At RECONNECT 19, Memorial Hospital at Gulfport’s David Vandiver spoke about a PeopleSoft Monitoring Tool that was built using PeopleTools’ Application Engine. The end result is a recurring process that uses PSQuery to check the health of the system. When issues are found, the designated staff can receive a formatted email showing what was detected, and the results show up on mobile devices as well without having to log back into PeopleSoft. You also have the ability to add new PSQuery alerts when needed, without writing additional code or migrating projects each week.
Reasons to Use a PeopleSoft Monitoring Tool
There are a variety of reasons why you may need a free monitoring tool for email alerts. For example:
- Your integration broker is stuck in a “New” status
- You want to know if something is stuck in queued or initiated
- You need to find out if any prior GL periods have been reopened by the accountants
- Your payroll check increased by 20 percent since the last pay period
- You are manually monitoring miscellaneous issues daily
Even if you have a query set up to provide these answers, there may be room for improvement. Adding a monitoring tool can increase the frequency of queries, provide alerts after hours, and increase efficiency for the person responsible for query analysis.
PeopleSoft offers an existing notification framework, but the basic result is a barrage of emails with very little helpful information inside. Now, there’s a better solution.
Must-Haves When Building the PeopleSoft Monitoring Tool
When creating the free tool, the builders at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport focused on six must-haves:
- Alerts IS or business support staff when an issue is found
- Uses PeopleTools or PeopleSoft application-specific, not server
- Provides an easy-to-read email with responsive HTML tables
- Suppresses alert when no issues are found
- Allows new alerts to be created without the migration of code/programs
- Monitors every X minutes if desired
In addition to the must-haves, the team came up with some “nice to have” features as well:
- The ability to work in different versions of PeopleTools
- Works for all applications
- Suppress email alert if the same results are found again on the next sweep
- Leverage existing skillsets by support staff, such as the PSQuery tool
Benefits of the PeopleSoft Monitoring Tool
The new tool helps users monitor several tasks, including:
- Processes that are in Error/No Success, running too long, or stuck in the queue
- Integration broker in asynchronous, synchronous, and stuck in NEW
- Closed GL periods being reopened
After downloading the tool, users will be able to:
- Create queries that detect issues using PSQuery
- Build a configuration page that lists which queries to utilize in the AE program per group
- Access an application engine (AE) program that can run these groups/queries
- Run each PSQuery and email the support staff if one or more rows are found
- Read the email output in an easy-to-read HTML table
In addition to a readable desktop view, the view should work on mobiles.
How to Get Started with a PeopleSoft Monitoring Tool
To implement this tool today, follow these eight simple steps:
- Download code from peoplesofttricks.com/monitor
- Unzip the project file
- Upload core project into development
- Create records/views
- Set up security
- Build a query
- Link query to a monitoring group
- Run email monitoring framework
To learn more about the PeopleSoft Monitoring Tool, check out the RECONNECT 19 presentation attached below.
Additional Resources
COLLABORATE 20 will take place April 19-23, 2020 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada! Don’t miss this chance to share inspiration, insights, and solutions with your peers, vendors, and the Oracle team! Register before March 6, 2020, to take advantage of Early Bird pricing.
If you’re looking for more PeopleSoft content, join us next year at RECONNECT 20, the premier deep-dive PeopleSoft focused event of the year! The event will take place July 21-23, 2020 in St. Louis, Missouri. Keep an eye out for more information on this event!