Thoughts on the Cloud, Both Sides Now
If you have been to a conference or user group event lately you have certainly heard plenty about "the Cloud". This broad term actually covers a lot of different services and architectures, but in the ERP community it generally causes some anxiety for technical professionals. There are concerns about no longer managing your own hardware or no longer customizing the software to your specific business requirements. Some organizations have huge investments in custom development. Some also remember previous negative experiences with the "hosted" solutions that were pre-cursors to the modern cloud architectures. I understand, and to some extent, share some of those feelings. Change is hard. However, software vendors like Oracle are pushing cloud services and applications hard, and I think resistance is the wrong approach.
I am not advocating for or against cloud solutions and I am not providing a comprehensive review of the solutions. What I am advocating is awareness of the benefits the cloud platforms provide and why they are appealing. Once we understand that maybe we can make all applications more appealing and more relevant to our users and organizations.
One huge advantage of cloud applications is the promise of new features and new functionality, delivered quickly. Basically updates and upgrades. Whether we are talking about large cloud suites or the smaller companies offering specialized services, many promise constant improvement and the newest features. I suspect mobile capabilities is also a driver. Consider that many customers probably expect this. They regularly use online services and mobile applications that are updated often. This makes business applications look even more outdated, especially when update intervals reach not just months, but years.
That desire for "what's new" could make cloud solutions look much more appealing, and lead to an organization choosing a cloud service to provide new functionality and features, even if that is something the existing application could support. That is why I think the best thing you can do is to learn how to upgrade and update quickly. New features are being delivered constantly thanks to the PeopleSoft Images and selective adoption strategy.
New PeopleTools version provide new features as well as security updates. PeopleSoft PUM Images provide new application functionality as well as fixes, but in some cases may rely on later PeopleTools versions. PUM Images can be large, but you can also select certain features/updates to install. So, for example, you may want to apply the newest employee self service pages, but don't want to apply all the changes for payroll.
The problem with updating quickly is the time required to reapply customizations and the time required to test the updates. You can increase efficiency by moving as much customization as possible to "bolt-ons"; minimize how many delivered objects or how much delivered code has been modified. It makes the most sense to tackle this incrementally and over time, and as you do it should help make upgrading faster. As part of that strategy I would recommend learning about the new configuration tools being provided, such as Event Mapping and Component Configurator/Page Composer. These tools allow you to further move customizations out of delivered code and make them "configuration" items. Event Mapping allows you to call custom PeopleCode before/after the delivered PeopleCode events. There are many cases where this may totally eliminate the need to change a delivered event. It may take some creativity, but who doesn't enjoy a challenge. Component Configurator and Page Composer should allow you to apply adjustments to a page without modifying the object. It is worth noting that these approaches are likely also similar to how you will be able to "customize" cloud applications, so it's good practice.
Look for these topics in PeopleBooks:
Mapping Application Class PeopleCode to Component Events (PT 8.55)
Understanding Page Composer (PT 8.56)
PeopleSoft Test Framework allows you to build automated test scripts that should be able to handle many routine test cases. This may free up people to review and test those new features and create the new test cases, instead of constantly revising the same things.
Look for this topic in PeopleBooks:
PeopleSoft Test Framework
I would also encourage research into the various types of cloud services that you can leverage. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model that everyone thinks of, the application provided as a service, is not the only option. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is actually very interesting to me and could have some real value. This is using cloud hardware to run your own applications and could be used for demo environments or development environments as a first step. Oracle is providing tools to make this easier, such as PeopleSoft Cloud Manager.
Oracle has changed course many times, as most technology companies do. We don't really know what the future will look like, but I think the important thing is to start thinking about how you can modernize your applications faster. Movement towards cloud solutions seems inevitable and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Embracing the advantages of the cloud, when appropriate, and making your applications more cloud-like can benefit everyone.
I am not advocating for or against cloud solutions and I am not providing a comprehensive review of the solutions. What I am advocating is awareness of the benefits the cloud platforms provide and why they are appealing. Once we understand that maybe we can make all applications more appealing and more relevant to our users and organizations.
One huge advantage of cloud applications is the promise of new features and new functionality, delivered quickly. Basically updates and upgrades. Whether we are talking about large cloud suites or the smaller companies offering specialized services, many promise constant improvement and the newest features. I suspect mobile capabilities is also a driver. Consider that many customers probably expect this. They regularly use online services and mobile applications that are updated often. This makes business applications look even more outdated, especially when update intervals reach not just months, but years.
That desire for "what's new" could make cloud solutions look much more appealing, and lead to an organization choosing a cloud service to provide new functionality and features, even if that is something the existing application could support. That is why I think the best thing you can do is to learn how to upgrade and update quickly. New features are being delivered constantly thanks to the PeopleSoft Images and selective adoption strategy.
New PeopleTools version provide new features as well as security updates. PeopleSoft PUM Images provide new application functionality as well as fixes, but in some cases may rely on later PeopleTools versions. PUM Images can be large, but you can also select certain features/updates to install. So, for example, you may want to apply the newest employee self service pages, but don't want to apply all the changes for payroll.
The problem with updating quickly is the time required to reapply customizations and the time required to test the updates. You can increase efficiency by moving as much customization as possible to "bolt-ons"; minimize how many delivered objects or how much delivered code has been modified. It makes the most sense to tackle this incrementally and over time, and as you do it should help make upgrading faster. As part of that strategy I would recommend learning about the new configuration tools being provided, such as Event Mapping and Component Configurator/Page Composer. These tools allow you to further move customizations out of delivered code and make them "configuration" items. Event Mapping allows you to call custom PeopleCode before/after the delivered PeopleCode events. There are many cases where this may totally eliminate the need to change a delivered event. It may take some creativity, but who doesn't enjoy a challenge. Component Configurator and Page Composer should allow you to apply adjustments to a page without modifying the object. It is worth noting that these approaches are likely also similar to how you will be able to "customize" cloud applications, so it's good practice.
Look for these topics in PeopleBooks:
Mapping Application Class PeopleCode to Component Events (PT 8.55)
Understanding Page Composer (PT 8.56)
PeopleSoft Test Framework allows you to build automated test scripts that should be able to handle many routine test cases. This may free up people to review and test those new features and create the new test cases, instead of constantly revising the same things.
Look for this topic in PeopleBooks:
PeopleSoft Test Framework
I would also encourage research into the various types of cloud services that you can leverage. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model that everyone thinks of, the application provided as a service, is not the only option. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is actually very interesting to me and could have some real value. This is using cloud hardware to run your own applications and could be used for demo environments or development environments as a first step. Oracle is providing tools to make this easier, such as PeopleSoft Cloud Manager.
Oracle has changed course many times, as most technology companies do. We don't really know what the future will look like, but I think the important thing is to start thinking about how you can modernize your applications faster. Movement towards cloud solutions seems inevitable and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Embracing the advantages of the cloud, when appropriate, and making your applications more cloud-like can benefit everyone.
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