Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Architect (EPMA) is a metadata management module in the Oracle Hyperion EPM suite. EPMA was the first metadata management module offered by Oracle, as part of their EPM suite, that allowed a level of metadata sharing between EPM applications.
Technically, Hyperion customers don’t require a metadata management solution because they can manage metadata manually or in “classic” mode. However, this option comes at the cost of efficiency and lack of automation and validations.
With the Oracle Hyperion suite 11.2.x upgrade, EPMA is no longer available. Upon completion of the upgrade, all 11.2.x applications are automatically converted to classic mode. Organizations that don’t want to compromise on efficiency and metadata integrity will need to find an alternative metadata management solution.
Oracle encourages EPMA users to switch to Oracle DRM lite (the free version) as part of their upgrade to 11.2.x. However, DRM’s restricted functionality, including lack of direct integration with target systems and lack of ability to read and feed from source systems (a restriction in DRM lite only), makes this option less than ideal.
In comparison, EPMware offers out-of-the-box integration with most popular enterprise business applications, including Oracle Hyperion. Metadata is deployed directly from EPMware to the target system, and real-time validations let the user know whether the metadata request succeeded.
Other features that make EPMware a better choice to replace EPMA include the ability to deploy metadata on-prem or in the cloud to interface tables and data warehouses. EPMware also provides full data governance capabilities within the same platform, which is rare.
EPMware isn’t free, but it does offer enterprise licensing that doesn’t require a per-node fee, which makes it much more cost-effective than other metadata management solutions.
EPMware is designed to empower business users to take control of their enterprise metadata management. Converting from EPMA to EPMware is straightforward and usually can be completed in a few weeks.
The first phase of the conversion progresses as follows:
Upgrade EPMA to 11.2 so your applications are in classic mode.
Register your applications in EPMware.
Use one-click import to move metadata from the new classic applications to EPMware. This takes about 5-7 minutes per application.
EPMware’s built-in application intelligence capabilities automatically translate metadata during the import, saving weeks of manual effort.
Introduce a data governance workflow for reviews and approvals. (This is an optional step.)
Once phase one of the conversion is complete, you can dive deeper into EPMware’s metadata management and data governance functionality and customize the implementation to meet your organization’s specific requirements.
Some optional capabilities that will increase the impact of your metadata management conversion include:
Add data governance workflows for multi-stage review and approvals.
Add validations and derivations to further automate routine metadata changes.
Add additional functional validations to transfer ownership of metadata to the business.
Source master data (e.g., employee and customer) using EPMware interface tables, and share to Hyperion applications.
Share metadata views to downstream data warehouse applications.
Add master data management for non-financial data models that reside in relational tables.
The Oracle Hyperion suite 11.2.x upgrade marks the end of support for Oracle EPMA. Although there are workarounds for the loss of EPMA’s metadata management capabilities, these options are far from ideal.
Converting to EPMware’s unified metadata management and data governance platform provides a comprehensive, cost-effective alternative to EPMA. You’ll get seamless integration, real-time validation, and built-in governance to help ensure the accuracy and integrity of your organization’s metadata.
To learn more about how EPMware goes toe-to-toe with other Oracle solutions, download this EPMware vs. Oracle EDM and DRM vendor comparison.