A bit of anticipated news today: Oracle has now officially released the upgrade scripts for PeopleSoft FSCM versions 8.8, 8.9, 9.0 to version 9.1. If you are considering doing an upgrade from one of these releases you are now able to download the upgrade templates from My Oracle Support.

A tip: To find the upgrade templates search on the following term once logged into My Oracle Support: PeopleSoft Enterprise FMS, ESA and ALM 9.1 Documentation Home Page.  We typically would provide a permalink, but it’s difficult in this case due to the regwall and My Oracle Support’s new presentation structure.

If you are considering doing an upgrade from a release prior to 8.8 then you will have to utilize the two-step upgrade process to get yourself upgraded to 8.8 and then run these subsequent upgrade scripts.

As always, if you have any questions about the upgrade process or require any assistance please feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

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MIPRO Consulting is a nationally-recognized consulting firm specializing in PeopleSoft Enterprise (particularly Enterprise Asset Management), Workday and Business Intelligence. You’re reading MIPRO Unfiltered, its blog.  If you’d like to contact MIPRO, email is a great place to start, or you can easily jump over to its main website.  If you’d like to see what MIPRO offers via Twitter or Facebook, we’d love to have you.

Quick update: Oracle has released PeopleSoft Financials and Supply Chain Management 9.1.  This is the final GA component of the 9.1 family of PeopleSoft applications.

If you wish to download it, it is available via Oracle’s E-Delivery portal.  To get it, simply search on “My Oracle Support” for “documentation home pages” related to the PeopleSoft FSCM 9.1 product line. Pretty simple.

Myself, I am going to install a single user version and get familiar with the new features and functions of the Financials and Supply Chain 9.1 release.  If you’re thinking along the same lines, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I’ll happy to discuss further.  As it stands now, we’re fielding a lot of questions about this piece of 9.1 functionality.

So what is next for Oracle?

Well, the big thing is that now most folks are waiting for the upgrade scripts for each product to be released before they are able to upgrade from their current PeopleSoft release to 9.1.

As of this moment PeopleTools 8.50 is the only product with upgrade scripts available, and we have already developed a PeopleTools 8.5 upgrade packaged service to meet our customer’s needs and get running on the latest PeopleTools release quickly.

We anticipate the upgrade scripts for the remaining product lines will be released over the next couple of months, and as we see them pop up, we will post our thoughts about them as well as our experiences upgrading our clients.

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Related Posts:

PeopleSoft 9.1 Recruiting Management: An Overview
PeopleTools 8.5 and OBIEE: There’s Value in Those Hills
NEWS: MIPRO Consulting Announces New PeopleTools Upgrade Service (to Release 8.5)
PeopleSoft HRMS 9.1: An Exploration (Part 1)
Oracle’s New Continuous Delivery Model for Campus Solutions
A New Settlement Method for PeopleSoft Payables
PeopleTools 8.5 Now Available
What Drives Clients to PeopleSoft Real Estate Management (REM)
Quantifying the Value of Integration With PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: A Real Life Example
Quick Look: PeopleSoft Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) 9.1 Enhancements
PeopleSoft ‘Edge of the Enterprise’ Applications: eSupplier Connection & eSettlements
PeopleSoft Financials: Source-to-Settle 9.1 Enhancements
PeopleSoft IT Asset Management: A Deeper Look
PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: A Deeper Look
PeopleSoft Real Estate Management: A Deeper Look
An Introduction to PeopleSoft Asset Lifecycle Management
Sneak Peek: PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1
PeopleTools 8.5: A Look Inside

Related whitepapers (PDF):

PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: An Introduction and Overview of Benefits

Related web content:

MiPro Consulting: PeopleSoft Services
MiPro Consulting: Resources

Hot on the heels of Oracle OpenWorld 2009, the 9.1 PeopleSoft app releases keep coming.

Over the weekend, Oracle has made available both PeopleSoft Enterprise Learning Solutions 9.1 and Customer Relationship Management 9.1.  Both of these releases are now available on eDelivery and you can find the release notes on Oracle’s ‘My Oracle Support’ by looking up ‘PeopleSoft 9.1 and PeopleTools 8.50 Documentation Home Page Links’  which contains links to information related to all PeopleSoft 9.1 product lines.

