UKOUG RoundUp – Part 2 – Wednesday December 19, 2007
Posted by Duncan in PeopleTools.comments closed
On the second (and final) day of PeopleSoft content at the UKOUG I attended the following sessions:
- Oracle Business Intelligence (XML) Publisher and PeopleTools Demonstration
- PeopleSoft Keynote
- PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal – What’s New and Where It’s Headed
- More Advanced Reporting Tips and Techniques for PeopleSoft Enterprise
- PeopleSoft Technical Discussion Forum
UKOUG RoundUp – Part 1 – Tuesday December 19, 2007
Posted by Duncan in Fusion, Oracle, PeopleSoft.comments closed
This is probably going to be a bit wordy, but here’s a quick overview of the sessions I attended at the UKOUG held in Birmingham a week or two ago.
I attended the following:
- Synchronous Messaging and Web Services in PeopleTools 8.48
- Getting a file into PeopleSoft for processing
- Developing a strategy for PeopleSoft Global Payroll bundles
- Operational Excellence with PeopleSoft Version Control
- PeopleSoft Application Classes – Easing the Path to Fusion
(more…)
Shared Pool December 13, 2007
Posted by Duncan in Oracle, PeopleSoft, SQL.comments closed
Oracle Databases contain a ‘shared pool’, which is a repository for recently run SQL. If you attempt to execute the same piece of SQL repeatedly you’ll probably notice that the execution time decreases, this is because of how Oracle parses the SQL (i.e. it’s a soft parse, not a hard parse) and the execution plan is already calculated for the SQL. I’ve spoken about this before in an App Engine context here.
This cache (or to use the correct term the ‘Shared Pool’) is all very useful, but what if you’re trying to tune a piece of SQL? You want to get a ‘natural’ idea of how long it’ll take to run, not the artificially quick result you’ll get if it’s in the shared pool. (Execution Time is of course not the only measure to consider when tuning, examining the execution plan is critically important.)
We need to flush any mentions of our SQL from the shared pool. DBAs can clear it by issuing the ‘ALTER SYSTEM FLUSH SHARED_POOL’ command, but us un-privileged developers don’t have that luxury (and neither would we want to clear the entire cache).
Instead, re-calculating the statistics on a table means that “all shared SQL areas that contain statements referencing the analyzed schema object are flushed from the shared pool”.
A fuller (and slightly more expertly worded) explanation is available here:
http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B12037_01/server.101/b10743/memory.htm
Fusion in 2009? December 12, 2007
Posted by Duncan in Fusion, Oracle, PeopleSoft.comments closed
According to the Oracle Apps User Group, we won’t see the first version of Fusion until 2009 (edit: the validity of this statement has been questioned, read the comments below for more). How many companies then purchase version 1 is another question, but it really is starting to seem as though Fusion is a long, long way off.
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/12/11/oracle_fusion_delivery_2009/
Not being n Oracle Apps person, I’m not sure what the absence of mod_plsql in Fusion means … with PL/SQL being Oracle only, could it be a pointer that Fusion is going to be database-independent after all?
Finally, is the reliance on Java and XML going to leave us with a product that’s a real drain on hardware? John Stouffer (co-chairman of the OAUG’s Fusion Council) recently warned of exponential database growth.
Interesting …
Portal Navigation December 9, 2007
Posted by Duncan in Oracle, PeopleSoft, SQL.comments closed
I would imagine many of you are familiar with the PSPRSMDEFN table as it is tremendously useful. I would gamble most have a SQL snippet tucked away somewhere that will query it to find the PIA navigation to any given component. However Jim Marion has posted some SQL on his blog that is the tidiest I’ve seen to date (it’s Oracle specific BTW).
Most SQL snippets use multiple joins to the table, I’ve seen one before that used connect_by_prior, but this one is the smallest script yet.
Thanks Jim!
Edit:
this slightly more succinct version may be even better.
select distinct rtrim(reverse
(sys_connect_by_path(reverse
(portal_label), ' > ')), ' > ') path
from psprsmdefn
where portal_name = 'EMPLOYEE'
and portal_prntobjname = 'PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT'
start with portal_uri_seg2 = :1
connect by prior
portal_prntobjname = portal_objname
Oracle Survey Results December 3, 2007
Posted by Duncan in Fusion, Oracle, PeopleSoft.comments closed
I’m off to the UK Oracle User Group tomorrow, but here’s a quick survey conducted on UKOUG attendees in the meantime:
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/12/03/oracle_uk_users_survey/
Apparently “Customers’ opinion of Oracle’s licensing has hit a new low in the UK while the company’s Fusion plans remain a mystery to half of its users”.
The good news is that satisfaction with PeopleSoft is still very high (up to 75%).
Oracle Open World Presentations November 21, 2007
Posted by Duncan in Oracle, PeopleSoft.comments closed
Some of the presentations from Oracle Open World have been posted online.
Regardless of whether you’re technical or functional – or what modules your company has licensed – there’ll be something there of interest.
http://www28.cplan.com/cc176/catalog.jsp
(The username and password you’ll need to download the files is at the top of the page)
Change in Employer November 18, 2007
Posted by Duncan in PeopleTools.comments closed
Those of you who know me personally may or may not be aware that I’m changing employer. Tomorrow (Monday 19th) is my first day working for Succeed Consultancy, a UK based PeopleSoft consultancy (they do offer other services but my focus will mainly be PeopleSoft). My month’s notice period passed slowly so I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.
Larry gives some Fusion answers November 15, 2007
Posted by Duncan in Fusion, Oracle, PeopleSoft.comments closed
From Oracle Open World 2007:
It seems as though the first applications out of the Fusion stable are all going to be CRM related. According to Larry’s keynote, the first three will be sales prospector, sales references and sales tools.
Possibly of more interest was that we’ve had a glimpse of an answer to the ‘what database platforms will Fusion support’ question. It turns out that it’s going to vary for each application. Larry spoke about Financials and said that it’s going to be Oracle, plus DB2 (providing IBM build in some features that Oracle are requesting). There was no word on the other modules.
The best exchange was possibly this one though:
“We will have a Fusion version for every application,” Ellison stated. “So you’re moving off these brands (PeopleSoft, Siebel etc)?” he was asked, LArry responded “No, well yes – by 2025.”
Article here:
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/11/15/ellison_audience_smack_down/
A Custom Message on the Signon Page (part 4) November 14, 2007
Posted by Duncan in PeopleTools.comments closed
Hopefully, this will be the final installment!
I’ve taken the reference link provided by Joe Ngo’s comment on part 3 and we now have a version that works across IE and Firefox. It only requires the PIA to be rebooted once, and the only files you need to create/change are the signin.html file and the file containing your message. This solution also gracefully handles the situation if your file doesn’t exist.
No screenshot this time as it looks the same as in part 3, but here’s the code:
The PeopleSoft Tipster Blog 