Oracle continues its cycle of monthly enhancements with the 25.09 release, gradually deployed from 5 September 2025 for test environments and from 19 September 2025 for production environments. This update delivers anticipated technical improvements, innovations in predictive intelligence and new features across several flagship modules, while reinforcing security best practices.
A precise deployment schedule
As Tanya Heise, Senior Principal Technical Support Engineer at Oracle, points out, deployment follows a clearly defined schedule:
Test environments: first maintenance after Friday, 5 September 2025, from 14:00 UTC for OC4 realms (London, Cardiff) and OC19 (Frankfurt, Madrid), or 22:00 UTC for other regions.
Production environments: first maintenance after Friday, 19 September 2025, according to the same time slots.
Oracle notes that customers using the skipUpdate command via EPM Automate can defer the application of this update. The vendor also recommends downloading the maintenance snapshot daily to ensure that a backup can be restored at any time.
Security: welcome tightening
The September update places emphasis on security. From now on, only strong ciphers will be accepted for TLS encryption, while retaining support for TLS 1.2. This development is intended to enhance the protection of exchanged data, but may require client-side checks (operating systems, browsers, Smart View, EPM Automate, etc.) to avoid any incompatibilities.
New features and “Spotlight Features”
Beyond the technical aspects, the update introduces several new features designed to enhance the user experience and the performance of EPM applications:
EPM Platform:
Stricter validation of Groovy scripts, ensuring the robustness and compliance of custom rules.Intelligent Performance Management:
The introduction of Advanced Predictions, enabling enriched forecasting through multiple input variables and advanced machine learning algorithms. An asset for improving planning reliability and anticipating business developments.Narrative Reporting:
• Automatic generation of note summaries using generative AI, saving time in the drafting and analysis of financial reports.
• Addition of a new job type in the Jobs console to automate the refresh of data sources in Report Packages.Tax Reporting:
Support for the Transitional Safe Harbor by currency (Pillar Two Currency) and by jurisdiction, to better meet international regulatory requirements.
Fixes and ongoing maintenance
As every month, this update also includes software fixes. The detailed list of resolved issues is available in the reference document EPM Cloud Release Highlights (Doc ID 2055579.1) published by Oracle Support.
Key takeaways for users
Back up regularly environments using the daily snapshot to prevent any risks during maintenance.
Check TLS compatibility for client tools and integrations.
Adapt Groovy scripts to the new validation rules.
Train teams on the new features, particularly generative AI in Narrative Reporting and advanced predictions.
source: docs.oracle.com
