Overview

Oracle/PeopleSoft is happy to announce the first feature pack release of the PeopleSoft Applications Portal. This is the first release in the new continuous release model, which we believe will enable us to make new functionality and features available to customers faster. We also expect that the new features will be easier to uptake in more fine-grained packages. The release continues Oracle’s commitment to protecting and extending the value of PeopleSoft applications. It provides valuable enhancements that improve the productivity of end users, as well as improvements to help reduce the total cost of ownership. While the feature pack contains many enhancements, in this post we'll highlight the major enhancements, including the following:

• Unified and seamless navigation
• Content management
• Collaboration
• User Experience/PeopleTools uptake

In addition, there are some collaborative capabilities that are provided by the Applications Portal that will also be enhanced. These enhancements will extend beyond the use of the portal.

The English and Multi-Language CD recuts for the PeopleSoft Portal Solutions 9.1 Feature Pack 1 enhancements are now available on the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud (OSDC).  Physical CD shipments will be ready by January 30, 2012. Documentation updates are also complete and available on OSDC and My Oracle Support.

The recertified upgrade scripts are posted to My Oracle Support here:

PeopleSoft Portal Solutions 8.9 to 9.1 Feature Pack 1 Upgrade

PeopleSoft Portal Solutions 9.0 to 9.1 Feature Pack 1 Upgrade

The Feature Pack recut CD is intended for organizations that are implementing PeopleSoft Portal Solutions 9.1 newly, or are upgrading from an earlier release.  Feature pack enhancements and maintenance through PeopleSoft Portal Solutions 9.1 Maintenance Pack 1, and PeopleSoft Portal Solutions Bundle #6 are included in these recuts.

New Release Model

Instead of large Portal releases that occur every two or three years, Oracle-PeopleSoft is moving the Applications Portal to a new release model based on Feature Packs. Feature Packs are a new delivery mechanism supplementing the existing delivery mechanisms of bundles and maintenance packs.

Feature Packs will consist of a roll-up of new features and updates, and in addition, at the delivery of Feature Packs, Oracle will include the roll-up of capabilities and updates previously delivered in bundles and maintenance packs as well as re-certify upgrades and integrations.

Unified Navigation

Setting up the PeopleSoft Applications Portal for use with other PeopleSoft applications has been a manual process prior to Feature Pack 1 (FP1). For example, using Applications Portal to access PeopleSoft HCM and other application pages, an administrator sets up the node and registry entries for each CREF and assigns the security information manually. To automate this process in Applications Portal, we are providing a Workcenter specifically supporting Unified Navigation. The Workcenter will guide administrators through the process, and bring all the necessary pages together to streamline the process.  The Unified Navigation framework federates all PeopleSoft application nodes in one place so everything can be managed from Applications Portal. Unified Navigation supports systems using PeopleTools 8.50 and above.

Content Management

Content management is an important part of Applications Portal, and the following new features make it more useful and powerful:

• Configurable WorkCenter for delivering and managing content
• Securable portal content by business data
• Update Content usage tracking

The content management WorkCenter offers the ability to more easily manage and consume content, and it also provides the ability to capture and display (in related content) additional contextual information such as ratings, tags, and discussions associated with any piece of content. This enriches the user experience by providing users with additional valuable collaborative information about the content they are viewing. The WorkCenter also makes it easier to navigate among published content items.

Collaboration

A few new features are included to facilitate collaboration and other Enterprise 2.0 activities. This includes improvements to Related Attachments and the calendar.

Related Attachments is a new feature provided by Portal’s Related Links service. This service can be used by any application using the Related Content Framework, enabling users to attach files to virtually any PeopleSoft page or component. The Related Links service is context-sensitive, so related attachments can be keyed to specific data on a page.

Calendars in Portal and Collaborative Workspaces will now support aggregating user tasks, worklist tasks, and action items. This brings all relevant time/date dependent events into a user’s calendar, making them easier to manage and act upon. This consolidated calendar streamlines user event management by enabling users to refer to a single calendar to manage their work.

User Experience--PeopleTools Uptake

Some of the enhancements that are extending the value of the PeopleSoft applications to customers include the following:

• Authorization as a Service
• Guidance on branding and creating a rich self-service user experience
• Global Search

Additional and detailed information is available in my.oracle.support:

Configuring a Contemporary User Experience in PeopleSoft Applications Portal Red Paper (Doc ID 1399586.1)

Portal Solutions Cumulative Feature Overview Tool [ID 793160.1

PeopleSoft Applications Portal Solutions 9.1 Documentation Homepage (Doc ID 887960.1)

The full PeopleTools minor release can be downloaded from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud.  The Patch release bundle can be found on support.oracle.com when searching for Updates & Fixes.  The physical patch resides on the Oracle FTP site and will be linked inside documentation that is attached to the bundle.

