PeopleSoft Interwindow Communication

What is Interwindow Communication?

     Interwindow Communication (IWC) is a frame to frame messaging event  which enables field change as  they occur in the same browser window e.g. communication between different pages.     IWC can work in the same pagelet or in different pagelets.Pagelet can work as subscriber or publisher for some other pagelet.

Business Benefits

•  Allow pagelets to pagelet interaction with each other  in Homepage/Dashboard,WorkCenter and Pivot Grid.
• No Application designer changes involved
•   A business analyst  can specify the fields required for using as subscriber or published
•    Not dependent on Related Content, Workcenter or Integration Broker. 

    Sample Business Scenarios

•      Recruiters can create IWC pagelets for applicants - like updating the candidate status will immediately reflect in the dashboard.
•      Managers can create IWC pagelets for employees. There will be no need to change the values  again  and again in different pagelets, for viewing employee data like employee absence  request will immediately update the balances and can be seen on the dashboard.

     Development Pre Requisites:

•      Pagelets should be registered in the current portal system.
•      Pivot grids should be published as pagelets.
•      Get the HTML Field Name for Publishing and subscribing field.

           As can be seen in the figure below the HTML Field Name is: RECRUITER_ID.

      Users can manually define the HTML field name of PeopleSoft fields in Page Field Edit Box Properties- General Tab

      Configuring IWC for Workcenter/Homepage/Dashboard

    1.1)     Configure IWC for publishing message.

                  Go to IWC Configuration Page.

                  Navigation: Main Menu>Peopletools >Portal>Interwindow Communication

                  Or alternate way to access IWC page is

                  Navigation: Main Menu>Portal>Structure and Content

                  

       HTML Field name should be same as what we got during inspect element.

1.2)   Configure IWC for Subscribing   message

     Configuring Workcenter for Pivot Grids

   2.1)  Configuring IWC for publishing pivot grids

            Navigation: Main Menu>Peopletools >Portal>Interwindow Communication

            Add a new value for pivot grid pagelet.

 2.2)   Configuring IWC for subscribing pivot grids

          Navigation: Main Menu>Peopletools >Portal>Interwindow Communication

          Add a new value for pivot grid pagelet.

       IWC is ready for test.

              

        Above diagram shows that based on the filter values selected in Frame: Kovaion IWC Test, Pivot      grid got updated in Frame: IWC Test

     

    

       Above diagram shows that based on the value selected in frame: Kovaion Interwindow Comm1, grid   in the second frame: Kovaion Interwindow Comm2 got populated with Job ID details.

      Best Practices:

•      While creating PS query with prompts, always provide unique text id.
•      Provide page field name in edit box properties will make the work easier while configuring IWC.

       Limitations:

•     A subscribing pagelet should be completely loaded before it consumes a publishing message
•     Works for fields at level zero only.

Author,

Madhur Mohini

Kovaion -Peoplesoft Consulting Practice

Email: madhur.mohini@kovaion.com

Peoplesoft- Mouse Over Popup Feature

Peopletools 8.51 provides a new feature which allows users to quickly access the additional information of an Employee/Applicant by just mouse hovering on name of that employee.

PeopleSoft provides the flexibility to configure this mouse over popup page in a way that is useful for users and user groups within the organization. It can be used to set up a popup page that includes employee information such as a picture, job title, department, supervisor's name, and work location. Or, when performing certain business processes, it would be beneficial to have a popup page that includes contact information, such as an email for an employee or applicant. An email address can be associated with an icon by clicking on which it initiates an email notification, an address icon which navigates to Google maps.

Business Benefits:

• Quick Access to additional information of an Employee/Applicant without navigating away.
• While accessing the job data component if benefit selections of that employee is displayed as a pop up page it will be beneficial for the administrator.
• While accessing the Absence management components it’s advantageous to view the holiday schedule of the employee.
• The email id of the employee is displayed on the Pop up and clicking on which , initiates an email
• The contact address of the employee is displayed on the pop up and clicking on which navigates to Google maps to locate the address

The configurations for the Mouse over Popup are simple with 3 steps:

Step1: Mouse Over Field Definition

Navigation: Main Menu -> Set Up HCM -> Common Definitions -> Mouse Over Popup -> Mouse Over Field Definition 

Used to define mouse over popup fields and supporting fields that will be available in the Mouse Over Page Design component and can be used with the mouse over popup page.

