I recently wrote about a couple of new Release Value Propositions from Oracle. A good number of you read that post and some of you contacted me offline to ask more questions. One of the RVPs was for the upcoming and much-anticipated release of Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools 8.50. You can get a link to it here on the PeopleSoft Technology blog.
So, why the anticipation and interest? I took some time digging into the RVP and thought through a number of demos I have seen and came up with my unordered hit list of enhancements or new features:
Connected Query
The idea here is that several queries (presumably PSQueries) could be joined together to produce one dataset in an output file. We have been cobbling this functionality together for years using a hodge-podge of unions, subqueries, odd sql scripting, etc. — a lot of work to fulfill pretty basic but necessary function. It will be interesting to see how and how well this works.
Query Feeds
PSQuery results available as an RSS feed. There are many immediate uses for this. Again, lets see how it works. We talked at a recent conference about lightweight web services, with RSS as an example. It seems that these ‘lightweight’ services have the capability to pack a heavyweight SOA punch — particularly in a small enterprise short on development staff.
Partial Page Refreshes
Big win on this one. With all of the various components delivered in PeopleSoft applications that can be served up in a portal environment, partial page refreshes will provide greater flexibility and enhance user experience.
Menu Navigation
It appears that the delivered enterprise menu will be AJAX-enabled and be freed from the left side! This will help tremendously in delivering portal functionality in various design layouts.
New Contemporary Style Sheet
I am not exactly sure what this will be, but my guess is that this will make branding a bit more flexible and easier to manage. Let’s hope.
Check out these resources for more information:
PeopleTools at My Oracle Support
Higher Education User Group (for all of you using Oracle PeopleSoft in the higher education industry)
PeopleTools Roadmap from OpenWorld 2008
What is your take on this release? Drop some comments.
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