Interesting PS Roadshow / Exec Dinner Snippets May 4, 2017
Posted by Duncan in Cedar, SelectiveAdoption, UKOUG, UX.comments closed
We recently held the annual PeopleSoft Roadshow and Executive Dinner (summary here) and I wanted to highlight a couple of observations that I think are important enough to be revisited:
Fantastic UI
While Marc was demoing some new functionality it struck me how big a stride the PeopleSoft UI has taken over the last few years.
If you’d shown me this picture a few years ago I’d have refused to believe that it was PeopleSoft. Very few applications can boast a UI as attractive as this.
Selective Adoption is being Aggressively Adopted
Julie Alonso showed this slide, detailing how many customers are really making the most of Selective Adoption.
You might need to click these to see full-size, but let me highlight the key point. The right-hand pie-chart shows that 31% of customers are ‘staying current’ – i.e. doing a get current 4 times a year! A further 25% are getting current twice a year. So more than half of customers are getting current at least twice annually. I think this is really tremendous take-up of the benefits of Selective Adoption – and the PeopleSoft team must be delighted. I had fully expected most customers to lapse into an annual update.
Banishing some PeopleSoft Myths July 28, 2016
Posted by Duncan in Cedar, PeopleSoft 9.2, Strategy, TW.comments closed
There seems to be quite a bit of uncertainty and misinformation in the PeopleSoft marketplace currently, so I thought it might be time to banish a few myths:
1. PeopleSoft isn’t being improved/getting investment
There are those with vested interests or other biases that will always deny this regardless of the evidence put in front of them, but PeopleSoft is improving in leaps and bounds. In the last couple of years PeopleSoft has been moving at an increasing speed, and one of the biggest questions on many client’s minds right now is “how do I keep up”. My Cedar colleague Graham Smith has a long list of recent new features in his PeopleSoft Predictions 2016 post, but if you just counted Fluid, Selective Adoption and Cloud Delivery Architecture I don’t think there’s ever been a time in which PeopleSoft has improved so much in a short space of time, pre or post-acquisition. Paco has repeatedly committed to keeping PeopleSoft around until at least 2027, and using the last few years as evidence I’m inclined to believe him.
2. PeopleSoft is Legacy/Old Fashioned
PeopleSoft is certainly very well established, with a long history and a wide customer base, that much is true. This can be a good thing, in that much of the system is tried and tested with the wrinkles ironed out. It is also true that some aspects of PeopleSoft do things the ‘old way’. The majority of deployments are on-premises, without the flexibility and efficiency that cloud deployment and automation can bring. You also pay for PeopleSoft up-front, rather than monthly. It doesn’t have to be this way, however. PeopleSoft can be deployed in an agile and efficient manner, taking advantage of some of the new technology available to us now, and the new enhancements within the product.
3. To be a future-proof system it needs to be SaaS
This is tricky as different people hold varying ideas about what constitutes SaaS, however PeopleSoft does get regular updates containing new functionality from the vendor (every ~10 weeks), can be deployed in the Cloud (to gain auto-scaling/elasticity of resources, a predictable monthly subscription and theoretically even multi-tenancy – at least above the database-level, if it was something that clients wanted). Furthermore, the application of the updates and the management of the cloud architecture can be handed over to a friendly partner in order to get even closer to purists’ definitions of what SaaS entails – if that is important to you.
4. PeopleSoft’s UI is out-dated
Up until a few years ago there wasn’t the focus on ‘consumer grade UI’ that there is now. In that era, PeopleSoft’s UI measured up pretty well. It was certainly more attractive than SAP and/or E-Business Suite. Recently this greater focus on the User Interface has introduced new competitors but PeopleSoft still keeps up well. Of course you can compare an old version of PeopleSoft with the latest from a competitor and it will appear dated in comparison, however if you use the latest PeopleSoft UI in the comparison it’ll fare rather better. The Fluid UI is (at least) the equal of anything out there, regardless of which device you view it on.
5. The PeopleSoft Market is Quiet
From what I can see there are fewer green-field implementations than 5 years ago, but there is a lot more upgrade activity. Clients are moving to 9.2 at a far greater rate than for 9.0 or 9.1, and then starting initiatives to really get value from the software once they get there. As a company I’m not sure Cedar has ever been busier.
