BLIND MEN & ELEPHANTS. Build Trust in Data that Drives Decisions. Sponsored by

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1 BLIND MEN & ELEPHANTS Build Trust in Data that Drives Decisions Sponsored by

2 BLIND MEN & ELEPHANTS: Build Trust in Data that Drives Decisions How the Elephant Found Its Way into the Room As companies grow, so does elephant data silos. Early stage and small companies have few products and fewer customers. They keep information on desktops. As departments are created, each focuses on execution over data integration. As the company grows, the amount of information grows. More information leads to duplicate data sets and unnecessary costs. So as the company grows, the data silos that make up the elephant get larger as well. Overview When department and division leaders gather to plot out corporate strategy, all too often they re like blind men (and women) surrounding an elephant. You know how the story goes: the man holding onto the tail thinks he s got a rope in his hands; the one standing next to a leg thinks it s a tree; and the guy holding onto the trunk is pretty sure the company is selling fire hoses. Focusing on a subset of available data without the bigger picture in mind can lead to faulty assumptions, poor decisions and inaccurate predictions. In today s constantly evolving enterprise, complex systems often accommodate only the needs and emphases of specific business units, thereby creating enterprise silos of data presented in different formats with often contradictory numbers. The ability to measure corporate progress against KPIs requires adding even more complexity when the information must be repetitively checked and validated for accuracy, often using manual processes. The more manual the processes, the less likely it is that business rules to enforce standardization are consistently being used. As a result, organizations are faced with conducting analysis based on inconsistent metrics and conflicting categorization requiring lengthy reconciliation processes. This creates significant direct and indirect costs, impacting the company s risk profile and bottom line and reducing the time left for analysis and deriving insights from the information at hand. This leads to an inherent misunderstanding of, and distrust in, the reports used by management to drive key business decisions. Finding true alignment across an organization is not easy. Growing and global organizations operate in an environment requiring complex reporting of information that often spans multiple disparate systems in which data is rarely used in identical processes. It is possible, however, to effectively manage enterprise information using processes and tools that consistently and accurately align data structures and measures across different platforms. This Executive Report reviews the challenges, costs, and risks presented by a misalignment of data, and explains the benefits that can be achieved by an Enterprise Dimension Management (EDM) discipline that provides a unified view of data across the organization. Gartner predicts that a lack of information, processes and tools will result in more than 35% of the top 5,000 global companies failing to make insightful decisions about significant changes in their business and markets. 1 The Challenge You can only improve what you can measure. That popular business maxim, like many others today, is highly dependent upon data, and not just any data. It must be fit-forpurpose data that is consistent, timely and reliable. Moreover, executives must understand what should be measured, and know that those measurements were obtained consistently in order to correlate data for accurate decision making. If what is measured is inconsistent, targets that are set are also inconsistent and measurement of results will occur through methods that lack alignment. Perhaps the maxim is better stated, You can only improve what you know you can measure accurately. Blind Men & Elephants 2

