Is your organization using Oracle Cloud HCM? It’s time to gear up — the much-awaited Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release Update is here. This latest release brings new enhancements and feature upgrades designed to optimize workforce processes, improve usability, and drive smarter HR operations.
The Oracle HCM Cloud 25D update became available in non-production environments on October 6, 2025, with production deployment scheduled for November 3, 2025. Now is the right time to explore what’s new, test the updates, and ensure your system is ready for a smooth transition.
Oracle Cloud HCM 25D: Enhancing Experience, Performance, and Compliance
Oracle’s quarterly Cloud HCM updates are far more than routine—they’re critical to maintaining system security, compliance, and optimal performance. The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D release introduces a wave of enhancements, especially around the Redwood user experience, offering a modern interface and smarter capabilities that make everyday HR operations faster, more intuitive, and engaging.
In this blog, we’ll provide a concise overview of the key updates and enhancements included in the Oracle HCM Cloud 25D release. Each release cycle brings exciting new features—but it also demands careful validation and testing to ensure smooth adoption.
That’s where Kovaion’s Oracle Cloud HCM expertise makes a difference. From impact analysis to end-to-end testing and post-update validation, Kovaion helps organizations ensure their systems remain stable, secure, and optimized—so you can focus on delivering seamless workforce experiences with every Oracle update.
What’s New in the Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release: Key Updates and Enhancements
Global Human Resources Enhancements
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release introduces several key improvements within Global Human Resources (HR), enhancing control, security, and user experience across the Redwood interface.
1. Controlled Access to Document Uploads
- Administrators can now restrict document uploads on the Redwood Document Records page using enhanced properties in the Attachments section.
- This new functionality allows employees to view existing attachments uploaded by others while preventing unauthorized uploads, ensuring better governance and compliance in document handling.
2. Improved Usability with Persistent User Preferences
- The Redwood Document Types and Document Type Delivery Preferences pages have received major usability enhancements. With user preference persistence, any personalizations—such as Column Selector adjustments, UI Filters, or Saved Searches—are now retained across sessions, providing a more seamless and personalized experience for HR teams.
These updates reflect Oracle’s continued focus on improving user efficiency and administrative control within Oracle HCM Cloud, empowering HR teams to work smarter and maintain consistent data integrity.
Enhancements in Absence Management
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release brings practical updates to Absence Management, helping organizations handle complex workforce scenarios more efficiently — especially for employees with multiple assignments and compensatory time plans.
1. New Primary Assignment Option for Multi-Role Workers
- The Absence Plan Create and Edit pages now include a Primary Assignment option within the Processing Level list.
- This enhancement ensures that enrollment is limited to a worker’s primary assignment, even when they hold multiple roles. All absences recorded across assignments under the same legal employer will now consume plan balances from this single, primary enrollment, simplifying tracking and ensuring data consistency.
2. Enhanced Flexibility for Compensatory Plans
- With the 25D update, compensatory plans now fully support negative earned transactions and negative balance adjustments. The system intelligently enforces the defined negative limit, preventing balances from dropping below the set threshold when such transactions occur.
- This improvement provides greater flexibility and accuracy in managing compensatory time while maintaining compliance with company policies.
These updates strengthen Oracle HCM Cloud’s Absence Management capabilities, making it easier for HR administrators to maintain accurate records, ensure compliance, and support diverse workforce structures.
Smarter Controls in Time and Labor
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release introduces enhanced security and automation features in Time and Labor, strengthening compliance and streamlining workforce management for supervisors and HR teams.
1. Strengthened Security for Mass Time Card Actions
- The Mass Submit and Approve functionality for time cards now requires specific security privileges. This enhancement ensures that only authorized managers can perform mass submissions or approvals, protecting sensitive workforce data and reducing the risk of unauthorized actions.
- By implementing role-based access, organizations can maintain greater control and accountability in time card processing.
2. Improved Attendance Rule Management
- Attendance Rules now include new configuration options that allow HR teams to define whether manager acknowledgment is required for specific violations.
- Additionally, administrators can set an automatic dismissal period (in days) for cases where the manager does not respond. Managers receive timely notifications and can acknowledge or dismiss violations directly through the Attendance Violations page or the notification itself, ensuring quick and transparent resolution.
These Oracle HCM Cloud 25D Time and Labor enhancements promote better workforce oversight, enhance compliance, and simplify manager workflows in multi-shift or large-scale operations.
AI-Driven and Scalable Enhancements in Talent Management
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release delivers powerful upgrades to Talent Management, helping HR teams and managers enhance employee engagement, streamline performance discussions, and leverage AI for deeper workforce insights.
