This year’s conference highlighted the continuing focus in the industry on the User Experience and the Cloud. IntraSee was there, as presenters and at the HCM Pavilion, and here’s our summary on what we saw.
Fluid
In PeopleTools 8.55, a user’s homepage will now be the default landing page for Desktop, Smartphone and Tablet users (though this default can be changed). This is the familiar page with 9 tiles in a 3-by-3 formation. Additionally, all users will now only get the Fluid slide-out menu as the Enterprise Menu is being retired. If you have done work on your branding in PeopleSoft, you will want to allocate time during your 8.55 upgrade to ensure you don’t lose your current experience.
Most importantly, Oracle announced that Classic and Fluid will co-exist for quite some time. Each organization needs to have a strategy for how this mix is best deployed to their users. If you need some guidance on blending Classis and Fluid, IntraSee can help. Just contact us and we will talk you through the considerations and can even show you a demo of how best this can be done.
Cloud
The Cloud was probably the most used term all week. It is clear that Oracle’s strategy is to continually offer more and more Cloud options to its customers. Where Oracle differs is that it plans to have Cloud and On-Premise/Hosted options so that organizations can move at their own pace. Additionally, it allows organizations to not get trapped in the cloud should they ever need to move back.
It is clear most organizations are going to take baby steps into the Cloud. This seems the safest path. However, it does pose a user experience challenge. How does a user know that to process a transfer they need the PeopleSoft URL, to approve a job req they need the Taleo URL and to look at their team’s performance they need the HCM Fusion Cloud URL? Consequently there has never been a greater need for Cloud integration. Because of that we have built a suite of Cloud Adapters that allow the consolidation of multiple applications in the Cloud into one user experience. Our Cloud Adapters allow an organization to seamlessly take steps into the Cloud without putting a burden on its users. One site with PeopleSoft, Cloud apps, Classic components, Fluid Components, Content & Search. All fully accessible on both the desktop and mobile devices in a responsive fashion!
In the PeopleTools track there were more sessions on Fluid than any other technical feature. Fluid is a newly built page processor technology that allows the elements of a page to move around with changing screen sizes. This allows the developer to build pages that work on desktop browsers as well as mobile devices without having to create multiple versions. Initially there are a fairly small amount of Fluid pages compared to Classic pages that Oracle will deliver. But that number will grow over time.
