The PeopleSoft Product Strategy Team categorizes your PeopleSoft ERP needs in the following three ways:

• What your organization wants
• What your users want
• What the market looks for

At RECONNECT Dive Deep 2021, the team took the time to dive into those three categories as they presented the PeopleSoft ERP update and roadmap.

What Your Organization Wants

Your organization desires confidence in PeopleSoft’s ongoing support, and PeopleSoft cares about delivering that support. Your organization also wants continued investment in your product portfolio, reactions to legislative and regulatory changes, actionable analytics for business process improvements, and user satisfaction.

To meet organization wants, PeopleSoft offers a rolling 10+ years of premier support through at least 2032. There are no plans to end investment or support—there is life in the PeopleSoft product. If you have any questions about what’s going on in PeopleSoft products, you can access the Planned Features and Enhancements list, which outlines the next 12–18 months of planned features. It’s available via the PeopleSoft Information Portal.

In order to react appropriately to legislative and regulatory changes, PeopleSoft is working on the following:

• NACHA Data Masking Requirements
• Federal G-Invoicing for AP and PO
• Ongoing support for 1099 changes from IRS
• Ongoing work to address country-specific invoicing requirements (electronic formats)
• Support the new Canadian Accelerated Investment Incentives (PI-40)
• Brexit for VAT (PI-40)
• System for Award Management (PI-40)

In the area of actionable analytics for business process improvements, PeopleSoft’s tools have provided an evolution of basic, out-of-the-box functionality, illustrated below.

The power of these features fuels the newest tool for actionable analytics, Kibana. With Kibana, you can access useful, personalized visualizations based on your ERP data. Some of the potential use cases are outlined below.

PeopleSoft also wants you to be able to grow your own analytics. While over 100 analytics are delivered, you can create new pivot grids and use Elastic Search indexes to create Kibana visualizations. Leverage your questions to find answers. For best use, take the PeopleSoft analytics and transform them according to your organization’s needs.

In the area of user satisfaction, PeopleSoft offers several options in response to cultural expectations, desires, and concerns. Keeping in mind that the user can now be an employee, supplier, or customer, the user interface should be simple and intuitive with efficient transactions. Small changes can have a big impact.

The strategy team mines the Idea Space for Hot Topics, in order to deliver what your users want. They also rely on CAB Member and focus group feedback for cross-industry feedback. The goal is to make your users’ jobs easier.

When Fluid navigation was introduced, people were thrilled that Breadcrumbs are coming back. They were also excited to hear about the supplier-facing Chatbots for portals and updates in specific modules.

Some of the most-anticipated updates are listed below:

• Buyer-facing PO acknowledgments (PI-37)
• Enhanced the asset inspection process by allowing inspectors to enter and review asset details (PI-38)
• Enhanced the supplier change request process by allowing editors to review, update, and add information prior to submitting change requests for approval (PI-38)
• Enhanced the Supplier Change Request, User Registration, Supplier Registration, and Bidder Registration Approvals to leverage the Delegation Framework (PI-39)
• Enhanced the Procurement Card import process to accommodate the loading of level-3 transaction data for the US Bank file format (PI-40)

The PICASO Digital Assistant is a conversational interface for users to interact with, as indicated below.

PICASO provides a simple way for external users, not familiar with PeopleSoft, to receive the information they seek from your organization.

What Your Users Want

The strategy team came up with the top 5 enhancements that users will enjoy. This is not an exhaustive list of updates. The top 5 are:

Fluid Bidder Response allows the user to easily respond to a bidding event with an intuitive user interface, Train Stop Activity Guide, and visualizations to identify required and pending tasks. There are multiple sort and filter options, options to default requested quantity, and a modern layout that improves data entry. Enhanced error handling, review Bid, and validations confirm bids are ready to submit and submitted successfully.

As for PeopleSoft eProcurement, strategic objectives include completing the Classic to Fluid features, enhancing the user experience and investing in the technologies that add business value, and collaborating with customers on tactical and strategic enhancements.

Delivered in PI 39,  Requester Inquiry Digital Assistant utilizes PICASO for a single entry point to access multiple skills. The Requester Inquiry Digital Assistant now supports:

• MSR Sourcing and Stock Request Inquiry
• Request on behalf of date constraints (Entered today, last week, etc.)
• Inquire based on status (Denied, Pending, Overdue)
• Images
• Launching into relevant transactions (Approvals, PO Inquiry, Stock Request Inquiry)

Order Sheets are intended to reduce requester errors by pre-defining shipping and accounting attributes. Key features include:

• Admins pre-define Order Sheets (a list of items on the Sheet with pre-defined Supplier, Shipping and Accounting information)
• Order sheets are authorized to multiple Requesters across BU’s
• Requesters can view the Sheets and Items on the Sheets they are authorized to
• Adding the items to the cart from the Sheets will bring those Shipping and Accounting defaults onto the Requisition reducing the need for overrides and simplifying Requester entry

Express Requisition Entry used to be called Express Item Entry for Fluid. The new version was delivered in PI 41 as your simple, fast, ad hoc entry. There is defaulting of Supplier, UOM, Manufacturing information to improve the efficiency of entry. Additional configuration options are available to reduce customizations including:

• Prevent Special Request Entry
• Ensure Data Integrity of Item by disallowing Supplier and Manufacturer information not already defined against the item

Work Order and Requisition integration is provided, as are Fluid UX Improvements to Cart and Checkout, and enhancements to eProcurement Search using advanced guided search algorithms.

