ERP PeopleSoft Consulting

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Waiting to hear how the ELM presentation went for Mark and Diane.  I am sure it was great and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of the Water Management District Team.  Ciber should recognize Mark for his outstanding contributions to the ELM implementation as he was instrumental in the success of this implementation.

This weeks airplane book was “Shut Up, Stop Whining, & Get a Life” by Larry Winget.  Larry is referred to as the Pitbull of Personal Development and has a very direct approach.  “What you think about, talk about, and do something about is what comes about.”  His recommendation is “when it quits being fun, quit.”  How many of us stay in consulting engagements that are not fun, not challenging and downright dull?  Having grown up with American Indians in the Dakotas I found the inital quote very dear to my heart.  The quote has the spiritual quality that American Indians bring to many facets of life.  The quote was from Cochise, a Chiricahua Chief who stated ” You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts. ” 

Larry provides insight into many areas including relationships, business, health, fitness and many aspects of living.  He asks a series of questions at the end that you might aske yourself and then determine if you are successful.  The questions are:

“Am I happy?

Am I healthy?

Am I serving?

Am I loving?

Am I learning?

Am I having fun?

Am I doing something I enjoy?

Am I prosperous?”

This is just a brief overview of the book and I would recommend it as a book with good advice and some controversy.

I am always amazed when I hear someone say, we don’t have time to plan we just want to get to the results.  I think clients are often frustrated with planning because consultants have used planning to use reams of paper and loads of time developing documents that are never used after the initial stage of the project.  The heavier the document, the more successful the project right?  Planning doesn’t always entail documentation to max.  However, if you aim at nothing….you will definately hit it.  You must aim at the result you are seeking to achieve and planning helps identify that result.  What many clients don’t realize is something can be done quickly if it is well planned.  Training programs are often part of an implementation that are developed quickly, some are effective, some are not.  The ones that are successful are those that are well planned and meet the needs of the client.  They can also be completed quickly if you have a method to follow.  We think of methodology in terms of implementations, but methodology has the root method which applies to every aspect of a project we undertake be it implementation, testing, training, or development.  There is an old Japanese proverb that I think of whenever I hear that planning is not important: ” When you’re dying of thirst, it is too late to think of digging a well.”  Don’t get to where you are dying of thirst in any aspect of your undertakings.  Plan and you can achieve results quickly.  Eliminate the reams of paper but don’t eliminate the planning.

What are organizations looking for today in terms of training and knowledge transfer? There are so many areas to look at from the viewpoint of the customer, stakeholders, management and end users. How can an organization best meet the needs of each contingency? It is important to provide the right tools for learning and training. One of those tools from PeopleSoft is the UPK. This is a tool that will help encourage employees to learn skills to handle their day to day jobs. It will also instill the business process of the organization.

What is the value to a Manager?

They can help individual employees determine career development directions, develop succession strategies and help the organization deal with, and understand Change.

What is the value to an Employee?

It helps them understand the organizational culture and the business processes. They can also identify the responsibilities inherent in each organizational role. They have opportunities to learn and apply skills in a variety of venues which address the needs of the auditory, visual or kinesthetic learner.

Organizations will need metrics to identify the quality, timeliness, cost and learning effectiveness of their training programs. Have you develop a skill assessment for your training program? Can you explain how training relates directly to your organizational culture and the vision of the organization? And finally, are you looking at training through new eyes taking advantage of all technologies and learning venues?

Think these concepts through as you prepare for end user, or project team training within your organization.

Implementations come in many different flavors.  Consultants exchange templates and information to help with implementations.  If you are one of those consultants who is a “team player” and often helps others, you may find the ebook “PeopleSoft Tips, Tricks, and Templates worth the investment.  This is a compilation of several templates that have been gathered from consultants working on actual implementations.  The book can be purchased at the website Chahinkapa.com.  The book will continue to expand as consultants send examples.  If you have templates that you think are super and they are not copyright protected, feel free to send them to chahinkapa@gmail.com and they will be evaluated for inclusion in future publications.  If your template is included, we give you a free copy of the book and include your name in the credits.

The market seems to be coming back with several public sector opportunities.  DIMHRS continues to provide opportunities for testing and the commercial sector is looking toward upgrades and optimizations.  Let us know about your implementations and how you are viewing the future market for PeopleSoft.

Tropical Storm Fay is at our door and  I am sure she is having an effect on consulting travel.  One of my consulting friends had to drive from Atlanta to Florida due to significant flight delays in Atlanta.  The drive was a bit hazardous with wind, rain, hydoplaning cars and bridge closings.  He did make it home only to find rubble and trees down in the yard.  Whenever someone tells you that consulting is an easy job, remember what travel is Really like!!

Contacts with many consultants indicate an increased interest in Enterprise Learning Management, Absence Management and upgrades to 9.0.  All of the consultants seem happy with the 9.0 changes and many are into testing phases of their implementations.  Training is going on in many of the government sectors and test scripts are being frantically written on some projects.  A good place to look for test scripts is the UPK.  It provides an excellent starting point for testing and they can be easily adapted to your projects.  Give us your thoughts on 9.0, other PeopleSoft tips or tricks and “the lives of the traveling consultant.”

Consultantshave called this week with questions regarding how to respond to RFP’s when they ask for specifics about conversion.  At a high level, the critical data elements are determined, mapped, converison scripts written, conversion run and tested.  So what would be each individual step?  Next time you run through conversion document the steps and post them as a comment for all of us.

The second question was around variable comp and formulas.  If you have any standard formulas that you may be using on an implementation, I know a consultant who would appreciate some help.

So what projects are back in play and what old standards continue.  I’ve heard DIMHRS is into testing and continues to continue.  Lot’s of organizations looking at upgrades to 9.0 but making a decision to move forward is often a slow process.

Please feel free to comment and watch as we add eBooks and other interesting information to the blog. 

This may not be a complete list but I thought it might be a valuable list for those of you working on 8.9 to 9 upgrades.  It is a nice summary of some of the enhancements to PeopleSoft.  I am trying to keep the blog posts on this site simple, with simple functional information that may be valuable for consultants working on upgrades or implementations.

Human Resources Enhancements

Talent Management Enhancements

Self-Service Enhancements

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