If you have any questions about these releases, please email me.  I’m happy to help.

Related Posts

Oracle Announces General Availability of PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1

PeopleSoft HRMS 9.1: An Exploration (Part 1)

PeopleTools 8.5 Now Available

Quick Look: PeopleSoft ALM 9.1 Enhancements

PeopleSoft Financials: Source-to-Settle 9.1 Enhancements

Quick update: Oracle has now officially released PeopleSoft Portal 9.1. This is a highly-anticipated release due to the app’s adoption of Web 2.0 features and tight integration into the core PeopleSoft products.  In addition, PeopleSoft Portal 9.1 includes collaborative workspaces and very strong (and very smart) tagging capabilities. I previously blogged about some of the details of Enterprise Portal 9.1, and you can check that story out here if you missed it the first time.

Questions?  Let us know in the comments.

Now that Oracle has announced the general availability of PeopleSoft HRMS 9.1, I would like to take some time over my next three blog posts to discuss some of the mainline enhancements that are relevant to PeopleSoft shops.  This is a widely-anticipated release, and there’s some powerful stuff in the 9.1 version.

Before we get too deep, I would like to outline the organization of the HCM product line so that PeopleSoft customers are aware of the various products that make up the suite of products.  Simply stated, Oracle has grouped the products into three core suites:

• Foundation Applications – Core HCM, Global Extensions and Workforce Management
• Service Delivery Applications – Self Service, Help Desk and HR Portal
• Strategic Applications – Integrated Talent Management

Let us begin by identifying the point products that make up each suite.

Foundation Applications – Core HCM, Global Extensions and Workforce Management

Is comprised of:

• Human Resources
• Payroll for North America
• Global Payroll Core
• Global Extensions for HR and Payroll
• Absence Management
• Time and Labor
• Pension Administration
• Oracle Workforce Scheduling

Service Delivery Applications – Self Service, Help Desk and HR Portal

Is comprised of:

• Employee and Manager Self Service
• PeopleSoft Portal 9.1 – Enabling Employee 2.0
• PeopleSoft HelpDesk for HR
• PeopleSoft Workforce Communications 9.1

Strategic Applications – Integrated Talent Management

Is comprised of:

• Profile Manager
• Recruiting Solutions
• ePerformance
• Enterprise Learning Management (ELM)
• Plan Careers
• Plan Successions
• eCompensation
• eCompensation Manager Desktop

This Week’s Focus: Enhancements That HCM 9.1 Provides for the Foundation Applications

At a high level, the primary focus of HCM 9.1 as it relates to the Foundation Applications has been on improving the applications to handle today’s realities by ensuring that PeopleSoft HCM meets the needs of organizations and their global footprints. With HCM 9.1, Oracle has increased the number of countries that are supported out of the box and built a single system of record for all employee information.  It’s literally a unified foundation, and it’s been requested by many existing PeopleSoft customers.

Some key enhancements are identified below.

Payroll for North America

The following items have been improved/added to the Payroll for North America technology:

• Additional Contract Pay Options
• Increased Retro-Pay flexibility
• Real-time Budget Checking
• Improved Chartfield Integration

Military Rank Change

Increasing the capabilities originally introduced in PeopleSoft 9.0, Oracle has again delivered a key piece of functionality in the area of managing service members of any military organization. Some key changes include improvements to templates and the workflows to manage rank changes intelligently.

Smart Hires

This core HR functionality expands on the Smart Hires process introduced in HR 9.0.  The details of this expansion are out-of-scope for this blog post, but suffice to say that the overall fit-and-finish of this functionality has been considerably polished.

Global HR Enhancements

Increased support for various countries:

• HR for China
• HR for the UK
• Global Payroll for Argentina
• Global Payroll for China
• Global Payroll for France
• Global Payroll for Thailand

Integration with Oracle Workforce Scheduling (OWS)

As many of this blog’s readers might know, Oracle Workforce Scheduling is a solution for forecasting the demand for labor and scheduling to meet customer service and cost objectives. OWS can be run as a standalone application, but has been integrated into the PeopleSoft HR applications to enable organizations to make better use of each application’s strengths and leverage worldwide best practices.