3 The Solution Consistency, Please. Enterprise Dimension Management is rapidly being embraced as a core requirement and foundation technology. EDM is all about leveraging data residing in multiple source systems so enterprises are able to avoid using data that is out of sync. In essence, EDM fixes the spaghetti bowl of data lurking behind so many corporate reports. The past decade has seen the rise of new concepts, processes and tools to help the enterprise deal with the various challenges of information reliability. As systems proliferate, more effort must be expended to tie these systems meaningfully together to derive insights from the data contained within. Without alignment, analysis and reporting cannot be reconciled with trust and confidence across the enterprise. Master Data Management is a set of business and governance processes all supported by a dedicated technology infrastructure. The technology exists to support the overall MDM environment, not the other way around. But in order to accomplish that, the first order of business must be to gain a complete understanding of how business processes work cross-functionally. To achieve alignment across the enterprise, one approach is to create a common set of enterprise dimensions the classifications of By 2014, it s estimated that fewer than 30% transactional - and analytical data in agreed of BI initiatives will align metrics completely upon structures and share them across the enterprise. These dimensions then reflect with enterprise business drivers. 2 how an organization measures value, and are shared across business functions and systems. For example, a consumer packaged goods company may categorize granola bars as Cereal in one division, Snacks in another, and Breakfast Foods at corporate. These purpose-defined differences must be resolved and an enterprise dimension alignment that accounts for these differences must be achieved in order to accurately analyze and report on corporate initiatives, KPIs and revenue targets. Enterprise Dimension Management (EDM) focuses on correctly managing dimensions across systems and functions to arrive at coherent analysis and reporting. A sound EDM strategy should first consider the process, and then the supporting tools and technologies. When built upon a firm foundation of process, technology takes its proper place as an enabler and a facilitator. The three critical building blocks of an EDM strategy are: Data Governance. A set of processes that define how information is handled and controlled throughout the organization. These processes and procedures are in place to ensure all persons in the organization understand what the data assets are, how they are defined and maintained, and the methods to be used to affect changes to these artifacts. Data Stewardship. A group of individuals who will oversee the data governance of the key data of the organization. Within an EDM framework, the data stewards are ultimately tasked with ensuring standard dimensions, rules and attributes are used throughout enterprise systems, unaffected by outside forces and maintained in accordance with the approved and understood procedures. Data Quality. A dimension management tool is a technological means to ensure the reference data elements are maintained in an orderly process and under a strict sense of business rules, and to ensure that changes are reflected across all impacted systems. It is important to understand that the technology is only a means to enforce the business policies and rules agreed to by the organization. A tool is not EDM in and of itself; rather it is only one component of the solution. The tool should support the creation, modification and validation of all data relationships and reporting structures for the enterprise. Keep in mind, all three components are required, and no one component is more important than the others. Oracle has developed a Dimension Management Maturity Model that helps define the capabilities of an organization to manage its enterprise dimensions. 3 Blind Men & Elephants 3

4 DIMENSION MANAGEMENT MATURITY MODEL Characteristics 1 Scattered 2 Home-made 3 Centralized 4 Aligned 5 Governed Maintenance Process Scattered, local processes for each instance of each application Ad hoc spreadsheets and MS Access DBs for specific domains Central repositories force synchronization for groups of systems Central repositories recognize varied needs of participating systems Unified, controlled environment for all changes Maintenance Responsibility IT, for each silo application Business users, but IT needed to integrate changes Technical administrators (business or IT) Central functions (eg. Corporate, Finance) Local business experts ( data stewards ) Dimension Alignment Misalignments surface as reporting inconsistencies Some point-to-point integration using black box ETL Complex point-to-point integrations Central integration hub using open ETL processes Single system of entry ensures alignment Data Governance Not possible Limited governance for some subject areas Centralized control enforced by tools Central functions apply governance Governance delegated to business experts Workflow Processes No consistent workflows Inconsistent workflow for each solution Multi-step approval processes Complex workflows to ensure data quality Simplified request & approval mechanism Indicators Fear of regulatory non-compliance Duplicated effort Frequent reporting reconciliation issues Responsibility for changes unclear Ad hoc processes to support mergers Duplicated effort, but business experts involved Reporting inconsistencies & reconciliation issues Simple audit trails possible Some duplicate maintenance (eg. Between EPM & ERP systems) Local business rules enforced Compliance enforced by complex processes Centralized & complex workflows lengthen close cycles Automated integration with major enterprise systems Rapid assimilation of acquisitions Enterprise-wide alignment Intrinsic compliance Fully devolved governance Full audit trails Business rules enforced automatically Moving along the journey from Scattered to Governed on the model takes executive championship and persistence. But the effort pays off. Enterprise Dimension Management Accomplishments Improves analytical efficiency. Enterprise Dimension Management eliminates duplicate processes and manual steps related to reporting and analysis. In addition, it can reduce the number of specialty applications used in reporting. By streamlining data management processes, instituting enterprise-wide standards, initiating quality controls and limiting the number of supported applications for reporting and analysis, Enterprise Dimension Management increases efficiency and reduces costs. Enables enterprise-wide consistency. The lack of one standardized set of numbers across the organization can create confusion and present challenges that ultimately affect a company s bottom line, yet single-minded enforcement of standardization limits a business user s flexibility to construct alternate business perspectives representing valid and relevant subsets. A good process will allow you to centrally manage all definitions, enforce business rules, data relationship and validation of inputs in a consistent fashion, or to identify inconsistencies as they crop up and account for them, yet still progress toward a centralized solution so that future inconsistencies can be prevented. Thus, all data definitions, relationships, structures or sources can be known and vetted, and fitted to be internally consistent with enterprise standards. Blind Men & Elephants 4

