With the support for PeopleSoft 9.1 ending earlier this year (Jan 2018), most PeopleSoft customers are busy upgrading to PeopleSoft 9.2. As you upgrade to v9.2, Fluid becomes the inevitable frontline UI of your PeopleSoft applications. Consequently, upgrading to Fluid is a significant investment in terms of time, effort, and skilled resources. We at GreyHeller feel that the operational disruption and added investment that come with these upgrades are an extremely worthwhile endeavor for your journey toward a modern UI for PeopleSoft HCM, CRM, Financials, SCM and more. That being said, if productivity and engagement are the benchmarks for success with a UX/UI project, shouldn’t you do everything in your power to ensure your upgrade is fully enabled?
It should be acknowledged that a lack of certain best practices can prevent you from achieving your end goal of delivering the user experience you intended – and your users have come to expect from modern applications. Here are some tips to identify indicators that can potentially have a negative impact on your efforts of achieving a flawless adoption of PeopleSoft Fluid UI:
Fluid is the future – get with it!
Before we get into the details of ensuring a successful Fluid enablement project, let’s address the most crucial question first – Why is making the transition from Classic to Fluid important – and why now? The answer lies in Oracle’s announcement of the traditional Classic UI being on a retirement schedule. Oracle’s support doc ID 2238983.2 illustrates the timeline for pages that will be “desupported” at the end of each year. Since, Fluid is going to be the frontier of all PeopleSoft applications upgraded to 9.2, adopting Fluid has become a necessity for organizations to stay current with PeopleSoft.
Inconsistency can prove to be the death of a positive UX
A Fluid adoption should be a project centered around your end-users. Whether you are in the middle of a Fluid adoption or haven’t embarked upon it yet, it is important to consider the specific business needs of your users carefully (i.e., how are you intending them to work and on what mobile devices.) With the end goal of a Fluid upgrade being PeopleSoft applications that are readily available on mobile devices and with a streamlined user experience – it is ultimately user engagement that will prove to be the defining benchmark for success. However, the selective roll-out schedule of Fluid pages can potentially create an inconsistent UX in the interim, as users are likely to encounter existing Classic pages throughout a workflow. The result being (despite your best intentions) a UX that fails to deliver a 100% consistent experience. After all, inconsistency can prove to be the death of a positive UX.
Fluid requires new development skills
Fluid UI uses the same architectural foundation as the Classic layout. However, building design components in Fluid requires extra development work, meaning the required acquisition of skills such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. To ensure optimum preparedness for your Fluid enablement project, you need to have developers who are well versed in PeopleTools along with these additional skills. To fulfill project requirements, you can choose to invest your time and money in training existing team members or (like most organizations) you can hire new resources. However, the time spent in acquiring skilled resources can slow down the progress of your Fluid enablement project.
Consider the diversity and abundance of mobile devices.
A myriad of mobile devices are released every year, all with different screen sizes and resolutions. To compliment all the available device variables, your UI needs to be responsive. A truly responsive UI is the most critical parameter in mobilizing an application, thus allowing it to fit perfectly on any form factor. Fluid is an adaptive UI which means that it was designed to fit a predetermined set of form factors, i.e., small, medium, large and extra-large. Since there’s an abundance of mobile devices available on the market, and each one of them comes with different display standards, the pre-set form factors might not display content cleanly on every available screen.
How you can make Fluid UI exceptional with PeopleUX
PeopleUX by GreyHeller delivers a fully responsive and consistent user experience regardless of your current version of PeopleSoft. No matter what your upgrade status or your underlying UI (Classic/Classic Plus or Fluid), PeopleUX re-renders the existing HTML without impacting the original PeopleCode – creating a user experience that is visually engaging and uniform throughout the application. PeopleUX optimizes workflows with usability and intuition in mind, allowing users to execute transactions quickly and efficiently without requiring any additional training or technical support.
A seamless and consistent user-experience allows users to be more productive no matter where they work or what device they use. The best part – PeopleUX can be implemented in a short span of time (60-90 days*) without any operational disruption or intermittent consistency. Lastly, PeopleUX saves you time and boosts Fluid adoption project ROI by eliminating the need to hire or train developers!
Interested to know more about making the Fluid experience truly exceptional? Request a free demo to speak to a PeopleSoft user experience specialist today, or write to us at info@devappsian.wpengine.com
As a BONUS opportunity – join us on Wednesday July 18th for our latest webinar where you can see for yourself how you can ensure a successful Fluid adoption – Register Today!
