The Finit Minute: Q4 2010

Welcome to the Finit Minute!

As we head into the holidays, we want to wish you and your families a very safe and happy holiday season! 2010 turned out to be a very busy year for many of you with projects picking back up. We are proud to have worked with 17 new clients in 2010, as well as many of our existing clients, on their critical Hyperion projects.

2010 was another year of exceptional growth for Finit as it will be the 6th year out of our 8 year history where we have grown over 55% in a single year. More importantly, we reached our yearly goal of maintaining our 100% customer satisfaction tradition, as we have for each year and for each project since inception. We reached this goal by helping clients with their complex Hyperion projects this past year, including:

• New full cycle implementations of Fusion Edition HFM, Planning, Essbase and FDM
• Upgrades to Fusion Edition 11.1.1.3 and 11.1.2 on all products
• Redesign and optimization of existing Hyperion applications
• Data integration solutions
• Hyperion Enterprise upgrade and redesign solutions

Our unique ability to offer Finance + Hyperion expertise with a strong customer service focus has allowed us to help meet and exceed the complex Hyperion challenges our clients have faced. As we look back on 2010, we want to continue to thank our clients, over 130 and counting, for placing their trust and confidence in us to help them achieve their goals and visions.

On behalf of our fantastic consultants and team at Finit - Happy Holidays!

Rob Cybulski, President of Finit Solutions on behalf of the entire Finit team.

Finit Solutions is committed to providing our clients with practical, actionable product information that they can use to get the most out of their EPM investments. We do this via the Finit Minute, the Finit Solutions Series, and our direct interaction with clients. In addition to providing valuable product and solution-based information, this quarter we are also approaching EPM from another angle: What really makes an EPM project successful?

In this edition of the Finit Minute, we are continuing a series of articles that focus on the project management side of implementations. In this edition of the Finit Minute we highlight establishing and keeping an EPM project on budget. Aside from acquiring the appropriate EPM tools and learning about the functionality of those tools a key component of project management is to deliver a project on time and within the budget. How can companies set realistic estimates, manage scope, meet agreed requirements, and allocate resources to ultimately achieve their EPM goals and be successful?

Other articles this month include:

Migration Path Considerations for version 11 releases. Fusion Edition 11 was a major release for the Oracle EPM product suite and as companies look to migrate to the latest version there are several areas that should examined prior to jumping into your migration.

Overview of Hyperion Planning Modules: Workforce Planning and Capital Asset Planning: These are two modules that have been helping clients expand the functionality and value of what is delivered during the planning and forecasting process.

The Finit Solutions Series: Recent and Upcoming Webinars
We hope that you enjoy this edition’s articles, and we welcome any feedback you may have. Our goal continues to be to provide our clients with practical, actionable information, and we welcome any requests you may have for future topics and information.

Project Management: Establishing and Staying on Budget

All projects come at a cost. The project manager has the responsibility to deliver the project within budget to achieve the return on investment envisioned with the decision to initiate the project.

The budgeting challenge for a project manager is that quite often by the time that they are assigned to a project; the budget has already been established. More often than not, these budgetary estimates were made at a high level without the benefit of detailed project information. Most project managers have had the experience of dealing with budgets that prove to be unachievable. Even if the budget has not formally been set, the project sponsor will have some ideas on the overall amount of budget available for use. In this article, we will provide some tips on how to overcome this challenge through planning, documentation, and control of achievable budgets.

Start with Realistic Estimates

Realistic expectations are a critical success factor for any project. Staying within the project budget starts with ensuring that there is a realistic budget in place, containing both known and “hidden” costs. The better your budget estimates, the more likely you are to deliver within those estimates.

Thorough Planning is Critical

Inadequate upfront planning is a principal cause of cost overruns. Accurate budgets are derived from details obtained during the project planning process. The planning process will also impact the manner in which the project and budget are managed. Many people fail to realize the value of a project plan in saving time, money and avoiding numerous problems.