5 Data-Driven Decisions Data is used to both run and improve business. Success requires fast access to information about the key factors driving business. But it takes more than reporting on what s happened. Business line managers must be able to uncover problems and leap on new trends. Promotes greater collaboration. An effective Enterprise Dimension Management process breaks down barriers to collaboration by providing a common data language that everyone can use. This cross-functional communication helps eliminate misinterpretations. Because the assumptions are enumerated and detailed as part of the reference data, everyone knows the criteria behind each number and can therefore use the correct information at the appropriate time without making assumptions. Builds confidence in business decisions. Enterprise Dimension Management instills confidence in corporate decision-makers because they are working with consistent, aligned and up-to-date information. By providing easy access to the most current information, stakeholders in every business unit are able to work with accurate, reliable, consistent numbers and generate accurate, reliable, consistent reporting to make the best databased executive decisions and to drive agility and productivity. Key Technology-Supported Functions for Strong EDM Capabilities EDM programs must meet the organization s need for alignment of dimensional and reference data across all systems. The technology supporting EDM must allow for the creation of a unified view of analytical dimensions, reporting structures, performance measures and their related attributes. EDM technology helps build departmental perspectives that bear referential integrity and consistency with dimensional constructs based on validations and business rules, while enforcing enterprise governance policies. This functionality also allows synchronization of dimensions with downstream systems, and facilitates integration with Business Intelligence (BI)/Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) systems, data warehouses and data marts. It s important to enable the inclusion of lines of business in the use, ownership and stewardship of enterprise dimensions. Through a granular security model and workflow processes, business users should be able to directly leverage and maintain dimensional data to support enterprise reporting needs. Develop a data repository. Key to EDM is a centralized data repository with integrity enforced by business rules and validations. Technology should push the consistent set of enterprise dimensions out to different systems, or function like a traffic cop and collect data from the systems and roll it into one. A systems environment can be configured so that structures and required metadata (such as data storage and aggregation) are built and maintained in a central location and then used to feed these structures to all target applications. In this scenario, no direct administration of dimensions or metadata is performed in other target applications or databases. Leverage hierarchies. Provide support for consolidated reporting to maintain a complete accounting of all corporate reference data assets across reporting hierarchies. Feed any required reference data information to virtually any target, including legacy systems which may not accommodate hierarchical information. Provide collaborative abilities. Some organizations pursuing an EDM framework have approached the challenge by enforcing a linear change process on critical enterprise dimensions. This understandably adds tremendous burden in the time it takes to effect change, and compromises an organization s agility. Rather, technologies now available allow teams of business users to work on changes to their critical dimensions concurrently, without having to wait for one team to finish before another can start. Blind Men & Elephants 5

6 Crystal Balls Analytics can create a competitive advantage and have a solid impact on the bottom line. More companies are seeking to maximize their analytic capabilities. A well-structured EDM program fits the bill. It not only gives mangers insights into what has happened and what s happening now, but what to expect in the future. Quickly enhance data for upstream or downstream systems. Support enhancement data for any structure or hierarchy. This enhancement data may be in the form of text fields for notes, assignment of responsible parties or any other information the user may identify. Through rich automation capabilities, you can translate a hierarchy into a data warehouse dimension, a pure hierarchy for EPM, or into object attributes for back office or core operational systems. Provide complete audit & rollback capabilities. EDM needs multiple levels of auditing. Sophisticated solutions can automatically populate several standard properties, capturing creation timestamp and user information, as well as last change timestamp and user data. In addition, the solution should maintain a complete transaction history of every action performed within the environment, which can be rolled back if mistakes are made. Create point-in-time versions. Users should be free to create versions of financial master data for critical business milestones or points in time. Alternatively, the change history may be queried for any or all actions by date range, version, user, type of action, hierarchy or node by rolling back all changes to an existing version on a specific date, change log ID or transaction number. This allows a user to spin off a copy of a report on current data using a previous structure. This is useful when restating financials or to create a one-off, period-over-period performance comparison report. The Promise of Enterprise Dimension Management The journey toward a robust Enterprise Dimension Management solution is worth the undertaking. The need is clear and the benefits are numerous. When you combine an enterprise dimension management methodology with a strong analytical set of capabilities, it results in a strategic organizational infrastructure that provides the means to seamlessly derive true value by bridging the many islands of data. Through ensuring data quality and building trust in analytical investments, companies will finally achieve a competitive advantage, unlock key performance indicators and insights. By 2016, 20% of CIOs in regulated industries will lose their jobs for failing to implement the discipline of information governance. 2 Companies that substantially outperform industry peers are more than four times likely to apply analytics to financial management and budgeting. 4 Organizations with substantial experience using analytics are eight times more likely to analyze and 10 times more likely to disseminate information than their industry peers. 4 Blind Men & Elephants 6

