Cannot Export Web Data Entry Form to Microsoft Excel after Installing HFM 9.3.1 Service Pack 3

After installing 9.3.1.3 or 11.1.1.2 it is not possible to export WDEFs to Excel using the HFM web interface.

The following message or similar may be displayed and the form may fail to export or to open in Excel. 

Problems During Load
Problems came up in the following areas during load

Table

This file cannot be opened because of errors. Errors are listed in:

C:\DOCUMEN~1\FCDWFY\LOCALS~1\TEMPOR~1\Content.MSO\E428DB9.log

 

There are some known code issues with 9.3.1 Service Pack 3 (Patch 7457927) and the Export to Excel feature.   There are several potential causes of this message.

1. One possible cause was found to be if any rows had a Style property e.g. for changing the background colour or font formatting of the row, then the output could not be interpreted by Excel and the above error message appeared.  This was documented in (unpublished) Oracle bug number 8234461.
2. A second possible cause was if the web form had more than two HFM metadata dimensions defined in the various column definitions.  For example if the first column defined fixed Scenarios and Periods but the second column used fixed Periods and Custom 1 members then the output of the export could not be interpreted by Excel and the above error message appeared.   This was documented in unpublished Oracle bug number 8316451.
3. A third possible cause was found to be those customers who had made changes to their decimal and thousand seperator preferences in File -> User Preferences -> Consolidation in the Hyperion System 9 BI+ Workspace.  If the thousand seperator was set to be an empty space, or if the thousand and decimal seperators had been set to be . (dot / period) and , (comma) respectively, which is the standard for some continental European countries, then the output of the export cannot be interpreted by Excel and the above error message may appear. The unpublished Oracle bug number for this issue is 8417749.
4. A fourth possible cause was found to be if any of the cells in the web form were showing NOACCESS, then when the user tries to export the output cannot be intepreted by Excel and the above error message displays.   The unpublished bug number for this issue is 8576700.

From version 11.1.1.2 there has been a recurrance of Oracle bug number 8316451 as above. The unpublished Oracle bug number for this issue in this version is 8856665.

Install the latest Service Pack (SP4) for HFM 9.3.1

All of these issues should be resolved by installing HFM Service Pack 9.3.1.4 (Oracle patch 8259783) which can be found in the "Patches and Downloads" section of Metalink 3.

Service Pack 4 is an urgently recommended install for all HFM 9.3.1. customers.   To install Service Pack 4, please download the patch and apply as directed in the Readme file that comes with the patch.

OR

Install 2 Service Fixes for HFM 9.3.1. SP3

For those customers choosing to stay on HFM 9.3.1 Service Pack 3,  only two of the four issues listed above can be fixed by installing Service Fixes on HFM 9.3.1 SP3.  The other two remaining issues are only fixed in Service Pack 4.

If you wish to patch just Service Pack 3, then please carefully follow the instructions in the Readme files that come with the patches including:

1. Stop all HFM processes and services, including (on the HFM web server), the 3 Windows Services related to Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS).   These are the IIS Admin Service, the HTTP SSL service and the World Wide Web Publishing Service.
2. Install the Service Fix 9.3.1.3.01 patch 8251022 by copying files as indicated in the Readme file.
3. Restart the server before applying the other Service Fix.
4. After the server is restarted, install the Service Fix 9.3.1.3.05 Patch 8316451 by copying files as indicated in the Readme file.
5. Restart the server once more
6. Start the IIS services and HFM Windows service if it was previously started.
7. Log in to the BI+ Workspace, open an HFM application, open a Web Data Entry Form and test the Export to Excel functionality once more.

For Financial Management version 11.1.1.2, install Service Fix 11.1.1.2.15

Service Fix 11.1.1.2.15 patch 8856665 is available for download. Please follow the details in the bundled Readme file for installation instructions.

 

Any remaining unresolved issues with Export to Excel after patches installed

Any customers still experiencing problems with Export to Excel after installing Service Pack 4 should please open a Service Request with Oracle Global Customer Support referring to this Metalink Note number.