Should I Care?
| Feature | Admin | Dev | User | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groovy engine update, stricter validation of existing rules (26.05) | ✓ | ✓ | · | 🔴 Act Now |
| IP allowlist commands removed, existing allowlists deleted (26.05) | ✓ | · | · | 🔴 Act Now |
| OAuth 2 token policy and secondary audience update (26.07) | ✓ | ✓ | · | 🔴 Act Now |
| GenAI features require 26.04 or later | ✓ | · | ✓ | 🔴 Act Now |
| Reporting Agent: ask questions inside report preview (26.07) | ✓ | · | ✓ | 🟡 Review |
| AI assistant fleet across PCM, Tax, ARCS, EDM, FCC (26.05 to 26.07) | ✓ | · | ✓ | 🟡 Review |
| Advanced Predictions regression algorithms (26.06) | · | ✓ | ✓ | 🟡 Review |
| IPM Insights shown directly on forms and dashboards (26.07) | · | · | ✓ | 🟡 Review |
| AI written narrative summaries in Reports (26.06) | · | · | ✓ | 🟡 Review |
| New environment backups, restoreEnvironment, cloneEnvironment (26.05) | ✓ | · | · | 🟡 Review |
| Approvals worked directly inside forms (26.06) | · | · | ✓ | 🟡 Review |
| Application Diagnostics self service design check (26.06) | ✓ | ✓ | · | 🟡 Review |
| Autonomous Database integration without the Integration Agent (26.06) | ✓ | ✓ | · | 🟡 Review |
| Essbase load rules reusable in the cloud (26.05) | ✓ | · | · | 🟡 Review |
| Integration pipelines restart from the failed stage (26.05) | ✓ | · | · | ⚪ FYI |
| Predictive Planning in Smart View retired (26.06) | · | · | ✓ | ⚪ FYI |
| PCM legacy screens removed, Redwood only (26.07) | · | · | ✓ | ⚪ FYI |
| Redwood wave: Data Integration is now Data Exchange (26.07) | · | · | ✓ | ⚪ FYI |
The Theme of the Summer: Oracle Went All In on AI Agents
The headliner: the Reporting Agent (26.07)
Open a report in HTML preview and ask it questions in plain English. Values, trends, rankings, comparisons. Follow up questions stay in the context of that report, grid, and POV. Picture a controller in a review meeting asking which three entities drove the increase in operating expense this quarter, and getting the answer from the grid on screen instead of exporting to Excel and pivoting. It works across Planning, FreeForm, Financial Consolidation, Tax Reporting, Enterprise Profitability, and Narrative Reporting. This is the first AI feature many finance users will touch without knowing they are using AI. That is what adoption looks like.
The fleet of assistants that arrived around it
26.05 brought a Narrative Reporting assistant, a PCM assistant that answers questions about your models and rules, and a Tax assistant that builds Return to Accrual configurations from written instructions. 26.06 added Task Manager assistants for users and administrators, four Account Reconciliation assistants that can run Auto Match and manage periods from chat, and an Ask Oracle assistant in Enterprise Data Management for browsing and bulk changing master data. 26.07 closed the summer with an Activity Reports assistant for usage and performance questions, plus two Financial Consolidation assistants, one that helps build consolidation rules and one that diagnoses performance problems.
The reality check: most of these require Fusion AI Agent Studio, identity federation, and an Enterprise subscription. Setup is genuine work. If you run a standalone EPM environment, check the requirements before you promise these to your CFO. Turning them on is configuration. Deciding what an assistant should be allowed to see and do in a finance system is design work, and that part deserves adult supervision.
Predictions and insights got sharper
Advanced Predictions now supports regression algorithms (26.06): Linear, Lasso, and Ridge. Instead of only projecting a line from history, you can predict from drivers, like shipping cost from volume and fuel price. IPM Insights now appear directly on forms and dashboards (26.07), so a planner sees variance callouts for exactly the slice on screen without visiting a separate page. A new Period Movement Variance insight type (26.07) detects significant variances against benchmarks you define. And Reports can now draft written narrative summaries with generative AI (26.06): Describe, Compare, and Causality modes, with a human still editing the result.
One deadline that already passed: generative AI features now require 26.04 or later. Environments that skipped past that point have lost GenAI access. If AI options are missing from your menus, that is likely why.
The Changes That Can Bite You
The Groovy engine upgrade happened
26.05 shipped a new, stricter Groovy engine. Rules that ran for years can fail validation under the new ruleset. The Groovy Script Validator tool that flagged affected scripts was removed in 26.06 because Oracle considers the migration complete. If a rule started failing validation this summer, this is why, and the fix is updating the script, not fighting the platform. 26.08 adds a new validation error for grids you create in Groovy and never close. More on that in the 26.08 breakdown, publishing this Thursday.
IP allowlist commands are gone (26.05)
This is the sneaky one. The old EPM Automate commands and REST APIs for IP allowlists were removed, and existing allowlists configured through them were deleted. The replacement is Network Perimeter in Oracle's identity system, managed at the domain level. If your security team believes an IP allowlist is protecting your EPM environment, verify where it lives. If it lived in the removed commands, it is not protecting anything anymore.