This post is meant to be a high-level overview of how Oracle has arranged the 9.1 applications into strategic product suites.  In my next two posts, we’ll ratchet up the focus on particular parts of the 9.1 HRMS release.  In the meantime, if you’d like more information on the improvements introduced in 9.1, please contact me and I can walk you through them.  We get many, many requests about PeopleSoft 9.1, and now that we’re seeing products go GA, I expect inquiries to ramp up as organizations consider upgrades or new implementations.

Of course, you may also access the content using Oracle’s “My Oracle Support” to download the release notes by searching for the “HCM 9.1 Documentation Home Page” using their search tool .

Next up: part 2 of this series, which will be focused on the improvements to the HCM Service Delivery Applications.  Hang around.

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Previously by David Brunet:

Oracle’s New Continuous Delivery Model for Campus Solutions
A New Settlement Method for PeopleSoft Payables
PeopleTools 8.5 Now Available
What Drives Clients to PeopleSoft Real Estate Management (REM)
Quantifying the Value of Integration With PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: A Real Life Example
Quick Look: PeopleSoft Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) 9.1 Enhancements
PeopleSoft ‘Edge of the Enterprise’ Applications: eSupplier Connection & eSettlements
PeopleSoft Financials: Source-to-Settle 9.1 Enhancements
PeopleSoft IT Asset Management: A Deeper Look
PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: A Deeper Look
PeopleSoft Real Estate Management: A Deeper Look
An Introduction to PeopleSoft Asset Lifecycle Management
Sneak Peek: PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1
PeopleTools 8.5: A Look Inside

Related whitepapers (PDF):

PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: An Introduction and Overview of Benefits

Related web content:

MiPro Consulting: PeopleSoft Services
MiPro Consulting: Resources

Given the substantial amount of traffic linking to our earlier PeopleTools 8.5 post, you might be interested to know that PeopleTools 8.5 is now available through Oracle’s E-Delivery portal.  You first have to provide some user information and accept the EULA terms, but the you can select PeopleSoft Enterprise and your relevant OS/hardware platform, and you’ll find PeopleTools 8.5 in the search results:

This platform used for this search was HP-UX on Itanium, so your detailed results may vary. Incidentally, the 64/38G numbers at the end refer to # of parts and package size, respectively.

Also, here is Oracle’s official GA announcement.  The most interesting part to many is the major new feature listing:

IMPROVED USER EXPERIENCE

• A Related Content framework that allows on-page integration of external content
• Improved menu and navigation
• Contemporary new styles
• Dynamic UI features, including partial page refresh, modal search windows, mouse-over pop-up windows and type-ahead filtered search

IMPROVED DEVELOPER PRODUCTIVITY

• Enhanced Interactive PeopleCode Debugger
• AppClass Drilldown PeopleCode Editor
• Improved Integration Test Tools

EXPANDED REPORTING AND QUERY OPTIONS

• Query as Feeds enabling users to retrieve PeopleSoft data via RSS
• Connected Query for joining or nesting multiple queries
• Centralized reporting console
• Query Access Service which provides complete access to PeopleSoft queries via a standard web service interface

INFRASTRUCTURE, LCM AND SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS

• Adoption of Java 6 on all server tiers
• Latest versions of WebLogic Server, WebSphere and Tuxedo
• Full support for 64-bit Linux and Windows
• Secure PS_Home
• Integration to Oracle Configuration Manager
• Support for Oracle TDE, Database Vault and Audit Vault
• FTPS and ADAM (AD LDS) support

If you have any questions about PeopleTools 8.5 or are considering a PeopleSoft upgrade/implementation, please contact us.  We have counseled dozens of clients already about the upcoming PeopleSoft 9.1 release, and we’ll be happy to discuss your plans with you – whether you’re just doing basic discovery or seriously formulating a project approach.  Email us – we can help.

(Of course, all questions and thoughts are welcome in the comments, too.)

