Enterprise Data Management Series – Part 1

Welcome to our initial post in a series of about the world of Metadata Management, Enterprise Data management provides a new way to manage your data assets. You can manage application artefacts that include properties such as Master data (members that represent data and includes dimensions, hierarchies), Reference Data (such as page drop-downs for ease of filtering in frontend), and Mappings (master data member relationships). Using these pre-built functions, you will be able to track master data changes with ease.

If your business is restructured to align entities such as Accounts, Products, Cost Center and Sales across multiple organizational units, you can create model scenarios, rationalize multiple systems, compare within system etc. You can maintain alternate hierarchies for reporting structures which differ from current ERP system structure. In the case of migrating an application to the cloud, you can define target structures and data mappings to accelerate the process. EDMCS also provides the ability to sync up applications from on-premise to cloud or across cloud applications. The process involves the below four C’s:

  • Collate: The first process involves collecting and combining data sources through the process of application registration, data import, and automation.
    • The registration process refers to establishing application connections with a new data source(s).
    • The Import process refers to the loading of data into the application view(s).
    • Automation is built using the REST API features.

Figure 1 Collate Process: Register

 

Figure 2 Collate Process: Import

 

  • Curate: Curate helps organize the source data through a Request mechanism to help load or change existing data. Request mechanism involves 4 steps: Record, Visualize, Validate and Submit.
    • Record: All appropriate actions are Recorded together under the Request Pane with primary action mentioned first.
    • Visualize: This allows you to visualize all the changes prior to committing them. This enables us to view model changes as per request, then study the impact and make any final modifications to the request. Changes made to a view are visible in unique colours and icons so that you can see which parts of the hierarchy or list were changed and what areas may be affected by the change.
    • Validate: Maintain the integrity of data during data entry with real-time validation that checks for duplicates, shared nodes, data type or lookup violation. You can run validation through the Record session as well.
    • Submit: Upon user validations, you can commit them.

Figure 3 Request Process

 

  • Conform: Conform is the process to help standardize rules and policies through Validation, Compare and Map process tasks.
    • You can run validations between and across viewpoints. Share application data within and across the application to create consistency and build alignment.
    • Compare viewpoints side-by-side and synchronize using simple drag and drop between and across applications.
    • Map nodes across viewpoints to build data maps. Construct an alternate hierarchy across viewpoints using the copy dimension feature. Now the question arises “What is the viewpoint”? Viewpoint is a subset of the nodes for you to work with.

 

Figure 4 Viewpoint and Various Actions

 

  • Consume: Consume defines where you move the changes to a target application. You can achieve this by download, export, and automate.
    • Download a viewpoint to make changes offline or make bulk updates.
    • Export moves changes to other application(s) or sync updated data to external target applications.
    • Using EPM automation, you can load and extract dimensions from and within the EPM cloud application

 

Figure 5 EPMAutomate

 

 

Complete and Connected EPM cloud applications

 

Oracle has raised the bar with its latest complete and integrated cloud enterprise performance management applications, In the latest Open World, Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle) restated the mission statement of oracle to

“help people see data in new ways, discover insights, unlock endless possibilities”.

This shows the importance of data and its usage from the visionary technology leader. Oracle is changing from on-premise software provider to the cloud-oriented company. It is the only company in the business software business, which has offerings in Infrastructure as a service(IaaS), Platform as a service(PaaS) and Software as a service(SaaS). Oracle has rewritten the code of its cloud EPM applications to be optimised for the cloud. If you can control the infrastructure of software, then it gives advantage in terms of fine-tuning the performance and security of software applications. Certainly, Oracle has a competitive advantage on its competitors.

 

Oracle EPM Cloud applications help the users in below-mentioned business processes:

  • Connected Planning: Planning application, Profitability and Cost Management application
  • Comprehensive Financial Close: Account Reconciliation, Financial Consolidations and Close, Tax Reporting
  • Reporting: Narrative reporting application
  • Data Management: Enterprise Data Management

 

 

Let us evaluate Oracle EPM applications on cloud partner selection criteria

 

Cloud application availability and scalability

since oracle has presence and customers across the globe, these applications are available in most of the countries. Scalability is inbuilt into the EPM applications and it has been tested against extreme scenarios. Oracle has used simulated SaaS environment to test the scalability of these applications.

Cloud partner completeness

Oracle has comprehensive cloud applications with breadth and depth of across EPM processes as written above. Additionally, these connected cloud applications are built on a common platform. This can really help the customer in coordination with a single partner and getting the latest innovations across the applications. Example: if user like chatbot functionality in the planning application, then oracle can quickly roll out the same functionality in narrative reporting or enterprise data management.

The strategic focus of the cloud partner:

As part of its strategy, oracle has re-written optimised code for its cloud applications. So, customers can get best in class user experience, and functionality. Oracle is continuously spending dollars on research and development to provide latest machine learning, AI and analytics innovations in its cloud applications.

Cloud partner ecosystem

Being one of the oldest players in the business software market, oracle has established an ecosystem of implementation and support consultants. These consultants were helping clients to solve their problems using on-premise Oracle technology. Now, they are focussing on cloud applications.