• PeopleTools 8.52:   Use the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud: http://edelivery.oracle.com/
• PeopleTools 8.52.03 Patch Instructions:  Use the appropriate PeopleTools Maintenance Schedule (article 876292.1) on My Oracle Support support.oracle.com: PeopleTools Maintenance Schedule (requires login to My Oracle Support)
• FTP location of the physical patch:  ftp://ftp.oracle.com/peoplesoft/outgoing/ptools/85203/

(Note: Existing PeopleSoft customers on earlier PeopleTools releases who want to upgrade to PT 8.52 can now download and upgrade to PT 8.52!  Don't forget that the PeopleTools 8.52.03 Product Patch is required at install or upgrade when moving to PT 8.52.) 

Documentation:

The Release Notes, Hardware / Software requirements, Install Guides, PeopleBooks, and much more can all be found on http://support.oracle.com   linked from the 8.52 Documentation homepage:

• PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52 Documentation Home Page(ID 1356456.1)
• Hosted PT 8.52 PeopleBooks

The PeopleTools 8.52 Upgrade documentation, templates, and related files, have been posted to My Oracle Support and can be found at the following location:

PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52 Upgrade Documentation and Files (ID 1362049.1)

PeopleSoft Oracle Virtual Machine Templates Development and Customization Guide
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E27263_01/psft/html/docset.html

This Red Paper is a practical guide for technical users, installers, system administrators, and programmers who intend to leverage Oracle Virtual Machine (OVM) as a deployment infrastructure for PeopleSoft Applications.

The purpose of this document is to provide insight into the way in which PeopleSoft VM Templates are constructed. This will help you customize and extend the delivered templates. In addition this document can provide guidance for the creation of VM templates to run on
other hypervisors.

It is also available on My Oracle Support here:
https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article?cmd=show&type=NOT&doctype=WHITE%20PAPER&id=1385319.1

We welcome your feedback and suggestions, either on the forum or direct to the mailbox mailto:peopletools_ww@oracle.com

Thank you.

One of the real gems in the PeopleTools 8.52 release is the certification of PeopleSoft applications running in the Safari Browser on an iPad.  It is nice that PeopleSoft is not constrained by technology like Adobe Flex/Flash, so announcements like this "Adobe drops plans for mobile Flash support" do not limit our mobile solution to custom mobile development.

There are parts of PeopleSoft applications that operate better on iPads than others.  One of the best is Workcenters.  Workcenters were new to PeopleTools 8.51 and we are starting to see more and more adoption of them.  Workcenters are roll based landing pages that eliminate difficult navigation by providing access to most links, pages, and reports a user in a role needs.  One of the nicest I’ve seen is the Supply Manager Workspace.  Here are some links to screenshots of what a WorkCenter looks like on an iPad:

• Here's the standard PeopleSoft Login Page
• The Supply Manager Workspace looks great full screen on an iPad
• iPad has a great user interface to zoom, here's a screenshot of an upclose view of an analytic.
• Touch one of the analytics and it drills into the details.

Go ahead and give it a try.  WorkCenters and Dashboards are starting to show up across applications.  For a quick one to try, navigate to the PeopleTools->Integration Broker->Integration Network WorkCenter.  It’s new in PeopleTools 8.52.

Oracle PeopleSoft is pleased to announce the availability of PeopleTools 8.52. Effective 10/28/11, this release is generally available for electronic download from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud. Existing customers who wish to upgrade to PeopleTools 8.52 will be able to do so beginning in November.

PeopleTools 8.52 is important to PeopleSoft customers because it provides significant end-user value and demonstrates Oracle's ongoing commitment to the PeopleSoft product family. The PeopleTools features and capabilities in our recent releases have created more customer excitement than we have seen in years. Many customers have told us they are preparing upgrade plans in order to gain access to these important and valuable features.

