Welcome to the first in a series on ten major innovations delivered in PeopleSoft 9.2. We begin the countdown at # 10 looking at the new PeopleSoft Search and Related Actions
capabilities. A number of our topics for this series will focus on
user experience improvements that fundamentally change the way work gets
accomplished in PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft 9.2 is a pivotal release delivering on a new standard for enterprise wide navigation. This goes well beyond simply reducing
clicks (which is certainly a benefit) and provides a holistic approach
for users that matches system behavior with user expectations. To put
it another way, the way the users thinks about their work is in
alignment with how it can be accomplished. There are several ways
that this is enabled including Activity Guides, Train Stops, and WorkCenters that offer a high degree of personalization and configuration. In this posting I'll discuss examples of the
Search and Related Action Framework.
In the last 9.1 Feature Pack we introduced both of these concepts, where they are heavily utilized in areas like the Company Directory, Manager Dashboard, and Talent Summary.
With 9.2, these capabilities go much broader and deeper across HCM,
Financials, and Procurement. Global searches can also be utilized in the PeopleSoft Interaction Hub to cross multiple PeopleSoft instances. PeopleSoft Search enables global and
keyword contextual searching so users can find the right information
quickly. Related Actions are provided with the search results and with
one click a business process can be launched securely based on the user
access level. A couple of examples:
With PeopleSoft 9.2 Expenses, expense report information is indexed for faster searching of transactions, potential
duplicates, and more to enable users to find the information they are
looking for quickly. Let's say a manager would like to see all expense
reports related to her employees charging in remote internet access.
In the global search box, the manager can filter on "Expenses" and use "Remote" as the search term to retrieve all transactions. The
resulting search can be refined by choosing predefined facets by
Employee Name, Approver Name, Expense Type, Date, or Report Status.
Specific records can then be viewed directly in context using Related
Actions that allow the manager the option to take action such as Review,
Approve, or Print the report. All of this is accomplished securely
from a single page with a minimum of clicks, without navigating through a
menu structure or losing context.
Another great example is
procurement. Similar to the expenses example, suppose I need to buy
printer paper. In PeopleSoft 9.2 eProcurement, when I type in "printer paper" in the search box,
the results can be refined by facets such as Manufacturer, Supplier,
Preferred Supplier, Item Category. The results have related actions
that allow me to create a requisition directly from the search result
and add the printer paper to my shopping cart. It's a simple consumer
focused set of actions that are readily understood by any internet
shopper.
See this Video Feature Overview to watch these examples in action: PeopleSoft Global Search .
Whether working with assets, expenses, catalog items,
vouchers, time sheets, compensation, performance, career plans, and
more, you'll see the same power of search plus related actions across
PeopleSoft 9.2. What started with a few powerful examples in the last 9.1
feature pack goes enterprise wide. It's just one example of how we've created the new standard for navigation.