SOX Report Card - Enterprise vs. Financial Management

I can't take credit for this table - I came across this in a Hyperion presentation and it is pretty helpful in making the case to switch to Financial Management.

	Financial Management	Enterprise
Single version of the truth	A	A
Timeliness / Speed of close	A	A
Adjustment capabilities	A	A
Workflow	A	C
Audit functionality	A	C
Documentation	A	F
Internal controls / email alerting	A	F

Enterprise vs. Financial Management

Still on Enterprise and wondering if it is time to make the jump to Financial Management? Enterprise is still a solid product but the table below will help you understand some of the benefits of the FM solution:

Hyperion Financial Management	Hyperion Enterprise
Unify financial and operating results	Consolidation and reporting (regulatory filings)
12 Smart dimensions	4 Fixed dimensions
Scalable to thousands of users	Client / server architecture – limit to 150 users
Web enabled	Microsoft Windows architected – distributed deployment – some web
24 by 7 Availability	Offline maintenance and backup required
Easy to customize Web User interface	HTML programming required for customized user interface
Hyperion Financial Management	Hyperion Enterprise
Drag and drop, oriented reporting with Financial Reporting	Script based reporting
Adhoc analysis with drill down capabilities	Not available
Process Workflow	Not available
Robust controls and audit trails	Some controls and audit trails
Integration with Hyperion Planning	Not available
Shared security maintenance of users and groups across Hyperion products	Not available

UFC: Web Analysis vs. Interactive Reporting

Pretty exciting matchup, right? At a high level review, you'll note that Web Analysis and Interactive Reporting overlap on a number of key features. So which tool is the right tool? Historically, IR was good at relational reporting and analysis. WA was good at Essbase reporting and analysis. With version 9.3.1, Interactive Reporting introduced a new CubeQuery feature that now allows it to better report against Essbase (prior to 9.3.1, there were many frustrations when trying to use IR with Essbase). CubeQuery closely models the functionality that is provided with Web Analysis. What is really cool? You can now easily combine Essbase and relational data very easily in IR dashboards and reports.

Let's look in a bit more detail, comparing the advanced analytic capabilities between IR CubeQuery and WA:

	WA Studio	WA Workspace	IR Studio	IR Web Client	IR HTML
Basic Drilling	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Swap Rows and Columns	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Client install	Required first the first time	No install necessary	Client application	Required the first time	No install necessary
Adhoc Query	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Member Selection	High	High	Medium	Medium	None
Traffic Lighting	Yes	Yes	Yes – Called Spotlighter	Yes – Called Spotlighter	No
Formatting / Presentation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Save Personal Queries	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Next let's compare the dashboarding capabilities between the two:

	Web Analysis	Interactive Reporting
Complexity to Create	Medium	Medium - Complex
Requires Programming	None	Yes – Java scripting
Flexibility	High	Very high
Drillable within the Dashboard (Essbase sources)	Yes	No (but in future versions)
Present Essbase Data with Relational Data	Yes – but not well	Yes
Data Controls	Yes	Yes
Risk (when using Essbase as data source)	Low	Medium-High (new)
Time to Implement (when using Essbase as a data source)	Lower	Higher (new)

So in summary, what is the best tool?

It depends…

• Technically you could use both but …
• IR requires Java Scripting knowledge for creating and maintaining dashboards
• Learning curve for both products (similar concepts but steps and design considerations are completely different)

• Web Analysis if you are only reporting on Essbase
• Interactive Reporting if you report against relational sources
• Interactive Reporting if you report against Essbase and relational sources in the same report or dashboard with considerations*
  *Java scripting
  *New (available in 9.3.1); Some fixes and enhancements in 11.1.1
  
• Web Analysis if you don’t have any technical resources available / programmers (Web Analysis is easier to learn for administrators and no Java Scripting or “coding” required)
• From an basic end user perspective using Essbase, IR and WA have the same functionality for the most part (there may be a few more features in WA)
  - Keep only, remove only
  - Navigation is different between the 2 tools – training consideration
  
• From a power end user perspective, Web Analysis provides more adhoc advanced analytic features against Essbase
  
  
  
  

IR vs. WA vs. FR vs. Smart View

A number of products are currently available for reporting and analysis against the Hyperion Suite of products. Which tool is the right tool for me? The answer is probably not just one tool but at least two. Here is a high level matrix comparing the strengths of each of one of the tools:

	Interactive Reporting	Financial Reporting	Web Analysis	Smart View
Relational Data Source	X		(Technically, yes but not well)	Yes, OBIEE in v11.1.1
Essbase Data Source	(9.3.1)	X	X	X
Printable, Formatted Reports	X	X		X
Adhoc Analysis	X		X	X
Dashboarding	X		X
Charting	X	Yes, but not as good as the others	X	X
Web	X	X	X

So the big question, which of these tools will be around in the future? Financial Reporting - Yes. We're already hearing about a new tool Oracle Answers+ that will be the direction for advanced analytics and dashboarding. From what I've hear (I've haven't seen this product yet), it is going to be a great solution but it is not Hyperion ready just yet. Smart View - Yes.

