Financial Reporting optimization and time-saving tips
Hey everyone
The following blog is about Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting and is based on my experiences with the product thus far. Hopefully, these few tips will help you get the most out of Financial Reporting and will allow you to optimize not only the processing time of the reports themselves but the amount of time spent in creating them.
1. Become familiar with your outline hierarchy or model structure
I’ve had the privilege of working with FR connecting to both Essbase and HFM (Hyperion Financial Management) databases in my short career. HFM cubes generally tend to look similar as they have the same 12 dimensions with generally similar content. For Essbase, outlines differ from client to client and industry to industry and so understanding the structure might take a little more time. Knowing your structure allows for quick and efficient Member Selections on reports and learning member names by heart can save an enormous amount of time, as you can type out the member name into the formula box and then click the Tick sign, instead of sifting through the member list in the Member Selection box:
2. Use the available Functions when selecting members
There are functions within Financial Reporting which are specifically designed for multi-dimensionality and more importantly to be dynamic! For instance, using the Children function when selecting members from the hierarchy will ensure that all sibling members are accounted for within the selection even if an additional member were to be added. Of course, if members were chosen one by one on the report, an additional sibling member would have to be added manually. When outlines are huge and many changes are made regularly, this can become an extremely cumbersome task. Another advantage of Functions or choosing members in a single line of a grid, instead of using multiple lines is that it greatly improves retrieval time. It should be noted however that the drawback of using the Functions or choosing members in the same line is the assumption that all members within the selection would have to have the same formatting applied to them.
3. Use Grid and Chart templates
When creating a large number of reports, it is advisable to create a few templates for which the Dimension selections of the Grid or Chart stay constant. To create a template, simply right-click on the Grid or Chart that you feel you might use frequently and click on “Save Object”. When creating a new report, this saved object can then be inserted by clicking on “Insert” at the top of the screen, followed by a click on “Saved Object”. See the screenshots below:
Followed by:
Due to space considerations, I will continue to add tips in follow-up blogs. My next post will focus on a few ways to make the formatting of a report a little easier. Please be sure to comment and also let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like me to blog about.
Aaron
Intellient is the performance management and business intelligence company to connect with.
Managing your financial challenges with Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
Remember when you were a kid and you were scared of ghosts and monsters or the boogeyman hiding in the closet? It’s funny … As we grow up, most of us lose our childhood fears, but all of us will certainly acquire new ones. Our mature fears tend to fall well within the bounds of realism and deviate from the realm of the impossible (although some grown men and women might still be afraid of Casper for all we know).
What scares us most often is that which CAN happen, that which IS possible – for instance, the loss of a loved one, loneliness, disappointment, inadequateness or the more tangible phobias such as heights or small spaces or having to live with the huge tarantula that shows up every few days for but an instant, only to disappear just as quickly, thus causing you to watch your every step.
As much as the above fears are apparent, there is one that is consistent with most of us, if not all of us – the fear of losing or not having money! According to British scientists, losing money or experiencing an economic loss (i.e. financial pain) has the same neurological roots to physical pain.
From a business or corporate or enterprise perspective, this “pain” is aggregated through the encompassment of fears of its employees. As an employer, how do you curb these fears? Well, the answer is fairly simple – you give them the assurance of a safe and secure future at your enterprise just as a parent would assure their child a pleasant night’s sleep by tucking them in or leaving the light on until they’ve fallen asleep.
In order to be in a position to offer these assurances however, your enterprise needs to make a profit. This is the bottom line to every business. The biggest profits are realized when every process, every individual, every team, and every department are working together toward that uniform goal. Managing this synergy can be a cumbersome task for any employer … but not anymore! Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) systems are here to help keep those business demons hidden in the closet for good!
EPM systems are a specific tier of the Business Intelligence (BI) toolset. Managers can now assess the performance of every component of their enterprise by understanding and analyzing where they’ve come from and where they currently stand (i.e. using the historical and current data of the business). Once this is done, a link can be formed between these operational activities and a business strategy that increases future profits. This is the goal of Performance Management – it gives you insight into the future so that you can cure your employees’ and consequently your enterprise’s fears of the present. Go ahead and turn your business’ lights on by investing in an EPM tool – knowing is always better than not knowing!
“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today” – William Allen White
For more information on Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management products, see http://www.intellient.co.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=1142
Business Intelligence in the current economic climate
Hi Everyone!!
This is my first post so all your feedback, criticisms, comments and suggestions are very welcome!
I would like to start with a brief description of myself with regards to my expertise. I am a graduate and have been working as a Hyperion Business Intelligence consultant (my first real job) for the past 9 months. I am infinitely passionate about the subject of Economics and the effects and consequences that even the smallest decisions (individually or corporately) can have on our day-to-day lives. Thus, don’t be surprised if my blogs have either a mild, or distinctly pungent economic flavour attached to them.
I came across an interesting article recently and would like to share it with all of you (click on the link to access it). There is a part I and part II to it so be sure to read them both!
http://www.swifteconomics.com/2009/05/16/pretty-girls/#comments
http://www.swifteconomics.com/2009/10/14/pretty-girls-part-ii/#comments
Why did I ask you to read those? Well, with the current economic crisis being the talk-of-the-town, and with everyone (including the “pretty girls”) having to ration out their incomes and change their behaviour in order to keep their heads above water, the decisions we make today are probably more likely to have larger impacts (good or bad) than ever before. From a corporate point-of-view, these impacts have even greater implication – most specifically, financial. In order to for these implications to work for you rather than against you, you need to be equipped with the right tools, and more importantly, the right information. This is where the concept of Business Intelligence comes in.
Business Intelligence basically refers to skills, processes, technologies, applications and practices used to support decision-making. The age we live in has commonly been recgonised as the “Information Age”, and with good reason. There is so much information out there today – a simple search on Google can yield an answer to the price of your next fashion accessory or to the cure of your stiff neck (which, before the search, you probably mistook for a fatal disease!). The point I’m trying to make is that being able to acquire and consequently analyze the right information at the right time can put you in a position to make the best possible decision for you or your business.
Don’t waste any more time! If it’s information you need, Business Intelligence has a component for you!!
