PeopleSoft Human Resources Management … PeopleSoft is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) II vendor, with particular strength in the services-intensive domain. Focusing traditionally
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PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
Summary
PeopleSoft’s HCM 8.8 includes enhanced operational and transactional functions, and added strategicmanagement applications, including tools mapping transactions and operations to corporate initiatives.
PeopleSoft is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) II vendor, with particular strength in the services-intensive domain. Focusing traditionally on the human resources (HR) software market, its enterprisesoftware product suite has since expanded, supporting Financials, Supply Chain Management (SCM),Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). AnEnterprise Performance Management (EPM) suite offers corporate performance measurement tools foreach application area. An Internet architecture, first introduced in PeopleSoft 8, supports inter- and intra-enterprise collaboration, application and business process integration.
The PeopleSoft Human Resources Management System (HRMS) suite, part of the Human CapitalManagement product family, consists of integrated workflow-based applications supporting theoperational and strategic goals of the HR department. The traditional HR applications provide operationaland transactional HR automation and include:
• HRMS
• Benefits Administration
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Administration
• Payroll (Global and North American options)
• Time and Labor
• Stock Administration
• Pension Administration
Collaborative applications support self-service functions for employees, managers, recruiters andapplicants, and provide transaction capabilities to manage work and life events, content from internal andexternal sources to provide more complete information to facilitate decision-making, and training tools forprofessional development. Collaborative PeopleSoft HR applications include the following:
• eBenefits
• eCompensation
• eDevelopment
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
PeopleSoft supplements its transactional and collaborative HR applications with its Human CapitalManagement (HCM) software designed to help organizations align their workforce with corporateobjectives and improve overall business performance. Examples of these types of applications includeSales Incentive Management, Enterprise Learning Management and a series of workforce-relatedanalytics applications.
Table 7: Features and Functions: PeopleSoft HRMS 8.8: Decision Support andPerformance Management
Enterprise Performance Management
Enterprise Scorecard
A strategic analysis tool measuring performance from financial, customer and
internal processing perspectives.
Can be used to set targets at corporate, department and individual levels to monitor
performance against goals.
KPI calculations can be based on data from PeopleSoft and third-party data
sources.
Enterprise Warehouse
Consolidates data from business applications and provides reporting and analysis
tools for decision support.
Financials Insight includes pre-defined analytic templates for role-based analysis.
Templates include metrics for customer, product and channel profitability; cash flow
and market value trends; and actual vs. budgeted expenses.
HRMS Warehouse
A data repository for workforce-related data.
Includes 150 pre-packaged HR-specific metrics.
Metrics are pre-mapped to other PeopleSoft applications.
Provides trending via time series analysis.
Provides 19 analysis and reporting templates specific to individual roles and
industries.
Workforce Planning
Designed to help business planners manage human capital as part of a business
strategy.
Users can define a workforce strategy from recruiting, head count and competency
management perspectives.
Workforce Rewards
An analytical application designed to identify top performers and align compensation
and retention initiatives with strategic objectives.
Allows users to assess workforce retention risks, value and replacement costs, and
to determine compensation strategies by workforce group.
Workforce Scorecard
Uses a balanced scorecard approach to present key HR data in a dashboard-style
interface for communicating and viewing workforce metrics.
Thirty-three pre-defined measures are provided.
Analysis
PeopleSoft’s HR product suites are designed to accomplish two main goals: to automate HR processes tominimize costs associated with them and to provide strategic elements to the software’s HR functionssupporting management of HR processes in ways meeting business objectives.
HRMS
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
The HRMS suite consists of collaborative and self-serve applications, including Recruiting, BenefitsAdministration, FSA Administration, Compensation Management, Development, Payroll, and Time andLabor, and Stock and Pension Administration. A portal structure provides application access and self-service functions for benefits, recruiting, payroll, stock administration, development planning andperformance reviews. Business Intelligence and analytic tools provide HR-specific analytics for measuringperformance and optimizing workforce effectiveness.
