Latest episode
OneStream or Oracle's cloud after Hyperion, when both routes are a rebuild.
Leaving Hyperion Financial Management means a rebuild, whichever route you take. OneStream (EPM software) is 1 application, and Oracle's cloud is a set of separate applications.
Finance teams on Hyperion (Oracle's legacy EPM suite) look at OneStream once they have a date to leave Hyperion Financial Management. Release 11.2 is the current on-premises release, and Oracle's cloud applications are its successor. So the real choice is OneStream or Oracle's cloud.
- OneStream (EPM software)
- 1 application. The consolidation, the plan, the reconciliations and the reports share 1 set of entities, accounts and periods.
- Hyperion and its Oracle successors
- On premises, HFM, Planning, Essbase and FDMEE are separate products. In the cloud, consolidation, planning and reconciliation are separate applications, each with its own metadata.
- Where they differ
- OneStream is 1 model looked after by 1 team. Oracle's route is a set of applications, each chosen for its own strength and joined by loads.
OneStream and Oracle's cloud each rebuild the 10 tasks an HFM estate runs today in their own way.
| OneStream (EPM software) | Oracle's cloud applications after Hyperion | |
|---|---|---|
| Rebuild the HFM consolidation for 40 entities | The consolidation rules are rewritten in OneStream's rule set on a fresh hierarchy, using the old HFM rules as the specification. | The rules are restated in Oracle's consolidation application, which has its own rule model, and HFM's custom rules are rewritten to it. |
| Carry 7 years of consolidated history | History loads into the same model at the grain the new hierarchy allows, with the old mappings recorded against each period. | History loads into the consolidation application, and the planning history loads separately into the planning application. |
| Load actuals from 3 ERPs each month | 1 data management layer takes each ERP's file with its own mapping, and a user drills from the consolidated cell to the source line. | Oracle's data management service loads each application, and the same ERP file may be mapped once per application it feeds. |
| Run the plan on the consolidated actuals | The plan sits in the same model as the actuals, so last month's close is the opening position of the forecast without a transfer. | The planning application receives the closed actuals from the consolidation application through a scheduled load. |
| Reconcile 600 balance sheet accounts | Account reconciliations run in the same application, against the balances the consolidation holds. | A separate reconciliation application holds the reconciliations and receives the balances by load. |
| Keep 1 chart of accounts across close, plan and report | The chart is 1 dimension read by every process, and a change to it is made once. | Each application holds its own copy of the chart, and a change is made in each and synchronised between them. |
| Eliminate intercompany and match the differences | Matching and elimination run per entity pair in the consolidation, with the matching report kept beside the period. | Matching and elimination run in the consolidation application, with its own matching module. |
| Report to the board and to the auditor from the same figure | The board pack and the statutory schedules read the consolidated cell, and the audit trail sits under it. | The board pack reads whichever application produced the figure, and a narrative reporting application assembles the annual report. |
| Add an acquired entity mid year | The entity is added once to the hierarchy with its ownership and acquisition date, and every process reads it. | The entity is added to each application's metadata, and the loads between them are extended to carry it. |
| Administer the estate afterwards | 1 finance systems team administers 1 application, its metadata, its rules and its security. | Each application has its own administration, and Oracle applies its own update cycle to each. |
OneStream rebuilds the HFM estate as 1 model with 1 set of dimensions.
OneStream brings the work of a suite of separate products into 1 application. The consolidation, the plan, the reconciliations and the reports all use the same dimensions.
Our consultants have worked on 58 EPM implementations over 35 years. In our experience, the join between 2 products is where a close loses its days. With 1 model there is no join, and the overnight load between HFM and Planning goes away.
We use the old HFM rules as the specification and ask what each hierarchy was for before we rebuild it. Hierarchies copied across unchanged bring the last decade of reorganisations with them.
Oracle's route out of Hyperion is a set of cloud applications, each chosen on its own.
Hyperion is 4 products that work together. Hyperion Financial Management runs the consolidation, Hyperion Planning runs the plan, Essbase sits underneath and FDMEE runs the loads. Oracle supports release 11.2 under its lifetime support policy, and its cloud applications are the successor.
Oracle's cloud is also a set of applications, each licensed and run separately. There is 1 for consolidation and close, 1 for planning, 1 for reconciliation and 1 for narrative reporting. The cloud keeps the Hyperion approach of choosing each product for its own strength.
Moving from HFM to Oracle's consolidation application is a rebuild, because the cloud application has a different rule model. On this route you rebuild with a supplier you already know and keep the joins you already run.
OneStream leaves a group with 1 product to administer after the move, and Oracle's cloud leaves it with several.
A set of applications needs loads between them every month. In a group with 40 entities on 3 ERPs, 1 team running consolidation, planning and reconciliations does that work. The rows in the task table list each of those joins.
A group that runs HFM alone, plans elsewhere and has an Oracle ledger under most entities rebuilds just 1 product with a familiar vendor. The 2 rebuilds are then a similar size, and the contract terms count for more.
Constancia is an EPM consultancy and an official OneStream partner. We survey your HFM estate and its rules before we agree a route or a price. Our survey lists what each hierarchy was for, and either rebuild can start from that list.
We also explain Hyperion support, FCCS and the migration route from HFM to OneStream.
Hyperion support and the routes out
Where support for the Hyperion suite stands, and the 3 places an HFM estate can go.
Read the explainerWhat FCCS is
The move from HFM to Oracle's cloud consolidation application rewrites the rules.
Read the explainerHyperion to OneStream migration
The steps that move an HFM estate onto 1 model, with the object that moves at each step.
Read the route
See more on our
Subscribe on YouTube
Every Sunday, 6am
The Sunday Close.
Our weekly newsletter on AI in finance.
Yours to enjoy with your Sunday morning coffee.
- AI in finance observations from Alex (CEO) and Brad (COO)
- Newest video from our YouTube channel
- AI in finance trends we have spotted each week
Tell us the date you are working to.
The people who would do the work read every message and reply inside 2 working days.