The release includes many new features and enhancements that will benefit owners of existing applications while also providing the basis for upcoming application Feature Packs to be released in coming months. PeopleTools 8.52 is a certified upgrade for 8.9 and later applications (eg. 9.0, 9.1 plus 9.1 Feature Packs). It is also certified as an upgrade for FMS8.8. Please note that it is not certified for use with other 8.8 or earlier applications. (See note on My Oracle Support regarding Maximum PeopleTools Release "MPR")

Check out Oracle's PeopleTools 8.52 PeopleBooks:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E25688_01/pt852pbr0/eng/psbooks/index.htm

Check out, or revisit, these new and expanded PeopleBooks:

Development Tools
- PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleSoft Documents Technology
- PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleSoft Search Technology
- PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleTools Portal Technologies

Reporting and Analysis Tools
- PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleSoft Pivot Grid
- PeopleTools 8.52: Reporting Web Services

Integration Tools
- PeopleTools 8.52: Feed Publishing Framework

Administration Tools
- PeopleTools 8.52: Performance Monitor
- PeopleTools 8.52: Security Administration
- PeopleTools 8.52: System and Server Administration

Lifecycle Management Tools
- PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleSoft Application Designer Lifecycle Management Guide
- PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleSoft Change Impact Analyzer
- PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleSoft Test Frameworkv

This will be another OpenWorld packed with PeopleTools sessions.

Check here to make sure you find some sessions of interest!

(Click on any day's image for a full size view)

 Don't forget to drop by the Demo Pods and visit, we'll be delighted to see you!

There is a perception that PeopleSoft's user experience is somewhat dated and cumbersome, and that it can't be improved.  The reality is that PeopleSoft offers a modern and flexible user experience that can rival modern web applications and web sites.  PeopleTools and PeopleSoft applications are introducing new features and capabilities that will provide such a modern user experience, but there are things customers can do right now that to create a compelling UI for their users.

 

At Oracle Open World 2011 this fall, we will be presenting a session on how you can craft a great UI in PeopleSoft using configuration, style sheet manipulation, and a little web design--without requiring customization or coding.  This session will offer some basics on using the PeopleSoft Portal as well as some new PeopleSoft capabilities like Workcenters and Dashboards.  These features can greatly improve the user experience for all sorts of users from self-service to navigation and transaction work for power users and managers.  We'll describe what is being delivered, and what you can do for your specific requirements, and we will cover the factors that go into a great user experience.  If you are interested in this subject, please attend session 14020, PeopleSoft Answers:  How to Create a Great PeopleSoft UI.  This session will be on Tuesday, Oct. 4th at 1:15 in Moscone West, room 2024. 

Oracle/PeopleSoft introduced the related content framework in PeopleTools 8.50.  This open and flexible framework enables applications developers and customers to incorporate almost any type of content into the context of a PeopleSoft page to enhance the user's ability to complete a business process or transaction.  The related content framework provides the following overall features:

• Mash-up PeopleSoft transactions with collaborative, analytical, an informational content (PeopleSoft or non-PeopleSoft)
• Easy to configure and deploy.  Can be done by SMEs.
• Can eliminate many customizations (services are configurations).
• Fully interactive, not read-only.
• Secure--Uses PS security, same as transaction pages.

  Since 8.50, we've added several enhancements, and at Open World 2011, we'll be demonstrating several of the latest, including...

• The ability to display multiple services at once in individual pagelets.
• Option to display related services on the right of the page (can employ screen real estate more efficiently), and within Workcenters.
• Integration with related actions pop-up menus.  (Results of related actions can be displayed in related content frame.)

 At Open World, we will also be demonstrating how one customer is using related content to empower their users with some compelling use cases.

If you are interested, in learning about how related content can benefit your PeopleSoft applications, come to this session-- PeopleSoft Success: Using the Related Content Framework to Empower Users.

There are some new features coming in PeopleTools 8.52 that will make creating and managing Feeds in PeopleSoft easier and more useful.   This is provided through several enhancements to the Feed Publishing Framework.

 

Feed Publishing Wizard

A new Feed Publishing Wizard provides a simplified guide for content owners and administrative

users to create, configure, and maintain feed definitions and feed templates of various types.  This Wizard provides a single interface to create and edit all Feed Data Types in their system.  During the feed creation process, the Feed Publishing Wizard guides you through the creation or editing process with a series of numbered steps indicating where you are the process, including the following:

• Specify Feed Properties
• Select Data Source
• Specify Data Source Parameters
• Specify Publishing Options

 

The Feed Publishing Wizard will appear in the Feeds folder in PeopleTools navigation.

 

Feeds can still be published using existing components like Query Manager and Worklist as well. 