Recruitment
PeopleSoft supports recruitment functions specific to managers, recruiters, applicants and employees,respectively. Managers can check budgets, create job requisitions, schedule interviews and ratecandidate skills. As part of the recruitment process, a competency management function matches skillswith open requisitions and alerts managers to appropriate matches. Applicants can apply for jobs onlineand submit resumes via e-mail, fax, paper and scanned documents. A resume-processing functionextracts data from incoming resumes in e-mail and in scanned and HTML document formats, and storesthe data in a database for further review and processing. This feature is designed to help organizationsbuild a candidate pool and maintain relationships with prospects outside the organization. Another featuresupports prospective candidates anonymously applying for jobs. With this function, candidates create aprofile based on specific criteria, such as job title, location, skill set or department. When a job match isfound, the software notifies the applicants and allows them to submit an application. The Recruitmentapplication also sets up interviews, tracks candidate status and generates offer letters. PeopleSoftpartnerships with third-party content providers. HireRight, AIRS, and RecruitUSA offer background,reference and criminal check services; posting of job openings on Internet job sites; Web-based searchesfor qualified candidates; requisitions for temporary staff; and automated pre-employment screening.
Self-Service
PeopleSoft self-service applications for employees, managers and job applicants support the followingfunctions:
• Employee Data—users review and update personal data (for example, home address, e-mailaddresses, phone numbers, emergency contacts and marital status). Managers generate lists of thepeople working for them, view their personal data and approve or request status changes, such aspromotion, transfer, termination or pay-rate increases.
• Recruitment—employees and job applicants view job postings and apply for specific jobs via onlineresume or job interest form. Managers generate job requisitions and manage hiring processtransactions, review resumes collected for a specific job posting, report results of an interview andrequest-offer letters.
• Workforce Development—employees create training requests (routed to managers for approval),review training courses they have completed, and update competencies and accomplishments.Managers enroll employees in training programs, approve training requests, review an employee’straining summary and enter performance appraisals.
• Employee Compensation—managers request salary changes by employee or group, allocatevariable compensation awards, approve salary changes/incentive awards, and view compensationhistory and total compensation. Employees review their compensation history to date.
• Benefits—employees view benefit selections online, update personal data regarding dependents,make changes to beneficiary allocation and savings plan contributions, and use an “OpenEnrollment” wizard to enroll in benefits programs for the first time.
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
• Payroll—employees review current/historical paycheck data; manage deductions, direct deposits andtax withholding designations; and request historical earnings and tax reporting data.
• Time and Labor—employees use Employee Time Reporting to report time, specify the type of timereported (vacation, overtime) and review their work schedule. Managers generate lists for reviewing,approving or modifying data collected here.
• Stock Administration—employees review their ESPP activities, enter sales and transfers, and addissuance instructions.
PeopleSoft integrates these applications with third-party content provider services. Integration withGeoAccess allows employees to search for healthcare providers by physician name, location or healthplan affiliation. Integration with Authoria helps answer queries about employee health, welfare andretirement plans. A link to eBenX enables exchange of health enrollment data and financial data betweenthe enterprise and health and welfare carriers.
Added Products in Release 8.8
PeopleSoft introduced additional applications with Release 8.8, including Performance Management,ELM, EIM, HelpDesk for HR and Mobile Time Management.
Performance Management Features
An ePerformance application provides planning and tracking of employee performance goals. The overallstrategic goals of the enterprise can be considered and drive individual goals of employees in thisapplication, ensuring all employee goals are aligned with specific business objectives of the company andmeasuring individual performance as a contribution toward the business objectives of the company. Tomap individual goals to corporate goals, managers trace the individual objective up toward a higher-levelcorporate objective it impacts. Viewing these relationships gives employees a better understanding of howtheir direct individual contribution is linked to the achievement of larger business objectives.
ELM
The ELM application plans and manages learning requirements, deploys different learning methods, andtracks and measures learning effectiveness. It schedules instructor-led and Web-based training andmanages facilities, human resources and materials associated with courses. The ELM can also drivelearning programs, matching established objectives in various business departments with learningoptions. For example, if a sales goal is to improve sales to a specific target group, the ELM can bedesigned to provide and recommend specific sales-based learning courses. If an objective is to improvecustomer satisfaction, the ELM may recommend customer communication skill courses or relatedPowerPoint presentations. ELM, AICC and SCORM are for integrating third-party provider content,testing, assessment and authoring tools.
