About Smart ERP Solutions, Inc

Smart ERP Solutions was founded in 2005 by Oracle and PeopleSoft veterans. The company has proven success in tailoring PeopleSoft solutions for their clients. Their comprehensive and deep PeopleSoft knowledge empowers them to apply PeopleSoft best practices for each of their clients, and they’re passionate about partnering with their clients for life.

Smart ERP Solutions provides innovative, configurable, flexible, cost-effective solutions and services to common business challenges, enabling their clients to save time, increase productivity, minimize costs, and maximize their return on investment. They’ve achieved best-in-class performance.

They offer the following services and solutions:

• Application Management
• Managed and Automated Testing Services for PeopleSoft
• Cloud Hosting and Management of PeopleSoft Application
• PeopleSoft Environments Management – Production and Non-Production (PSAdmin)
• Managed Services for PeopleSoft Customers
• Systems Management, Systems Monitoring and Storage Management
• Middleware Application Administration Services
• Database Adinistration Services – Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server
• Life and Shift (OCI, others), Implementations, Integrations, Support, Reporting
• Smart Solutions
  • Pre-Boarding/Onboarding/Off-boarding
  • Form I-9
  • E-Verify
  • SOD
  • Talent Procurement

Best Practices for Continuous Modernization of Your PeopleSoft Applications

Process: Modernize & Maximize Your Current Investment

There are a few roadmap options for your business if you have not updated to Release 9.2. You can go ahead and upgrade from your prior release to 9.2, along with the latest PUM level. You can also stay on your current release with no plan to upgrade applications. Thirdly, you can leave a PeopleTools upgrade out of your upgrade roadmap completely. Finally, depending on your prior release, you may want to apply quarterly tax updates as available on MOS.

If you are on 9.2 Applications, then you know that your roadmap should follow the continuous release model. Implement your selective adoption and PUM strategy.  Upgrade your PeopleTools releases and implement PeopleTools patches, including Critical Security Patches (CPUs).

The PeopleSoft 9.2 continuous release updates with PUMs include:

• Tax updates
• HCM PUM images (every 4 months or 3x per year)
• FSCM PUM images (every 4 months or 3x per year
• New features and capabilities
• “Critical” bug fixes
• Use Change Feature Overview (CFO) to determine incremental features/bug fixes between your current PUM image and Target PUM image

Cumulative Feature Overview (CFO Tool)

As part of your Stay Current Strategy, you’ll want to take the following steps:

1. Select your product family and PeopleSoft modules
2. Select your current release or PUM image
3. Select your Target release or PUM images
4. Generate CFO details for your selection

Once generated, the CFO report will list new features, tax updates and compliance, defects, documentation and video feature overviews, if available. This covers PeopleTools releases and minor PeopleTools patch levels.

With the CFO tool, you’ll be able to find the following featured highlights:

• Fluid and more Fluid
• Modernization and simplification
• Enhanced user experience
• Actionable analytics and insights
• PICASO assistant
• Enhanced Open Search capabilities
• Configuration versus customizations
• Tax, compliance, and regulatory requirements
• Customer-requested enhancements by module
• And many more features…

Challenges

Due to limitations on internal staff and other business priorities, the hospital had not updated its PeopleSoft systems since the original 9.2 upgrade. This meant that many new features, which would help improve efficiency and productivity, were unavailable to them. The hospital was also faced with the end-of-life for its 3^rd party PAR Inventory system, which needed to be replaced. Due to a massive multi-year reconstruction project, the hospital would need to make significant changes to its inventory management. Furthermore, they would go on to need assistance in applying Best Practices to their reconfigured PeopleSoft Inventory.

Solution

SmartERP was engaged to assist with a series of initiatives to overcome these challenges and establish the processes needed to maintain the hospital’s system at reasonably current levels. The first step was to perform a PUM update to bring the system up to current. Since the update, Sick Kids has been successfully using Selective Adoption to add new desirable features to their system. PeopleSoft Mobile Inventory was purchased to replace the obsolete PAR Management system. Additional Mobile Inventory functions are being rolled out to increase Supply Chain efficiency and accuracy.

Smart ERP is now helping the hospital with additional projects such as the creation of an additional off-site Inventory Business Unit.

People: Managing Your Peoplesoft Talent and Skills

The following questions are important to answer regarding managing your PeopleSoft:

• Are you staffed for all the PeopleSoft talent, skills, and roles you require for managing your PeopleSoft? Keep in mind your needs for business analysts, developers, PSAdmins, SysAdmins, etc.
• Are you finding it’s harder and harder to find experienced talent?
• Are your long-time, highly skilled and experienced employees retiring and leaving the job market?
• Are the young talent not interested in working with PeopleSoft?
• How do you modernize and maximize your PeopleSoft if you are shorthanded with skilled PeopleSoft talent?

As a PeopleSoft Services Partner, Smart ERP Solutions works as an extension of your team. They leverage 20+ years of implementing, upgrading, and supporting PeopleSoft by providing solutions and services. They offer a variety of service plans to meet each organization’s needs. They assist clients with best practices and increased efficiency for business processes. They can even be hired for day-to-day support so that your internal teams can focus on the business instead of providing support.

Define your PeopleSoft Services Plan by considering the following:

• Roles and skills required (PeopleTools developers, PSAdmins, Business Analysts, etc.)
• Types of services (implementation, consulting, production support, system operations, etc.)
• Resource hours required (16 hours per week, full time, etc.)
• Work location (onsite/offsite/onshore/offshore/hybrid) and Timezone coverage (24×7, offshore, etc.)
• Access to a highly-skilled PeopleSoft Talent Pool for your project-based work, operations, production support, etc., based on your organization’s requirements and budget

Client Example: COMBE

COMBE is a global consumer products manufacturer. Before reaching out to SmartERP, COMBE experienced several challenges regarding their PeopleSoft people.

Challenges

After 20 years on PeopleSoft, COMBE’s in-house PeopleSoft team began to dwindle. They lost employees to retirement and other turnover. This made it difficult to maintain a fully qualified PeopleSoft support team. As a result, COMBE was unable to react properly to business changes that would require PeopleSoft customizations or bolt-on solutions. End users were becoming frustrated with less-than-optimal response from the internal Help Desk on ERP questions and problems. The organization was seeking a way to be able to satisfy their end-users while maintaining their PeopleSoft investment.

Solution

SmartERP was retained to provide a series of Managed Services. PS/Admin functions are now provided by SmartERP. All technical development work is now performed by SmartERP using specifications developed jointly between the two organizations. The organization has retained their internal business analysts, who provide Level 1 Help Desk support and escalate to SmartERP experts as needed. Furthermore, COMBE recently acquired a new company. The SmartERP partnership allowed this new acquisition to be integrated into their single PeopleSoft instance on budget and on schedule with virtually zero go-live issues.