THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE ORACLE APPLICATIONS USERS GROUP SUMMER 2012

Driving Accountability Through Disciplined Planning with

Hyperion Planning and Essbase

Introduction to Master Data and Master Data Management

(MDM): Part 2

Oracle E-Business Suite Support Goes More Proactive

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Vendor Corner section of OAUG Insight provides information on products from OAUG vendor members. The OAUG does not specifically endorse any product or service from any of our vendor members. vendor corner

xcel-based financial reporting solutions, like

GL Wand from Excel4apps, are an attractive option for those looking to fill reporting gaps left from the R12 upgrade, both from a price and user acceptance standpoint. LEVEL THREE

Excel4apps is a 2012 OAUG Star Partner

E

Filling Oracle R12 Reporting Gaps with Excel-Based Alternatives

By Chris Meyer, Managing Director, Americas, at Excel4Apps

This article appeared in the summer 2012 issue of OAUG Insight magazine, the official publication of the Oracle Applications

Users Group (OAUG), and is reprinted with permission.

Special Advertising Section

vendor corner

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oaug insight ● spring 2008

3 oaug.org

Many organizations embarking on or contemplating an upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) Release 12.1 (R12) are unaware of changes in the new release that impact financial reporting from the General Ledger (GL). One such significant change is the replacement of Client Application Desktop Integrator (ADI), which has been used for years to produce ad-hoc reports, as well as for report manager functions and other critical tasks. According to a recent OAUG survey, user acceptance is one of the top five risks in ERP upgrades. As IT and Finance groups approach an R12 upgrade, project success depends on fully understanding any limitations with the new reporting environment, as well as options for filling those gaps so users have comparable or improved functionality.

That was then, this is now With the R12 upgrade, Client ADI is replaced by Web ADI for uploading journals from Excel and Report Manager for publishing FSGs into Excel. However, gaps exist between Client ADI’s functionality and the two new applications. For example, Client ADI allowed users to produce ad-hoc FSG reports, but the new Report Manager was designed for storing point-in-time reports. It cannot be used to define or modify a report. Users submit ad-hoc FSG or standard reports from the R12 Report Manager, but they must re-create each template in a special editor before its first use. Also, submitting an FSG report becomes a five-step process, which increases report submission time compared with Client ADI. Transactional drill down is another important consideration for financial users. R12 only supports account

analysis and drill down for reports published through its Report Manager, which are delivered through an HTML form. While users may sort data returned by a search, this functionality is limited in that users cannot search by the period-to-date column.

Other Oracle ad-hoc options To produce ad-hoc reports without Report Manager, users can submit a “Publish FSG Report” request via the standard request submission form. This method allows users to produce any FSG report, but the report layout templates used are built with MS Word. All templates built using an Excel editor must be rebuilt in MS Word to use this report creation method. With few FSG reporting enhancements in recent years, many Oracle customers have been compelled to consider business intelligence (BI) products such as Hyperion or Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE), but the installation of such products can be too costly and time-consuming for some customers.

Oracle Validated Integration Solution alternative Excel-based financial reporting solutions, like GL Wand from Excel4apps, are an attractive option for those looking to fill reporting gaps left from the R12 upgrade, both from a price and user acceptance standpoint. An Oracle Validated Integration

solution, GL Wand delivers real-time GL data via direct link between Oracle and Excel. For organizations already invested in customized FSG reports, a GL Wand conversion tool easily converts existing reports into Excel. Because finance users have strong Excel skills, they easily create and modify ad-hoc reports through GL Wand’s familiar Excel interface, without programming support or IT intervention, which frees valuable time for financial analysis. Reports are similar to those they are accustomed to from Client ADI, yet the process is much faster than with either Client ADI or Report Manager. Finance users can also drill into sub-ledger transaction details with GL Wand, which utilizes Oracle’s security settings to maintain appropriate data accessibility. It is important to take into account the effects of an R12 upgrade, or even re-implementation, on the GL reporting process. Understanding these effects and identifying available solutions, such as GL Wand, can not only satisfy GL reporting requirements, but improve financial reporting processes altogether.

Chris Meyer is Managing Director, Americas, at Excel4apps, a provider of Excel-based reporting, inquiry and budget uploading solutions for Oracle. Contact Chris at chris.meyer@excel4apps.com or visit www.excel4apps.com/oracle to access a free trial of the GL Wand solution today.

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An Oracle Validated Integration solution, GL Wand delivers real-time GL data via direct link between Oracle and Excel.

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