Know Your Project - Realistic estimates come from a realistic understanding of the project. For any project to be successful, you need to understand what the project is supposed to achieve. Your first step as a project manager is to make sure you have a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of the project – its purpose - and identify what is required to deliver. Know the boundaries of the project, what activities are to be included and excluded from its scope. The more detailed the definition is of what is in and out of scope, the better you will be able to plan overall work effort. Determine the people who are affected by the project’s outcome, the stakeholders, and those with a “vested” interest in a decision-making capacity, the key stakeholders. Meet with the sponsor and key stakeholders to verify your understanding.

Create your plan – With a thorough understanding of the project, you can now define how to achieve the objectives of the project. This includes obtaining consensus of the stakeholders on the scope, objectives and timeline of the project; active stakeholder participation in identifying, defining, and prioritizing project requirements is essential. Decide what activities are required, the resources necessary, and the level of effort to achieve project objectives. Set a realistic schedule with this information by defining and sequencing the tasks for producing the deliverables.

Prepare a Definitive Estimate

Preparing accurate estimates requires experience and information at the correct level of granularity given the nature of the project. While there are several estimating techniques, for EPM projects, a bottoms-up approach at the activity or task level combined with knowledge of the costs associated with project delivery generally provides the most accurate projection of project cost.

Develop a Financial Plan - Whether a budget already exists or not, your next step is to create a detailed Financial Plan that presents a forecast of project costs and how to manage those costs. Make sure that your Sponsor accepts your plan and that you are comfortable that you can deliver the project against it.

Start with your project plan – With proper planning, you have identified the deliverables and the tasks, effort, and time necessary to produce them. The work break down structure and initial work plans provide the information to prepare task level estimates of the cost of producing the deliverables.

Involve the team – Seek the input of key stakeholders, team members and subject matter experts for deriving estimates. Not only are you likely to have more complete and accurate estimates, but it also develops team buy in and ownership of the resulting budget.

Factor in project complexity – Project complexity increases costs and similar projects can have significantly different levels of complexity that need to be taken into account when setting your budget. Complexity arises from many sources including, among others, the underlying technical architecture, the number of business units affected, the sophistication of business rules and calculation scripts, the size and geographical dispersion of the team, and internal project governance policies.

Provide for uncertainties – All projects have varying levels of risks and uncertainties that, if they materialize, could derail your project’s budget. Your budget should include an amount for contingency reserves to fund the costs of mitigating risks based on an assessment of project risks.

Avoid single-point estimates - Single point estimates can convey an unrealistic level of certainty and possible misunderstandings with your project sponsor and project team. Instead, develop low to high ranges of estimates for project costs and set the budget using an agreed upon most likely total.

Dig into the details – Preparing your budget with the correct level of detail can assist in capturing all costs and avoid surprises. Your budget should include estimates for the costs of executing a project such as travel and accommodations, meeting rooms, equipment rentals, etc. Also, consider “after the project” costs for items like decommissioning legacy systems and providing “re-fresher” training for end users.

Document your assumptions – At each stage of the estimating processes, document the assumptions made in preparing the estimate in sufficient detail to enable you to analyze and explain variations as they arise.

Manage the Budget

Having a realistic budget does not guarantee success. Once a budget for the project has been established, you must proactively manage the project to achieve your goal of delivery within the budget. Managing the budget includes monitoring the project and ensuring that any authorized changes are considered in the total cost of the project, communicating the authorized changes and taking corrective actions for unplanned events or deviations from plan.

Be tenacious in managing scope – Scope creep always increases costs and is arguably the leading cause of project overruns. The effect of minor changes in project scope is often under appreciated. Adopt and strictly enforce scope change management processes from the outset of the project. Make sure your processes provide for adequately assessing the effect of proposed changes on costs, timelines and deliverables and include appropriate levels of documentation, reviews and approvals. Only allow critical changes during the course of the project; those that provide cost benefits justifying potential budget overruns.

