PeopleSoft to Fusion - "The Gaps"

I did write about the PeopleCode to Java switch, which might prove difficult in convincing the customers for a switch from PeopleSoft to fusion. But the real problem - PeopleSoft is a product that evolved over a period of Fifteen years - I'll discuss this in detail later. ERP products like PeopleSoft are bought and implemented by big corporations, these companies might not think too much about the Training Costs for the workforce or the new implementation costs, instead they might need their business processes intact after a switch – These guys are demanding!

Fusion development currently lays way too much focus on better architecture, tools and consolidation of best processes. I might have started believing that the Fusion Toolset will be one of the Best in the industry (We might see the Process monitor Page get refreshed automatically when the process status changes!) – If I were a Fusion Sales executive, I will imagine tough times, convincing the Customers to buy an ERP for better Toolset (As the current Toolsets are not way too behind). The customers will be more concerned about the GAPS the new product will bring to his business processes.

PeopleSoft's evolution over a period of 15 years made it stronger, this will be the case with Fusion. The GAPS that I expect is because of this evolution time. Hence, I believe that it might be till version 5 of Fusion that we will not see these GAPS reducing. Oracle’s plans of continued Development of Fusion might come to an end when Oracle realizes this problem - Only when the evolution stops can Fusion have a chance at reducing the PeopleSoft-Fusion GAP.

These are my expectations – 1. PeopleSoft will stay intact till 2015 as customers might not prefer a switch until that time. 2. No major enhancements after PeopleSoft v9.1 (As Oracle will eventually realize the pitfalls of continued development by the time PeopleSoft v9.1 becomes available).

PeopleSoft HRMS 8.9 Upgrade

Yeah, I’m not going to excuse myself this time… 3 months I know!

Lets get straight into some tips, this is something that I thought will be useful for people involved in PeopleSoft upgrade (Yes! That’s what I’m gonna start with this time too.) Certain watch out tips for Peopleinvolved in upgrade to 8.9….

So, we all know that PeopleSoft in 8.9 brings ‘PERSON MODEL’ (So what??). We got a copy of production, upgraded the system to 8.9 – Tried hiring an employee. First add a person and then “add the relashionship”. No!!! The person will simply not get hired into our system. We checked the customizations (Yeah! We should have read the PeopleSoft Red Papers!) and damn the system will simply not hire the employee. Then we found the most basic difference; there was no EMPL_RCD on any of our search pages (“Multiple Jobs Allowed” Checkbox in PeopleTools options). Yes Peoplesoft in 8.9 requires “Multiple Jobs allowed” to be turned on for the system to work. That is the business process on which the entire “HR 8.9 – PERSON Model” stands on. I’m still thinking why did they leave the checkbox… if it can take only one value! Neverthless never underestimate PeopleSoft.

What are the other impacts of the above-mentioned problem? All custom interfaces need to include Empl_Rcd value to search for an employee. Take a lot of caution while handling your SQR programs and Application Engines too.

EMPLOYMENT is a view in 8.9 – This is common knowledge, but the PeopleSoft Red Papers talk a lot about “PER_ORG_INST” being the virtual parent of PER_ORG_ASGN. So this is just an extended feature to distinguish concurrent and non-concurrent jobs. Get clear indicators of the customer’s business process to move the custom fields from EMPLOYMENT to either of the above-mentioned tables.

EMPLOYMENT still contains REHIRE_DT – But, this is the Last Start Date from job and hence will have the value of HIRE_DT for employees who were never terminated. Custom programs need a closer look to take care of this.

DEPENDENT_BENEF is a view… All the peoplecode from tables in old release must be moved to appropriate tables in 8.9 – Careful!

JOB.ACTION is no longer a translate – It is a prompt from ACTION_TBL. SQRs must select appropriate data.

Employee Review is obsolete! This means the customer can only use that for viewing history data… Please don’t make customizations, as they will be useless :(. Customers must use the ePerformance module.

Security! – Whats new??? The person model allows non-employees so expect Security to be driven by OPRID instead of EMPLID – makes sense.

PeopleCode tip – from 8.17 to 8.46 – ViewURL function needs to be replaced with ViewContentUrl function.

PeopleTools 8.48 – Haven’t really worked on it, but this is what I heard – Composite reports to compare more than two databases! File References (SQRs, COBOLS and DMS) are comparable objects. PeopleCode “Merge and Compare utility”.


Uh!! I can keep writing on this topic but for now, got to get back to my GMAT preperation ;).