Step2: Mouse Over Page Definition

Navigation: Main Menu -> Set Up HCM -> Common Definitions -> Mouse Over Popup -> Mouse Over Page Definition

Used to create the mouse over page designs by defining the fields for the first column and second column.

Step 3:Mouse Over Component Setup

Navigation: Main Menu -> Set Up HCM -> Common Definitions -> Mouse Over Popup -> Mouse Over Component Setup.

In the component set up specify the popup type and mouse over ID for the components to utilize the feature.

The components for which the mouse over pop up feature needs to be enabled can be associated with a Mouse Over ID, and can be used as per need.

Limitations:

§  Each column can display only 7 fields.

§  When the employee’s picture is included on the mouse over popup page, the image will display in column 1 and no other fields will appear in that column.

§  Only a set of limited fields are available for display in the mouse over page. Others can be added by making customizations.

§  Not compatible with mobile applications.

Author,

Shubha Rohit

Kovaion -Peoplesoft Consulting Practice

Email: shubha.rohit@kovaion.com

Oracle OpenWorld 2014

Oracle OpenWorld: Meet more than 60,000 business and technology professionals from around the world; 2,500 business and technology sessions; special interest groups and product and industry sessions; best practices with peers during countless networking opportunities.

Visit us at booth #3213 to discover our technology innovations, niche solutions for PeopleSoft and Fusion applications and discuss your key strategies on Analytics, Reporting, Cloud & Security Solutions.

For more information on Oracle OpenWorld, please visit https://www.oracle.com/openworld

PeopleSoft Pivot Grid

The PeopleSoft Pivot Grid is a reporting tool used to provide a pivot table and  chart representation of live data using PS Query data source. This enables users to visually display data in a dashboard. Data can be displayed in different views by performing operations such as pivoting and filtering, which enables business analysts to interpret data in a variety of ways.

Business Benefits:         

1. Pivot grids can be published as pagelets, so can be published on home page or any other navigation.

E.g.: Managers can use this pivot grid on their Dashboard to track the Employees Report, Direct Line Reports, Employees Head count etc…

2. Users can take action directly from the chart/report. - Related Content can be configured in Pivot grid.

3. Drilling Down on the Aggregate Values

                  

The detailed view displays the complete data of the grid and Actions dropdown helps navigate to related links or action can be taken.

4. Inter Window Communication: Pivot Grid Pagelets can interact with each other and with the transaction pages. Configure Publication and Subscription with all the intersecting Prompt and Filter values between Pivot grids. We get the consistent behavior with progressive filtering in the publisher and subscriber.

5. Pivot grids can be published as Related Content on any of the components, so that the user can refer them easily.

6. Displaying Grid from Chart-only view -  Display the grid from a chart-only view and then perform various actions—such as pivoting data, dragging and dropping, and slicing and filtering data—to change the grid layout. After the layout is satisfactory, you can synchronize the chart with the grid view.

7. View grid option allows user to display the results of the query in grid format and filters can be applied.

8. PeopleSoft Pivot Grids allow the user to analyze data within the PeopleSoft application.  The advantage here is that, as we all know, initial data analysis often leads to more questions and a need for deeper analysis. PeopleSoft Pivot Grids allow the user to dive deeper, all the way down to the transactional level into the system to grab more data for the desktop spreadsheet. It is cleaner, easier and more efficient.
9. Pivot Grids allow the user in a specific job role to focus on the activities that are most important to their specific job requirements.  The user is able to immediately access the most Relevant information for their role. Information is easily prioritized and action lists can be created.

Development Process

Pivot grid can be developed in five easy steps:

Navigation: Main Menu -> Reporting Tools -> Pivot Grid -> Pivot Grid Wizard.

Step1: Provide pivot grid basic details - grid name, title and type.

Step 2: Provide data source type and PS Query name.

Step 3: Provide data model values. At least one value and axis for the column should be specified.

Along with at least one value and axis specifying for the columns.

Step 4: Provide X and Y axis and filters.

