A colleague recently brought to my attention this article, which outlines a neat method for invoking Groovy scripts from PeopleCode. This opens up loads of exciting possibilities for implementing logical operations or integration operations that are not possible or less convenient using PeopleSoft alone. It’s probably also possible to use the same technique to invoke scripts written in other languages such as Ruby which some people find easier to learn and for which there are more pre-existing libraries available.

However, my interest was piqued at the mention of Groovy script because it is the scripting language used by Oracle’s Fusion applications to implement custom business logic. This opens up a number of intriguing possibilities. For example, imagine your current PeopleSoft system requires a new complex piece of business logic or needs to integrate with another system in a sophisticated way. You now have the option of implementing this enhancement using Groovy script, knowing it could be re-used when you migrate to Fusion. This would help to reduce the time taken to migrate to Fusion and the risk associated with it. Alternatively, suppose you opt for co-existence of, say, PeopleSoft HRMS and Fusion Talent Management and they both require common business logic to support a certain function. You could implement the custom logic using Groovy and then invoke it from both applications to ensure they both receive identical results.

This simple customisation offers a nice way to future-proof your business logic and to make the transition to Fusion that little bit easier.

We’ve produced a new video showing some of the features and functionality available in Fusion and our Simply Talent campaign.

For more details please visit the Simply Talent website.

I blogged here recently about the Oracle Fusion Applications workshop I attended in early March, and how impressed I was by the options for tailoring the applications. I thought I would give a few more details about how these customisations work and the tools provided for applying them.

Most customisations are applied to a Meta-Data Services layer that sits on top of the core logic and so they never touch the delivered components. This means that delivered patches and upgrades can be applied without impacting the customisations built on top (although custom features may need to be reviewed in the light of new functionality delivered in those patches).

It’s possible to define up to 12 layers of custom meta-data meaning that customisations can apply to the whole enterprise, or to smaller groups of users such as business units, countries, departments or even single users.  The beauty of this approach is that it’s possible to apply these customisations even if you’re using a multi-tenant SaaS implementation; in this situation you just have fewer than 12 layers available as at least the first one (and possibly more – I don’t remember the details) is common to all tenants on the installation.

My only concern about this model is its impact on performance. If there are 12 layers of meta-data, each adding, removing or changing different features of the application I can imagine that this will add significant complexity to the views used to retrieve data from the database and the code that renders the user pages. It would be interesting to see a comparison of performance tests run using the best and worst case scenarios; with no custom meta-data defined at all and with significant customisations defined in all 12 layers.

During the workshop we were shown how new customisations could be tried out in single-user “sandboxes” which are kept separate from other users on the same system, but which use the configuration and existing meta-data visible to the other users. The customisations can then be deployed to the main system and become available to regular users when they are ready. To some this might sound like an invitation to develop in the production system, but it’s a powerful tool for trying things out without having to copy configuration data around between different environments.

The range of customisations possible is also impressive; you can add new fields (using the Flex fields familiar to EBS users), change page layouts, design custom business processes and add analytics, all using a range of tools called “composers” that are provided as part of the  toolset. But that’s not all – if you have the application on-premise you can use JDeveloper to customise the core functionality too.

These tools allow a massive amount of flexibility in tailoring Fusion Applications, even when using a fully SaaS implementation. I believe this is a significant differentiator for Oracle over its SaaS-only competitors.

Last month I travelled to Brussels with a colleague to attend an Oracle Fusion Applications Technical Workshop run by Oracle for their partners. While (frustratingly) not being able to get our hands on the applications, we were able to see demonstrations of a lot of exciting new functionality and found out about the technology underpinning the suite.

On the whole we were very impressed by what we saw. We all know how long Oracle have taken to get the applications ready but it does appear to have been time well spent, as the whole framework looks to be very well thought out. For example the code line is exactly the same whether the application is installed on a client’s site or deployed in a multi-tenant SaaS environment (or indeed a hybrid model in between these two extremes). Very clever indeed. Also (and some would say unusually for Oracle) the applications appear to work well together, as shown by the AMX approval management solution, which deploys a common worklist across all the applications.

