A question recently came up on the Cloud Customer Connect forum for Planning Cloud asking about customers’ experiences with the mobile side of this product.

Mobile Web Browser Access

Oracle EPM Cloud is inherently able to be accessed through mobile browsers. However, if you were to access it directly through a mobile device’s web browser, you may not seem to have access to everything by default. This is because there is one more step required to access data forms, task lists, and rules through a mobile browser (note that Dashboards and other objects are not currently on the list).

The following applies to both EPBCS and PBCS. (Note that I checked FCCS, but did not see the option there.) An Administrator needs to go to Navigator | Setup | Access Simplified Interface:

From there, you’ll see 3 tabs and a +/x button. Within each of the forms, tasks, and rules tabs you can check the individual corresponding objects that should be accessed via a mobile browser. Note that you can also check the folder levels, which will auto-check all objects within it.

Once you’re done, press OK.

I find that the access grant is near instantaneous. I only needed to refresh my mobile browser to see the objects within each of these respective cards.

Note that in general I do not recommend the mobile interface from a phone’s web browser since the real estate is limited. However, it’s good when you’re in a pinch. From a tablet, real estate is better, but in general, there are quirks with the mobile web browsers that make navigation and functionality limited.

Mobile App Access

There is one other option for mobile access, and this option goes beyond Planning Cloud. Oracle EPM offers a mobile app. For Apple devices (note that I don’t own Android so I can only comment on the Apple side) it’s currently called “Oracle EPM Mobile” in the app store. It’s been there for years, but I don’t find it particularly useful personally, and it’s very confusing to navigate through – it’s less about visuals and more about lists.

When you first download it, you’ll first have to agree to its terms. Then, to get started, go through the quick tour:

If you want to explore the sample sites, go through the entire tour and then press the Explore button at the end:

You can then experience multiple types of products and applications through this app (not just Planning Cloud):

To get out of sample mode and connect to your own instance, you’ll need to use the Navigator button in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Choose Sign Out (Oracle auto-logs you in as a dummy user to use the samples):

Now navigate to Configure Connection:

Here, type in your credentials, including your Planning Cloud URL:

Important note: the URL required here for Planning Cloud requires a very specific syntax. After the “.com” type in “/workspace” instead of “/HyperionPlanning” and end the URL syntax there.

Then you’ll see an option to choose the application tied to that URL and you can access your application objects from there, mostly through lists. I don’t know much about the Oracle EPM Mobile app, so here is the documentation if you want to learn more: https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/tutorials/epm/epm-mobile-get-started.html

Unfortunately, both the documentation and iPhone app indicate that this app hasn’t been updated since 2017. It could use a refresh. Good luck!