Previously by David Brunet:

What Drives Clients to PeopleSoft Real Estate Management (REM)
Quantifying the Value of Integration With PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: A Real Life Example
Quick Look: PeopleSoft Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) 9.1 Enhancements
PeopleSoft ‘Edge of the Enterprise’ Applications: eSupplier Connection & eSettlements
PeopleSoft Financials: Source-to-Settle 9.1 Enhancements
PeopleSoft IT Asset Management: A Deeper Look
PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: A Deeper Look
PeopleSoft Real Estate Management: A Deeper Look
An Introduction to PeopleSoft Asset Lifecycle Management
Sneak Peek: PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1
PeopleTools 8.5: A Look Inside

Related whitepapers (PDF):

PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: An Introduction and Overview of Benefits

Related web content:

MiPro Consulting: PeopleSoft Services
MiPro Consulting: Resources

<!–[endif]–>Improved User Experience:

<!–[if !supportLists]–>a. <!–[endif]–>A Related Content framework that allows on-page integration of external content

<!–[if !supportLists]–>b. <!–[endif]–>Improved menu and navigation

<!–[if !supportLists]–>c. <!–[endif]–>Contemporary new styles

<!–[if !supportLists]–>d. <!–[endif]–>Dynamic UI features, including partial page refresh, modal search windows, mouse-over pop-up windows and type-ahead filtered search

<!–[if !supportLists]–>2. <!–[endif]–>Improved Developer Productivity

<!–[if !supportLists]–>a. <!–[endif]–>Enhanced Interactive PeopleCode Debugger

<!–[if !supportLists]–>b. <!–[endif]–>AppClass Drilldown PeopleCode Editor

<!–[if !supportLists]–>c. <!–[endif]–>Improved Integration Test Tools

<!–[if !supportLists]–>3. <!–[endif]–>Expanded Reporting and Query options

<!–[if !supportLists]–>a. <!–[endif]–>Query as Feeds enabling users to retrieve PeopleSoft data via RSS

<!–[if !supportLists]–>b. <!–[endif]–>Connected Query for joining or nesting multiple queries

<!–[if !supportLists]–>c. <!–[endif]–>Centralized reporting console

<!–[if !supportLists]–>d. <!–[endif]–>Query Access Service which provides complete access to PeopleSoft queries via a standard web service interface

<!–[if !supportLists]–>4. <!–[endif]–>Infrastructure, LCM and Security enhancements

<!–[if !supportLists]–>a. <!–[endif]–>Adoption of Java 6 on all server tiers

<!–[if !supportLists]–>b. <!–[endif]–>Latest versions of WebLogic Server, WebSphere and Tuxedo

<!–[if !supportLists]–>c. <!–[endif]–>Full support for 64-bit Linux and Windows

<!–[if !supportLists]–>d. <!–[endif]–>Secure PS_Home

<!–[if !supportLists]–>e. <!–[endif]–>Integration to Oracle Configuration Manager

<!–[if !supportLists]–>f. <!–[endif]–>Support for Oracle TDE, Database Vault and Audit Vault

<!–[if !supportLists]–>g. <!–[endif]–>FTPS and ADAM (AD LDS) support

Let’s just put it this way: PeopleSoft 9.1 a hot topic right now.

If our webserver logs are to be believed, a huge portion of our readership is very interested in what enhancements will be in the upcoming release of PeopleSoft Financials 9.1. Well, I am happy to say that Oracle has published the release value proposition and outlined some of the key high level items that will be included as part of this release. Let’s look into them as best we can, because there are tons of questions out there.

To begin with, let’s define what products are included in the source-to-settle process. Many times we hear from customers that they want this functionality, but then realize they do not have the appropriate product footprint to meet their needs.

