Release Value Proposition for PeopleTools 8.51

After the long-awaited and quite revolutionarily PeopleTools 8.50, Oracle announced PeopleTools 8.51. With this release Oracle will enhance PeopleTools and add some new features that will be a great markup for PeopleSoft in general.

Here are some snippets from the RVP, which I think will have a great added value to the PeopleSoft application.

SmartNavigation

PeopleSoft SmartNavigation is a set of features that include three key improvements for how users access application functionality in the execution of their daily work:

1. Hierarchical application data can be incorporated into the menu structure, allowing a user to access application functions directly related to data such as the company org chart or any other data tree.


2. Contextual menus can be associated with data on a PeopleSoft application page, allowing a user to take action directly from data on the page without having to navigate the main menu structure and search again for the data they need.


3. A user’s search results are temporarily stored directly in the menu structure, allowing a user to navigate from one record to another without having to re-execute a search – even if they have moved away from the page.

PeopleSoft Test Framework

This new testing solution is based upon an in-house testing solution that has been used for internal system testing for many years. It is different than other testing solutions, since it is based upon PeopleSoft meta-data and was developed exclusively to test PeopleSoft applications. This solution provides the ability to quickly create tests and test data, as well as a solution process for maintaining the tests. This maintenance solution compares and analyzes the PeopleSoft Test Framework tests and test data against the data captured by the new Usage Monitor tool and the data provided by the new Compare Report output option. Tests and test data are stored in the PeopleSoft system as managed objects, which you can compare and copy.

Context Sensitive Pop-Up Help

You can now enable context-sensitive pop-up Help for grids, scroll areas, and group boxes. The new embedded pop-up help property, in conjunction with the Message Catalog, enables application developers to quickly add more granular, task-specific information to these page controls. For the user, a new Help icon appears beside the label if embedded help has been enabled on the control. When users click the Help icon, they are presented with more contextually relevant information providing for a more user-friendly experience.

Related Content

In PeopleTools 8.51, subject matter experts can now configure key related content at the field, page and menu level. Related content services have been extended to Level 1, Level 2, and even hidden fields, in addition to current support for Level 0 fields.

Usage Monitor

A new feature of the PeopleSoft Performance Monitor Tool is being introduced with PeopleTools 8.51 which will allow users to track the managed objects being used in their PeopleSoft application database that are being used by end users. It is intended that this feature would be enabled in a test system while end users navigate through the system as they perform their normal tasks. As each managed object is accessed by the end user, information is captured and stored in the application database tables, allowing for flexible query access to the data. This usage data will provide IT staff with an invaluable insight into the use of the PeopleSoft system and can be correlated with the data provided by the new Compare Report output option and PeopleSoft Test Framework meta-data.

Compare Reports

The PeopleTools 8.51 release provides a new option of running the traditional Compare Reports output into database tables versus the traditional report. Similar to the Usage Monitor data, being able to compare the Compare Report data against the PeopleSoft Test Framework data and Usage Monitor data will provide invaluable insight into the level of impact a change will make to a PeopleSoft system.

PeopleSoft Documents Technology

Document is a new PeopleTools managed object that provides meta-data to describe structured data. A new designer is available in PIA that developers use to create documents by hand, by importing schema definitions, or from PeopleSoft table definitions. The default physical format of PeopleSoft documents is XML. A PeopleCode API is available for developers to create and modify the contents of documents using the document definition, rather than complicated parsing. With this technology your PeopleTools developers will be able to:

• Describe any XML structure with a PeopleTools document.
• Create complex structured business object definitions out of existing record definitions.
• Consume external Web services and process the content with an easy-to-use API.
• Use a comprehensive set of testing utilities to create and validate XML from documents.

This new technology is an exciting enhancement that will improve the productivity of developers that work with XML, integrations, or complex structure definitions.

Read the full Release Value Proposition here .