EIM
EIM applications are a work-in-progress for PeopleSoft. They are designed to align individualperformance with corporate objectives. PeopleSoft plans to add role- and industry-specific functions usingthe underlying EIM tools. The EIM infrastructure handles incentive planning, manages data acquisitionand validation, manages the approval and incentive issuance, and measures plan performance—in aneffort to more effectively manage sales incentives, variable compensation and objective plans. The firstapplication available in the series, SIM, defines and executes incentive plans, and enables organizationsto align sales compensation with business drivers, such as customer satisfaction and pipeline activity,allowing employers to optimize the sales incentive process from planning through payment. A specific
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
SIM user interface offers typical process configurations, industry-specific formulas, tailored screen layoutsand industry-specific reports.
As part of Release 8.8, PeopleSoft released a SIM application specific to high-tech and industrial markets,for automotive, aerospace and industrial equipment companies. In the future, PeopleSoft will provideother industry-specific SIM applications for Banking and Capital Markets, Insurance, Business Services,Communications and Consumer Packaged Goods.
HelpDesk for HR
PeopleSoft’s HelpDesk for HR is a call center solution, borrowing infrastructure from its CRM applicationsto resolve HR-specific questions and problems. In addition to the CRM-related call center functions, theapplication includes computer telephony integration (CTI), load balancing, escalation routines andknowledge bases. An employee initiates a query (via the Web, phone, e-mail or fax). The query isdirected via load-balancing routine to the agent most qualified to answer the question. Case Managementsoftware manages the query process from initiation through notifications, escalations and resolution. Theagent can view all pertinent data about the caller and provide access to a knowledgebase of data toresolve the problem. If the original agent cannot resolve the call, it can be escalated to a more qualifiedrepresentative. A self-service capability allows callers to check the status of the inquiry online until it isresolved.
Mobile Time Management
Mobile Time Management uses PeopleTools Mobile Agent capabilities to provide an HTML applicationinterface for Web access via Win32 laptops and Pocket PCs. The application allows users to downloadcurrent period work schedules and enter work times when they are away from the office, via disconnectedclient. Users can then synchronize the data from the mobile device with the network and the Time andLabor application, which validates the data and sends it to payroll for processing. Mobile Agenttechnology supports access and integration of other applications, such as PeopleSoft Financials or CRMvia mobile device. It also issues alerts and notifications during synchronization, allowing organizations tocontact mobile workers, update data on the mobile devices or issue errors occurring during datasynchronization.
Multinational Support
Local statutory and regulatory functions specific for Canada, France, Germany, United Kingdom, UnitedStates, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Australia and Hong Kong, among others,are included. Regulatory Region functionality allows users to control how the system responds to differentlocal country processes. Customers can access as much or as little of the country-specific functionality asneeded. If the user wants to create a multinational workforce, the Administer Workforce panels provideaccess to the core and local functionality for meeting the domestic and international hiring and workforcesupport needs required to build such a workforce. PeopleSoft provides global and customization featuresfor global address format support and country-specific enhancements, such as Kanji characterenablement, phonetic search, multiple compensation components, postal code lookup and regulatoryfeatures supporting Japanese customers. PeopleSoft applications support foreign currencies, such as theEMU’s Euro.
Country-Specific Features
PeopleSoft HR 8.8 country-specific features include the following:
• Italian legal requirements support includes the capability to record ID numbers assigned to thecompany by Italian regulatory authorities, such as the VAT ID (Partita IVA) and the Tax ID (Codice
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
Fiscale); support for personal data of employees, such as INAIL code, union membership details andmilitary service information; and details of temporary contracts (Contratto a Tempo Determinato).Users can define productive units (unita produttiva) based on the company’s union agreements, andemployees are linked to their corresponding productive units. Supports absences and can track adoctor’s visit to a sick employee. Users can record employee hires, transfers and resignationsspecific to Italian organizations. Regulatory reports are supported, including Pari Opportunia (EqualOpportunity), disability and union reports.