1. Bulk Check-Ins for Smarter Employee Engagement
- HR Specialists can now create up to 13 bulk check-ins for employees by defining parameters such as manager type, employee group, and discussion topics.
- This feature supports both individual and group-based check-ins, making it easier for HR teams to foster consistent employee communication and performance alignment across large organizations.
- To perform this action, the ORA_PER_HUMAN_RESOURCE_SPECIALIST_JOB role must be configured for the respective HR Specialist.
2. AI-Powered Comments for Performance Evaluation
- Managers can now generate AI-driven comments at the Section Summary level for Competencies, Performance Goals, and Development Goals.
- This enhancement uses child and parent prompt structures to summarize large data sets efficiently, improving comment accuracy and identifying common performance themes.
- To enable this functionality for Redwood performance documents, organizations must configure the ORA_HCM_VBCS_PWA_ENABLED and ORA_HRA_PERFORMANCE_DOCUMENTS_AND_GOALS_REDWOOD_ENABLED profile options.
These innovations in Oracle HCM Cloud 25D make Talent Management more intelligent, scalable, and employee-centric—empowering HR teams to manage performance conversations with greater efficiency and insight.
Smarter Learning and Development Experience
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release introduces major improvements to Learning and Development, giving managers more flexibility, control, and visibility in assigning and tracking employee learning activities.
1. Streamlined Learning Assignment for Managers
- Managers can now assign required, external, or non-catalog learning with enhanced ease. The learner selection process has been simplified through integrated reporting structures, and a new searchable Person list allows for quick, multi-learner selection.
- Once assignments are submitted, managers are automatically redirected to the new Learning Assignments I Made page, where they can monitor the real-time status of each assignment.
- A detailed drawer view now displays assignment outcomes such as Success, Processing, or Failure (with explanations), improving workflow visibility and accountability.
2. Automated Reconciliation of Learning Assignments
- The Reconcile Learning Assignments action has been deprecated for administrators. Instead, continuous reconciliation is now handled automatically by configuring the site-level profile option ORA_WLF_AUTOMATE_RECONCILE_ENABLED to Y.
- This automation simplifies administrative effort and ensures that all learning assignments remain accurate and up to date across the system.
These Oracle HCM Cloud 25D Learning enhancements provide a more connected and intelligent learning experience—helping organizations strengthen workforce skills and drive continuous development through streamlined digital workflows.
Intelligent Recruiting and Candidate Experience Enhancements
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release brings AI-driven innovations and process automation to Recruiting, making it easier for organizations to attract, assess, and engage top talent efficiently.
1. Personalized Career Guidance for Candidates
- Candidates can now explore job opportunities that align with their skills, interests, and profiles through the new Career Coach experience.
- This enhancement combines two intelligent tools—the Job Recommendations Agent and the Job Fit Agent—into a unified interface. Once activated, the Career Coach proactively recommends suitable roles, creating a more engaging and personalized recruitment journey for candidates.
2. Smarter Candidate Selection Using Fast Formulas
- Recruiters can now leverage Fast Formulas to define automated process conditions for candidate selection actions. These formulas can reference the reasons associated with applications moved to terminal states—such as Rejected by Employer or Withdrawn by Candidate—enabling granular control over when automated actions are executed.
- This level of customization ensures greater flexibility, accuracy, and efficiency in the Oracle HCM Cloud Recruiting workflow.
Together, these enhancements in the Oracle Cloud HCM 25D update elevate both recruiter efficiency and candidate experience—supporting organizations in building a smarter, data-driven talent acquisition strategy.
Enhanced Compliance and User Experience in Benefits
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release enhances the Oracle Benefits module with updates designed to improve compliance, streamline employee self-service, and minimize enrollment errors.
1. Smarter Benefits Management with Greater Flexibility
- Oracle Benefits continues to be a powerful and flexible solution that enables organizations to design, manage, and deliver both simple and complex benefit plans.
- With intuitive self-service enrollment and guided workflows, employees can easily manage their benefit selections, while HR teams maintain complete control and visibility over plan administration.
2. New Enhanced Legal Disclaimer for Redwood Self-Service
- The Redwood Self-Service Benefits experience now includes an Enhanced Legal Disclaimer page.
- This update introduces a clearer and more intuitive interface, requiring users to explicitly accept the disclaimer before making any enrollment changes.
- This improvement not only strengthens regulatory compliance but also reduces user confusion and minimizes the risk of enrollment errors—ensuring a more secure and transparent benefits process.
These updates in the Oracle HCM Cloud 25D Benefits module reinforce Oracle’s commitment to improving compliance, usability, and employee empowerment through continuous innovation.
