What's Happening with PeopleSoft ERP

So what's new with PeopleSoft?

Oracle PeopleSoft ERP applications offer users around the world the tools they need to operate business processes smoothly and efficiently. Oracle is committed to offering the best tools possible to its PeopleSoft customers, through enhancements to existing ERP application features and functionality as well as through investments in new development areas. Since the release of PeopleSoft 9.2, Oracle has released 17 Update Images and over 150 new features, with more planned to come. Alex Man, Oracle Group Vice President, PeopleSoft Development outlines 8 items, or 8 areas of focus, that PeopleSoft ERP customers can expect to see moving into the future.

1.Customers can expect to see continued developments in Fluid UI
Fluid UI provides customers with unmatched flexibility when it comes to accessing PeopleSoft application content on the go, from a desktop, tablet or mobile phone. PeopleSoft has released six new Fluid home pages since the release of PeopleSoft 9.2. Other new developments within Fluid UI include Pivot Grids and WorkCenters, which Oracle continues to invest in. 

Oracle has delivered 19 WorkCenters to its ERP customers, providing users with a one-stop shop for business users to process, conduct transactions, take action on alerts and view reports and analytics. Some new features to be delivered in the future include the ability for users to define a scope within the WorkCenter from multiple work lists. WorkCenters will also be Fluid enabled and will be geared toward managers, providing them with the tools they need to monitor their direct reports from a smartphone or tablet. Oracle customers can also expect Mobile Expenses in Fluid UI to be enhanced. With additional capabilities such as multi-currency added in, users will be able to submit their expenses any time and any place. 

eProcurement Requisition in Fluid UI will resemble more customer-focused websites and applications such as Amazon, with images of each item next to the listing, formatted with more of a product catalog feel. The new developments in Requisitioning will make it easier than ever before to select items, review the order and submit it. Users will be able to place orders on the go, without having to be in the office to complete the transaction.

2. Customers can expect to see enhancements to External Application Portals
In addition to new developments within PeopleSoft that are geared more towards internal users, such as providing employees with the tools they need to submit expenses, PeopleSoft will be developing and tailoring the user experience for more external audiences as well, such as customers or suppliers. With enhancements in the Supplier Portal, suppliers will be able to go in and register with their information, see available bids and interact with the company, all from within the portal. Oracle customers can also set up their applications to provide their customers with access to the PeopleSoft system.

3. Customers can expect to see new Accounting Requirements
With new accounting standards released within the past year, the Oracle PeopleSoft team is focusing on making sure that PeopleSoft customers are completely covered under their applications. The two major accounting initiatives Oracle is focusing on right now are the Revenue Recognition and Lease Accounting initiatives. These changes in accounting requirements will affect multiple areas of PeopleSoft Financials such as General Ledger, Asset Management and more.

4. Customers can expect to see enhanced Common Components and Frameworks
Frameworks make it easy for PeopleSoft customers to improve the way they complete common business processes and transactions. PeopleSoft is working on developing many more additional frameworks to assist customers, including the Guided Data Entry Framework, Validation Framework and Mass Transaction Manager to name a few.

5. Customers can expect the option to utilize new PeopleSoft ERP Products
Oracle has recently released four new products, including three Real-time Bottom Line products and a Project Discovery product with in-memory processing. The Real-time Bottom Line products are geared toward maximizing business performance, which can take organizational factors into account and simulate what will occur within an organization before it actually happens.

6. Customers can expect to see a continued investment in Analytics and Reporting
PeopleSoft ERP applications provide users with numerous options when it comes to analytics and reporting. Pivot Grids, Simplified Analytics, BI Publisher Reports and OBIE Reporting (or General Ledger Reporting) all drive enhanced organizational decision making and data analysis. 111 Pivot Grids have been delivered for PeopleSoft ERP applications alone. Oracle also continues to develop and deliver Dashboards to its customers, offering enhanced personalization and navigation through pagelets.

7. Customers can expect to see enhancements in Supplier Lifecycle Management
The Oracle PeopleSoft team has delivered Onboarding and Registration within Supplier Lifecycle Management and will continue to enhance current offerings to provide Scorecarding and a Qualification system. This will allow organizations to better manage the relationship with their suppliers and take action when needed.