Stay on schedule – Project delays inevitably increase costs. While completing the project on time will not guarantee you will meet the project budget, it significantly increases your chances. Determine and review the critical path of project tasks to identify the correct sequence of project activities. Avoid project delays with advance planning to identify resource requirements and availability.

Assess and re-assess – Monitor actual performance against budget and perform estimates to complete on a regular basis. If your project is trending over budget, assess the priority / importance of the project’s requirements. Reducing scope by reducing the number of requirements being implemented can bring the project back into line with the budget goals. Using the MoSCoW method of prioritizing requirements during the planning phase of the project can significantly facilitate this process.

Manage risks and issues – By their nature, all projects have risks and will likely encounter issues as the project progresses. Risk assessment and assignment of responsibility for managing risks are very important to a successful budget. Without it, the crises that happen regularly and are an inherent part of any project will affect your bottom line. Although you may encounter items outside your control, there are steps that you can take to deal with them more effectively. Make certain that your project management plans include processes to monitor and communicate risks and issues. Keep the team aware of potential issues and risks to lessen the likelihood of unexpected events that could derail your budget. Be proactive; implement risk mitigation plans and take immediate action to resolve issues. Risk represents the potential of actual costs incurred over the course of development; use your contingency reserves for what they were intended.

Maintain your team – Assemble team members with the right skill sets and keep them in place to finish their tasks. Unplanned departures of team members in the middle of any project are disruptive. Changes in the composition of your team result in increased costs associated with ramping up the new resources and providing knowledge transfer. Obtain team member commitment from the project sponsor and team member managers.

Communicate – Report budget status to the project sponsors on a regular basis to avoid unpleasant surprises; seek guidance and assistance with making any project adjustments. Keep all project participants aware of performance against budget to reinforce their understanding and awareness of the importance achieving budget goals.

In Summary

Start with a good estimate. Good estimates have

• A sufficient amount of granularity so they can be explained
• Provisions for the unknowns
• Documented assumptions that serve to explain variances
• Buy in from the key stakeholders and project delivery team

Plan your approach to managing the budget. Good plans include processes to

• Monitor scope changes
• Identify variances from planned schedules costs and take corrective actions
• Keeping key stakeholders informed

Migration Path Considerations for Version 11 Release

Many organizations have started thinking about or even planning their next upgrade for their Oracle Hyperion EPM products. This is largely driven by two main factors. The first is that IT organizations are deploying new third party software and adopting IT standards that may impact the current installed applications. This can include using Microsoft Windows Server 2008, 64 bit operating systems, Internet Explorer 8 and / or Office 2010. Secondly, one of the most popular Oracle Hyperion EPM releases, System 9.3.x, is coming close to the end of its Premier Support window. Most organizations keep current on premier supported versions to avoid the risk associated with the limited support available when they’re in Sustaining Support.

You can find more on what is included and excluded in each of the Support Levels Here:

• Oracle’s Support Policies : http://www.oracle.com/us/support/lifetime-support/index.html

Oracle works to release additional third party software support (e.g. Internet Explorer 8, Office 2010) into existing premier support versions to the extent possible. As a result, organizations usually have multiple software versions and options to evaluate in terms of upgrading their products. We have been advising clients on upgrade options and many different factors can come into the right short-term and long-term choice. As a result, we want to provide some considerations regarding upgrade options. The major Oracle Hyperion EPM versions and support timelines are:

• Version 9.2.x – Premier support ended in June 2010 (Version is currently in sustaining support)
• Version 9.3.x – Premier support ends in Jan 2012
• Version 11.1.1.x – Premier support ends in July 2013
• Version 11.1.2.x – Premier support ends in April 2015. Extended support available until April 2018.

