FormDefUtil.cmd – a way to export and import Planning Forms

FormDefUtil is a pretty decent Planning utility that can be used to export planning data forms from one environment to another. Being a planning utility it resides in the Planning1 folder (at least in the 11.1.2 version of EPM).

Path - D:\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1.

In order to launch the FormDefUtil utility

            Open the command Prompt

            Go to the Planning1 folder where the FormDefUtil utility is.

From here you can either export or import forms by typing in the required syntax

If you want to export all the forms that you have you can type in

FormDefUtil export –all server username application (FormDefUtil export -all localhost admin sampleapp)

If you want to export only one form, you can type in

FormDefUtil export FormName server username application (FormDefUtil export retirement localhost admin sampleapp)

The above export command creates an XML file that you can import in a different environment.

In order to import form in the target planning app, you can type in

FormDefUtil import –all server username application (FormDefUtil import -all localhost admin sampleapp)

SOME MORE

All forms within an application:
FormdefUtil.cmd export -all localhost khoonks (username here) normal (application name here)

it will ask for password

One form that you want to export:
For example, if you want to export a form named "Other Expenses" from the "normal" application, the syntax would be 

FormdefUtil.cmd export "Other Expenses" localhost khoonks normal

It will ask for password.


After the execution of the script, the output fill will be seen in the Planning1 folder > D:\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1. 
Output is an XML file and it is something like "Other Expenses - Capital.xml"

In order to import only one app, you can type in

FormDefUtil import filenamepluslocationoffile server username application (FormDefUtil import formname.xml localhost admin sampleapp)

After you run the command, if it asks for the password, type in the password and wait for it to run.

There are other parameters that you can use with the FormDefUtil utility. You can refer to http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/hp_admin/frameset.htm?ch12s06s04.html for more information.

During the budget preparation for the next year, we had a requirement where we had to delete the SUPPORTING DETAILS that were entered in Planning Data Forms.

It was not simply deleting all the details but we had to “wipe out everything from some of the supporting detail forms” where we had to “delete only the numbers and keep the description in some of the supporting detail reports.”

Well, in this case, there are two different options that came to my mind.

1                1. Use the “Clear Cell Details” options in Workspace. Administration -> Manage -> Clear Cell Details and specify the Plan Type and dimensions.

2                2. Use SQL script.

I thought about using the first option to start with, and I cleared the cell details using the Workspace. However, it wiped away the descriptions as well. So, it was not the proper method of clearing cell details in this case.

Therefore, I chose to use the second option of running the SQL script. The following Oracle link is where you can look to see how to “clear cell details.”

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/hp_admin/ch10s04s02.html

This document mentions two different SQL scripts – “sddelete.sql” and “aadelete.sql” and these can be found under the Hyperion home path D:\oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\products\Planning\config\sql.

By modifying the script as per our need and running the script, we were able to delete only the data in the supporting detail forms without having to delete the description.

If you have similar kind of situation, you can use the two scripts in order to delete supporting details.