PeopleTools 8.57
On September 21, 2018, PeopleSoft released PeopleTools 8.57. It marked the first time a release was generally available in the Cloud before on-premise environments. Using the Cloud Manager, customers may subscribe to the PeopleTools 8.57 channel to automatically download the release in addition to available PeopleTools patches.
Based on the 8.57 release notes, the following toolset enhancements are likely to be my favorites:
Fluid Page Preview
In the Application Designer, you can now use the View in Browser feature to preview Fluid pages. This enables you to quickly ascertain the relative positioning of page controls at design time. With Fluid Page Preview, you have the option to:
- View related content drop zones.
- Apply additional page-specific style sheets.
This enhancement also allows you to preview Classic pages as Classic Plus.
Configurable Drop Zones
Configurable Drop Zones allow you to add fields to delivered Fluid pages without customizing the component or Fluid page definition. At design time, a placeholder subpage stub (PT_ERCSUBPAGE_STUB) is inserted into a related content group box on the Fluid page definition. Typically, PeopleSoft application teams have already added one or more Configurable Drop Zones to the delivered, customer-extendable Fluid pages. Next, you will need to create subpage definitions and associate your subpages to one or more Drop Zones. Finally, during the component build process runtime, the configured subpage dynamically replaces the subpage stub. The component buffer now contains the records and fields defined on your subpage along with those from the main page definition. Since you own and manage the contents of your subpage definition, any changes delivered later by Oracle will not be included in a compare report.
Personalized Analytic Notifications
Personalized Analytic Notifications leverages the existing analytic framework based on queries and pivot grids. From 8.57, an end-user can define distinct boundaries and ranges as thresholds. A threshold can be any type of value. For example, it can be an amount which exceeds, a time limit which elapses, or a quantity which dips below a specified level. The pivot grid administrator sets the type of notification for specific users or roles. Once a threshold is reached, an email or push notification is sent to authorized users. Previously, users navigated the user interface and selected the data and actions to work on. The Personalized Analytic Notifications enhancement changes that process by notifying users when conditions require their attention.
Related Content Analytics
The Unified Related Content Analytics pane combines related information and analytics found previously under the My Analytics tab. The panel is visible on the right side of the Application page. PeopleSoft administrators should enable analytics on the page to make the Add Analytics button visible. Click the Add Analytics button to launch the Create Analytics Wizard. Click the Personalize Related Information button to delete existing analytics and display analytics as tiles or links. You can also show or hide analytics or related information from the Personalize dialog box.
From PeopleTools 8.57, you can save an analytic on a NavBar and on a Fluid dashboard in addition to a homepage. You can also select the size of the tile for homepages and dashboards.
There are many more features in Tools 8.57, but from the end user experience perspective, these enhancements immediately generate value. If you would like more information on Tools 8.57, please contact me at larry.zagata@miproconsulting.com.