Oracle Hyperion version 9.3.3

Version 9.3.3 was released in the fall of 2010 as a patch to the 9.3 platform. The patch offers additional bug fixes, third party technical support, as well as some increased functionality, particularly around new integration with Financial Close Management (FCM).

• Major Tech Support Items Included in this Version: Office 2010, Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7, Firefox 3.5+, SQL Server 2008, Oracle database 11.2
• Main Tech Items Not Included in this Version: Windows Server 2008
• Other Main Considerations: New FCM support. 9.3.3 is the only version currently with Office 2010 support.

Version 9.3.3 is currently the only release that offers Office 2010 support. The new functionality in this release is less than that found in a major platform release, but it does provide some new FCM integration functionality. Overall, version 9.3.3 is an option for clients currently on version 9.2.x or 9.3.1.x. The 9.3.3 version does include many of the new third party technologies that clients are adopting, including Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7 and Office 2010. The only major technical component still not supported in this release is a server side component, Microsoft Server 2008.

The 9.3.3 release, like the 9.3.1.x release, will move to Sustaining Support in January 2012. As a result, this release is a good short-term alternative for companies on 9.3.1.x or 9.2.x that need additional third party software support in the short-term. A good use-case would be a company on 9.3.1 whose IT department has started deploying Internet Explorer 8. In almost all cases, upgrading applications from 9.3.1.x to 9.3.3 will be quicker than migrating to another platform like 11.1.1.x or 11.1.2.x. Almost all of the 9.3.3 patches can be installed on top of existing 9.3.1 installations. Many of the products also do not require any conversion activities. In summary, we recommend this version to existing clients looking for some short-term additional technical support while they begin planning on an upgrade to a Fusion release in 2011 or 2012.

Oracle Hyperion version 11.1.1.3

Version 11.1.1.3 was released in the fall of 2009 as a patch to the 11.1.1 platform. This patch offers additional bug fixes and some increased third party software support.

• Major Tech Support Items Included in this Version: Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7, Firefox 2.0
• Main Tech Items Not Included in this Version: Microsoft Office 2010, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Oracle database 11.2
• Other Main Considerations: No FCM or Disclosure Management support

Release 11.1.1.3 is the latest release in the 11.1.1.x platform, which was the first Fusion Edition release from Oracle following the integration of Hyperion. The 11.1.1 platform has included three major patch releases and as a result, is very stable. However, the 11.1.1.3 release does not provide the full technical support that the 9.3.3 and 11.1.2 versions currently provide.

As a result, the 11.1.1.3 release may not currently satisfy some of the IT standards being deployed at your organization. This specifically relates to mostly server side third party software such as Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Oracle database 11.2. Many IT organizations are looking to apply newer standards during a major upgrade and this version may not satisfy their requirements if they have recently adopted new server standards.

Oracle is expected to release a version on the 11.1.1 platform that will contain additional third party support similar to those supported in the recent 9.3.3 release. This expected release, version 11.1.1.4, is still in development and is expected in 2011. The 11.1.1 platform will move to Sustaining Support in July 2013, and as a result, depending on the timing of the 11.1.1.4 release date, clients may only have approximately 24 – 28 months of Premier Support remaining after the release. As a result, we think that the planned 11.1.1.4 release will be a good short-term alternative for companies already on the 11.1.1 platform that need the additional third party software support, similar to the option that 9.3.3 presents for customers on 9.3.x or 9.2.x.

Oracle Hyperion version 11.1.2

Version 11.1.2 was released in the April 2010 as a new major platform release. This version offers major new functionality, the addition of new products / modules with Financial Close Management (FCM), Disclosure Management and Public Sector Budgeting, as well as increased third party software support.

• Major Tech Support Items Included in this Version: Windows Server 2008, Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7, Firefox 3.5+, SQL Server 2008, Oracle database 11.2
• Main Tech Items Not Included in this Version: Microsoft Office 2010
• Other Main Considerations: Has significant new functionality in some products, particularly Planning and Essbase. This release currently does not have any supported conversion utilities and requires manual rebuild conversions.

