Retrieving
User Variables in Oracle EPM Using REST APIs
If you’re building integrations with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), sooner or later you’ll run into User Variables. They are everywhere—driving form personalization, security filters, default selections, and even calculation behavior.
The
good news? Oracle EPM provides powerful REST APIs that let you retrieve
user variable values programmatically.
In
this blog, we’ll break down two commonly used REST APIs:
- GetUserVariablesForUser
- GetUserVariablesForUserAndMember
You’ll
learn:
- What user variables are
and why they matter
- When to use each API
- How to call them
- What the response looks
like
- Common real‑world use
cases
All
examples and explanations are provided with reference
What
Are User Variables in Oracle EPM?
User
Variables are
configurable placeholders that dynamically resolve to dimension members based
on the logged‑in user. They are widely used across Planning, FreeForm, FCC, and
other EPM modules to personalize the experience.
Typical
use cases include:
- Default Entity, Version,
or Scenario for a user
- Security‑driven data
access
- Dynamic filtering in forms
and dashboards
- Personalized calculations
and rules
From a
technical perspective, user variables help avoid hardcoding dimension members
and allow applications to scale across users with different responsibilities. [docs.oracle.com]
Why
Retrieve User Variables via REST APIs?
While
user variables are usually set and managed through the UI, integrations
often need them programmatically. Common scenarios include:
- External applications that
need to respect EPM personalization
- AI agents or middleware
dynamically resolving context
- Audit and validation of
user setup
- Mass analysis of user
configurations
- Integration testing and
automation
Oracle
addresses these needs through the User Variable Values REST APIs
available in Planning REST API v3. [docs.oracle.com]
API #1 - What This API Does
This API retrieves ser variable values set for all users and for all user variables defined for the application.
REST
Endpoint
GET {{BASE_URL}}/HyperionPlanning/rest/v3/applications/EPBCS/uservariablevalues
Response
API #2 - What This API Does
To
retrieve user variable values set for all users for a user variable with a
specific name.
REST Endpoint
GET {{BASE_URL}}/ /HyperionPlanning/rest/v3/applications/EPBCS/uservariablevalues/Asset
- Buy
API #3 - What This API Does
GET {{BASE_URL}}//HyperionPlanning/rest/v3/applications/EPBCS/uservariablevalues?q={"userName":"dayalan.example@example.com"}
to
retrieve user variable values for one or more users.
Example Use Case
- An external planning
portal needs to open with the same defaults as EPM
- A batch job validates that
users have all mandatory variables assigned
- AI‑driven workflows
resolve default dimension context before executing rules
Security
and Access Considerations
- Service Administrators can retrieve
variables for any user
- Regular users can
retrieve only their own variables
- APIs follow standard EPM
REST authentication (Basic Auth or OAuth2)
Oracle
also enhanced these APIs in recent releases to allow retrieving
multiple users’ variables in a single request, improving performance for
administrative use cases. [docs.oracle.com]
Real‑World
Integration Patterns
Here’s
how these APIs are commonly used in modern EPM architectures:
- AI agents translating natural language into EPM actions
- Data pipelines aligning user
context across systems
- Automated testing validating
environment consistency
If
you’re building an EPM Control Center, middleware, or AI‑driven
workflow, user variables are often the first API call you
make.
Final
Thoughts
User
variables may look simple on the surface, but they are foundational to
personalization and security in Oracle EPM. Oracle’s REST APIs make it easy
to retrieve them in a clean, scalable, and secure way.
If
you’re building advanced integrations or AI‑powered solutions on Oracle
EPM, mastering these APIs is a must.
Happy days on the cloud!
