EPM 11.1.2.4: Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers support patching : Part-1

Note: This is Part-1 of 'Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Browser Support' patching blogs . You can read Part-2 here.

In April 2020, one of our clients (on EPM 11.1.2.4) informed us that effective immediately, their IT team would begin supporting Microsoft’s new Edge* web browser making it the default browser on user machines. Users were recommended to use Edge for day-to-day browser activities. However, they did mention that there are several apps that are not yet compatible. So if you use one of those apps that have known compatibility issues, then you can continue using Internet Explorer (IE11) in these cases.

*Microsoft Edge is based on the Chromium open-source engine, just like Chrome. Compared to IE, with Edge, you can look forward to significantly faster browsing performance and compatibility, better overall security, and a slew of helpful new features.

We checked the EPM 11.1.2.4 certification matrix and informed the client that currently (as of May 2020), Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Browsers are not supported by all the EPM applications so we should use IE11 only to smoothly access all the Hyperion apps.

But this whole picture got changed when in June 2020, Oracle notified that Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Browser Support has been added to Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) 11.1.2.4 (click here to read).

Oracle updated the EPM 11.1.2.4 certification matrix to reflect the new changes, as shown below:

In order to make your EPM 11.1.2.4 environment compatible with Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Browsers, you must update to the following supported releases:

• Hyperion Shared Services 11.1.2.4.100+ (Patch 31319089. Use Patch 31574562 for release 11.1.2.4.9xx) 
• Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Capital Asset Planning, Hyperion Workforce Planning, Hyperion Project Financial Planning 11.1.2.4.009+ (Patch 29889455) 
• Hyperion Calculation Manager 11.1.2.4.014+ (Patch 28557058) 
• Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.2.4.712+ (Patch 30670918. Use Patch 30671119 for release 11.1.2.4.9xx) 
• Hyperion Financial Management 11.1.2.4.208+ (Patch 28511735) 
• Hyperion Financial Close Management and Hyperion Tax Governance 11.1.2.4.253+ (Patch 29060830) 
• Hyperion Tax Provision 11.1.2.4.202+ (Patch 25316913) 
• Hyperion Financial Data Management 11.1.2.4.220+ (Patch 25312033) 
• Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management 11.1.2.4.130+ (Patch 29461894) 
• Hyperion Workspace 11.1.2.4.825+ (Patch 31124100. Use Patch 31486872 for release 11.1.2.4.9xx) 
• Hyperion Data Relationship Management 11.1.2.4.350+ (Patch 31420887)
• Additionally, you must also update Oracle JDeveloper / Application Development Framework 11.1.1.7.1 (Patch 31246831).

EXCEPTIONS

• Oracle JDeveloper / Application Development Framework does not apply to Hyperion Data Relationship Management or Hyperion Workspace.

For more information, read the following knowledge article: Browser Support Added for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge with EPM System Releases Beginning with Release 11.1.2.4 - Doc ID 2675883.1

So we planned to apply these compatibility patches in our EPM 11.1.2.4 environment starting with DEV to make it work with Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers.

As an obvious next step, we started looking for known issues/errors faced by any users after applying these compatibility patches.

Then we came to know about one technical issue reported as Hyperion Shared Services not working in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (Doc ID 2698535.1).

Notably, as per the Doc ID 2698535.1, this issue is reported not only in EPM 11.1.2.4 but also in the very latest EPM 11.2.1 and EPM 11.2.2 releases (Let me know in the comment section if you have a functional EPM 11.2.1 or 11.2.2 environment and face this issue on Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome browser.) 

As per Doc ID 2698535.1, after applying these compatibility patches mentioned in Doc ID 2675883.1, from Shared Services Console, attempting the following tasks results in an "empty" grey screen or grey pop-up:

• create new Native User
• provision existing user
• LCM import/export
• Migration Status Report

In short, you will be having issues while using Hyperion Shared Services Console on Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browsers post applying these patches.

Oracle has already raised two bugs for this problem as mentioned in Doc ID 2698535.1:

1. Unpublished bug created for 11.1.2.4 Bug 31686588
2. Unpublished bug created for 11.2.1 Bug 31546643

As a workaround for this issue in Hyperion Shared Services console, the following is suggested in Doc ID 2698535.1:

• For 11.1.2.4, workaround is to use Internet Explorer 11.x or Firefox 31+ ESR
• For 11.2.1, workaround is to use Internet Explorer 11.x or Firefox ESR
• For 11.2.2, workaround is to use Firefox ESR 

We decided to first clear the air about this compatibility patches and reported bugs before we patch our systems.

To that effect, we recently had a call with Oracle, and below is what we can summarize based on our discussion:

As far as these two bugs are concerned, there is still no solution provided for EPM 11.1.2.4, EPM 11.2.1, or EPM 11.2.2. Most probably, these bugs will be fixed in the EPM 11.2.3 release (as of Oct 2020). 

For EPM 11.1.2.4, you should go-ahead and patch your EPM 11.1.2.4 environment with these compatibility patches. As post patching there will be no impact on EPM 11.2.4 functioning with IE11 browser i.e. all the features/functionalities will continue to work fine on IE11 browser regardless of whether you have applied the new compatibility patches or not to make your EPM 11.2.4 environment compatible with Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

Post compatibility patching, the reported issue of "empty" grey screen in Doc ID 2698535.1 is limited to Hyperion Shared Services Console only for the tasks like create new Native User, provision existing user, LCM import/export, Migration Status Report. Other functionalities/features/consoles in EPM 11.1.2.4 work fine on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers. 

For the end-users, there are hardly any issues because Hyperion Shared services Console is mostly used by Hyperion Admins for user management and LCM related tasks.

The above summary gives a sense of security that at least there is nothing to lose after applying these compatibility patches mentioned in Doc ID 2675883.1 in your EPM 11.1.2.4 environment. After applying these patches in your EPM 11.1.2.4 environment, you can use:

• Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser for all the activities except on Hyperion Shared Services console
• IE11 for Hyperion Shared Services console activities only (mostly by Hyperion Admins)

As for the client, upgrading the current EPM version 11.1.2.4 to EPM 11.2 is still a good 6 months away (as of Oct 2020) and their IT team has already made Microsoft Edge the default browser, we are going to apply these compatibility patches in our 11.1.2.4 DEV environment for Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome compatibility. 

That's all for this post. 

I hope this article has helped you. 

Your suggestions/feedback are most welcome.

Keep learning and Have a great day!!!