Mandatory OAuth 2 configuration update (26.07)
If you run REST API or EPM Automate integrations on OAuth 2, administrators must update the token issuance policy and configure the secondary audience for Cloud EPM. It is one ticket to whoever owns your identity setup. Better to find this in a calm week than during close.
Retirements to know about
Predictive Planning in Smart View was retired in 26.06, no longer downloadable or supported. The replacement is the in-platform prediction stack, which is the stronger tool anyway. In PCM, the legacy Rules Outline and Waterfall tabs were removed in 26.07 and the redesigned EPCM screens became the only option, with no way back. If your muscle memory lives in the old screens, it is retraining time. Legacy Workforce rules and the EPM Digital Assistant skills have dates in the calendar below.
The Redwood wave (26.07)
Data Integration became Data Exchange, and Transaction Matching, several Planning Modules screens, and the EPCM screens all moved to the Redwood design automatically. Users will ask why screens look different. Now you have the answer ready.
The Quiet Wins Worth Adopting
New Environment Backups (26.05)
A true physical backup of everything, taken during daily maintenance and restorable to the exact state at backup time, plus new restoreEnvironment and enhanced cloneEnvironment commands. Production to test cloning and disaster recovery without snapshot gymnastics. The most underrated feature of the three months.
Approvals Inside Forms (26.06)
Promote, reject, change owner, annotate, and see approval status without leaving the form grid. A regional controller can work the whole approval cycle from the form they already live in. Also available in Smart View 26.100 by right click.
Application Diagnostics (26.06)
A self service tool that checks your application design against Oracle best practices and delivers an Excel report of findings. Run it before Oracle asks you to. Renamed Application Monitoring in the menu as of 26.08.
Autonomous Database Direct Connect (26.06)
Extract and load against Autonomous Database without the Integration Agent in the middle. One less moving part in your data pipeline.
Essbase Load Rules in the Cloud (26.05)
Migrating on premises customers can reuse existing load rules and source files directly. A big time saver on Hyperion migrations.
Pipeline Restart From Failed Stage (26.05)
Integration pipelines no longer rerun from the start after a failure at step nine of ten. Whoever babysits your loads will be grateful.
Smart View 26.100 (26.06)
Analyze Advanced Predictions in Excel, insert insights into PowerPoint, and faster member search. If your users live in Excel, this is their update.
The Deadline Calendar
The keeper section. Screenshot it or bookmark this page.
| When | What changes | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Already in effect | Generative AI features require 26.04 or later | If AI options are missing from your menus, bring the environment current |
| 26.10 | Transaction Matching audit table moves text columns to numeric codes | Update custom SQL reports built on TM_AUDIT_TRAIL |
| November 2026 | EPM Skills for Oracle Digital Assistant de-supported | Plan the move to AI Agent Studio |
| Q4 2026 | Legacy Workforce and Strategic Workforce Planning rules deprecated | Repoint action menus in pre December 2024 apps to the 2.0 rules |
| Not announced yet | IP addresses in connection URLs will stop working | Switch connections to hostnames now |
| Not announced yet | Power Users will need write access to a folder to create forms and dashboards in it | Review folder security assignments |
| Not announced yet | Calculation Manager will enforce its Errors and Considerations diagnostic | Clear diagnostics before opening rule SRs with Oracle |
The Catch Up Checklist
Click items to mark them complete. Progress saves in your browser.
Key Links
Questions People Ask
What changed in Oracle EPM 26.05, 26.06, and 26.07?
Three monthly updates shipped between May and July 2026 with about sixty announced features. The ones that matter most: the Reporting Agent and a fleet of AI assistants, a stricter Groovy engine, the removal of IP allowlist commands, a mandatory OAuth 2 configuration update, new environment backups, approvals inside forms, and several retirements with deadlines through 2026.
What is the Oracle EPM Reporting Agent?
A 26.07 feature that lets you open a report in HTML preview and ask questions about it in plain English: values, trends, rankings, and comparisons. Follow up questions stay in the context of that report, grid, and POV. It works across Planning, FreeForm, Financial Consolidation, Tax Reporting, Enterprise Profitability, and Narrative Reporting.
Why did my Groovy rules start failing validation in Oracle EPM?
Oracle shipped a new, stricter Groovy engine in 26.05. Rules that ran for years can fail validation under the new ruleset. The Groovy Script Validator tool that flagged affected scripts was removed in 26.06, so the fix now is updating the script itself to satisfy the stricter engine.
What happened to IP allowlists in Oracle EPM?
The EPM Automate commands and REST APIs for IP allowlists were removed in 26.05, and allowlists configured through them were deleted. The replacement is Network Perimeter in Oracle's identity system, managed at the domain level. If your security team believes an allowlist is protecting your environment, verify where it lives.
Do I need to change my OAuth 2 setup for Oracle EPM?
Yes, if you run REST API or EPM Automate integrations on OAuth 2. As of 26.07, administrators must update the token issuance policy and configure the secondary audience for Cloud EPM. It is one ticket to whoever owns your identity configuration.
When is the next Oracle EPM update?
The 26.08 update reached production environments on August 21, 2026. I cover every monthly update on this site and channel, with the full 26.08 breakdown publishing Thursday, September 3, 2026.