Groovy is a Java syntax compatible object-oriented programming language and has similar features like Python and Ruby along with being a dynamic and static language. In recent years, Oracle has incorporated the use of Groovy when running business rules in Enterprise Performance Management(EPM) Cloud systems; it provides a way to interact with Data Forms in ePBCS.

These are some limitations with the standard Oracle Calculation Scripts in Planning:

• Calculation Scripts are unable to dynamically generate scripts at runtime based on contexts other than user-entered run time prompts. If you change a few cells in a form, a calculation script business rule has no way of identifying what data has been changed and then calculate based only on that data.
• Calculation Scripts are unable to dynamically specify the parent for a current member by project type or region.
• User entered data and runtime prompt values are unable to be validated until a calculation is ran.
• You cannot combine multiple EPM functions into a single rule or set of rules ( i.e., automatically running a Smart Push operation after calculating).
• Calculation Scripts may experience performance issues due to their static nature of the script; requiring a calculation of a large portion of the database even when only a few cells have been updated).

However, limited context-specific calculations are available in forms by right-clicking and calculating only a specific row. This option is less useful for large forms or when you update cells in multiple rows. This is where Groovy Script Business Rules have an advantage over the standard Calculation Scripts:

• Dynamically generate calculation scripts for runtime based on contexts defined in the Groovy script.
• Add validation checks for run time prompt values before running calculations, data validation checks before submitting data, and error handling.
• Launch multiple EPM functions with a single rule: run a calculation and then run a Smart Push operation to move calculated data to a reporting cube.
• Improve performance by creating focused calculations: dynamically creating custom targeted calculation scripts based on what data was modified in the current form.
• Perform complex procedural calculations in memory before submitting the results to the database.

This is just the tip of the iceberg on Groovy for business rules and from what we know and there is a lot more to explore and learn.