements between Plan Types Additional Essbase Cube to optimize Metadata & Data Integration Considerations

Define Dimensionality

DIMENSION Stored hierarchies within an application Core – Accounts, Entities, Time, Years, Scenario, Versions Revenue – Core + Product, Customer, Sales Person Capital – Core + Asset Category, Project Salary – Core + Employee, Position

ATTRIBUTE Associated with a base dimension A dimension member can be associated with a single attribute

member from an attribute dimension. Examples

– Start Date (Employee)– Address (Customer)– Brand (Product)– Growth, Productivity, Maintenance (Project)

Define Dimensionality

SMART LIST A member in an outline (often an

account) that is represented as a drop down within the data grid.

Smart Lists can be used to drive business rules

Smart Lists cannot be sliced and diced like dimensions *

Smart Lists can be reported on within Hyperion Reports

Stored as numeric value in Essbase Textual Value show in Planning Forms Can be predefined in Essbase Smart Lists – No adapter, load right to

tables 11.1.2 supports model to ASO for

increased reporting capabilities

Define Dimensionality

DATA ELEMENT (TEXT / DATE) Allow user to input text and date

directly into a cell in Planning Can leverage in Hyperion Reports

Text stored as numeric lookup relationally – HSP_TEXT_CELL_VALUE

Date stored as number 20090101

Can be predefined in Essbase No adapter, load right to tables

Metadata Integration

METADATA MANAGEMENT VS. ETL TOOLS They are not the same thing A metadata management tools provides you with a graphical interface to manage your

metadata across disconnected applications. An ETL tool moves data from one place to another

METADATA MANAGEMENT TOOLS EPMA

– Relatively new tool (BPMA,)– Essentially “DRM” for EPM Applications– Ability to synch Planning, HFM & Essbase dimensions across multiple applications– V11 – Stable, Much Improved– Update via Interface Tables – ETL, or Flat File– EPMA File Generator – Creates ADS Files

DRM Full blown metadata management tool Supports metadata management across any toolset – Hyperion, ERP, etc. Agnostic – read from any source, write to any source Does not have adapters to source / target systems Flat file extracts created from DRM to load into Planning

Metadata Integration

ETL TOOLS ODI

– “HAL Replacement”– Limited Use ODI Bundled with EPM toolset– Planning must be a source or target to use– Relational Staging Repository where a lot of the work is done– ELT – Extract, Load and Transfer Tool

DIM– Adapters that connect directly to Planning– Additional Licensing Costs– For Informatica shops– Functionally very similar to ODI

HAL– Not an option for new clients– Still works in 11X for legacy clients but not supported

OTHER UPDATE METHODS Essbase Outline Load Batch Utility Manual Update

Data Integration

SOURCES General Ledger – Lawson, Oracle, Peoplesoft, SAP, Great Plains Payroll – Ceridian, Lawson HRIS Fixed Assets – Lawson, Oracle Project, Navision Project Tracking – Oracle Project, JDE Billing System Order Management EDW Manual Load File Collect via Planning Form

– Currency Rates– Benefit Rates (FICA Max, FICA %)

INTEGRATION OPTIONS Essbase Load Rules

– SQL Interface– Flat Files– MAXL Automation– Simple ETL

ODI / DIM / HAL– ETL Tools, use when there is heavy file manipulation

Data Integration

Building a Planning Model

KEY CONSIDERATIONS What data is needed to facilitate input? What data needs to be collected from end users? Are there supporting drivers that must be input? Are there calculations that need to be processed before input? Read vs. Write on data form elements Are there calculations that need to be processed after input?

Before Input?