• Spanish functionality includes support for Spanish name fields; addresses; telephone numbers;social security requirements, risk, workgroup and work center; and the capability to track Spanishindustry activity codes, insurance companies, contracts, national IDs, unions and union fees, andhiring centers.
• Switzerland functionality includes support for personal data, such as national IDs, which includeSwiss NID validations and local functionality for place of origin. Users can track multiple places oforigin for each employee, although only one can be the main place of origin. Job data supportincludes local parent/guardian validation warning for employees aged 18 and under. ID data includessupport for citizenship, passport and visa permit information. The visa permit tables include validvisa/permit types for Switzerland, and users can track company trade registry numbers, accidentinsurance numbers and AHV. Users can also track work council data for Swiss workers. The TrainingAdministration module includes the capability of Swiss employers to track and validate Swiss schooltype. Employers can also track employee disability data, including handicap percentage. The Swissversion also supports accident reporting (SUVA) and Company Statistic Reports (Betriebszaehlung).
• Enhancements to the U.S.-based product include EEO-1 and VETS-100 reports that supportfederally mandated changes, and the addition of the OSHA-300 report for updating injury and illnessrecord keeping. Federal government versions also include an interface to “USA Jobs,” which allowsusers to send requisition data for vacancies to “USA Jobs” in the proper format. U.S. functions alsosupport a variety of U.S. government regulatory requirements, including equal employmentopportunity (EEO), affirmative action, occupational safety and employment equity. Tracks health andsafety issues and medical surveillance exams to help identify potential risk factors.
• Belgium supports Belgian regulatory issues via the Regulatory Region feature. Belgian employmentcontracts and terms can be managed. Includes support for severance pay calculation based on theClaeys formula. Absence monitor capabilities are also provided. Supports unique Belgianrequirements for employee-level personal and job data.
• Canadian versions include an updated Canadian Federal Employment Equity interface to meetrequirements of the Canadian government’s Employment Equity Computerized Reporting System(EECRS) 2.0 software, updated Ontario Employment Equity Reporting functionality, which reflectsthat the report is no longer required by provincial legislation, and an updated Canadian FederalOfficial Languages Reporting interface to reflect changes in the reporting requirements in the OfficialLanguages Reporting Legislation. Support is also included for Academic Teaching StatisticsReporting for Statistics Canada, allowing users to collect data required for these surveys, process thedata according to Statistics Canada requirements, review and edit the results as needed, and sendfinal reports to Statistics Canada in the defined format. Canadian functions also include a utility toexport employee data automatically from PS/HR to the government’s EECRS.
• German versions include added Business Process Maps (BPMs) for clearer documentation of thesetup and administration of German tariffs, the management of German trainees and theadministration of DEUV data. Users can track first and last employee names separately, identify
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
employees as “cross border walker” employees, associate a company with one or more locations,track and report internal trainees (Auszubildende) via statistics for their professional education stepsand a report showing the complete training schedule for the trainee and current status, and store dataregarding tariffs associated with a specific position.
• French versions now feature added reports, including Workforce Monthly Report (Declarationmensuelle des mouvements de main d’oeuvre), Personal Register (Registre du Personnel), andAnnual Workforce Survey by Nationality and Professional Category (Enquete sur l’activite et lesconditions d’emploi de la main d’oeuvre). An added compensation forecasting tool allows Frenchcompanies to carry out masse salariale simulation and analysis, and to assess the impact of one ormore events on the compensation for a pre-defined group of employees over a given period of time.Events include compensation increases, head count increases/decreases, promotions, incentivepayments, seniority increases and work schedule changes. Other French functions support Frenchcompensation package management. Tracks French personal and job data for workers. ManagesCollective Labor Agreements (Conventions Collectives) for the company and its employees. Tracksand reports training expenses to the French government.
• Netherlands-specific versions now allow Dutch employers to transfer illness-related data to theDutch health and safety authority, insurance companies and the Industrial Insurance Administrationoffice. An added interface provides links to third-party products for reporting absence details,employee and company data to relevant organizations.