7 SUCCESS STORIES Global Investment Bank Saves Hundreds of Hours & Millions of Dollars The Challenge A large, multinational financial services organization with average annual revenues of nearly $1.4 billion struggled with silos of data. Information on employee costs, sales metrics, customer churn and customer profitability were stored in disparate systems with inconsistent naming standards and structures, resulting in a long process for synchronized reporting that took six to eight days to complete. The process required 2.5 FTEs working non-stop for a week-and-a-half to generate the report, and involved over 30 discrete extract, transform or restatement tasks. The Solution DRM and EPM applications were implemented in parallel, with the detail design of each component driving the implementation parameters of the others. Once the target environment was set up and configured, the intermediary processes were eliminated. Working from bottom to top, the three source systems provide extracts of current metadata - that is, all current employees, all current accounts and all current customers. An automated load process identifies new members and inserts them into DRM hierarchies. Since the company was an MS SQL Server shop, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) was used to drive the inbound automation activities. Once the metadata changes were applied, the SSIS process pulls the transactional data for the current period from each source system, and these values are loaded into a financial data mart. After new members are inserted into DRM, one reporting administrator uses the DRM client to review the new elements and perform any necessary enhancements. These enhancements include assignment of attribute relationship associations, overriding default values for Essbase metadata (when needed), and moving members to the correct location in the hierarchies. Validations are in place within DRM to ensure the enhancement does not violate documented business rules. The Results New process involves just one manual step data enhancement Manual effort is done by only 1 person and is completed within hours Reduced total process time from 8 days to under 2 Reduced total man-days from 20 to under 2 Eliminated many manual processes, extraneous Essbase cubes and data silos Provided increased data quality and eliminated the need for data reconciliation on final reports Increased user confidence in the information used to drive business decisions This process realized an estimated $1.11 million annual savings and improved accuracy and corporate performance. The coast savings paid for the implementation in less than a year. Blind Men & Elephants 7

8 SUCCESS STORIES Use Case: Chart of Accounts Rationalization The Challenge A chart of accounts (COA) redesign requires complex master data management. The number of segments may change, the length of base values may expand, members are consolidated and additional translation rules for combinations are put in place. For the purpose of this Use Case, the old chart is Oracle EBS 11i and the new chart is Oracle EBS R12. The Solution The first set of objectives is to support tactical redevelopment activities. The segments of a chart of accounts are generally hierarchical in nature. These hierarchies are used for reporting in a human logical format. When reformatting trees, it is necessary to capture the initial structure, identify the end state structure, understand the modifications to the structures and their attributes, and most importantly, map between the old and new structures. This leads to the need for a mechanism to provide the structures to the G/L and to the reporting environments. It is also necessary to provide mapping tables that may be used by the G/L and reporting engines to translate all data transactions to the matching segment value in the alternate chart. That is, all 11i transactions need to be converted to R12 formats. And with some limitations due to the many-toone nature of 11i --> R12 account merges, R12 transactions may be required to be translated for load into the 11i G/L and legacy reporting environments. Throughout such a deployment, it is necessary to provide modeling facilities. The modeling environment should provide a location for what-if changes to structures, a method for communication and review, support for parallel operation and ongoing translation. This architecture supports the key components of a COA redesign: Segment management Maintain a master list of segment leaf values reflecting standard translations (e.g., suffix each G/L Account with zero ) Manage segment hierarchies and ensure compatibility between legacy and revised views Maintain the original/snapshot legacy hierarchy for analysis throughout evaluation, testing and initial deployment Mapping rules management Maintain a list of mappings across multiple segments (e.g., inter-company segments derived from G/L accounts; overrides based on multiple segments) Mapping table generation Derive conversion mapping tables based on translations & mapping rules Produce master data extracts Mapping tables to data conversion processes Hierarchies to analysis tools (e.g., Essbase) Hierarchies to legacy and revised G/L systems The Result DRM provides a platform that meets all the objectives of a COA redevelopment effort. It supports key components by providing a repository for managing the chart field structures and their attributes. It provides a dynamic rules engine that defines translations, mappings and relationships between chart fields. It allows for multiple views of the structures to facilitate the modeling effort. And it supports primary and alternate hierarchies within a dimension that supports validation of interrelationships between rollups. Using DRM to manage the chart of accounts redesign ensures accurate and consistent translation between legacy and revised charts (including over time periods); it supports multiple and varied consumers of chart field data; and it provides transparency and audibility of all chart changes. Blind Men & Elephants 8