Specify data model options providing X and Y Axis and specify filtering in fourth step.

Step 5: Verify the pivot grid, publish it as pagelets or related content.

      

Limitations on Pivot Grid:

• Supports only PS Query as data source.
• Pivot Grid Does not have a Vertical Scroll bar for viewing data, but it displays all possible rows based on the current layout.

Author,

Dilip Kumar
Tools Group

dilip.kumar@kovaion.com

PeopleSoft Forms and Approval Builder

Forms and Approval Builder are designed to make a paperless office making the task easier for users. A form can be designed and published in 30 minutes by the functional resources with minimal PeopleSoft technical skillset. The  transactional data submitted/approved from forms is validated, processed and stored into transaction tables through PeopleSoft Component Interface.

Few Business Case include: 

• Subject Matter Experts(SME) /Functional Analyst (FA) can create forms easily. e.g Recruiter can create a form to store additional information of applicants.
• SME/FA can create any form with their company logo and can provide the instructions and sample attachments.

In general, Online form builder is taking PeopleSoft one step closer to a complete SAAS model, in a way that SMEs/Functional Analyst can create the forms (Very minimal hands on from technical team).

Benefits:

• Easy online designer.
• Minimal PeopleSoft technical knowledge is required.
• Submitted forms can be approved and then data can be inserted into transaction tables on a single button click.
• History data is stored automatically for each approval chain. Prompt records can be defined for entering data.
• Form fields can be arranged in one or two columns and can be made required so that users thoroughly complete the form.
• From Date and To Date can be provided for a form.
• Enhanced security- forms can be locked down after submission or approval.
• In the instructional text, rich text enables you to upload any pictures e.g. company logo, personalizing the form for the company.
• Forms can be inactivated if not needed, so that it is not visible in the navigation.
• Upgrades to PeopleSoft system do not require upgrading the forms.

Development Process:

1. Define the prompt tables required for form. 
2. Design the form, provide instructions/attachments, set the approval path and activate the form. 
3. Map the Form fields to Component Interface.

Step 01: Define the prompt records required for form.

Navigation: Main Menu->Enterprise Components->Forms->Define Prompt Records

Provide the required prompt records for your form as shown below

Step 02: Design the form,provide instructions/attachments,set the approval path and activate form.
Navigation:Main Menu-> Enterprise Components->Forms->Design a FormThe intuitive form design wizard guides user step by step for publishing the form

Designing a form has six substeps:

02a: Provide Form basic information

02b: Provide Instructions for the Form-as how to use the form
02c: Provide Form Fields and Form Field edits
02d: Provide Attachments-optional
02e: Define the navigation and publish to menu
02f: Define the approval if needed

After these steps a Form can be reviewed and activated.



While designing the form, if administrator wants to restrict the user for selecting the values of other fields based on other fields, then prompt control is helpful.E.g. after selecting the emplid, only the related name should appear in the prompt.

This could be achieved in two steps:

i) Add a row in EmployeeID prompt control grid and specify the record name that equates to name record and specify emplid in field as shown in figure below.

ii) Define Name field as a Prompt field, and specify the same record as Prompt record that was used in the EmployeeID Prompt Control grid.

Step03: Map the Form fields to Component Interface.
Navigation: Main Menu->Enterprise Components->Forms->Form to CI MappingProvide CI, Level0 Record and Menu name. The fields will be automatically populated.


Form can be viewed in the navigation where published.


After Submission, forms go for approval (if defined).and then approver or administrator can Save and Post the form. Values will be stored in database.

Points to Remember:

• The form field and record field should be of same data type. 
• Provide menu name in Form to CI Mapping , if skipped, Save and Post Form button will not be visible for posting the form to database. 
• Provide Form field name while mapping CI to Form (in Form to CI Mapping). 

Limitations:

• Transactional data can be added, but the existing cannot be updated (very similar to Google Forms).
• Not possible to design grid for the users to insert parent/child data. 
• Not possible to make control the display like Enable/Disable, Visible/invisible depending on program logic. 
• It cannot be designed for self service functionality. 

Author,

Madhur Mohini

Kovaion - PeopleSoft Consulting Practice

madhur.mohini@kovaion.com