• U.K.-specific versions include enhanced ways to search for U.K. addresses via links to Accelerator, athird-party product by GB Systems that is based on the Royal Mail Postcode Address File.
Other supported countries include Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Mexicoand Brazil.
Architectural Framework
PeopleSoft’s Internet Architecture, including the Open Integration Framework, enables integration ofPeopleSoft and third-party applications. The AppConnect tool enables application integration andprovides enterprise performance management functions. AppConnect products communicate using Webservices and legacy integration methodologies. AppConnect is compatible with J2EE and .NET, andworks with IBM WebSphere and BEA WebLogic application servers. PeopleSoft’s architectural frameworkprovides intra- and inter-enterprise application and process integration (see Features and Functions chartfor specific details). The Internet Architecture supports standards such as Extensible Markup Language(XML), Web Services Description Language (WSDL), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), UniversalDescription, Discovery and Integration (UDDI). PeopleTools provides an Integration Broker, an XMLmessaging hub that publishes and subscribes synchronous and asynchronous XML messages betweenmultiple systems. Application Messaging supports this messaging function.
PeopleTools also provides the following four specific integration technologies:
• Application Messaging—a publish/subscribe messaging architecture handling asynchronousintegration among PeopleSoft applications and between PeopleSoft and third-party applications.PeopleSoft applications publish messages in XML, in response to business events, and they aredelivered to subscribing systems over a secure HTTP connection. Third-party systems can alsopublish and subscribe to messages via XML over an HTTP connection.
• Component Interfaces—allow third-party applications to call in to PeopleSoft applications, usingCOM, CORBA, Enterprise Java Beans or HTTP/XML. The Component Interface handles
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
synchronous integration from third-party applications to PeopleSoft applications and synchronousintegration between PeopleSoft applications.
• Business Interlink—allows PeopleSoft applications to call out to third-party APIs over the Web andallows application developers to invoke third-party applications based on object technologies,programming languages and interfaces, including COM, CORBA and Enterprise Java Beans; C andC++; and HTTP and XML interfaces.
• Application Engine (formerly the PeopleTools Application Engine)—an application processor for high-volume batch processes, developed to manage set-level data processing, as opposed to traditionalprocessing by programming languages on a row-by-row basis. As part of PeopleTools 8, Cobol wasabandoned, and the tool was rewritten in C++. A more visual environment was designed to helpdevelopers visualize the set-level processing.
Business Intelligence
PeopleSoft’s EPM technology is integrated with its applications suites and provides data acquisition,warehousing and analysis. The Enterprise Warehouse is the primary repository for data from PeopleSoft,third-party and legacy applications, and it provides the content for reporting and analysis across the HRapplications. An extract, transform and load (ETL) engine and 1200+ pre-defined ETL maps move datafrom the operational applications to a data store for consolidation and transaction-level reporting. A datawarehouse in the Enterprise Warehouse maintains the historical data view, and a data mart includes thepre-defined subject-specific metrics, template definitions, and role-based schemas for multidimensionalreporting and analysis. PeopleSoft’s HR-specific KPIs facilitate performance measurement, with real-timeperformance feedback to HR personnel and managers.
An HR-specific Workforce Analytics suite provides analytical applications and insight to help users createworkforce strategies aligned with business objectives. Managers using Workforce Analytics can reportand analyze integrated internal and external data collected from a PeopleSoft HRMS application, andworkforce strategy can be analyzed within a financial framework and compared against overall corporateobjectives. By reporting and analyzing workforce strategies and using data collected by the enterprisesystem to do it, Workforce Analytics can provide relevant analysis of past, current and future workforcestrategies. Integration of Workforce Analytics with PeopleSoft EPM allows Workforce Analytics users toaccess EPM’s data repository. The data contained therein can be extracted and applied in an HR context.
Workforce Analytics consists of the following:
• Workforce Planning—evaluates current competency levels in the workforce and simulates scenariosfor future redeployment and development to help effectively place employees in job positions.Identifies competencies critical to accomplishing enterprise strategic goals, helps determine the valueof the competency strategy and links the value to individual roles. Provides an understanding of thecompetency requirements of enterprise strategies.