9 About Oracle Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center. For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit About ROLTA ROLTA is a leading global consulting, technology and managed services firm with unique expertise in Financial Services, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Utilities and Healtcare.The company has implemented more than 45 MDM/Oracle DRM implementations for enterprise dimension management with most utilizing the DRM API to provide customer user interfaces and integrated workflow applications. ROLTA has developed one of the largest and most experienced DRM implementation teams outside of Oracle, and its staff includes several globally-recognized DRM architects. For more information, visit FOOTNOTES: 1. Gartner Reveals Five Business Intelligence Predictions for 2009 and Beyond, Gartner Inc., January Predicts 2012: Information Governance and MDM Programs Gain Traction, Gartner, Nov Dimensional Excellence: Build it or Buy it? Oracle, August Dig Data, Analytics and the Path from Insights to Value, MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter 2011 *Disclaimer: The data and representations of data provided in this document are for illustration purposes only. Information found in this document should not be used for drawing conclusions or making financial or any other decisions or commitments. This information is provided with the understanding we are not representing it to be accurate, correct or complete and very well may not be accurate, correct or complete for your intended purpose. Should you fail to heed this warning and should you choose to draw conclusions from information found in this document, you are agreeing by using the same, to indemnify us and save and hold us free and harmless from any and all cost expense and liability, whatsoever. We are not responsible for accuracy, errors, omissions, or otherwise, even if we are advised of the possibility of damage to you or others. Blind Men & Elephants 9

10 Rolta MDM Center of Excellence Overview: As companies grow, so do their data needs. The number of budgeting, planning, consolidation, reporting, and operational environments become more complex and require more and more interrelated applications (i.e. Hyperion Essbase and Hyperion Planning applications, BI tools, general ledgers, etc.). Rolta recognizes the need for organizations to ensure high data integrity, full data consistency, and effective data and change management across all departments and units. A business-directed data governance process, with supporting master data management technology, is crucial to an enterprise s success in today s information-driven economy. Rolta s expertise with Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management (DRM) provides your enterprise with a solution to build consistency within master data assets, despite endless changes within the underlying transactional and analytical systems. Rolta s years of experience along with its deep process and technology expertise turn this management need into reality. Rolta s MDM Center of Excellence is committed to providing the timely business solutions today s business climate requires in order to gain and maintain a competitive advantage using MDM solutions. Why Rolta Rolta builds its DRM practice around six basic tenets: People and Organization: Rolta has built a globally recognized team that is one of the largest DRM consultancies outside of Oracle. Rolta s team as been involved in over 45 DRM implementations, many of which include formal data governance and workflow components. Policies and Methodology: Rolta s MDM implementations use a core set of best practices. These include: leading the solution from the business needs into the technology solution and the understanding that solid data governance policies drive successful reference data solutions. Governance and Stewardship: Rolta partners with its clients to architect and deploy a Data Stewardship framework that is driven by the data governance process. The process represents the business point of view for data governance and ensures that the technology support layer supports the defined business rules. Quality: Rolta works with clients to define and implement information quality metrics and effective change management processes to drive data quality improvements. Communication: Rolta works with clients to install a clear, corporate communications framework to disseminate key master data information. The framework facilitates effective decision-making, rapid reference data updates, and ensures adherence to corporate data standards. Process Definition & Improvement: Rolta leverages its years of experience and broad depth of industry knowledge to help clients architect efficient, sustainable, and dependable business processes that support a centralized reference data management infrastructure Rolta International. All Rights Reserved.