 

 

Feed Templates

Feed templates can be produced while creating new feed definitions, and existing feed definitions can also be saved as templates.  You can use the Feed Publishing Framework to use Feed Definitions as templates and then use those templates to create new feed definitions.  Feed templates will be available to users who have access to the Publish Feed Definition capability or the Feed Publishing Wizard in PeopleTools.  Administrators will be able to edit or delete feed templates.

 

Feeds as Managed Objects

Feed definitions, feed categories, and feed data types will now be PeopleTools managed objects.  This makes it possible to copy Feed Definitions, Feed Categories, and Feed Data Types from one database to another (or to a file) using Application Designer.  Feed managed object caching will help improve performance for Secure Enterprise Search (SES) feeds and public feed requests.  The following objects in Feed Publishing Framework will become managed objects.

• Feed Definition
• Feed Categories
• Feed Data Type

 

(Note: Feed Templates will be implemented as a Feed Definition with a flag to indicate whether a definition is a feed or template, hence there will no separate managed object for Feed Templates.)

 

 

Feed Personalization

Feed personalization allows users or administrators to personalize or configure feeds via the My Feeds page.  For example, a Student might personalize their feed to contain only information pertaining to a class in which they are registered.   Users can click the Personalize link in the My Feeds page to access the User Personalization page, where they can select a Data Source Parameter value that they want to appear by default on the feed when they access it.

 

With PeopleTools 8.52 just around the corner, we can start talking about some of the exciting new features.  In this release, the heads down developers will be glad to see that they are not forgotten.  Here’s a couple new enhancements that some developers might be interested in.

One of the most exiting developer enhancements is the way PeopleTools improved the file attachment user interface.  Selecting multiple files on a page use to require the user to ‘select a single file – click ok’ then repeat over and over.  That frustrated users and there was nothing developers could do to improve it.  Not until 8.52 that is.  Now there is a multi-select user interface that lets users choose one or more files at a time.  That is sure to simplify the interface and make users happy.

AppClass PeopleCode is being used more and more these days, so improvements to the PeopleCode designer and debugger continue to be a top priority.  In this release a much needed cross reference is now available so developers can see all the points of reference for any AppClass.

The Find-in feature in PeopleTools has always provided a much needed service.  Now it’s even better.  You can limit the scope of Find-in not just to a PeopleTools object type, but can limit the scope to the current PeopleTools Project.  This will help developers find and navigate through PeopleTools content with more quickly when they know the scope is limited to the project they are working with.

Moving projects to and from files is a critical function that developers do quite often.  In this release, the performance is increased significantly.

Look for all these enhancements and more in the next version of tools.

A new feature will soon be available via PeopleTools that will fundamentally change the way in which WorkCenters, Dashboards, application homepages, portals, and PeopleSoft pages can be designed and constructed. We call it Interpagelet Communication, and it enables a more interactive and Web 2.0-style of design, where user actions in one pagelet can affect and be reflected in the content in another pagelet. This functionality is possible because in PeopleTools 8.52, PeopleSoft pagelets can communicate with each other by allowing key fields to publish their values to other pagelets and frames.  

A page that includes multiple pagelets can provide users with an experience that allows the content from one part of the page to interact with content from another part. For example, in a WorkCenter, a user might complete a transaction that triggers a status change. The status change could then be reflected in another pagelet that tracks workload and action items, and is also used to update another analytic or status Dashboard pagelet. In such cases, the user actions are reflected more quickly and intuitively in the application interface.

Interpagelet communication allows application page developers to construct PeopleSoft applications in a manner that will give users a more comprehensive and interactive view of inter-related data.  PeopleSoft Application developers are already taking advantage of this feature, and you will see the results in upcoming PeopleSoft Applications releases and feature packs.  Customers will also be able to use this feature for their own pages and PeopleSoft portals when they upgrade to PeopleTools 8.52.

In addition, partial pagelet refresh is now available in the pagelets that are developed using Application Designer. This allows greater user interaction with pagelets. For example, if a pagelet contains a grid control, users can scroll through rows or perform actions like searches and see the results refreshed in the pagelet. Prior to PeopleTools 8.52 any user action on such a pagelet would take users to the target page. This capability has significant benefit for homepages, Dashboards and WorkCenter pages, where functionally-rich pagelets can be displayed.

This is opportune, since the next Critical Patch Update will be released on July 19. You need to ensure that you, and other members of your team involved with systems maintenance and security receive these alerts. If you don't already, you can subscribe to the alerts on Oracle technology network, OTN.

Go to http://otn.oracle.com

Login with your My Oracle Support credentials.
Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on "Subscribe"
Subscribe to security alerts.