Customer focus

As part of continuous development, oracle is collaborating with its customers and on-ground consultants to add new features in these cloud applications.

 

So, oracle provides complete and connected EPM cloud applications, which can be configured as per customer business processes. We know that moving to clouds application and choosing a cloud partner should be a strategic decision. It is best to trust your business to the trusted market leader. We can help with devising your cloud strategy and then implementing that strategy using best in class EPM cloud applications.

How Account Reconciliation Cloud Service(ARCS) from Oracle can improve efficiency of the finance users

 

In this world of cloud computing and mobile applications, we have software applications to increase the efficiency of our personal and official tasks. Software applications are being used for a grocery list, tracking heart rate, and energy burned etc. It is interesting to know that more than 60% of organizations are still performing manual reconciliations between systems and subsystems. The approval process is managed using emails and there is limited visibility on the accountability. Lack of governance in the account reconciliation process cause problems in the audit. Accountants are not leveraging technology to decrease the burden during the monthly close process. With new IFRS standards and new requirements from the regulator, this reconciliation burden is going to increase more. This account reconciliation is one of the major bottlenecks in the close process.

Good news is that Account Reconciliation Cloud Service (ARCS) from Oracle can help the finance users to perform automatic account reconciliations, efficiently manage the process and avoid security risks. Using ARCS, finance users can close their books early and spend time on analytical activities. Since this is a cloud-based solution, there is no capital expenditure required. Once ARCS are implemented, it is deployed on the Oracle cloud and the IT department does not need to maintain it.

 

This best in class reconciliation solution has Reconciliation Compliance and Transaction Matching modules in a single instance.

  1. Reconciliation Compliance: This module helps in managing reconciliation processes and ensure that compliance requirements are met.
  2. Transaction Matching: This module increases efficiency and saves cost by automatic matching of the bulk and labour-intensive transactions.

The reconciliation process is executed in 5 steps in the Reconciliation Compliance module:

  1. Load Balances: Balances from source systems and subsystems can be loaded directly into ARCS. This loading of data can be scheduled as per the client requirement.  Once data is loaded to ARCS, it can be drilled back to the source system. It has prebuilt integrations with EBS, JDE, PeopleSoft, and other market-leading ERP systems.
  2. Automation Executed: Once data for source systems and subsystems is loaded, ARCS performs auto reconciliations based on the account analysis, balance comparison and custom reconciliation criteria. Custom attributes will be assigned based on the rules defined. Amortization is calculated automatically. Email notifications are sent to the preparers and reviewers.
  3. Prepare Reconciliations: Preparers work on the assigned reconciliations by proving account explanations (Prepaid, Accruals) and doing balance to balance comparison (AP/AR/Inventory/Bank Reconciliations/Depreciation). It has prebuilt 20 common reconciliations templates. The administrator can create new templates as per organization’s requirements.
  4. Review Reconciliations: User can put comments and add attachments to each reconciliation. User needs to provide sign off on the reviewed reconciliations. It has multiple level approval and rejection workflow.
  5. Monitor the compliance process: ARCS give instant visibility to the progress and status of the reconciliation life cycle. It shows status charts on reconciliations pending with preparer, pending with reviewer and closed reconciliations. Ageing analysis dashboard gives information on the ageing of all transactions and ageing buckets. Each reconciliation (including attachments and invoice level details) can be extracted in a report binder and these report binders can be shared with the auditors.

In this way, ARCS efficiently manage reconciliation process with visibility and automation for improved accuracy, security and reduced risks.

If your organizations have a manual account reconciliations process and want to have an insight into the real-time status of the reconciliation and close process, ARCS can help in streamlining the reconciliation process.

Transaction Matching: This component helps in the automatic matching of high volume, efforts intensive transactions across one or more data sources. Examples: POS to Bank, POS to cash and credit card, and intercompany transactions (AP/AR) bulk transactions matching.

With customized rules having a lot of flexibility, the majority of the transactions are auto-matched. ARCS intelligence engine provides suggested matches for remaining un-matched transactions.

Transaction matching has 4 high-level steps:

  1. Load Data: Transaction data from source systems (like POS and bank) can be uploaded manually or scheduled using data management. ARCS has the capability to upload pre-mapped transaction data directly to it.
  2. Run Auto Match: User-defined custom rules run and automatically match the transactions between 2 systems.
  3. Confirm Suggested Matches: For un-matched transactions, ARCS intelligence engine suggests matches. User can accept those suggestions or modify the suggestions to match transactions.
  4. Create Manual Matches: User can manually match transactions by providing reason code or adding adjustments. Above mentioned steps are repeated for every data load.

 

ARCS provide reconciliation balancing report for operational controls. It has prebuilt reports on open/closed adjustments and supported transactions.

With above-mentioned capabilities, ARCS can really help in decreasing the burden of finance users and can increase the efficiency of the close process.

We can help with implementing this best in class solution as per the business requirements of your company.