7 reasons why you should upgrade to PeopleSoft v9.2
Since the launch of PeopleSoft version 9.2, over 750 features have been added, bringing the suite into the modern, mobile era and offering a more intuitive and responsive user experience. Still not sure why you should migrate to this version? Doug Crane, Operations Director at Succeed, part of the AdviserPlus group, gives his top reasons why…
1. PUM/Change Assistant
What is this PUM thing?
The PeopleSoft Update Manager (PUM) has fundamentally changed the way the software is kept up to date. Oracle, at present, has no plans to release new versions of PeopleSoft. Instead, the PUM approach enables ongoing incremental change. New functionality is available in the PUM image when it is complete, not when a new release is available.
Oracle will publish their current environment every 8-12 weeks or so as a PUM image. These images contain everything that Oracle has developed/tested and signed off internally.
PeopleSoft Update Manager uses familiar tools like Change Assistant and Change Packager and provides a way for you to select what you want to patch to your environment. The PeopleSoft Test Framework then tells you which test scripts should be executed in conjunction with the selected changes.
PUM will allow organisations to select changes to migrate into their environments. Specific patches for bugs can be applied as one-offs rather than applying a full feature pack. Organisational costs for maintaining the software have been significantly reduced.
What are the benefits?
• You control when to apply a fix and what it is
• Testing the impact of what is applied has also been simplified
• PeopleSoft Test Framework tool can be used to system test with automated scripts developed for the patch/module (create them once, use them repeatedly)
2. Fluid Interface
A better user experience
Fluid enabled pages are being added to the software frequently. Fluid is PeopleSoft’s next generation graphical user interface (GUI). The PeopleSoft Fluid UI is a modern, improved user interface that allows users to access the system from phones, tablets, and desktops. Fluid pages are responsive to orientation (landscape vs. portrait).
Additionally, Fluid works in parallel with the classic UI and new functionality, ‘Classic Plus’, adds the Fluid styling to classic desktop pages for continuity across all your PeopleSoft applications allowing you to make all pages look and feel the same. Developers can create Fluid enabled pages with the same tools currently used for classic pages.
Fluid UI completely removes the need for traditional menu-based navigation, especially with the tiles which can get you to your task/process within 2 clicks. This puts the end user at the heart of the system and shortens the cost of manager’s performing admin tasks.
The greater use of mobile devices provides organisations with the opportunity to apply this technology to enhance business processes. Mobile workspaces can improve productivity, enabling people to get their work done securely as they connect from any network, at any location, and on any device.
3. Improved usability
The PeopleSoft user experience is improved in v9.2 with the delivery of a number of new and enhanced features
• Activity guides
• Workcenters
• Train/Bus stops
• Dashboards
Activity Guides
Activity guides allow organisations to provide guided directions for completing a business process. It allows companies to setup their own guided navigation process that will define actions or steps needed to complete end-to-end business processes.
The configuration allows you to specify which steps are optional and which are required. Activity guides navigation functionality can be sequential or non-sequential. It also allows you to determine the order the steps will display. It is also an option to launch workflow and approval routing as part of your processing steps.
As part of a process you can provide the user with more than one opportunity to update or validate data and more importantly you can complete system updates without administrator intervention.
PeopleSoft v 9.2 has delivered activity guides that are setup and ready to use.
WorkCenters
WorkCenters are a one-stop-shop for presenting a to-do list. They allow users to conduct transactions, take action on alerts and view reports and analytics from one place.
WorkCenters are configured to allow access to all the pages needed to perform a job without needing to navigate to multiple components using menus.
The users know exactly what their priorities are at any given point and can work toward clearing exceptions and bottlenecks quickly. WorkCenters can be cross-functional, highly configurable and deliver content to the users based on their roles and permissions. They drive usability and ultimately productivity by providing access to the right data at the right time.
WorkCenters can be personalised with the links and pagelets a user needs most.
WorkCenter pages are divided into two general areas; the pagelet area and the transaction area. The pagelet area is a collection of application-defined pagelets that contain links, task lists, and other content.
The transaction area can display various items such as transaction pages and grids, dashboards, or pivot grids.
Train Stops
Train Stops layout a horizontal guided navigation to define how a business process is delivered to the user and how they can track progress of each step and the overall delivery. Always sequential,steps must be completed in the prescribed order.
This internal infrastructure provides the ability to display and order a series of steps (with sub-steps) to accomplish an overall task. The goal is to provide the end user with a complete view of the process and allow them to assess where they are within the process at any point in time.
You will see this navigation used throughout PeopleSoft products in release 9.2.
4. Reporting/analytics
Pivot Grids
Pivot Grids use new PeopleSoft technology to provide actionable operational analytics using charts and grids. Pivot Grids provide business intelligence needed to make informed decisions
Visually display real-time data and organize it in real-time by pivoting and filtering data results.
There a significant number of grids delivered across modules and the Pivot Grid Wizard function provides the opportunity to easily create custom pivot grids.
5. Improved navigation
Drillable URLS
Drilling URLs allow users to link or drill down to the source data from their query results.
The query results show as “links” which can, depending on how the URLs are defined, allow the user to access a page in the application, another query results page, or an external link.
This feature provides the user the ability to drill down from query results into details within the system without having to write down information navigation paths. It also removes manual orduplicate data keying, or the need to navigate to new pages or run new queries.
6. Elasticsearch
When you need to find information in PeopleSoft, you want to be able to find it quickly and easily. With the introduction of Elasticsearch in Tools 8.55, searching for data in PeopleSoft became significantly easier and faster.
Beginning in PeopleTools 8.56, Elasticsearch became the only supported search engine. The previous search engines, Verity and SES, will be discontinued and for some versions, support forSES ceased in April 2018.
If you haven’t implemented Elasticsearch, some benefits include:
• easier to install and maintain
• better search performance
• valuable with the Fluid user experience.
7. Archiving
PeopleSoft Archive Manager
In any enterprise application, the ability to purge and archive transactional data is critical to data management. You need to have documented and consistent methods to archive transactional data before your database increases to unmanageable size and cost.
PeopleSoft Data Archive Manager provides an integrated and consistent framework for archiving data from PeopleSoft applications. This makes it easier to archive and purge transactional data. There are pre-defined templates to assist with any archiving and restoration requirements.
PeopleSoft Archive Manager uses PeopleSoft Query to define criteria from tables to be archived. It also provides full audit trails of all archiving and data can be easily restored if needed.
Additional information
• Oracle has announced support until at least 2030 and continues to develop the platform.
• You can still purchase new PeopleSoft module licenses
• Today, 439 companies out of Fortune 500 use PeopleSoft
• PUM drastically lowers the cost of staying current; version 9.2 will be the last upgrade as you know it
• Regular releases of new functionality reduce the need for a lot of customisations
• More than 200 additional features have been added since the PeopleSoft v9.1 release
• PeopleSoft has more than 5,000 customers that Oracle plans to keep happy. $1.3 billion is received in PeopleSoft revenue annually.
If you’d like more information, or need help managing the migration, please get in touch.