I'm getting asked these questions more and more as the EPM 11.2 release looms nearer:
"What will it cost me?"
"How long will it take?"
My answer tends to be:
"I won't know for sure until I see the Release Notes and install it in a lab."
But, I do have some directional answers.
Before I begin, however, there is a very important point: You must remain current on your Oracle Support maintenance agreement. This is the only way you can legally obtain the EPM 11.2 installation media. A partner who uploads their own copy of the media will lose their partner status with Oracle and face legal action.
Cost and Time are related
Whether you use a partner or perform the upgrade in-house, cost is unavoidable.
If you do it in-house, you are essentially paying opportunity cost; the people working on the upgrade are not working on other things to support the pre-existing system, do development work, etc. If you use a partner, of course you are either paying Time & Materials or are paying Fixed Price.
Either way, there is cost involved from a labor perspective.
IT Infrastructure
You will want to do what Oracle calls an
Out of Place upgrade (or what I call
Lift & Shift). See my post
Why Upgrade to EPM 11.2 or Move to the Cloud on why you don't want to do an in-place upgrade.
(Speaking from a personal note, I hate in-place upgrades. They're almost always messy)
Translated to English:
- Stand up new servers using a newer operating system, faster CPUs, etc. Your existing servers are likely 4+ years old. Size the CPU core count, RAM, and disk to be no less than what you're utilizing in current Production. Remember that on an Essbase server, the disk needs to be double in size so you don't run out of space during an Essbase dense restructure.
- Stand up a new database server running newer database software, such as SQL Server 2016 instead of SQL Server 2012.
- Size the database schemas (Oracle 12.2), or databases (MS SQL Server 2016) to be no smaller than what you're using in current Production. Think forward and increase the size to accommodate future growth for the next few years. This is especially the case for folks who use HFM and/or FDMEE.
- Plan ahead and ask IT to add an Anti-Virus "On Access" scanning exception for D:\Oracle
For many companies, a cost is associated with this. IT allocates their data center costs back to the business units consuming those resources. For a period of time, you will be paying allocated expenses for both your old environments and the new.
EPM Architect
Somewhere between 40-50% of the EPM customer population I work with use EPMA. EPMA is gone in 11.2, and replaced by DRM.
Oracle has stated a utility will be made available that converts EPMA content into DRM. That being said, account for some extra testing time by your Subject Matter Experts (and your partner if you will use one).
Financial Reporting
The architecture has changed and "Reporting & Analysis Framework" has been deprecated. I'm a big fan of this; RA Framework is always messy to troubleshoot when it won't start back up. The way reports are stored within Hyperion LCM has changed as a result. Assume there will be additional time spent on:
- Migrating reports from the old system into the new (hopefully the migration utility handles this OK).
- Migrating objects that aren't reports, but are stored within Workspace. Such as PDFs, videos, MS Word documents, MS Excel documents, etc.
- Updating LCM backup scripts, if you have nightly LCM backups enabled. (You should!!!)
The Great Unknown
From prior experience, I can say the first 5-6 months of a new EPM release can be.... interesting.
Especially where HFM and Essbase are concerned.
Have you counted the number of patches released for Essbase alone in 11.1.2.4?? I've been using Essbase since the 3.2 days in the mid-90s, and have never seen so many patches for it since 11.1.2.4. Expect perhaps some bumps in the road, especially if you use ASO Essbase.
Critical Security Patches During Your Project
Congratulations, you are now back on fully-supported software, from an Operating System, Database, and Oracle EPM standpoint. (EPM 11.1.2.4 has about 1-2 years to go, depending upon your support contract).
Most EPM shops haven't moved their servers from Java 6 to Java 7. Now you will be on Java 8. Oracle issues security patches (actually full installs) for both Java 7 and Java 8 every three months. You will also be on a newer version of Oracle WebLogic: You're going to move from WebLogic 10 to 12. This also gets critical security patches issued every Quarter.
This means, you can anticipate at least 1 major outage during your upgrade project, multiplied by the number of EPM 11.2 environments you expect to have (e.g. DEV, UAT & PROD). You will want to account for this in your Project Plan.
OK, But How Long Does an Upgrade Normally Take?
My rule of thumb is 5-7 business days per environment to:
- Install
- Patch
- Config/Deploy
- Migrate apps
This rule gets thrown out the window when we're talking about a brand new release. Take my
guestimate and double it.
Add more time if you use SSL and/or SSO. Where SSL is concerned, you may need new SSL certificates. The new system is expected to comply with TLS 1.2, whereas EPM 11.1.2.4 and prior could only use TLS 1.0. For SSO, I expect no changes to Shared Services / EPM Foundation, but we'll have to wait and see!
Workforce, CapEx, Project Modules for Planning
OK, here's the fun one. These modules don't exist in Planning 11.2. If you currently use them, put some extra hours+cost in your Project Plan for them. At best, we could LCM them into 11.2 and they will work OK. At worst, they will have to be re-implemented from scratch. Yuck!
Hyperion Tax - Gone!
If you're one of the few who use the Tax module, add some hours+cost to consider how this case would be handled.
If memory serves, the same will be true for Profitability, Essbase Studio and Strategic Finance. Oracle has the final say and we won't know for sure until the Release Notes are issued.
Essbase Studio - If it is Gone and You Use Drill-Through, What Next?
Not everyone uses Essbase Studio for drill-through. But if you do, plan on spending time in Design, Build and Test for whatever alternate solution you choose to use.
SOX Auditors
Who doesn't love them?
If your system is SOX-relevant, you might face extra cost if you utilize external auditors. The auditors, and your own people who interact with them, may need to perform their activities twice during the fiscal year when your EPM 11.2 Production cut-over goes live; one audit for the old system, and one audit for the new system.
This extra cost can be avoided if you cut over so the first month of the new fiscal year is operated within the new system. Many customers I've interacted with have difficulty achieving this, due to a variety of factors.
In Conclusion
Don't plan to go "all in" once the software is released. Check out my post Action Plan for Early EPM 11.2 Adopters and plan on running a test lab / sandbox to "kick the tires" before you spin up the servers for the "real" EPM 11.2 environment that you plan on using.
Now it is time for me to go back and keep refreshing the Oracle eDelivery page....