The 11.1.2 version currently has support for all major third party software components with the exception of Office 2010. Office 2010 support is expected to be included in a future release on this platform in 2011. Outside of additional third party support, the 11.1.2 release also includes functionality enhancements. A review of some of the key new functionality can be found in a previous edition of The Finit Minute: http://www.finitsolutions.com/News_2Q10.html#3

One consideration for the 11.1.2 release is that it currently does not contain supported migration utilities. Customers can upgrade to this version from prior versions, but would need to use the ‘rebuild’ approach as opposed to using the application conversion utilities. This means they would need to export / import application metadata, rules / calculations, security and data. It is expected that conversion utility support will become available in the 11.1.2.1 release, targeted for 2011. The conversion utilities will give customers an additional migration option for their applications.

Choosing between a Fusion Release – 11.1.1.3 or 11.1.2

Organizations considering an upgrade should evaluate a Fusion 11.x release, unless it is a short-term solution to address a third party technical deployment. The Fusion 11.x versions provide enhanced functionality and extended premier support on the applications. When advising clients on their options, we think two main factors come into the decision: support window and functionality / stability.

Related to the support consideration, the 11.1.2 platform provides Premier Support to customers until April 2015. As a result, customers that choose to upgrade to the 11.1.2 version will have approximately 21 more months of Premier Support than release 11.1.1.3. Version 11.1.1.3 will move into Sustaining Support in July 2013, so customers beginning their upgrades in early 2011 will only have approximately 24 remaining months of Premier Support. As a result, customers choosing to upgrade to 11.1.1.3 now will need to perform another conversion in two years assuming they wish to stay within the Premier Support window.

For the functionality / stability consideration, this item has benefits for both products. 11.1.1.3 currently provides conversion utilities from prior versions while the current release of 11.1.2 does not. Depending on the applications in usage at your organization, the rebuild method may or may not be a viable alternative. The conversion utilities are expected to be available in the 11.1.2.1 release and will provide different conversion options for clients wishing to upgrade to 11.1.2. This benefits companies that have some flexibility in their timeline and are not looking to upgrade until Spring or later in 2011.

Overall, 11.1.2 offers more advanced product functionality than what exists in 11.1.1.3. In some applications, like Planning, the difference is significant. We recommend looking into the new functionality available in 11.1.1.3 and 11.1.2 for your products to evaluate whether this should be factored into your version decision.

As you evaluate your options, timing may play a big factor. Once the 11.1.2.1 release is available, it will provide the best platform for customers migrating to Fusion 11 as it will have supported conversion utilities, increased stability through bug fixes, more recent third party product support and 21 additional months of premier support over the 11.1.1.3 release. Oracle does not publish official release dates, so though this release is expected for early 2011, it is not official and as a result, should be used with caution when planning implementations.

Oracle Hyperion Upgrade Considerations

	9.3.x	11.1.1.3	11.1.2
Premier Support Ends	Jan 2012	July 2013	April 2015
Major Tech Support Items Included	Office 2010, Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7, Firefox 3.5+, SQL Server 2008, Oracle database 11.2	Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7, Firefox 2.0	Windows Server 2008, Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7, Firefox 3.5+, SQL Server 2008, Oracle database 11.2
Major Tech Support Items Not Included	Windows Server 2008	Microsoft Office 2010, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Oracle database 11.2	Microsoft Office 2010
Other Considerations	-New Financial Close Management (FCM) support. -Only version currently with Office 2010 support.	No FCM or Disclosure Management support.	- Significant new functionality in some products, particularly Planning and Essbase. -This release currently does not have any supported conversion utilities and requires manual rebuild conversions.

Oracle Hyperion Planning Modules: Workforce Planning and Capital Asset Planning

Oracle Hyperion Planning is successfully used by many companies for forecasting and budgeting. Hyperion Planning improves collaboration, status tracking, and change management through the use of data forms, task lists, work flow management, Smart Lists, menus, business rules and more. Its data engine is Essbase and it uses a relational data store as a metadata repository.