So, now I’ve got that off my chest, I might do some predictions like Graham next …
Cedar’s Selective Adoption Event recap October 5, 2015
Posted by Duncan in Cedar, SelectiveAdoption, TW.comments closed
A week or so back Cedar held a free Selective Adoption event for clients and friends. The idea behind the event was to help those on 9.2 already to make the most of what Selective Adoption can offer, and to show those that are yet to make the step to 9.2 what the future could look like.
The event went really well. Jeff Robbins opened the proceedings, giving an overview of the technology and what the roadmap looks like. Then Graham Smith and I did a couple of slots each on how the process works, what you need to get the technology up and running, the huge value it can bring, and the areas that you should do yourself versus the ones where it’s cheaper to get help.
Graham diving deep into the Tech
Covering the Options
After the event we all decamped to a nearby pub for less formal chat. It was really great to see that some clients still wanted more however. Happily, Graham was able to do a live demo from the middle of the pub, showing that we can ‘walk the walk’ as well as talking about it …
Live demo in the pub
We’d Appreciate Your Help August 3, 2015
Posted by Duncan in Cedar, TW, UKOUG.comments closed
We’d really appreciate your help. But first, a bit of background:
The Partner of the Year awards is an annual awards ceremony held by the UK Oracle User Group. It allows customers to show appreciation for partners that have provided a good service to them over the previous 12 months. As you would imagine, being voted best by end-users is a wonderful accolade.
If you’re the recipient of any Cedar service – and this can be consultancy, advisory, or even the free PeopleSoft and Fusion Weekly newsletters that we send out – we’d be very, very grateful if you gave 3 minutes of your time to vote for us.
We’re up for 3 awards, scroll down to see why we think we deserve your vote. In case you’re already convinced, here’s the drill:
What we’d like you to do:
1) Click here (opens in new window).
2) Fill in your company name, first name and surname. Then click Next.
3) Enter your email address in both fields, then click Next.
4) Select any checkboxes if you want ‘follow-up communications’ from the UKOUG, or leave all blank, and click Next.
5) Select Cedar Consulting from the drop-down, and click Next.
6) On the PeopleSoft page, select the Gold radio button on the Cedar Consulting row (note, it’s the 3rd column!), then click Next.
7) Repeat by selecting the Gold radio button on the Cedar Consulting row of the Managed Services page, then click Next.
8) Repeat by selecting the Gold radio button on the Cedar Consulting row of the Fusion page, then click Next.
9) Click Submit.
And you’re done. Thank you very much. If you want some gratitude for your 3 minutes of effort drop me an email and I’ll thank you personally!
Why Vote For Us?
PeopleSoft Partner of the Year
This year we have worked with over 40 PeopleSoft clients. We have completed major global implementations, have 15 PS v9.2 upgrade projects either complete or in progress as well as delivering a busy programme of user-focused events. Our events included the 16th PeopleSoft Executive Dinner, PeopleSoft Optimisation, the PeopleSoft & Oracle Cloud Day plus this year’s Executive Forums. We also presented at the UKOUG conference and SIG.
Oracle Cloud (Fusion / Taleo) Partner of the Year
Over the last few years, we have developed from a PeopleSoft implementer to a specialist provider of Oracle HR Cloud services. We have a completed Fusion implementation under our belt and are currently implementing multiple Fusion and Taleo projects for different clients.
Managed Service / Outsourcing Partner of the Year
Throughout last year, 20 PeopleSoft customers have trusted us to provide market-leading Managed Services. This makes us the largest PeopleSoft Managed Services provider in the UK. Add to this the ability for us to outsource work to our Cedar India office to deliver for clients at a lower price point and we have a strong set of offerings.
We’ve had great success in this competition in the last couple of years and would value your vote. Thanks for your time.
Cedar’s exciting new office April 14, 2015
Posted by Duncan in Cedar, TW.comments closed
Today I got my first glimpse of Cedar’s new UK head-quarters in use. I’d seen it during the renovations, however now the work is complete and we’ve started to move in properly it’s really exciting to see people actually using it for real.