The suite is composed of the following products, each of which I have attempted to summarize at a high level:

• Purchasing – The core procurement application that provides the baseline functionality
• eProcurement – Enables advanced workflow and Supplier Integration via PeopleSoft Direct Connect
• eSupplier Connection – Enables vendors to login to your supplier portal and look up PO’s, Receipts, Invoices and Payments as well as providing the ability to do acknowledge PO’s and submit Advance Shipment Notices.
• Strategic Sourcing – Allows for collaboration across the enterprise and with suppliers on the source process. This includes RFI’s, RFQ’s, RFP’s and Auction functionality.
• Supplier Contracts Management – This application allows you to track T&C’s of contacts and integrates directly with Purchasing
• Services Procurement – For services focused organization this product provides for the tracking and analysis of resource based services.
• Payables – The core accounts payable application that provides invoice and payment processing functionality.
• eSettlements – enables supplier to enter their own invoices and view key payment information related to them.

Diving a little bit deeper, here is a list of some key enhancement for each product. I have not listed all of them (due to space and attention constraints), but you can always go to Metalink3 to get the PeopleSoft Release Value Proposition for PeopleSoft Financials 9.1 (Metalink3 login required).

Enhancements to Strategic Sourcing 9.1

• Line grouping – This allows the suppliers to selectively choose items on a bid and propose a price base on the group rather than the individual items
• Third party event notification – ability to send notifications of events and their statuses to third-party bid management organizations
• Embedded dashboard analytics providing access to live events
• Introduction of a Bidding Homepage to help supplier better navigate the application

Enhancements to Supplier Contract Management 9.1

• Supplier collaboration for authoring contracts using MS word as well as online
• Ability to import supplier contracts
• Support for Digital Signatures using a free Adobe© PDF reader
• Ability to create PO based contracts
• Contract Cycle Time Tracking
• Ability to create an Executive Summary for a contract.

Enhancements to eSupplier Connection

• Enhancements to the Supplier Self Registration Process
• Supplier navigation enhancements

Enhancements to eProcurement

• PO dispatch via XML publisher
• Enhancements to requisition change requests with change reasons and advanced tracking
• Requisition reports via XML Publisher
• Ability to save direct connect items to favorites
• Support for Trade-ins
• Increased integration into the Oracle Supplier Network (exchange.oracle.com)

Enhancements to Purchasing

• Various Improvements to the Contracting function
• Management of Workflow Approvals, using the Approval framework (THIS IS BIG, as this is the same workflow that is used by eProcurement)
• PO Dispatch via XML Publisher
• Buyer PO Dispatch Signature ability
• Support for Trade-Ins
• New Close Shortage workbench – allows buyers to close POs that have been short-shipped

Enhancements to Services Procurement

• Multi Resource Services
• Enhancements to workflow approvals for Time, Expenses and Progress Logs
• Improved integration with HCM and Talent Acquisition Management
• Ability to retract submittals

Enhancements to Accounts Payable

• Automated Accrual Processing
• Vendor Name History Tracking
• Payment Advices to Vendors for ACH payments via email
• Management of Workflow Approvals using the Approval Framework for Invoices and Vendors.

Enhancements to eSettlements

• Dynamic Discounting
• Support for CXML electronic invoices
• Online 1099 Report

I would love to spend time discussing each of the features in detail, but then this would have been 122 pages long, and if you want 122 pages of this, we’re well beyond blog territory.  Again, you can head to Metalink3 to get the PeopleSoft Release Value Proposition if you want (much) more detail.

Final note: we get asked everyday about PeopleSoft 9.1, and interest is only growing.  I invite you to email me or leave a comment below if you’d like to talk to us about upgrading or implementing 9.1 for your organization.  Requests will be taken first come, first serve, so if you’re interested or just want to have brief conversation about it, contact us ASAP.  We’d love to talk to you, and we’re confident we can help you formulate a strategy around your PeopleSoft 9.1 plans.

Previously by David Brunet:

PeopleSoft IT Asset Management: A Deeper Look
PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: A Deeper Look
PeopleSoft Real Estate Management: A Deeper Look
An Introduction to PeopleSoft Asset Lifecycle Management
Sneak Peek: PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1
PeopleTools 8.5: A Look Inside

Related whitepapers (PDF):

PeopleSoft Maintenance Management: An Introduction and Overview of Benefits

Related web content:

MiPro Consulting: PeopleSoft Services
MiPro Consulting: Resources