Forecasting and budgeting is not limited to the Balance Sheet and the P&L. Firms plan and forecast the people within their organization: headcount, salaries, benefits, etc. Further, to augment an organization’s capacity, collaborative planning of capital expenses is needed. Additional Hyperion Planning modules are available to help organizations with these plans. Will one or both of these modules help your organization?

When implementing either of these modules, an additional separate plan type is added to the Hyperion Planning application. Hyperion Planning allows an application to have 1 to 3 plan types without additional modules being utilized. Using the Workforce and/or the Capital Asset Planning modules can change the plan types to between 3 and 5. Both Workforce Planning and Capital Asset Planning may be implemented within the same application.

The modules integrate with other applications such as EPMA and DIM. Like the data forms in a standard Hyperion Planning application, data forms can be accessed both online and offline using Oracle Hyperion SmartView which integrates with the Microsoft Office suite of products (Excel, Word, PowerPoint). Each module integrates with Hyperion Planning data for reconciliation, forecasting, and reporting.

Workforce Planning

Workforce Planning is a pre-packaged solution which may be customized to an organization’s unique needs. It includes pre-defined data forms (and composite data forms), accounts, other dimensions and members, member formulas, Smart Lists, menus, and business rules. This module allows a firm to model future headcount and related expenses including direct and indirect costs such as payroll, salary, taxes, healthcare benefits, telephone, travel, training, and many more. Over 100 accounts are included in this module.

“Out of the box” functionality allows for transferring employees, planning for status changes (such as active, terminated, leave, maternity, sabbatical, disability, etc.), position, grade, tax region and much more. Event based activities, such as new hires, that trigger employee related expenses are included. Simple and complex calculations including driver based calculations can be utilized; for example, it is possible to forecast the various impacts of employee reviews and merit award expectations.

Some organizations implement this module by including each named employee while others implement it using job positions. Either way, security controls what is displayed for each user of the system so that only the data to which a user should have access may be accessed.

The “out of the box” functionality of this module may be used as building blocks to begin building a more customized solution. The model is based upon a 12 month calendar while the default calculations support a single year (which may be modified to support multiple years.) Some member formulas, such as spreading, rely on a monthly calendar; if the application uses custom time periods, the formulas need to be modified to support those time periods. Calculations for items such as FICA, FUTA, and SUTA come prepackaged with the solution. New items, such as unions, would require new calculations. Adding additional dimensions requires updating the forms and business rules to include the additional dimensions.

Capital Asset Planning

Similar to Workforce Planning described above, the Capital Asset Planning module includes predefined “out of the box” data forms, accounts, asset classes, line items, member formulas, Smart Lists, menus and business rules. This module assists with creating capital expense plans and submitting them for approval, allows for timing and cost adjustments, and establishes global assumptions for each asset class and sets calculation drivers while providing communication and notification to ensure a smooth and efficient request and approval process. The module includes scenario simulation (enabling accurate prediction of the impact of capital expense plans on cash flow, profit, and loss), driver based calculations (to assess the impact of changes and additions on profit, cash flow, and funding), and asset transfers (facilitating effective and efficient asset utilization across departments.) This module, too, may be customized to meet the needs of global enterprises.

“Out of the box” functionality includes a standard set of dimensions and outline allowing an organization to very quickly be up and running with this module. Data forms allow for an intuitive way of setting Global Assumptions for various Asset Classes. The same capabilities exist for both tangible and intangible assets. More than 100 members (and formulas) are included in the accounts dimension.

This module is based on a 12 month calendar; it is not a weekly model. For multi-currency applications, depreciation calculations use the base currency for the entity member calculated; if the currency override option is in effect, depreciation calculations use the currency of the entered value. Users can make up to three improvements for each existing asset. To add additional improvements, the administrator must add the appropriate “IM n” members (IM 4, IM 5, etc.) Customization options can include adding asset classes, adding custom fields, changing labels, adding a project dimension, and more.