TIPS Break the process into steps if possible Use menus or task lists to drive navigation Simplify the user experience, provide tools to facilitate navigation Try not to clutter and overcomplicate a form

Development of Forms

Development of Forms

PERFORMANCE Balance performance with functionality Load Performance – 3 seconds or less Save Performance – 3 seconds of less Hone business rules

– Focus on fewer blocks – FIX (Entity), FIX (Scenario, Version)– Don’t calculate more than you need to– Balance form calculations with an hourly ‘sweep’– Poorly performing business rules can stack up and kill Essbase performance

PERFORMANCE TIPS Suppress Missing Rows vs. Suppress Blocks Rows vs. Columns vs. Page Isolate Performance Issue – Form vs. Rules Query Issue – Size or Poorly Designed Essbase Cube? Block Size Balancing Act – Query vs. Calculations

Development of Forms

DESIGN TIPS Large Sparse Dims on Rows – (Improvements to GUI in Talleyrand) Turn on Attribute Display

Suppress Missing Block

Show member formulas

Development of Forms

DESIGN TIPS Startup Message to Guide Blank Forms

Column Definition Drivers & Commentary in BegBalance Member Data Values in IDESC (YearTotal)

Development of Forms

Use Flag Members to drive form layout– Smart List to drive Flag

– UDA’s to drive form definition

– Flag Member – Set flag based on UDA definition and Smart List Selection

Development of Forms

Simple Form

Enhanced Forms

Development of Forms

Control Navigation with a Menu

Development of Calculations

Development of Calculations

TIPS & TRICKS

• Calculations & Forms Should be Developed in Tandem

• Calculation Manager– Graphical Web Based Rules Builder– Pre-built Templates– Requires EPMA Integration (Talleyrand support for Classic)– Ability to Convert HBR to CM Rules

• Alternatives to Drive Calculations– Member Formulas– Business Rules / Calc Manager Rules– Essbase Member Calc Formula

Development of Calculations

Essbase Member Formula– Simple Member Calculation– Dependencies - Outline Order Important– Calculations that don’t require user input– Calculations don’t require moving data between plan types– Can be run upon save of form – ‘Calc members on form’

Development of Calculations

Business Rules– Allow for user input to the rule– Allow for passing through variables from the form to the rule– Multiple Members Calculated Upon Form Save with Dependencies– Can be launched on save, or from a right click menu– Typically more procedural than member formula– Leverage BR to move data between plan types

Development of Calculations

Essbase Member Calc Script– Write multiple member formula’s in an Essbase member– Place member on form, and hide– Allows for procedural member formulas ala Business Rules– Run on save of form– Cannot allow user input to calc– Cannot move data between plan types

Development of Calculations

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS Minimize Calculations

– Run Time Prompts – Align w/ Page– IANCESTORS (Run Time Prompt) to aggregate instead of CALC DIM

Beware Run on Save / Load Launch Rules from Right Click Menu Sequences

– Calculation in Current Plan Type– XREF Data to Core Plan Type

XREF Dangers– Slow across applications– Create Block Issues

• Create Blocks in Business Rule• Schedule hourly “sweep” to catch any issues - DATAEXPORT

Currency Conversion Limitations– Rates stored High– Manual Input of Rates– Pros – Entity has requirement to plan in different local currencies

Process Flow / Control

Process Flow / Control

Form / Folder Organization– Logically name forms and folders– Order based on ‘Steps’

Right Click Menus– Jump to other forms– Launch Rules– Launch Reports

Task Lists– Guide user through a task list– User can check off items as they complete– Review completed vs. outstanding tasks

Workflow Being rewritten due to current limitations Targeted for Talleyrand (next release)

Security

Define Security

PROCESS1. Setup Groups & Users in Shared Services2. Assign Access in Planning & Workspace3. Push Security to Essbase

SETUP USERS & GROUPS IN SHARED SERVICES Define Groups

– ALL_PLANNING_GROUP - Handles basic provisioning tasks – Version, Scenario, Accounts– ENTITY_PLANNING_GROUPS - Most detail security occurs along the Entity dimension– FUNCTIONAL_PLANNING_GROUPS - In charge of a functional area – for example – margin

detail Assign Users to Groups

PITFALLS / SUGGESTIONS Groups within Groups AD Groups vs. Planning Level Groups 11X – Apply Security to Folders

Mark HiteMark Hitemhite@ranzal.com

Questions

Key Considerations for a Key Considerations for a Successful Hyperion Successful Hyperion

Planning ImplementationPlanning ImplementationJune 30, 2010June 30, 2010

Mark Hite, Practice ManagerMark Hite, Practice ManagerRanzal & AssociatesRanzal & Associates