Secrets to Success for Implementing Hyperion Planning Erica Harris and Karen Botting Environment Waikato.

Secrets to Success for Implementing

Hyperion PlanningErica Harris and Karen Botting

Environment Waikato

Erica Harris

• Senior Oracle DBA at Environment Waikato• Worked with Oracle Database since version 7• Worked with Hyperion infrastructure since

version 8.3• Secretary of New Zealand Oracle Users Group

Karen Botting

• Management accountant at Environment Waikato

• Lead for implementation of Hyperion Planning

Agenda

• What is Environment Waikato?• Why Hyperion Planning?• What is the LTCCP?• What worked well• What could have been done better• What to remember

What is Environment Waikato?

• The regional council for the Waikato region.• The region contains nationally important

electricity generation facilities and an internationally significant dairy sector.

• Home to iconic natural features which are key tourist attractions.

www.ew.govt.nz

What is Environment Waikato?

Environment Waikato’s responsibilities include:• sustainable management of natural and

physical resources, including pest control.• planning regional growth and transport, and

providing bus services.• civil defence, emergency response, navigation

safety, dam safety, flood management, erosion control and road safety.

Why Hyperion Planning?

• Oracle Financial Analyzer desupported and obsolete

• Briefly tried a product from another vendor• Required a more sophisticated product to

support production of the LTCCP (Long Term Council Community Plan)

What is the LTCCP?• 10 year plan produced every three years• A plan of the activities EW intends to fund

and provide• Driven by the work EW is legally required to

do and the outcomes the community considers important

• Aims to balance protecting the environment, social and cultural wellbeing and economic activity for present and future generations

Hyperion Planning

• Implementation: 5 to 6 months in 2008• Included setup of infrastructure as well as

development of the cubes, forms and business rules

• Collaboration between Environment Waikato and Indigo NZ

• Upgraded September 2009

What Worked

• Up front decision that Environment Waikato would have primary responsibility for the system long term

• Partnership with Indigo• Expectations mostly explicit and reasonable

What Worked

• Stable teams from EW and Indigo• Good support from Indigo - emails and phone

calls returned in timely fashion; issues also resolved!

• Regular presence of Indigo on site for face to face discussions and work

What Worked

• Project methodology • Infrastructure setup• Devl/test/live environments - one physical

server and seven virtual servers; try things out in devl

What Worked

• Integration with LDAP server• Groups for provisioning and for object access

Workspace

Planning IR

Shared Services

What Worked• Training - management accountants had

access to the system very early on• Training - application training for

management accountants and system administrator

• Training - end users had hands-on training buddied with management accountants

• Training - system administrator training early on

What Worked

• Communication of changes to end users - prepared for changes

• Feedback requested and received• Dedicated resource for reporting - not one of

the management accountants

What Worked

• Business processes - definition• Forms and task lists built from the point of

view of how they would be used by the end users

What Could Have Been Done Better

• Timeframe• Terms – definition of• Business rules – development and definition

What Could Have Been Done Better

• Expectations• Resourcing - lack of dedicated staff• Reporting - no requirements definition

What Could Have Been Done Better

• Forms and task lists• Security

What Could Have Been Done Better

• Front end capabilities • Roles

What Could Have Been Done Better

• Performance - forms• Performance - servers• Synchronisation of devl/test/live

environments

What to remember• Lead in - as much as you can get• Resourcing - dedicated resources for cube

development• Training - as much as you can get at all levels• Infrastructure - resource appropriately; don’t skimp• Ask questions• Define expectations• Define requirements and review as project

progresses