Payroll Enhancements for Accuracy and Compliance
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release introduces targeted updates to Payroll, focusing on improved accuracy, compliance, and process efficiency—particularly for UK-based employers managing pension-related contributions.
1. Streamlined Teachers’ Pension Reconciliation
- In UK Payroll, a new Error Number input has been added to the TPS When Earned Details element.
- This enhancement enables employers to capture and report error codes directly when processing Monthly Contributions Reconciliation (MCR) corrections, improving visibility into reconciliation issues.
- The result is faster error identification, reduced manual intervention, and higher accuracy in Teachers’ Pension reporting.
2. Enhanced LGPS Pensionable Pay Calculation
- The new Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Pensionable Pay logic now provides more precise handling of mid-period absences and nonrecurring payments.
- By intelligently separating regular and irregular earnings, the system ensures accurate employee contribution tiers and employer contributions, maintaining full compliance with statutory requirements.
These Oracle HCM Cloud 25D Payroll updates reflect Oracle’s continued investment in delivering secure, compliant, and efficient payroll solutions—helping organizations achieve greater accuracy and confidence in every pay cycle.
Enhanced Compensation Experience with Redwood
The Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release enhances the Compensation module, bringing a more intuitive and flexible experience through Redwood design improvements. These updates empower managers to review, analyze, and manage compensation details with greater ease and accuracy.
1. Currency Switcher for Global Flexibility
- Managers can now leverage the new currency switcher available on Redwood compensation pages.
- This feature allows users to view salary and historical compensation details in their preferred currency, simplifying global reviews and ensuring a better understanding during salary planning or adjustments.
- The enhancement is particularly valuable for multinational organizations managing compensation across diverse regions and currencies.
2. Refreshed Salary Review Experience in Redwood
- The Review Proposed Salary Changes and Rate Values page has been completely redesigned in Redwood, offering a more modern, user-friendly interface.
- Compensation managers can now easily review current and proposed salary details, access search results, and analyze error details within a clear, responsive layout—improving both decision-making and overall usability.
These Oracle HCM Cloud 25D Compensation updates simplify the salary review process, promote transparency, and deliver a superior experience for compensation teams and managers alike.
Technical Updates
Transactional Business Intelligence (OTBI) Enterprise
- Oracle’s Transactional Business Intelligence (OTBI) Enterprise continues to empower users with real-time, self-service reporting capabilities. HR teams can access critical insights across workforce costs, staffing, compensation, talent management, and succession planning—driving data-backed decision-making.
- This update introduces Compensation Assignment Segments, allowing organizations to analyze employee compensation details more precisely. These segments help calculate key values such as bonus components during promotions, ensuring greater accuracy and flexibility in compensation analysis.
Recruiting
- The latest Oracle HCM Cloud 25D update enhances Recruiting integrations and automation through HCM Data Loader (HDL).
- WhatsApp as a Communication Channel: Recruiters can now add WhatsApp as a communication channel via HDL, expanding candidate engagement options and improving communication efficiency.
- Enhanced Job Requisition Management: The update also enables HR teams to update Job Requisition Start and End Dates directly within HDL, streamlining data management and ensuring greater flexibility in maintaining job postings.
Learning
- With the 25D update, Oracle Cloud HCM introduces advanced capabilities for bulk skill association through HCM Data Loader and the EnhancedTalentProfile.dat file. Organizations can now efficiently associate dynamic skills with various learning items — including self-paced courses and specializations — in bulk. Supported attributes such as skill level and related indicators ensure precise skill mapping, improving learning relevance and workforce skill visibility.
Talent Management
- Administrators can now apply conditional expressions to page properties while editing Goal Management Redwood pages in Visual Builder Studio. This enhancement enables updates to be applied conditionally, allowing for more dynamic and context-specific configurations of the user interface — improving flexibility and user experience in goal management workflows.
Benefits
- The Benefits Bill Payment business object now enables users to bulk upload benefit billing payment data using either Oracle HCM Data Loader or HCM Spreadsheet Data Loader. This enhancement streamlines benefits administration, ensuring faster, more accurate, and scalable data management.
Get Ready for the Oracle Cloud HCM 25D Release with Kovaion.
Ensure a seamless transition to Oracle Cloud HCM 25D with Kovaion’s expert guidance. Our specialists help you assess impact areas, validate configurations, and optimize your HCM processes for peak performance. From release readiness to post-deployment validation, we ensure your system stays compliant, stable, and fully optimized to leverage every new enhancement. Partner with Kovaion today to make the most of your Oracle Cloud HCM 25D upgrade.
