Kate Taylor, Associate Director of HR Services, Remuneration & Systems at The University of Tasmania, recently discussed with Quest their PeopleSoft transformation, including upgrading to 9.2 and Fluid User Interface.

Key takeaways

 About The University of Tasmania

The University of Tasmania continues a long tradition of excellence and commitment to free inquiry in the creation, preservation, communication and application of knowledge, and to scholarship that is global in scope, distinctive in its specialisations and that reflects the Tasmanian character. The University provides leadership within its community, thereby contributing to the cultural, economic and social development of Tasmania.

The University has been running PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) since 2016 and are currently on PeopleSoft HCM 9.2.023 with PeopleTools 8.55.

What were the drives for your 9.2 upgrade?

There were many drivers for our 9.2 upgrade. We wanted to improve user experience, user navigation, user efficiencies, quality of data, and self-service experience. We also wanted to reduce the risk of falling behind in our technology, improve strategic and operational reporting, and leverage the mobile and tablet-friendly Fluid interface.

How has the upgrade changed PeopleSoft for you?

It has provided navigation and interface improvements via Fluid implementation. It has become intuitive, customizable and user-friendly for us.

What is your experience to date with PeopleSoft Update Manager and Selective Adoption?

The first PUM upgrade for University of Tasmania went well. We will refine and review functionality with each release and work closely with our vendor on future updates.

What does your company’s Selective Adoption strategy look like?

We currently plan to upgrade at least once per year and review upcoming functionality. We will work closely with our vendor to decide which functionality to adopt via PUM upgrades.

How are you rolling out new features and functionalities to your end users?

We are doing it with an in-house project which includes updates and continued Fluid rolled out coupled with online guides—video and PDF—to assist with “how to” for our employees and managers.

Are you using Fluid? If so where and how are you using Fluid?

We are using Fluid Employee Self Service and Fluid Manager Self Service, including custom Fluid timesheet approvals. Tiles are utilized to direct users outside of PeopleSoft for BI Reporting, eRecruitment, etc. We also configured custom Navigation Collections for Fluid and Classic screens to display via tiles.

What were the drivers for you to begin using Fluid User Interface?

Feedback on the Classic Interface University-wide coupled with the development in the Fluid space made it an easy choice for University of Tasmania.

What was your experience in deploying Fluid? What did you learn that other customers could benefit from?

Gauge with your wider user base—employees and managers—as to what Classic screens are being used and why. These can be bundled up into a Navigation Collection and linked via tiles to remove the need for navigating via the side menus.

 How are you rolling out Fluid User Interface to your end users (e.g. pilot, phased, big bang, etc.)?

We went from Classic to Fluid in one release. There were several ways we communicated the readiness to end users, including communications on our website, brochures, posters, email, road shows and personal outreach to change champions, business partners and general managers.

What obstacles, if any, did you encounter while deploying Fluid?

The performance of Fluid Analytics has not been good initially. We ended up disabling the tile with the intention to review further in the future.

 What concerns, if any, did your company have about deploying Fluid?

We were concerned about the general performance and user experience as well as introducing defects along with the enhancements.

Are you deploying Fluid as delivered? If not, how customized/modified are you and why?

We have customized several features within Fluid, as outlined in the chart below.

[INSERT CHART]

Since deploying Fluid, what benefits have you seen for you and your company?

We have found that personalizing MyHR saves staff time in accessing services with the tile interface. We have also found that navigation improved with the tiles and menu structure. We have seen a reduction in the number of clicks to access services. We have also heard that that the MyHR enhancements have been providing a better experience overall.

What service partner did you work with, if any? What was their role?

We partnered with Presence of IT, who helped us do demonstrations and provided product feature information. They also lead, planned, scheduled, resourced and monitored change with the University of Tasmania.

Where do you want to take your company’s PeopleSoft solution in the next two to three years?

We will continue to invest in upgrades through a structured schedule to ensure we are maintaining an optimal system that meets the efficiencies and technology enhancements we are seeking. We will continue to automate many of our HR forms to online, integrating with our systems to reduce duplication and manual handling, reduce error risks and streamline our operations. We will also review manager self-guided solutions for basic HR transactions.