Webinar - Strengthening Your “Core” HR

Oracle is offering a free PeopleSoft webinar Tue, May 10, 2016 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CDT

Strengthening Your “Core” HR: The Continuing Strength of PeopleSoft HR

In this session, Oracle will share highlights of new Oracle's PeopleSoft Core HR features and functionality like Guided Self Service. Oracle will also share what new exciting projects are on the roadmap for strengthening our core HR functionality like enhancements for global, position management, onboarding, analytics, company directory and so much more. Must attend session!

Objective 1: Provide an overview of Guided Self Service for HR

Objective 2: Provide a roadmap of features planned for delivery in Core HR

Register here

Webinar - Evolution of Financials Training and Self-Service Security

Quest is offering a free PeopleSoft webinar Wed, May 4, 2016 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

This session will take you on a journey through the evolution of the PeopleSoft Financials training at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). When the University implemented Financials in 2004 they offered four classes led by dedicated trainers, security was done via paper and manually entry.

In 2008, at the request of the new University CFO, the training program was re-evaluated to help their decentralized campus know the technical components of the Financials System as well as the “why” behind what they were doing. The Case Administrative Professional Series (CAPS) was developed.

Fast forward to 2016 – they now offer thirteen classes taught by functional experts, security request are entered via PeopleSoft by end users and approved via workflow. Users have the option to earn a certificate by taking required courses as well as electives followed by an exam.

Register here.

​​​Webinar - PeopleSoft 9.2 Upgrade and Fluid Interface Planning

WorkStrategy is offering a free PeopleSoft webinar Wednesday, May 04, 2016 @ 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST

WorkStrategy will provide an overview of new 9.2 PUM 016 8.54/8.55 functionality, technical upgrade steps, and PUM installation tips. Presenters will highlight new Fluid Interface, WorkCenters and Activity Guides, Pivot Grid Analytics, Guided Self Service and related enhancements.

WorkStrategy will review resource requirements and project plan milestones to successfully upgrade your PeopleSoft HCM application suite.

Objectives:
• Understand how to leverage new 9.2 functional enhancements
• Learn about PUM installation best practices
• Review tips for upgrades and customer case studies

Register here.

Webinar - PeopleSoft Accounts Payable WorkCenter 9.2

Oracle is offering a free PeopleSoft webinar Monday, Aug 26 11:00am to 12:00pm PT

Oracle University will give an overview of Oracle PeopleSoft Accounts Payable WorkCenter 9.2. This is a new feature for the PeopleSoft 9.2 release that is used to consolidate and centralize access to relevant Payables data.

This Web Seminar Includes:

• An overview of PeopleSoft Accounts Payable WorkCenter
• Personal Workload
• Configurable Exception Alerts
• Rapid Navigation
• Reporting Console

Register here.

Webinar - PeopleSoft Payroll for North America - Continuously delivering new enhancements

Oracle is offering a webinar Tuesday, April 26th, 2016 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

This one-hour session is recommended for functional users who use PeopleSoft Payroll for North America. In this Webcast, you will learn about some new enhancements that have delivered after the initial Release of 9.2. The new functionality includes the Payroll WorkCenter, the enhancements to our direct deposit process as well as our brand new Mobile Paycheck allowing your employees to view their pay statement using a mobile device, Come learn about the new functionality and see how it works.

Register here.

PT 8.55 Fluid Enhancements

This article from Astute introduces the Fluid UI  enhancements to the PT Portal technology.
It covers

• Homepage/dashboards
• Master/detail pages
• Master-detail components
• Push notifications
• Fluid activity guides
• Related content in fluid pages
• Branding enhancements
• Conditional navigation enhancements

Check it out here.

Video - Image Highlights, PeopleSoft HCM Update Image 17

Here's a YouTube video from Oracle-PeopleSoft.  This video provides highlights of many of the new features in the PeopleSoft Update Image 17.

Check out the video here.