(Travis, Pete, Hardik and Kirti making themselves at home)
I’m particularly pleased that we’ve managed to purchase an office that’s still got the same great location as our previous premises, but is ours to decorate as we wish (witness the fantastic mural in the background of the above photo).
The full details, including some more photos are available here:
Cedar’s Oracle Cloud and PeopleSoft Day March 1, 2015
Posted by Duncan in Cedar, TW.comments closed
Cedar held it’s annual Oracle Cloud and PeopleSoft Day in London on Friday, with almost a hundred people in attendance (about 80 customers, plus staff from Oracle and Cedar).
It was a great success, with a really positive vibe – customers are looking to do great things with both PeopleSoft and Oracle’s Cloud suite – and a privilege to be part of.
Here are some photos from the day:
Graham welcomes everyone
Marc Weintraub gave a great keynote (from his office at 2:30am!)
Liz and I discuss the practical applications of the PeopleSoft Roadmap
Mike takes us through the upcoming Oracle Cloud Release 10 features
Jo talks about ‘Taleo for PeopleSoft People’
Simon handles the prize draw
So, a fun event with lots of knowledge sharing. My absolute favourite part is being able to connect customers who can help each other though. I lost count of the number of times we were able to say “oh, you’re doing <some project> are you? In that case, let me introduce you to <another client> as they’ve just finished doing that very thing” and then being able to leave them to share their experiences.
The UKOUG Apps14 Conference December 15, 2014
Posted by Duncan in Cedar, TW, UKOUG.comments closed
Cedar had a strong presence at the recent Apps14 conference in the ACC, Liverpool. It is supposed to be the largest applications conference in Europe with over 800 attendees, and we were particularly interested in the PeopleSoft and Apps Innovation streams.
This year we’d decided not to have a stand (as the conference is mixed with the other applications and the database/tech community, it means the exhibition stands are much more expensive than at the PeopleSoft-only Roadshow earlier in the year, while the attendance of the PeopleSoft community is much lower) but we did support the conference with four of our team and three speaking slots.
It was nice to see a different city, although I’m pleased to see that it’s back in Birmingham next year as that is a lot more central for everyone. This is the view from my hotel room out over Albert Docks (the ACC is out to the left).
In terms of our speakers, our GP guru Alex spoke about Global Payroll upgrades to v9.2 (as Cedar has helped several clients either complete their move to v9.2 or with an upgrade in progress at the moment):
Several of us also took part in the Oracle Usability Feedback session. We have <ahem> quite strong opinions on how a UX should be so it was really interesting to be part of the process. We can’t talk about the product that was being tested, but it looks really nice. I can’t wait until it hits GA. Here’s a picture of Simon giving it a thorough test with the lovely Rhonda (the screen has been intentionally blurred):
Cedar’s tech guru Neville also spoke on a couple of topics. He covered PeopleSoft Selective Adoption / PeopleSoft Update Manager in one session (joint with Hays, who are using some of our upgraders at the moment on their massive upgrade – HCM, Fins, CRM, Portal, ELM, all at the same time!). He also spoke about Oracle Secure Enterprise Search (joint with Allen & Overy, who we helped to upgrade to 9.2 earlier in the year).
The evening in between the two PeopleSoft days was pretty fun too. It started off with a familiar looking (for Liverpool, especially) band called ‘The Cheatles’ (pic below) and then many from the PeopleSoft community sat down for ‘off the record’ chat over a decent meal.
Cedar’s new website is live – get ready for the blog! December 9, 2014
Posted by Duncan in Cedar, TW.comments closed
I’m really pleased that Cedar have got our new website live – just in time for UKOUG Apps 14. 
As you would expect it highlights the services that Cedar provides – both Oracle Cloud (Fusion and Taleo) and obviously PeopleSoft implementation, hosting and support. It contains details of our people and locations (we’ve offices in Kings Cross, London, plus India, Switzerland and Australia). It also contains case studies of some of the project successes that we’ve had, and some of the nice things that clients have said about us. One of the things I’m most excited about is the blog. Make sure you add it to your feed reader as we’re going to be sharing some good content there from all of the practices within our company (plus the occasional post of us doing fun things!).
The new website can be found here: http://www.cedarconsulting.co.uk/
The PeopleSoft Tipster Blog 