11 OPERATIONAL APPS ( e.g. GL ) User Data Governance Environment Reference Data Targets Power User Member Data EPM APPS Bl APPS Data Relationship Management SYSTEM 1 ( GL ) Transaction Data SYSTEM 2 ( PRODUCT ) Implementation Methodology ROLTA s phased and iterative approach ensures that requirements are identified early in the project and with the utilization of the MDM tool, Proof of Concept & Prototypes are used to ensure that end user and systems integrations requirements are met. Each phase has specific activities, deliverables and milestones. For More Information For more information please RoltaDRM@RoltaSolutions.com Rolta International. All Rights Reserved.

12 ORACLE DATA SHEET HYPERION ORACLE HYPERION DATA RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT PROACTIVELY MANAGE MASTER DATA KEY FEATURES Enterprise master data lifecycle and change management Cross-functional views reconciled to master record Automatic attribute management with business rules Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management helps organizations to proactively manage changes in master data across operational, analytical and enterprise performance management silos. Business users may make changes in their departmental perspectives while ensuring conformance to enterprise standards. Whether processing financial or analytical information, Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management delivers timely, accurate and consistent master data to drive ongoing operational execution, business intelligence and performance management. Drag-and-drop hierarchy management Full-featured web client Referential integrity with synchronized records API for integrating changes with operational systems Comprehensive import, blend, and export functions Flexible versioning and modeling capabilities Role-based security Query, comparison, logging and rollback features Multi-language Support Localized User Interface 64-bit support KEY BENEFITS Save time and resources spent reconciling reports and measures across business units Reduce or eliminate errors in data flow between operational and analytical systems Maintain data integrity across divisions and systems Empower users to easily make data changes based on their role or responsibility Minimize manual IT data maintenance tasks Perform reliable what-if scenarios and impact analyses Ensure consistent corporate definitions and metrics Achieve Sarbanes-Oxley compliance User-Friendly Interfaces for Business and IT Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management is a platform for managing the many changes to critical enterprise data that often require human judgment. This platform saves organizations the time and resources dedicated to reconciling discrepancies by streamlining manual, error-prone and uncoordinated change events. Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management unifies cross-functional perspectives to a master record while enabling business users to contribute to the process of managing complex master data by constructing alternate departmental views of the data that are consistent and accurate. The product also enables IT administrators to ensure data integrity and security by keeping data management processes consistent with company policies. IT can codify business rules and configure validations to ensure that users do not compromise the integrity of enterprise master data as they reconcile their departmental perspectives within a common platform. Automated Attribute Management to Improve Productivity Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management makes it possible to automate the way in which hierarchy attributes are determined, simplifying management. The system can be configured so that the majority of attribute updates are populated automatically with values based upon other attributes or relationships to master data elements, or on inheritance across multiple hierarchies. To handle exceptions, the product allows business users to selectively override derived or inherited properties as well. Best-of-Breed Hierarchy Management to Manage Complexity In addition to sophisticated attribute management capabilities, Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management also provides best-in-class functionality for managing hierarchies. Specifically, it includes drag-and-drop hierarchy maintenance to streamline the process of updating hierarchy elements. Further, it also enables side-by-side comparison and one-click navigation across functional perspectives to allow users to view data and identify inconsistencies between views. Entire nodes of data may be copied and used across multiple versions to maintain referential accuracy. Referential integrity is built into the product by enforcing business rules that ensure, for example, that a parent record is always related to the same child records across alternate hierarchies, and that changes for descendent records are automatically synchronized.