8. Customers can expect to receive options as to whether they want to run PeopleSoft on the Cloud or On Premise
PeopleSoft ERP is available on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace, providing all PeopleSoft ERP customers with the ability to host some or all of their environment on the Cloud. PeopleSoft has also released the PeopleSoft Cloud Architecture, providing customers with the tools they need to deploy and maintain PeopleSoft on the Cloud with any Cloud service.

Interested in learning more about how you can upgrade to PeopleSoft 9.2 to access these features and more? Visit the PeopleSoft Information Portal.

PeopleSoft Leadership Sets Direction for Applications

Q & A, Quest International Users Group’s magazine, recently published an article including a Q & A session withPaco Aubrejuan, Oracle Senior Vice President and General Manager, PeopleSoft Applications Development. In the interview, Paco addresses three main areas of discussion related to PeopleSoft applications. Paco includes an overview of PeopleSoft in the cloud, Selective Adoption and Fluid User Interface, outlining not only the features currently available to customers, but also what customers can expect to see in the future as well.

A synopsis of Paco’s answers are provided below under each question.

Question 1: What are the options for PeopleSoft customers with cloud aspirations?
Cloud is becoming an increasingly important topic in the PeopleSoft user community. Many organizations are now faced with the choice to migrate some or all of their environment to the cloud, allowing for lowered total cost of ownership while maximizing flexibility and system agility. When cloud was initially introduced to PeopleSoft users, it meant Software as a Service, meaning that the customer would pay a monthly fee to receive access to Oracle applications. Since then, Oracle has Oracle released what is the first full cloud application suite in existence. Oracle now offers Data as a Service (DaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), in addition to Software as a Service (SaaS). PeopleSoft applications are now accessible via the Oracle Public Cloud.

Cloud does not need to be all or nothing with PeopleSoft customers. Many customers, while running their applications on premise, are choosing to transition their development, test and production environments to the Oracle Public Cloud. In addition to reduced costs and agility, customers running environments on the cloud are able to uptake enhancements much faster and receive the latest features and functionality that Oracle has to offer. The PeopleSoft Cloud Architecture (PCA) introduced with PeopleTools 8.55 offers increased automation for PeopleSoft application lifecycle management and provides a platform to quickly deploy and update applications.

Question 2: What are your recommendations for embracing Selective Adoption?
PeopleSoft Selective Adoption is a game changer. Before the introduction of Selective Adoption in PeopleSoft 9.2, customers had to upgrade and take the newest release of PeopleSoft applications, regardless if they needed or wanted the updates. Selective Adoption puts customers in the driver’s seat, allowing them to uptake only the changes they want, when they want. Oracle releases update images every 2 to 3 months, providing customers with optional updates that they can uptake. Customers are able to skip over update images without having to stay current on them. Selective Adoption means the end of costly upgrades.

Because Selective Adoption offers new features on a continuous basis, customers should develop a strategy of how to address this new delivery model. Not only must organizations decide on what features they want to uptake, but they need to decide on elements such as how often to do maintenance or security updates, outlining what will be done on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. In addition, customers must include both IT and business process decision makers to decide what to uptake and where it will fit in the budget.

Question 3: What is the PeopleSoft Fluid User Interface and why is it important for customers?
PeopleSoft Fluid User Interface was developed and delivered as a result of customers’ desires to have applications that are simplified, modern and mobile. Now with Fluid UI, PeopleSoft applications can be rendered on a variety of screen sizes, utilizing HTML5 and CSS3 technology. Fluid UI offers customers intuitive and simplified navigation as well as the ability to access the information they need while on the go. Fluid UI, first introduced in PeopleTools 8.54, is now enhanced in PeopleTools 8.55 with more and more business transaction pages being built in Fluid UI. In PeopleTools 8.55, Fluid UI is the default. Users are able to transition between Classic and Fluid pages seamlessly.

Some notable features delivered through the Fluid User Interface include Fluid Activity Guides, Fluid WorkCentersand Simplified Analytics, providing users with the tools they need for simplified navigation and enhanced decision making.

To read the full Q & A with Paco Aubrejuan, click here.

How Simplified Analytics Streamline Procurement Operations

Hello Oracle PeopleSoft users,

You may have heard of Simplified Analytics or seen a demo at one of the last PeopleSoft user conferences. Today specifically, I want to show you the beauty of Simplified Analytics for Procurement Operations and how they can streamline processes and ease workload for Procurement managers.