Webinar - PeopleSoft Pay for Performance using ePerformance and eComp+

WorkStrategy is offering a webinar Wednesday, April 20, 2016 2:00 – 3:00pm (EST) via WebEx

Leverage your existing investment in PeopleSoft HCM technology and learn how other customers design these tools for “pay for performance” programs. They will review 9.2 ePerformance, Talent Profiles, and eComp+ features and how to integrate performance ratings with eComp+ to streamline your overall compensation process.

 WorkStrategy’s eComp+ solution for PeopleSoft customers supports your annual bonus, equity, and base salary merit administration with a user-friendly manager dashboard, employee statements, and modeling capabilities.

 Objectives:

• Hear how customers are leveraging existing ePerformance/eComp+ functionality 
• See configuration and implementation tips 
• Review industry trends and best practices regarding pay for performance programs 

 Register here.

Webinar - PeopleSoft Query Manager Tips and Tricks

Oracle is offering a webinar Fri, Apr 22, 2016 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM CDT

PeopleSoft Query Manager tips and tricks
Using PeopleSoft Query Manager has its own ups and downs. THis session will highlight some useful tips and suggestions to make this tool more useful to the end user.

Register here.

Webinar - PeopleSoft Human Capital Management Update and Roadmap

Oracle is hosting a webinar on April 20, 2016 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CDT.

An update of strategic investments for Oracle's PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) applications and product roadmap. This session will cover all major areas of new development for PeopleSoft HR, Workforce Management, and Talent Management applications. You will also learn about how innovations with PeopleSoft technologies with user experience, deployments, and self service are made available in HCM applications.

Sign up here.

Stuck-In-Processing Solved!

Our stuck-in-processing problem continued and then during our annual enrollment period, it worsened dramatically.  We attributed it to the increase traffic during enrollment, but after enrollment it didn't get much better.  We investigated problem further and found "How To Identify Session Stickiness Problems On Load Balancer?" [ID 1307344.1] on Oracle support.  We also found this article useful, "How to Setup PeopleSoft and WebLogic when using a Load Balancer [ID 653998.1].

After doing some testing with going directly to a web server, rather than through the content switch, all clues pointed to the content switch as the source of the problem.  Working with our network group was slow.  They explained that the content switch only passed on what it was given and couldn't be the source of a problem.  We used a sniffer to trace the network connection on a user that experienced the stuck-in-processing problem a lot.  They saw that the user was fine until a reset was sent to the user from a different server than the one that they were connected to.  


The fix for the problem did turn out to be a setting on the content switch.  There was a session timeout that was set to a low setting -- less than a minute.  Here's what our network guy said "...the solution is to increase the flow timeout setting.  I decided to change the set the setting to what {server} is using (560 seconds or 9.33 minutes) to fix this..."

My understanding of this issue is not complete.  Here is what I have so far.  Please let me know if you have more information.  Starting with IE 8, the browser opens six connections to the server as soon as you login.  Depending on the what you are doing, PeopleSoft may use just a few of these connections.  Then if you go to a page that is more complex, you may use more of the connections.  With a short timeout, these previously unused connections may have timed out and could then connect to a different web server.  That web server, unfamiliar with your connection, would send a reset.  Then you were stuck-in-processing.

This fix has solved our problem.  I hope it helps you.

No Longer Stuck in Processing, updated

We finally have a "solution" to the issue where a user was stuck in processing.  I've discussed it here and here. The solution comes from document 1367044.1.

Open the PORTAL_REFRESHPAGE (HTML) object in Application Designer and make the following changes: function fadeInPagelet(pgltName){ //hideLoadingImg(pgltName); //JDN: remove this line setTimeout(function(){hideLoadingImg(pgltName);}, 0); //JDN:add this line ptCommonObj.fadeElement("ptpgltbody_" + pgltName, 0, 20, 100, 40, 10); refreshEnable(pgltName); var pgltData = document.getElementById(pgltName + "_Data"); if (pgltData){ if (browserInfoObj.isIE) pgltData.style.filter=""; else pgltData.style.opacity=""; } } After applying the changes, make sure the browser cache is cleared before trying out the changes.