Both of these modules allow for faster implementations of workforce and capital assets planning applications while allowing organizations to customize for their unique needs. Do you want more information about these modules? Please review Finit’s October 2010 webinar: “Getting the Most out of Hyperion Planning: Introduction to the Hyperion Planning Modules” (http://www.finitsolutions.com/Insights_Webcast_Archive.html#18)

The Finit Solutions Series: Monthly Oracle Hyperion Webinars

The Finit Solution Series of webinar keeps you up to date with the latest information and best practices regarding Oracle/Hyperion’s offerings. Understanding how the various product’s functionality, interoperability, and new and upcoming changes can impact the strategy that your company takes as it moves forward with consolidation, reporting, budgeting & forecasting decisions. To assist in this effort, the Finit Team is pleased to share our team’s knowledge on a monthly basis. This knowledge comes from constant training, delivering a wide variety of solutions in hundreds of projects for our clients, working closely with the Oracle Development Team and Customer Advisory Boards to keep up to date. You can leverage this experience for your personal benefit by attending a 1 hour session each month to help keep you up to date as well. Based upon requests from our clients, we deliver presentations that are practical and actionable, so you can make improvements to your system from the information you learned. If you have thoughts on topics you would like to see please share them with us by emailing us at insights@finitsolutions.com.

Previous sessions include:

Getting the Most out of EPM:

• Upgrading to the Fusion Edition
• New Features and Functions in Fusion Edition 11.1.2
• Financial Close Management and Disclosure Management
• Integration: Understanding the Various Products

Getting the Most out of FDM:

• Automating Your Data Loads
• Application Settings
• Logging
• Reporting

Getting the Most out of Planning:

• Understanding the Basics
• Introduction to the Planning modules

Getting the Most out of Essbase:

• Understanding the Basics
• Overview of Essbase 11.1.2

Getting the Most out of HFM:

• Migrating from Hyperion Enterprise to HFM – Design Considerations and Best Practices
• Intercompany Matching and Eliminations
• Web Data Forms Tips & Tricks

To request copies of these presentations, or for replays of the sessions: http://www.finitsolutions.com/Insights_Webcast_Archive.html

Upcoming Webinar Sessions Include:

January Webinar:

• Getting the most out of EPM: Hyperion Reporting Tips and Tricks
  • January 19, 2010 Noon – 1:00 PM EST
  • Get an update on taking advantage of Hyperion Reporting’s many features and functionality. We will also cover some of the most recent developments (i.e. SmartSlice) in Hyperion Reporting and where we see this area going in 2011.

February Webinar:

• Getting the Most out of EPM: An overview of EPMA
  • February 16, 2010 Noon – 1:00 PM EST
  • If you are managing Planning, Essbase and HFM (or any of these 2) in your organization EPMA could be a good fit when you want to use a single tool for managing the common dimensions, data movements, etc. within the Hyperion environment. This webinar will take you through the basics of EPMA setup and configuration and just what EPMA can do.

March Webinar:

• Getting the Most out of EPM: Infrastructure for Finance People
  • March 16, 2010 Noon – 1:00 PM EST
  • This webinar will take you through one of the areas that we get the most questions on. What are the basic elements of the EPM infrastructure and how do they interact? How are EPM projects scoped from the infrastructure side? What do finance people need to know when it comes to the technical infrastructure of their EPM environment? How can it impact them?

If you aren’t already receiving the monthly invitations each month send an e-mail to subscribe@finitsolutions.com. Please include your Name, Company, and Title and we’ll be glad to add you to the list.

If you have any suggestions for future webinars that you’d like us to present, send a note to insights@finitsolutions.com and we’ll be glad to consider addressing your request.