PeopleSoft Procurement Operations in Fluid UI allows managers to access the important procurement information they need, wherever they are at, from a desktop, tablet or mobile device. Important events such as Procurement Spend, supplier’s non-conformance to SLAs and any pending approvals can be monitored and acted upon while on the go.

In addition to the mobility and flexibility that Procurement Operations in Fluid UI offers, managers can view interactive, Simplified Analytics for enhanced data analysis. From the Procurement Operations homepage, managers can set up different events as tiles for simplified and streamlined navigation, personalizing them with the exact information they would like to monitor. Managers can set up various thresholds for each event, receiving a notification when a threshold on a certain event is exceeded and needs to be reviewed, such as the number of contracts due to expire. 

Procurement managers can set up a tile as a Supplier Watch List to monitor violations and assess whether suppliers should continue to hold the organization’s key supplier positions. From the Supplier Watch List page, suppliers are listed on the left-hand side with alerts underneath the suppliers that currently have violations. New suppliers will not have any activity under their names. Suppliers can be added to the Supplier Watch List using a simple search and add feature. On the right side of the details section, users can access My Analytics to combine data from within the page to make a report using the Create Analytics Wizard. 

Users can enter a new report name and specify whether they would like the data from the PS Query to be shown in a chart, table or Pivot Grid. Users can specify and filter through which data and fields they would like to be included in the report. 

After clicking Next, the chart automatically appears. Users can select or deselect the information they would like to include in the chart, using a click and drag to add additional fields. Users can also save the report for future reference by clicking Save in the top right corner.

The analytic can also be added to the homepage as a tile or shared with others through accessing the Publishing Options button if the user has administrative access.

1. Publish this report to ‘My Analytics’ of other users
This option publishes and places the Analytic report in all users’ My Analytics that use the component.

2. Publish this report to the tile repository of other users
This option publishes and saves the Analytic report as a tile in the My Analytics folder for all users that use the component, providing them with the ability to add the tile to their homepage.

Other options for Simplified Analytics include the ability to go back in through the tile and alter filters, chart layout, grid transaction details, sort options and export into an Excel sheet. Users can also save the updated analytic report or publish another analytic to their homepage. 

You could also look at the Supplier 360 view that allows users to access a single page of all the information on a supplier.

Interested in learning more about how you can access Oracle's Simplified Analytics on Procurement Operations? Visit peoplesoftinfo.com. 

Submitting a Payment Request in Fluid UI

Entering and approving non PO payment requests can be an extremely time consuming and costly process for many organizations. Now, with PeopleSoft Payment Request in Fluid UI, all employees can follow the intuitive navigation to submit ad hoc payment requests without the need for assistance from Accounts Payable. PeopleSoft Fluid Payment Request provides enhanced self service, allowing employees to submit payment requests while on the go, from a tablet or mobile phone.

To access the Payment Request feature, users simply click on the Payment Request Center tile on the Fluid Employee Self Service homepage. From the Payment Request Center page, users can view all recent Payment Requests as well as any messages on Payment Requests sent by the organization’s designated request approvers. Users can also filter to find the exact Payment Request that they are looking for. 

An activity guide walks users through the easy, four step process to create new payment requests:

Step 1: Enter in Invoice Summary Details
Users can follow along, entering in information such as invoice number and date, cost and description. After entering in the Cost Sub-Total along with any other costs such as taxes or freight charges, a total amount is automatically calculated. The Fluid Payment Request also has the ability for users to upload attachments to a request, such as an invoice or other related documentation during this step.

Step 2: Enter Supplier Information
After entering in invoice summary details, users are prompted to enter supplier information, allowing a search by Supplier Name or Supplier ID. If a new supplier needs to be entered into the system, users can click on the “Enter New Supplier” button to fill out the necessary details and add them to the request.

Step 3: Enter Invoice Details
In the third step of the activity guide, users are prompted to enter invoice line details such as quantity, unit and unit price. Users can search by Item ID to look through all of the items found within PeopleSoft, and can then add that item to the invoice details page. In addition to invoice and supplier information, users can enter in the accounting information as well. Fluid Payment Requests utilize predefined Accounting Tags, which automatically enter in accounting details for that line of the request.