13 ORACLE DATA SHEET Build alternate views of master data with accuracy and consistency using Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management. To avoid errors in financial consolidation and allocation, duplicate checking ensures that entities are not accounted for multiple times at an aggregate level. Intra- and cross-dimensional hierarchy support provides the flexibility to manage structures of many varieties to suit the needs of the business. Support for both balanced and ragged hierarchical structures allows users to manage hierarchies regardless of how the data needs to be stored or represented in a particular target system. Import, Blend, and Export to Synchronize Master Data Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management has comprehensive import, blend, and export capabilities that make it possible to make changes either in the system of record or in peripheral systems. The Import feature makes it possible to bulk load entire hierarchical structures and their attributes from source systems, creating an import profile that can be configured based on the specifications and format of the source system. With the Blender, users can selectively merge data from an imported hierarchy into an existing hierarchy or blend the appropriate data across a set of existing hierarchies. Once a system of record has been established, users can export data using wizards that can be configured to suit the target system s requirements. It is possible to configure an export function to filter, compare, transform, balance hierarchies, and eliminate duplication. To control sequencing, combine outputs, and simplify data export, individual export files can be grouped into books. The platform also includes Data Relationship Management Batch Client, a command line interface that allows organizations to run predefined import, blend, and export processes. Versioning and What-if Modeling to Improve Analysis Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management is instrumental when migrating to or rolling out new systems due to organizational changes such as acquiring a new division, reorganizing a regional sales force, or reconciling planning and production systems.

14 ORACLE DATA SHEET The platform s master data versioning and modeling capabilities differentiate it from other solutions, allowing organizations to run what-if scenarios and impact analyses to determine the effect of such changes before impacting production systems. Hierarchies can be versioned and stored in external files for archive purposes, or used to transfer and share hierarchy elements. Audit with Ease to Comply with Regulations Making changes to master data through manual processes such as spreadsheets, telephone calls, and s is time consuming and error-prone. To comply with auditors, organizations must maintain documentation and build a full audit trail of such changes manually, oftentimes derailing compliance and risk management initiatives. Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management provides a framework for query, comparison, and full logging of hierarchy management activities, including a detailed transaction history for full compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In addition, as-of versioning can be used to roll back to a certain point in time to view a snapshot of how the master data looked at that time. Robust Security Model Provides Precise Control Administrators can leverage a fine-grain security model that controls not just the dimensions and hierarchies that users have access to, but allows differences in access based on the version in which the data resides. The security model accommodates customizations to the capabilities and actions users can perform on the hierarchies they have access to. Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management also allows organizations to make critical enterprise master data available to all business stakeholders by creating public views that can be accessed anonymously. Casual business users can reference and download published data, and gain a deeper understanding of dimensions and attributes through a browser-based read-only interface. Standards Based Services Simplify SOA Integration Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management offers a comprehensive SOAP API to ensure end-to-end, real-time integration into the SOA fabric of the IT ecosystem. The API enables a set of stateless, standards-based web services that simplify and reduce the cost of integration into enterprise governance processes. Pre-Built Integrations Simplify Chart of Accounts Management Pre-built integrations with Oracle E-Business Suite, Fusion Financials and Fusion Accounting Hub help construct and maintain corporate standard chart of accounts across multiple local charts simplifying coordination across instances. Application templates included with Oracle general ledgers allow you to quickly load hierarchy attributes and segments on a scheduled or on-demand basis. In addition, native integrations with Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management Architect allow quick deployment of managed hierarchies into Enterprise Performance Management applications. Human Workflow to Foster Governance through Collaboration Request services enable organizations to integrate Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management with any choice of business process management or workflow engines to enable collaborative management of hierarchy data. BPEL Process Manager and a workflow development kit containing blueprints of critical change management and integration processes are included to accelerate collaboration through human workflows.

15 ORACLE DATA SHEET RELATED PRODUCTS ORACLE S PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS Oracle s performance management applications comprise a modular suite of integrated applications that support a broad range of strategic and financial performance management processes to enable management excellence. Part of Oracle s enterprise performance management system, these applications can be quickly deployed out of the box, extended with Oracle s business intelligence product family, or tailored to meet your organization s specific needs. Oracle s performance management applications include the following products: Strategy Management Solutions Financial Close and Reporting Solutions Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting Solutions Profitability and Cost Management Solutions Enterprise Dimension Management Solutions Contact Us For more information about Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management, visit oracle.com or call ORACLE1 to speak to an Oracle representative. Copyright 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, and the AMD Opteron logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. UNIX is a registered trademark licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. 0412