PeopleSoft 9.2: Activity Guides vs. Train Stops
An example of a PeopleSoft Train. Click to enlarge.
Similar to the Workcenter vs. Dashboard term intermingling that we bump into from time to time, we are seeing a need for clarification between PeopleSoft Activity Guides and Train Stops. The conflation of these terms comes up every now and again, and there’s a pretty simple explanation of which does what.
Here’s the best way to remember the difference between these, even though they are conceptually similar:
Train Stops are always sequential. In other words, they must always be performed in the prescribed order – the order that is laid out.
Activity Guides can be sequential and non-sequential. So, example: if a step in a life event is to go check one’s current benefits before he or she enrolls a new dependent, you check your benefits anytime in the process and then go back to the step to update your benefits. If this were a Train Stop, this nonlinearity wouldn’t abide: you’d have to update your benefits first, and check your benefits later. (That’d obviously be a poor process, but for the sake of this illustration, let’s pretend it’s real.)
So, that’s the easy explanation: Train Stops are always sequential, whereas Activity Guides can be sequential or non-sequential.