Other recent deliverables:

• Inventory – Enhanced the Cycle Count process by allowing users to include or exclude items based on their status during the counting event creation process (PI-38)
• Supplier Lifecycle Management – Enhanced the Supplier Change Request process by allowing editors to Review, Update, and Add information prior to Submitting Change Requests for Approval (PI-38) and enhanced the Supplier Change Request, User Registration, Supplier Registration, and Bidder Registration approvals to use the Delegation Framework and to delegate the authority to other users (PI-39)

Roadmapped SRM/SCM features and updates include:

In the area of Financials, PeopleSoft has delivered several updates for Credit to Cash. Simplicity and automation drive productivity, so PeopleSoft aims to speed up collections with the following deliverables:

• Suspend Overdue Charges (PI-36)
• Add additional data elements to the Billing Specialist configuration (PI-36)
• Fluid UI for eBill Payment Customer Hierarchy (PI-37)
• Restart Capability for BI Publisher (PI-37)
• Run Billing Interface process by business unit (PI-38)
• Billing Finalization process recognizes threshold amounts (PI-38)
• Correct Accounting in Billing to reduce downstream error correction (PI-40)
• Simple Invoice Request (via Forms Builder) (PI-41)
• Payment Plans in AR (PI-41)
• Expand Invoice Mass Maintenance for Additional Elements (PI-41)

Roadmap candidates for Credit to Cash include:

Strategy and development teams have been working on Accounts Payables Recent Deliverables to get them just right. A non-exhaustive list of their work includes:

• Payment Request Copy, Duplicate Invoice Checking (PI-31 & PI-41)
• Classic Voucher Drop Zones (PI-36)
• Payables Monitoring and Trending via Kibana (PI-36)
• US Federal Payment Automation Manager to handle same-day automated clearing house payments (PI-36)
• Added the ability to send email notifications for one or more My Work transactions using the Fluid Payables WorkCenter (PI-38)
• Enhanced Account Payables approvals to use the Delegation Framework and to delegate authority to other users (PI-39)
• Match Exceptions Collaboration Center (PI-40)
• Enhanced the payment request feature to validate duplicate invoice numbers before submission, review, and approval of a request (PI-41)

Roadmap candidates for AP and eSettlements include:

Previously, the Match Delay Days were only applicable to EDI, XML, and Excel upload invoice sources. There are plans for it to support:

• Online – Pos/Receipts requiring matching
• Document Management Interface
• EXCEL Upload and Self-Service invoices (eSettlements)
• Quick Invoice
• All existing methods

It will continue to follow the Payables hierarchy.

Match Delay Days Enhancements can greatly reduce receiving-related match exceptions by accounting for shipping transit times.

As for General Ledger Deliverables, the highlights include:

Below is an illustration of the journey of General Ledgers Deliverables:

Roadmap candidates for General Ledger include:

Recent Deliverables for Travel & Expenses include but are not limited to:

• Visibility of Receipt Required Status on Approvals Page (PI-38)
• Leverage Accounting Tag Functionality (PI-38)
• Enhanced Fluid Travel Authorization (PI-38)
• Incorporate Privilege Template on Travel Authorization (PI-39)

One of the exciting updates is the Employee Expenses Digital Assistant in PICASO, which can create a wallet entry with expense type and other details.

Expenses roadmap candidates are displayed below:

Deliverables in Projects, Grants, and Contract Deliverables include:

Delivered in Image 36, Contract Revenue and Billing has been streamlined.

Customer Contracts Portfolio Analysis delivered in PI-37 supports strategic decision-making and operational and staff management. Customer contracts and awards can be based on a business entity, customer, size and duration, contract administrator, and recent wins.

Roadmap candidates for Projects, Grants, and Contracts include:

One of the Projects roadmap candidates is an update to the Project WorkCenter.

The Project Update Wizard will allow you to update multiple pieces of information more efficiently than in Classic.

Asset Lifecycle Management recent deliverables include:

It is a customer-driven roadmap, as indicated by the lightbulbs in the slide above. Delivered features add simplicity and speed to the management of your assets.

One of the new features is Spreadsheet Asset Data Import, which imports Approvals, and offers new templates. There is a plan to allow Retirement Convention inheritance from asset profiles.

Another feature, External Funding Sources for Sponsored Asset Acquisitions (Delivered in PI-39) simplifies and adds visibility to improve compliance in Asset Management.

Reporting and Accounting of Multi-Asset Leases is available with the efficient update of Lease Scope (Delivered in PI-38). Key features include capabilities to select new amendment options to record a reduction in quantity or area (i.e. square footage), identify the asset(s) associated with the decrease in right of use, and reduce the right-of-use asset and lease liability in proportion to the decrease in lease scope.

Your users can streamline currency exchange gain and loss calculations with the enhanced Accounting for Foreign Currency Payables Leases. This includes lease payment and lease modifications.

ElasticSearch and Kibana Analytics have both been introduced to Maintenance Management. The roadmap for Asset Lifecycle Management includes:

What the Market Looks For

While there are several updates and plans that satisfy Market desires, one of the most exciting updates is the ease of use for configuration tools such as Page and Field Configurator.  Page and Field Configurator core capabilities include eliminating customizations, improving the end-user experience, and shifting work from IT to functional staff. With Page and Field Configurator, you can:

• Change labels
• Hide fields
• Disable fields
• Require entry
• Set default values
• Hide/disable entire pages
• Mask sensitive data

Another key aspect that the market seeks is the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning for FMS, SRM, and ESA, and ALM. It is being considered. Stay tuned for more information.

Key Takeaway

While there isn’t room to detail each update and roadmapped feature for ERP, there is a lot going on at PeopleSoft to meet the wants and needs of your organization, the user, and the market. Take advantage of recently-delivered features to add simplicity and ease to your daily processes, and check out the roadmap to anticipate your next move.

Leverage the latest PeopleSoft deliverables to drive down the cost of running your ERP.