We've tested it and we're planning when to apply it to production.

Update: "It worked in test."
While it seemed great in test, it hasn't completely solved the problem in production.  I've heard from users that it's better, but they still get stuck in processing.  If I get more details from them, I'll put that info out on the blog.

Update #2: See Stuck-in-Processing Solved

The Page Stuck in Processing

We applied Tuxedo 10.3.0.0 patch level 089 (from 069) over the weekend, and it didn't help with the issue users have with getting stuck in processing.  It happens most often when a user clicks the magnifying glass to look up a value.  The processing pinwheel starts spinning, and it doesn't ever come back.  It's the same issue I listed here.

I just got an update from Oracle that this issue is fixed in PeopleTools 8.51.17.  It is "Report ID: 13865710       The Page Struck[sic] in Processing".  We are in the middle of upgrading from HCM 8.9 to 9.1 and a PeopleTools patch does not fit in our upgrade timeline.  I've asked to get an individual fix pulled out from the patch.  Responses to requests like this are hit or miss.  I'll let you know if we get lucky.

Update: See Stuck-in-Processing Solved

Best Practices for Upgrading PeopleSoft Enterprise

I came across this Oracle White Paper recently titled, Best Practices for Upgrading PeopleSoft Enterprise.  It's a useful reference document for what Oracle considers "best practices".

From pages 12 & 13:

Tip #3—Use Change Management Appropriate for an Upgrade

During an upgrade, it is imperative to freeze metadata and system data in your production environment. With respect to the new release, ensure all relevant patches available are applied appropriately. There are two types of new release patches to manage throughout the upgrade project: "required for upgrade" patches and "regular product" patches. For each upgrade pass, required for upgrade patches only are applied to your upgrade environment. For each user acceptance test rollout or environment, apply regular product patches to the test environment only and never to the upgrade environment. Failure to appropriately manage these different
change management requirements can result in upgrade step failures and unexpected user acceptance test results.

PeopleTools 8.51 & Exchange 2010 revisited

We went into production on the Exchange 2010 server last Friday.  The Exchange server admins were able to set the TarpitInterval based on where the email was originating.


Also we changed the code that sends hundreds of emails in TAM to a batched process.  

Here are the exchange commands we used and the settings changed.

Set-ReceiveConnector –Identity servername\relayconnectorname –ConnectionTimeout  00:20:00

Set-ReceiveConnector –Identity servername\relayconnectorname -TarpitInterval  00:00:00

Set-ReceiveConnector –Identity servername\relayconnectorname –MaxAcknowledgementDelay 00:00:00

Update on the 501 / AJAX error

I originally thought that the Microsoft bug was just for IE 7 & IE 8 on Windows XP.  We had fixed the problem in XP with IE 7.  But we had people upgrading to Windows 7 with IE 8 and they started getting the problem again. That XP only info was tied to something read from a blog post. With more careful reading of the actual MS article, it looks like this bug applies to all users of IE 7 & IE 8, no matter what version of Windows you are using.  The linked Microsoft KB article has instructions for how to apply the fix to your registry.

Three Intermittent Issues

We have three Tools related issues we are continuing to work on.  The first is something that we thought was solved.  Users intermittently get http 501 errors.  In "External Applicants and Browsers" we addressed AJAX issues, including the 501 error.  The PeopleSoft Experts blog entry has a great deal of information about issue and the Microsoft registry fix.  Microsoft documents the error as a problem for IE 7 & 8 users on Windows XP.  We had IE 7 users on XP, applied the registry patch, and all was good.  But now users upgrading to Windows 7, using IE 8, and having the problem again.  This issue may be related to bug 11870611.

The second issue we are seeing is that a user is actively using PeopleSoft and their session times out.  It's not a common occurrence.  The user has used the New Window link to open a second window.  This issue could be related to report ID 13096404.