• Workforce Rewards—models and simulates employee recruiting and retention. CompensationPlanning supports strategic decision-making for pay levels and pay allocation, allowing forecastingand budgeting based on scenarios linking compensation to corporate goals. ERP data can be used tobuild a competitive salary structure and assess the cost of implementing such a structure. RetentionPlanning links corporate goals and core competencies to identify key human assets. Determines theprobability of losing key employees and helps management build retention plans based on marketforces, reward structures and workplace factors.
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
• Workforce Scorecard—uses Balanced Scorecard techniques to measure and communicate HRobjectives and performance within the enterprise. KPIs evaluate how well HR employees areexecuting internal initiatives and how this performance compares to the financial and strategic goalsof the HR department.
Pricing
PeopleSoft prices its software under its Enterprise Licensing model based on size of a customer’senterprise. Business metrics define the size of the enterprise. For HRMS, the metrics consider thenumber of employees of the organization. Each contract has an Expansion of Rights Clause guaranteeingfuture license pricing if the customer expands past pre-agreed-on size thresholds. In exchange for a size-based price and expansion clause, PeopleSoft gives its customers the right to deploy and use as manyservers, users and workstations as they need within the defined enterprise size. The Enterprise Licenseincludes a right to use the software over the Web via corporate intranet or extranet.
GSA Pricing
Yes.
Competitors
There are many vendors targeting the HR market from different perspectives. There are, however, someuniversal criteria applicable to all the HR vendors, including ability to execute, longevity and market share,financial and corporate viability, and current size of the installed base. ERP II vendors take more time tobring emerging technologies to market and to sell their solutions to their established installed base.Nonetheless, their long-standing reputations as HR software providers, the depth of their productfunctionality, their ability to provide integrated applications spanning areas beyond the HR departmentand their ability to leverage established relationships with customers gives them an edge over emergingplayers touting robust functionality in a specific HR niche. In addition to PeopleSoft, the technologyleaders in the overall large enterprise HR market include PeopleSoft, SAP and Oracle. Other vendors alsocompeting in this space in varying capacities include Lawson, Ultimate Software, Cyborg, J.D. Edwardsand Meta4.
SAP
SAP has a strong presence in the ERP II space, particularly in the discrete manufacturing and assetintensive domains. SAP’s HR suite includes applications supporting transactional, strategic, analytic andself-service functions for a global enterprise. Applications include Personnel Administration; Payroll;Benefits; Time, Workforce and Organizational Management; Organizational Development, Training andLearning tools; Recruitment; Workforce Cost Planning; and Performance Management. SAP is identifyingthe collaborative attributes of its mySAP Enterprise Portal and extending these attributes and promotingcollaboration via role-based access for professionals, managers, employees and applicants. SAP is alsopromoting the strategic benefits of its HR applications, which include the ability to conduct comparativeanalyses of compensation plans and the delivery of role-based content and services. SAP expanded itsHR applications to target the Professional Services Administration (PSA) market. Specific functionssupport requirements of professional services organizations (PSOs), including monitoring projectactivities, revenue, open items and costs, and the ability to measure the profitability of a project during theproject’s life cycle.
Oracle
Oracle’s HR applications are an integral part of its e-business suite. To help enterprises enhanceemployee relationships and optimize the workforce, Oracle integrated a range of processes and
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
technologies throughout its HR product line, including a variety of intra-enterprise and inter-enterpriseworkflow-based self-service functions, portal-based dynamic content, global support and performancemeasurement tools. Oracle offers a series of applications in its HR management suite supportingtransaction-based processes in a global enterprise. A core Human Resources application acts as thecentral repository for data to help manage an enterprise’s human capital. Other applications support HRprocesses ranging from recruiting through succession planning. These applications include Recruitment,Time and Labor processing, Payroll, Benefits Administration, Training Administration, LearningManagement, Self Service HR and Business Intelligence.
