Key #2 to Efficient FP&A: Keeping Up with Hyperion Upgrades

Thousands of organizations have made Oracle Hyperion an integral part of their FP&A processes. Like any enterprise software offering, however, Hyperion has its share of undocumented features, limitations, and third-party incompatibilities. Oracle is committed to fixing these issues through regular patches and security updates, although the level of support for a specific release diminishes over time.

Although Oracle cloud software automatically receives updates pushed out every month, Hyperion on-premises deployments must be upgraded manually. Despite prognostications of its demise, however, Oracle Hyperion on-premises is still alive and kicking. Oracle has announced that the next flagship version of the software, Hyperion 11.2, will have a scheduled release in Q1 2019.

Long-term support for 11.2 is expected to stretch into 2030, so Oracle is clearly pushing this next update as the landmark release of Hyperion on-premises for the foreseeable future. By providing more than a decade of guaranteed full support, Oracle is indicating that it will give its on-premises customers ample time to plan for a Hyperion cloud migration.

The Importance of Upgrading Oracle Hyperion

To make sure that you continue to receive the latest features, patches, and bug fixes, you need to keep Hyperion updated on a regular basis. This means not only installing the most frequent minor patches and upgrades but also keeping up with major releases such as 11.2 for Hyperion on-premises customers.

With the release of 11.2 less than a year away, you should already have a vision for when and how you will make the move. Upgrading an on-premises Hyperion deployment is frequently a major IT project – one that can last months from planning to completion, so you need to plan for it well in advance.

The longer you wait to upgrade Hyperion, the more difficult it will be to find a knowledgeable, experienced Oracle migration partner, and the more likely it will be that you will incur a lapse in support. For example, Oracle’s full support for Hyperion 11.1.2.3 expires in May 2018?next month, at the time of writing?which highlights the urgency of staying current on your release.

If you continue to use Hyperion without the latest upgrades, you could be putting the efficiency of your FP&A processes at risk. Nothing is more disruptive to your operations than the prospect of an unpatched security flaw that exposes your sensitive financial information to a data breach. In addition to this, older versions of Hyperion have known compatibility issues with Microsoft products such as Internet Explorer 10 and SQL Server 2008.

Datavail’s expert Hyperion consultants each have 10 years or more experience with deploying Hyperion technologies. We provide end-to-end service for your applications and environments, from planning and design to long-term support and maintenance, and can help any organization with their Hyperion upgrades and migrations.

Final Thoughts

Keeping Hyperion in working order is just one of IT administrators’ obligations to finance and business users.