The last one is where users are stuck in a processing state.  They can sit at a page for ten minutes or longer, and it will stay in processing.  But if they log out and log back in, they can complete the transaction right away.  I thought that this issue was related to bug 11625722, but support said that bug doesn't relate to us since we are on Tools 8.51.13.  They have us cleaning up some errors in the application server logs.  I'll be surprised if it makes any difference.

Update:
See the later post on the 501/AJAX error here.

2nd Update
See the latest users stuck in processing here.

3rd Update: See Stuck-in-Processing Solved

External Applicants and Browsers

Right after go-live from Tools 8.49 to 8.51 we started getting calls from external applicants with many different issues.  Most of these callers were using unsupported browsers.  We increased the visibility of our message that told applicants what browsers are supported.  But that didn't help for a couple of reasons.  Number one --some of our applicants get to our system through links from job search sites.  Our message about browsers was on our company careers web page.  The second reason was that people don't pay any attention to those messages.

This issue frustrated the recruiters because the number of applications coming in was down.  And this issue frustrated developers because we couldn't track down a particular page or component that caused it.  It was an intermittent issue that we couldn't reproduce.  The application server logs didn't offer any helpful information about the errors.

After finding this post on AJAX issues, we turned off AJAX for our External Applicant web profile.  Follow the link to get detailed instructions.  The basic idea: on Web Profile Configuration / Custom Properties tab, create a boolean property "AJAX" with a value of "false".  It changes the user experience, but that change was minimal in the application process.  I think there is one search that goes to a search page now, while with AJAX it used the modal search window.



Update:
See the later post on the 501/AJAX error here.

Reports not posting after PIA bounce

We also ran into a report server problem during go-live for the Tools patch.  Right after everything was signed-off, we put back the login page and bounced PIA.  Then when someone ran a report, it wouldn't post.  I bounced the Process Scheduler and that  didn't fix it.  We found an Oracle case (660253.1) that addressed the problem.  It has a work-around and a fix for the problem.  The quick work-around is to login through the report server.  Our report server is dedicated, so we don't usually login through it, but the login page is not disabled.  So we logged in and it was all good.

The log term fix is a bit more work, but then you won't have to go through another step each time you bounce PIA on the report server.  You'll need to edit $PS_HOME\webserv\peoplesoft\applications\peoplesoft\PORTAL.war\WEB-INF\web.xml

... 

<servlet> <servlet-name>psp</servlet-name> <servlet-class>psft.pt8.psp</servlet-class> <init-param> <param-name>configDir</param-name> <param-value>D:/pt8.51\webserv/peoplesoft/applications\peoplesoft\PORTAL.war/WEB-INF/psftdocs</param-value> </init-param> <load-on-startup>0</load-on-startup> <!-- add this line --> </servlet>

...

After saving the file, stop PIA, delete the web cache, and start PIA again.

In our test system we use the same web server for login and for the report server, so we never saw this problem in test.   If you do the same in production, you won't need to worry about this issue.

"Processing" and cache

Right at go-live from 8.49 to 8.51 we had some people that complained about sitting and waiting for the "Processing".  At first I thought they were using the old term for the new spinning pinwheel.  Then I got the same thing.  On one page, I got that old flashing gif that symbolized "I'm working on it, please wait".

I deleted my browser cache and the problem went away.  A bunch of other problems went away too.  In particular, the eRecruit job search started working.  This happened at the live system checkout after we applied Tools 8.51.  We had all the testers delete their browser cache, and many issues cleared up.

We sent out communication to the users so that everyone who ran into issues would delete their browser cache.  Then we started getting complaints from external job applicants, who we also had delete their browser cache.

We needed a better solution.  We had never had this type of problem with a Tools upgrade before.  I suspect that Oracle rewrote many Javascripts this time, rather than replacing them.  After some research, we found the following to address the problem.

On the Web Profile Configuration  / Caching, go to the Directories section.  Change the name of all of the directories.  I added the Tools version to the end.  So for our current version of 8.51.13, it's set like this:

Remember to change it for all of your Web Profiles.  We have a separate one for external applicants.