Some information that has been gathered includes some facts:
It is the third release since the acquisition
It has 1350 new features approximately
It has 28,000 or more page enhancements
It has Web 2.0 Capabilities
Approximately 300 new web services
And a large number of industry specific enhancements
Like many new releases, there is a new look and feel to the product. You still have the My Favorites area and in addition there is a recently used area on the menu. In addition the navigation menu is only visible when pulled down.
9.1 also includes mouse over functionality on the menus. In going through some of the changes and talking with clients one of the features they seem very happy with is the ability to use zoom grids for more working space with drag and drop, grid scrolling and column locking capability. The grids are also sortable.
Some of the other items include an updated style sheet, a rich text editor, mouse-over pop ups as mentioned previously and an instant message capability with Yahoo and Beehive.
Some other features include out of the box role-based dashboards and reports. The fact that it uses PeopleSoft security is not a change.
There are some nice HR analytics dashboards including: workforce profile, Recruitment, Leave and Absence, Learning Management (a favorite mine), HR Performance, Compensation, Retention and Workforce Development. Some of these are new and some enhanced.
So why would you want to upgrade? Well, if you are on 8.8 you are going to have to get extended support which certainly is a financial reason to upgrade. Others are increasing the effectiveness of your workforce by ensuring compensation rewards top performers and you have pay for performance capabilities. Making sure that you have a strong pipeline for key talent is critical to any organization and maintaining this internally is a cost saving for recruitment. Nine one will provide executives with the ability to make better informed decisions with metrics available. Eliminating interfaces could reduce IT expenses and eliminating customizations during the upgrade usually results in cost savings and additional efficiency.
Some links that will provide additional information include:
If you are interested in some great decision trees, read this article from Gartner, it is packed with good information and would be helpful in deciding if you want to go to 9.1.
When customers are planning a new installation of PeopleSoft, Gartner suggest to implement version 9.0. “Gartner believes that v.9.1 will be released during 2H09, but most customers will not want to be the first to take on a new release. If you need the newest functionality right away (such as compensation management or succession management in HCM), then implement v.9.1 as soon as is practical for your organization. If you don’t need the new functionality, then implement v.9.0 until v.9.1 has more market traction and proof points, which Gartner expects within 12 to 18 months of release.”
This year Oracle released new versions of PeopleSoft (8.50) and Applications (9.1). Will customers start upgrading to 9.1 in 2010? If customers follow Gartner they will wait. My opinion is that the evolution steps between the PeopleSoft versions aren’t that big. Loads of fixes, patches, bundles and maintenance packs from previous versions have been included in this new release. Big functional changes haven’t been made in 9.1. The risk between upgrading to 9.0 or upgrading to 9.1 isn’t that big. If your customers are multi language users, you might want to consider the upgrade to 9.1 as it is unclear when the language pack will become available.
Do you have the Deltas? Have you started implementing 9.1? Add Comments or follow RSS.
Continuing to read the Cluetrain Manifesto and finding great insight into organizations. A big clue that is mentioned is that top down organizations are dysfunctional and counterproductive. Look at the organization you are working in and determine if it is an organization where communication is open or controlled. “Do not contact that person”, “don’t send that email”, “never call anyone that is higher in the food chain “….dysfunction at its finest. People throughout the organization top to bottom often have very valuable information and much more valuable than the “control freaks”. Remember too that listening is a very important communication tool as is assimilation.
Putting down the Cluetrain and listening to the morning news brought forth another enlightening concept. A camel is a horse that was developed by committee. Any team has to have a leader and if everyone is the leader you will have a beautiful Camel. This does not mean the leader has to be “Controlling” because that is NOT true leadership. They do have to lead the team in the direction of the results expected and provide guidance and direction while listening to suggestions. It is so easy to put together a group that goes off in every direction believing that each of them are the “in charge” person. If you are building a Camel…look around and find a leader, or be one!
Projects need to have a governance model and the project team needs to understand the model and agree to work within it’s construct.
How this activity works:
By reviewing the standards of the methodology you are using. Will it be Compass, Rational, or some similar project methodology. Many groups are looking to Agile to implement or upgrade faster. This might be a good methodology if your technical team is also solid in understanding the functionality associated with the application.
Reporting relationships will be identified and how status reporting will take place is important to the success of your project. Do you have a status report template so all reporitng is consistent.
Determine status reporting responsibilities
How often will you require status reports? Daily? Weekly by team rolled up once a month by Project Manager? Discussed at weekly meetings?
What is the format or template that will be used for your status report? How can you determine at a quick glance the status of the project.
Who should receive the status reports? How will they be distributed, posted?
• Define project filing system/repository or project diary to maintain all information in a central location.