So what about Interactive Reporting and Web Analysis? This is completely unofficial / my own opinion so please take that into consideration. IR will have lifetime support but I think we will see new features not added to this product in the future (not any time soon though). I think Web Analysis will be around until we see Answers+ matching the feature set of WA (which I think is a ways down the road).

A related question - Web Analysis and Interactive Reporting have many of the same capabilities. Which tool is the best? I have a separate blog entry addressing that question. Check it out.

Smart View Query Designer vs. Regular Adhoc Query

In the latest versions of Smart View, a query designer is provided to create queries in Excel against Essbase. I've gotten a few questions from clients related to this new tool ... Why would I use the Query Designer vs. just using the adhoc analysis / member selection capabilities? See the matrix below to view a comparison:

Regular Query vs. Query Designer	Regular Adhoc Query	Query Designer
POV, Rows, Columns	Y	Y
Member Filters	Y	Y
Data Filters	N	Y
You know the Query Definition at the Beginning	Good	Best
You’ve drilled into a query and want to go back to original starting point	Good	Best
Free form MDX	N	Y
Save Queries using Microsoft Save	Y	Y
Copy across worksheets	Y	Y

Formatting Options in Smart View

Smart View provides a few different formatting options - Use Excel Formatting, Capture Formatting and Cell Styles. Which should you use? The most common will be either Excel formatting or Capture Formatting so I compare the two below - in general, I think Excel formatting is the best. Save Styles for possibly budget templates or common formatting when analyzing.

	Capture Formatting	Use Excel Formatting
Apply to Data Cells	Y	Y
Apply to Members	N	Y
Retains formatting on Drill	Y – for specific data cells	N
Retains formatting on POV change	Y	Y

So the lesson learned here - set up the query / layout first and then apply formatting (probably Excel Formatting for your reports). Know that if you have to drill from there, formatting changes in most cases are lost.

Excel Add-in vs. Smart View 9.3.1 - 50,000 Foot View

This tables compares the Excel Add-in vs. Smart View from a high level. The main point you'll find here is that the Excel Add-in only works with Essbase and Excel while Smart View works with the full suite of Hyperion products and with all of the Office products (including PowerPoint and Word).

Excel Add-in vs. Smart View (overall)	Excel Add-in	Smart View
Excel	Yes	Yes
Word, PowerPoint, Outlook	No	Yes
Essbase	Yes	Yes
FM and Planning	No	Yes
Reporting and Analysis Modules (FR, WA, IR)	No	Yes
Copy and Paste Data Points across Office	No	Yes
Visual Data in Excel from Word or PowerPoint	No	Yes
POV Manager across Office	No	Yes

Excel Add-in vs. Smart View 9.3.1 - Essbase Analysis

Have you made the switch from our beloved Excel Add-in to the Smart View Add-in? I've been slow to make the change too (I love the Excel Add-in and can use it in my sleep). But Smart View 9.3.1 makes a compelling case and version 11 seals the deal for me (feature comparison for 11.1.1 coming soon). Here is a side-by-side comparison of the Excel Add-in vs. Smart View (for Essbase) features:

	Excel Add-in 9.3.1	Smart View Add-in – Essbase 9.3.1
Drill Capabilities	Yes	Yes
Keep only, Remove Only	Yes	Yes
Member Selection	Yes	Yes
Query Designer	Yes	Yes (different)
Retain Formulas	Yes (must select formula preservation)	Yes (by default)
Formatted Reports	Yes	Yes
Cell Text / LROs	Yes	No
Adjust function	No	Yes
DTS	Yes	Yes
Substitution Variables	Yes	No; Coming Soon
Member name referenced in a linked formula	Yes	No; Coming Soon
Cascade	Yes	No; Coming Soon
Ancestor Position	Yes	Yes
Use Excel Formatting & Cell Styles	Yes	Yes
Flashback / Undo	Yes – One Undo	Yes – Multiple Undo’s
POV Manager – Copy and Paste POVs	No	Yes
Share POVs	No	Yes
Define Default Starting POV	No	No; Coming soon with Smart Slices
Multi-Source Grids / Reports	Yes	Yes (using data points)
Alias Table defaults to Default	Yes	No
Submit Data to Essbase	Yes	Yes
MDX vs. Rpt Script	Rpt Script	MDX
Copy / Paste Data Points	No	Yes
Refreshable Essbase Data in Word and PowerPoint	No	Yes
Visualize in Excel	No	Yes
Launch business rules	No	No