Oracle EPM Implementation

Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) is a cloud-based software used to support budgeting and planning at the university. Oracle EPM supports the annual budget and financial planning process and provides scenario analysis capabilities with long-term and unit-level planning, budgeting, and forecasting.

Beginning in July 2026, the campus will use Oracle EPM to support proactive annual budget planning for the 2026-27 fiscal year. While Oracle EPM changes how budgets are documented, reviewed, and discussed, it does not change the University's budget authority or approval process. Rather, it provides a more structured and transparent way to support the existing budget planning process. Historically, many budget assumptions have been implicit, especially around staffing, funding sources, and the use of balances. Under the new process:

  • Workforce costs are reviewed explicitly
  • Budget changes are more clearly identified
  • Resource gaps are surfaced rather than implied
  • Budgets are reviewed using shared, standardized views

The goal is clarity and transparency, not reinvention.

Oracle EPM Resources


Contact

Oracle EPM Training

Oracle EPM Kick Off


Budgeting System Functionality (Performance Architectures Oracle EPM User Training – June 18, 2026)

This course provides an overview of Budgeting within Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). It will include simulations of the most commonly used functionality. 


Academic Department Budgeting (Coming Soon)

This course provides an overview of Academic Department Budgeting within Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). It will include simulations of the most commonly used faculty and staff position requests, employee roster review, and O&M budget transactions. The session will provide information on using SmartView (Excel), standard reports, and ad-hoc reporting. 


Non-Academic Department Budgeting (Coming Soon)

This course provides an overview of Non-Academic Department Budgeting within Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). It will include simulations of the most commonly used staff position requests, employee roster review, and O&M budget transactions. The session will provide information on using SmartView (Excel), standard reports, and ad-hoc reporting. 


Budget Assistant Training (Coming Soon) 


Sponsored Program Budgeting (TBD)

This TEAMS Training provides an overview of budget development within Oracle EPM, including step-by-step guidance for creating sponsored project O&M budgets, creating new-year position requests, and reviewing employee rosters. 


SmartView Training Guide (Video TBA)

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Presently, not fundamentally, but it is becoming more explicit and structured.

The goal is to use a new system to support existing budgeting practices better, while gradually strengthening structure, transparency, and collaboration in the planning process.

The Annual Plan uses a balanced, fully-funded planning approach, meaning:

  • Budget will be considered a target or a plan
  • Budget variances and funding gaps should no longer remain implicit; they should be documented and explained within the planning process. Comment field > right mouse click > attach narrative or document).

This does not mean deficits are prohibited; it means they must be visible for the Budget Office to review.

The campus has adopted a new financial system with planning tools that can help manage this process. These changes support:

  • Better alignment between staffing and budgets
  • More consistent review across departments and divisions
  • Clearer conversations with leadership and governance groups
  • Stronger foundations for long-term financial planning
The first year is intended to help departments become familiar with the new system while establishing consistent planning practices across campus.

Departments will be asked to:

  • Review and confirm their workforce rosters and costing
  • Plan O & M budgets within a common framework
  • Submit budgets for review and discussion through EPM
  • Engage in conversations about how their budgets align with resources

Workforce costs represent the largest and most structural portion of the budget. Workforce planning helps ensure:

  • Positions, FTE, and rates are accurate
  • Funding sources are understood
  • Salary and benefit budgets flow consistently into the Annual Plan

For most departments, the experience will feel familiar to staffing, with the intent that the system delivers important information. Departments will:

  • Begin with their current budget base
  • Incorporate known staffing and operating budget changes
  • Identify and document any funding gaps, risks, or planning assumptions for discussion during the review process

What's different is that this information will now be captured in a shared system and reviewed using a common framework across the University.

Reviewers and approvers (e.g., control points, Deans offices) will have:

  • Better visibility into departmental budgets
  • Standardized views and rollups
  • Clearer points for discussion, endorsement, or follow-up

Training and support will be provided specifically for reviewers, not just data entry users.

Yes. The Budget Office and the Office of Financial Training will provide:

  • Conceptual training
  • System training
  • Reference materials and guides
  • Office hours throughout the cycle

This first year is designed as a learning year.

That is expected. The goal is shared understanding and consistency, not perfection. Feedback from this cycle will inform refinements in future years. 

Yes. This first cycle establishes a foundation. Over time, the campus may choose to introduce more targeted reviews or deeper justification in specific areas, but those decisions would be made deliberately and with campus input.