• Determine meeting schedules and format
• Determine issue resolution procedures
• Determine change request procedures
• Determine configuration management procedures
• Determine quality review procedures
how often
who will perform
what will they review
Management Procedures
Objective
To determine the tools for tracking the project and how we will measure progress and budget
Overview
How this activity works:
This discussion is about the collection of input, processing and reporting of project information and what tools will be used for these activities. Examples such as Excel, Project, Word, Powerpoint for progress presentations (standard project template, logos etc..
It begins with the your methodology standard as a “straw man”.
Additional Materials
Distribute methodology standards
Let’s talk about some of the roles that you might want to consider for your project. Depending on the size of the project, you may or may not need all of the roles but someone will have to assume the responsibilities.
Client Executive: The client executive is responsible for the overall relationship with the customer. This is the role that would address and resolve issues that cannot be resolved at the vendor level. They keep the customer aware of new products, services, and software updates as they become available. They are also the ones who look for opportunities where they can add value to the customer’s business.
Program Manager: The Program Manager may support the Client before and after their software acquisition, especially on large complex projects. Sometimes called the Enterprise Manager, they would be a part of the Client’s Steering committee and should help shape the project success through the use of best practice, project and business practice.
The Enterprise Manager participates on the Steering Committee, and helps drive the project through to success. They use industry best business process and practice. They provide advice that will minimize risk and accelerate the implementation or upgrade. Many organizations use the engagement manager and project manager interchangeably, however, their responsibilities re significantly different.
Project Manager: The individual in this roles provides the leadership for the project team and produces the status reports, plans, budgets and formal methodology (such as CSC, Compass, Rational) and resourcing. The Engagement Manager supports the Project Managers both client and consulting in all aspects of project planning and control, and supports the design,development and deployment of a strong quality program. The Project Manager is responsible for the “care and feeding” of the consulting and client project team members and for supporting the client Project Manager.
Process Specialists (Functional and Technical)Functional specialists are charged with guiding the project team through those steps that require detailed applications functional knowledge and related industry best practices. This consulting-sourced role is usually a full-time member of the project team.
The Technical Specialist executes the technical steps by providing support in the design and management of databases and in tuning the system and architecture. This is a consulting sourced role working in lock step with the client role.
System EngineerThe System Engineer designs and creates technology solutions in response to business requirements. They are brought into a project when the solution requires some specific knowledge in the emerging technologies. Skills include: Workflow, Electronic Commerce; Security including OLAP, Multi-dimensional modeling, compare report decisions, eApplications and solutions to customization requests.
Education RepresentativeThis person is responsible for working with the customer to make sure they use the education resources available to them in the most effective manner.This includes executing training plans, setting up on-site classes, and making the customer aware of alternate training formats including stand up training, interactive training, webinars and other venues.It is also the responsibility of this role to have a clear understanding of the business processes used and reflect those processes in User Productivity Kit or Tutor development.
As we move through the discussion on Day 2 and looking at the project scope, constraints will be identified. Be sure to provide your client and consulting team with examples of what might be a constraint. A constraint is something that limits your degree of freedom. Limited development resources might be a constraint. Constraints might be economic, political, functional, technical and even environmental. Be sure to document the constraints and work with the project team to ensure they are identified.
Second to constraints would be assumptions. You make assumptions regarding many aspects of the project. Assumptions represent opinions that have not or cannot be readily or easily proven; yet they are expected to be true. An assumption that is often made in organizations is that the executive team is on board and giving total support to the project. Sometimes an assumption is made that the organization has a specific requirement, only to find out in the fit/gap that the system cannot support the requirement.
So far we have covered many discussion topics in Day 2 and it is important to facilitate interaction and participation by the team. The one week workshop packs a great deal into the first week that not only sets the stage for the project but also ensures the success of the project. Think about the deliverables that will be produced as a result of the workshop.
More projects fail because of poor change management than probably any other factor. People do not like change and it is important to develop a change management and communication plan. Identify that person in your group who loves to lead the charge on change. Then develop a group discussion on how this project will impact the organization. Draw an organizational chart on the board and circle the stakeholders. Look at how the project will impact end users, customers, managers, executives. How will that change be communicated to each of those groups.
Identify the leader who will begin to develop the change plan. How will the team be structured to complete this deliverable. A draft should be completed by the end of the week and a group will need to work on the content and strategy for that deliverable. You can facilitate discussion in the large group and then assign a small group to work on the deliverable. Or you can have several groups assigned to change and communication items for the plan. Don’t hesitate to assign homework so this is completed and ready for presentation by the end of the week.
What are some of the creative ways to communicate to the organization? Do you want to develop a web page? a newsletter, tweet program, blog, regular program for sending emails? Will the communication look different for each group? Let the group help stimulate this discussion and get a feel for the culture of the organization and how it communicates. My experience in organizations demonstrates how communication differs, a small organization may communicate only by email, others may have formal presentations and still others may have comprehensive web sites. Stimulate the group to come up with all the venues that they think will work for their organization and then assign a small group to incorporate the ideas into the plan.
One more step in the starting week of implementation/upgrade planning.
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