Particularly impressive were the range of options for customising the applications (although Oracle refer to this process as “tailoring”, as though “customisation” has become a dirty word amongst clients due to the pain and expense clients experience when it’s done badly). The big surprise for me is that Oracle aren’t making more noise about the powerful tools that can be used to tailor even SaaS implementations of these applications to a client’s requirements. It’s particularly surprising  since, as Gartner reported recently, one of the most important factors limiting the spread of SaaS applications in the EMEA region is the lack of ability to apply customisations.

Perhaps the ability to customise is still a difficult message to deliver to clients who have had their fingers burned in the past, even if it is a strong differentiator for Oracle over the likes of Workday.

This video is a re-recording of a session I gave at the UKOUG PeopleSoft conference a while back. Jeff Robbins happened to be in the audience and suggested that we create a 10 minute version and share it with the community:

It shows how to leverage an excellent Open Source tool to get effective monitoring and reduce the repetitive tasks that form part of system administration.

It’s always great to see hard work recognised and success celebrated. 

I’m really pleased that the Pret team scooped the project of the year award at the recent Pay and Benefits Awards 2012. 

This was certainly a challenging project to deliver given the scale of the change and the tight timelines - but hey, we all love a challenge and based on the positive impacts on the business this is definitely a challenge to be proud of!

Congratulations to the whole team and well done for the award!

It seems today that Oracle has agreed to buy Taleo software for US$1.9 billion. It’s an interesting move, and is its second acquisition of a cloud vendor in the past six months (the other being customer-service vendor RightNow). 

It’s also quite a big deal. The press release states:

• Over 5,000 enterprises of all sizes rely on Taleo across many industries
• Taleo’s cloud manages 15% of all US hires
• Taleo is one of the world’s largest cloud deployments with nearly 16 billion transactions per year

It’s interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is some overlap with the Fusion suite - most noticeably in succession planning. There are other areas, like recruitment, where the products should complement each other well.

It’ll also be interesting to see how Workday reacts, as Taleo is often recommended as a partner when the Workday feature set isn’t comprehensive enough for a client’s needs.

We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be at the UKOUG 1 day PeopleSoft Conference to be held in London on 23rd Feb.

Not only do Succeed have an exhibition stand, but we’re continuing our proud tradition of sharing with the PeopleSoft community as two of our consultants are presenting on the imminent Pensions 2012 regulations that will impact every company.

Come along to listen to Phil Mitchell and Sravya Gupta’s session on how they’re helping Morrisons prepare for the changes, and grill them afterwards with any issues that you may have.

Go here to register, and view the full agenda here.

An HR colleague recently sent me a link to the following video:

In suggesting the possibility of changing behaviour by introducing engagement, fun and ease of use, it perfectly encapsulates some of the opportunities that we currently see in the enterprise systems market around making enterprise IT systems fun through a process of “gamification”. “Gamification”can be defined as “the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging”. Whilst there is a danger of oversimplification (critics would argue that the real world does not follow simple dynamics), by applying these principles to traditional self-service applications, there are obvious hard and soft business benefits – relating to increased transactional uptake, reduced support and brand enhancement and association.

Examples I have seen that relate to Human Resource Management include:

· Viewing progress through training and career planning processes

·  Rewarding input to knowledge repositories and internal information exchange

· Booking absences and performing shift swaps

· Surveys

Tier 1 enterprise IT vendors still seem to be stuck in the dark ages – struggling to deploy apps to smart phones and devices, let alone making these apps easy to use, easy to brand, and making them fun. Given recent advancements around HTML5 to enable consistent cross-platform deployment of UI to both traditional browsers and other tablets and smart devices, this seems to present a huge opportunity.

Has anyone else come across any good examples of other applications for gamification in the context of Human Resource Management?