Optimizing PeopleSoft: Unlocking New Features and Enhancing User Experience

Since PeopleSoft released 9.2 back in 2013, thousands of new features across HR, Finance, Supply Chain and Campus Solutions have been delivered.  If your organization has only applied bug fixes, and has not yet focused on new features, functionality and user experience, the process of figuring out how to optimize PeopleSoft can be daunting.  In order to provide some structure and allow your organization to prioritize, the following is the process MIPRO leverages that brings out the best in PeopleSoft for each unique organization.

Step One:  Top-Down View

With 1000’s of new features available, where do you start?  The easiest answer to that question is: start where there is the most value to the organization as a whole.  What are the challenges from the executives?  What are their goals and direction they wish to take the organization?  Understanding these priorities will then allow you to focus on where in PeopleSoft to make new features available.  MIPRO helps achieve this by executing an Executive Strategy Workshop as our first recommended step.  In this one-day workshop, we facilitate to understand executive challenges and help turn those challenges into specific objectives.  This information is then used to guide a deep dive analysis at the PeopleSoft module level.

Step Two:  Deep Dive PeopleSoft Analysis

Once we understand the executive objectives, we can use this information to guide our review into PeopleSoft.  In this activity we work with the managers and key users to understand their paint points and challenges.  We use this to see how PeopleSoft is configured and what features/functionality may be of value to the organization.  We run the CFO tool to get a full list of the features available in the PUM images available for that organization’s deployment.  Through this analysis, a number of potential new features to deploy will be identified.  In order to determine what to deploy first, second etc. we will look at the business value of each feature, the level of effort to deploy and see if that feature will support any of the objectives from the executives.  High business value, and low effort that tie back to executive objectives will be the priority.

Step Three:  Look for Opportunities to De-Customize and Improve the End User Experience

Not only has Oracle created new features, but within PeopleTools, new capabilities.  There are many new tools that allow for configuration vs. customization.  These tools offer the opportunity to de-customize, personalize, and improve the end user experience.  MIPRO will execute an End User Experience Workshop, demoing the new capabilities of the tool set.  This will give the organization the background to look for opportunities to de-customize.  It will also allow for ways to improve how the end users interact with PeopleSoft.  We will demonstrate tools such as page and field configurator, related content, related actions, drilling url’s, navigation collections, dashboards, fluid pivot grids.

Step Four:  Review the Selective Adoption Process

If your organization has only applied bug fixes for years, it is likely you do not have a defined selective adoption process.  A selective adoption process will define how often you apply PUM updates, whether you apply new features or bug fixes or both, and the resources needed.  As part of MIPRO’s process, we will take you through a selective adoption workshop helping your organization understand some best practices with selective adoption, and the various approaches with the ultimate goal of providing additional insight on how to define a selective adoption process for your organization.  This will help ensure that you do not get into a situation again where you have not taken new features and have fallen far behind what is available in the product.

Step Five:  Information

One of the reasons why organizations do not take advantage of all the new features and content is that there is so much of it.  Where does an organization look for information?  How do you understand the content available to help understand new features and functionality.  MIPRO will show the various data sources available and the type of content and value each of those data sources provide.  This will provide your organization with a library of where to find value related to PUM updates.  MIPRO will review:

• • PeopleSoftinfo.com
  • MyOracle Support
  • Spotlights
  • Blogs (Oracle and MIPRO)
  • Youtube channels (Oracle and MIPRO)
  • Quest

Having a defined process to help with identifying, prioritizing and understanding all the new features and capabilities will help your organization work through the thousands of new features.  It really is the only way to narrow down and prioritize what is best for your organization.

Additionally, to dive deeper into these strategies, MIPRO will host an Optimization Assessment Webinar on January 23, 2025. Join us to explore how to tailor PeopleSoft to your organization’s goals and maximize the platform’s potential. To register for the event please visit https://miproconsulting.com/optimization-assessment-webinar-registration-2024/

For additional information contact:
Larry Zagata
President
MIPRO Consulting
(989) 694-8206
Larry.Zagata@MIPROConsulting.com