By the way, anyone on your team should have an OTN account, it doesn't cost anything and doesn't get you on a spam mailing list, and they don’t need to have a personal My Oracle Support account. There’s a wealth of information on OTN.

Critical Patch Updates and Security Alerts
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/alerts-086861.html

A great resource!
RSS Feed: http://www.oracle.com/ocom/groups/public/@otn/documents/webcontent/rss-otn-sec.xml
(This is really useful, just add it to your favorite feed reader)

From CPU alert page you can navigate to a particular advisory, including historical information.

For additional reference see the following  blogs:
http://blogs.oracle.com/peopletools (where you're probably reading this!)

There are some PeopleTools security related posts here, but check the reader feeds as well under bookmarks on this page:
Bookmarks
o Google Reader feed for PeopleSoft 
o Google Reader feed for Security

See also: http://blogs.oracle.com/security
This is the Oracle security blog with great postings by people deeply involved in all aspects of security and the standards organizations.

 

 

The discussion of Chrome as a supported browser goes back quite some time – I actually don’t recall when the first questions on Chrome support came up, but it was a some time ago and it comes up more often as of late.  Some people played with the new browser in a PeopleSoft environment, and found it to be rather fast, and it made a positive first impression.  But when I pinged customer audiences at OOW and other RUGs, SIGs, PUGs and CABs, very few customers said they were looking to adopt it internally.  Some customers have external interfaces where the browser used can’t be explicitly controlled; but, Chrome was relatively easy to dismiss - until now.

For those that have reviewed the recently posted PeopleTools 8.52 Release Value Proposition, you will see that we announced our intent to support Google Chrome.  Currently, we’re looking at adopting a minimum version of Chrome 10, that’s very likely to change with Google’s aggressive release schedule.   Look in My Oracle Support under Certifications when 8.52 goes GA later this year to see what the minimum version actually is.

We weren’t looking for additional browsers to add to the mix, just to see how big we can make the testing matrix, that’s for sure, so why did we make the change?  Customer input and market share were two big reasons.  As companies process external resumes and university students look to sign up for classes, more and more are looking to use Chrome.  One can find market shares all over the board depending on where you look and what you want to see.  However, the adoption rate of Chrome has been impressive any way you look at it.  Wikipedia tracks multiple sources following Chrome’s adoption rates and they range anywhere from Net Applications’ 12.5% to StatCounter’s 19.4% as of May 2011.

Chrome’s market share continues to grow, and it receives good reviews on the performance front – so it must be clear sailing, right?  Well, that depends on your organization.  There are a vast number of customers that will not be able to tolerate the rapid release of browsers, as well as the automatic updates.  I still have customers asking me for Internet Explorer 6 support with PT 8.5x, *ten years* after IE 6 was first released (BTW, the answer is still no, for anyone still thinking about asking).

I look forward to watching Chrome's adoption within the PeopleSoft community.  If your group decides to get “Chromed”, let me know how it goes.

 

by Scott Schafer

One of the most talked about features of the 8.51 release of PeopleTools is getting better and easier to use with proposed enhancements in the 8.52 release. This new feature is the PeopleSoft Test Framework (PTF). For those of you not familiar with PTF, it was introduced in the 8.51 and is a tool that automates the testing of the PeopleSoft application. In addition to system testing, PTF provides critical information for understanding how change will impact a PeopleSoft application. The change analysis comes from the integration of the PTF test case meta-data and compare report and usage monitor data.

The proposed 8.52 enhancements will help users implement PTF much quicker and easier by shortening the time needed to create new test cases or edit existing ones. Tool bar enhancements help optimize the test case development process by easing the way users set variables, add documentation, add screen shots and start/stop the test case recording sessions. Test case developers are also given the ability to export test cases to flat files, so that large volumes of test data can be edited quickly and easily before importing the data back into the database for playback purposes.

To learn more about the new features of the PTF and the 8.52 release of PeopleTools, please review the Release Value Proposition (RVP doc id = 1327656.1) document located on My Oracle Support.

The popular Cumulative Feature Overview Tool now has a new column that indicates if functionality was introduced in a bundle or maintenance pack (see example).

 

The CFO tool helps you plan your upgrades by providing concise descriptions of new and enhanced solutions and functionality that have become available between your starting and target releases. You simply identify the products you own, your existing release, and your target implementation release. With a single click, the tool quickly produces a customized set of high-level, concise descriptions of features developed between your starting and target releases.

The CFO is available for PeopleTools as well as PeopleSoft applications.