Step 4: Review and Submit
In this final step, users are prompted to review all of the information entered before submitting the payment request. After the request is submitted, users can view the approval history and see who the designated approver is.

Within Fluid UI, approvers can access one, convenient location to view all pending payment requests, cutting down on navigation by removing the need to flip between pages. Through the Pending Approvals page, the approver can filter through requests and group requests (such as by date, type or person), view approval details and approve or deny the request directly from the page. 

By utilizing Fluid Payment Requests, organizations can cut down on processing time and allow for a faster turnaround of payments. Fluid Payment Requests streamline organizational operations and allow Accounts Payable departments to focus strategically on other important tasks, cutting down their workload to reviewing, auditing or correcting.

For more information about Fluid Payment Request and other features found in PeopleSoft FSCM 9.2, click here to access the Oracle PeopleSoft FSCM 9.2 Payables PeopleBook.

Make a Note of These Seven PeopleSoft Core HR Features

Last week, Julie Alonso, Oracle Product Management Director for Core HR, presented a webinar entitled “Working the “Core”—Getting the Most Out of PeopleSoft HR”. PeopleSoft is the number one HCM solution in the world with over 4,000 customers currently utilizing the power and functionality that PeopleSoft HCM has to offer. In the webinar, Alonso highlighted many of the new features released in the latest PeopleSoft HCM 9.2 Update Image 17as well as many new developments planned to be released within the next 12 to 18 months.

Guided Self Service
One of the most notable developments in the HCM Update Image 17 is enhanced Guided Self Service capabilities. Guided Self Service, introduced in PUM Image 9, walks managers through transactions step by step, from beginning to completion. No customization is needed as Activity Guides are configurable. In Update Image 17, Activity Guides now allow users to set up compound transactions to make the transaction and approvals process as seamless and efficient as possible. In Update Image 17, users are also able to upload helpful resource documents to the transaction, allowing managers to access the help and information they need without navigating away from the page.

Another additional feature released in Update Image 17 is Reg Region Lockdown, which allows users to lockdown action reasons by Reg Region.

Julie confirmed that within the next 12 months, Guided Self Service will be delivered on the small form factor, allowing managers access to complete a transaction/approval process while on the go.  Responding to customer focus group requests, Oracle is also in the development stages to add features to Guided Self Service such as a Push Back feature, allowing a manager to push back a transaction rather than killing the transactions when it is not approved.

Simplified Analytics

First delivered in Image 16, Simplified Analytics allow HCM users to build tables, charts or pivot grids, providing a visual representation of data for enhanced data analysis and decision making. Users never have to leave the transaction page to create analytics and can save analytics.  Within the next 18 months, Oracle is planning to deliver somewhere between 10 and 20 additional HR analytics. PeopleTools 8.55 is required to run Simplified Analytics.

Onboarding/Offboarding

Planned to be delivered within the next 12 months is a new Onboarding/Offboarding Guided Process framework utilizing Activity Guides. Customers will need to be on PeopleTools 8.55 in order to utilize this new framework. The Onboarding/Offboarding framework will include configurable steps. Users will be able to track the status of the steps, allow dependencies between steps (example: users cannot move on to step 3 until they successfully complete step 2), have approval workflow in each step and have alerts/notifications. Another great feature is that the new framework can include both PeopleSoft and non PeopleSoft steps (can include 3^rd party content).

HR Administrator Experience

With Update Image 17, PeopleSoft has released an enhanced HR Administrator Experience and is now grouping more functional pages together, using tiles as application start pages.

Company Directory
In Image 17, the Company Directory is now more user friendly on mobile devices. Within the next 12 months, PeopleSoft will deliver users with the ability to export or print from the directory, show job title (not just generic job code) and display preferred name.

Employee Snapshot
An Enhanced Employee Snapshot page will also be delivered, allowing users within an organization to have a 360 view of employees, including a simplified talent summary and ability to initiate actions, as well as an interactive employee page. Employee Snapshot will be delivered first to managers.

Display Name Configuration
Within the next 12 months, PeopleSoft is planning to make it easier and more configurable to add in names, configurable by country. A functional user will be able to go in and modify names without the need for a technical background.

Interested in learning more about how you can upgrade to PeopleSoft HCM 9.2 and access these features? Visit peoplesoftinfo.com for more information.