Strengths
Entrenched, Established, Viable Player
PeopleSoft is entrenched, established and viable. The vendor’s core business always includes asignificant focus and expertise in providing large enterprise HR applications. PeopleSoft is established inthat it caters to a significant installed base of HR software customers. PeopleSoft continues to maintainthis installed base and to grow it by providing significant enhancements to its HR line of applications andtargeting different size enterprises, including midsize enterprises, in addition to its traditional largeenterprise focus. Drawing from its installed HR customer base and Application Service Provider (ASP)and PeopleSoft Select implementation strategies, the vendor can provide prospects with good samplingsof customer references in the different stages of implementation. Customers evaluating enterprisesoftware are best served when they can contact a vendor’s established customers in different stages ofimplementation. PeopleSoft’s HR focus, customer base, market clout and demonstration of vision in HRtechnology make it a viable vendor worth considering when evaluating HR software packages.
Process Integration
PeopleSoft provides an Internet architecture, portal infrastructure and the PeopleTools developmentenvironment to support inter- and intra-enterprise application and business process integration, with itsHR functions. AppConnect, consisting of Enterprise Portal, Enterprise Warehouse and Integration Broker,provides connection to applications and supports business process integration. Integration Broker workswith the Internet Architecture to handle routing and transformation of data between applications and tosupport enterprise-centric and inter-enterprise business process integration. HR integration point mapsdemonstrate links between HR functions and Financials, SCM, CRM, Learning and third-partyapplications.
Single-Source Options for Established Customers
PeopleSoft earned its reputation with its HR applications and continues to maintain a market leadershipposition. Its HR product line is designed to support broad and deep HR operational, transactional and,now, strategic requirements. As PeopleSoft adds more components to its HR products, establishedcustomers will be presented with options for considering PeopleSoft as a single-source for all of its HRtechnologies. Established customers already upgraded to PeopleSoft’s Internet Architecture (release 7.5)are in a good position to utilize PeopleSoft as a single-source HR technology vendor for more recent HRinnovations; specifically, the strategic and self-service functions. When evaluating more recent HRinnovations in the areas of Web-based self-service, workforce management, strategic HR management ore-recruitment, established PeopleSoft customers should compare PeopleSoft’s offerings and functionalityin these areas against those of short-listed best-of-breed and niche providers.
Limitations
Mobile Applications
PeopleSoft Human Resources Management Applications
PeopleSoft introduced for the first time Mobile Time Management product as part of release 8.8 inDecember 2002. The product provides basic functionality to download work schedules and to enter worktimes using a Win32 laptop and Pocket PC. PeopleSoft is planning, however, to strengthen thesecapabilities in later releases. For example, in the next release the vendor will offer the ability to capturepunch time with actual start/stop time, in addition to the current elapsed time it supports today. PeopleSoftwill also link mobile functions with its Projects application to enable contract employees to enter time andalso give managers the opportunity to handle leave requests and approvals. The vendor also plans to usePeopleTools to issue alerts to managers, link with the Learning application to review learning plans,download benefit enrollment pages, and download and review applicant data.
Release 7.5 Customers Not Upgrading Must Purchase Extended Support
PeopleSoft is discontinuing support for release 7.5 of its HRMS applications. Release 7.5 customers canopt to purchase extended maintenance for this version for one year from PeopleSoft. Customers can alsouse service partners, such as TomorrowNow or Crestone, for extended support of 7.5.
Recommended Gartner Research
Gartner’s Large Enterprise HRMS Magic Quadrant for 2002, IGG-10232002-03
Human Resources (HR) Applications: Perspective, DPRO-112368
Insight
PeopleSoft is an established provider of HR applications and an ERP II vendor providing enterpriseapplications supporting Financials, SCM, CRM and ESA, each of which also targets specific verticalmarkets. PeopleSoft’s HR applications include Human Resources, Benefits Administration, FSAAdministration, Pension Administration, Payroll, Resume Processing, Time and Labor, and StockAdministration applications. Added self-service functions for employees and managers, along withstrategic HR components, strengthen PeopleSoft’s ability to provide recent innovations in HR applicationsto its customers and to offer inherent integration with established implementations of PeopleSoftapplications. Customers currently running versions earlier than release 7.5 should consider “directupgrade” issues and possible additional costs applicable to their case when considering an investment inPeopleSoft 8.8.