PeopleSoft Reporting & Analytics – Relooked
Problem Area:
Dealing with HR, Finance and other operational data is not easy, at most companies. The HR systems staff, feels the “pain” typically in the process of generating those much-requested reports that provide HR, Finance or other company executives the snap-view of trends in overtime and time-off-with pay utilization, benefits enrollment, flexible-spending account utilization and other issues.
For PeopleSoft users specifically, the data quest can mean labor-intensive programming using Structured Query Report Writer (SQR), a complex programming language specifically designed to work in conjunction with database reporting and information processing. Large companies, in fact, may process between 100 and 150 ad hoc PeopleSoft requests per week, and while most are simple, others require the time-consuming task of writing complex SQR/SQL code.
For years now the de-facto standard has been PS Query and batch programs like AE and SQR, outputs of which are downloaded and “massaged” in Excel to get the data to the end state desired. While there may be a method to this madness, the reality is that Customers have sadly accepted a very low standard of technology and capability when it comes to PeopleSoft Reporting and Analytics. From the look and feel to the inter-activeness of reports, PeopleSoft and the reporting capabilities provided by PeopleTools has been boring at best.
Also as we know that, PeopleTools 8.55 is no more supporting the use of the Crystal Reports product with PeopleSoft. Most of us have already moved, to other options like Oracle BI Publisher, or other reporting tools.
Understanding Solution:
I’m writing this post to help you understand that you have other options, and there is an even better solution that will give your users more relevant and timely information.
Conventional reporting tools are used to create and publish static reports. That is, they query the database and present information as a snapshot in time. One of the problems with this approach is that important data can become instantly stale and not secure.
Contemporary reporting is changing, however, and we feel that customers should re-evaluate how they can take advantage of some of the new reporting and analytic capabilities the market offers. New options exist that help make reporting a strategic part of enterprise business processes. In fact, you can easily incorporate business intelligence and real-time analytics directly into business process flows as an integral part of the application user experience.
Using this more modern approach, designers are able to provide users relevant information directly in context of related business activities. In this way, the user doesn’t have to “look up” information or pull up a report. Instead, the application system provides the information directly on the page, or as part of a process, which leads to better decisions. With modern reporting capabilities, the data is fresh and secure because it never actually leaves the system.
Taking this approach few Smart ERP customers decided against replicating every one of the static reports from Crystal Reports to BI Publisher. With SmartAnalytics pre-built solution, many older, static reports were (repurposed and now) available as online, real-time analytics rather than simply rewritten in a new reporting tool.
Chief among these exciting Smart Analytics PeopleSoft reporting capabilities are the new Data Visualization graphics and updated Pivot Grids. These new features enable users to produce analytics and reports right in the context of their transactions, providing more agile and powerful analytics that result in better decision support. In addition, these new reporting options are easy to use and put power in the hands of end users and business experts. Functional users won’t have to rely on technical professionals to generate the reports they need. With Smart Analytics, data can be sliced and diced as required, as well visualized in different ways to gain greater understanding of the information presented.
Smart Analytics team will also be delivering new reports and analytics, so customers will get many new reports as they continue to work with the application.
Of course enterprises will also receive conventional reports for regulatory reporting requirements. However, we believe that after thoughtful analysis, the uses of such traditional format reports will be much smaller than you may have originally anticipated, and that most business needs will be better served with newer options for producing on-line, real-time, business analytics.
Thus some companies are now taking advantage of new, easy-to-use data query tools like Smart Analytics, designed for the non-techie. The result, say users, is less frustration, but more importantly, more time and subsequent dollar savings.
Customers have observed that use of Smart Analytics has led to sharp gains in efficiency and effectiveness when generating reports for HR & Finance execs and other company officials in need of decision-making data.
SmartERP has observed: What Customers really want is a dynamic, proactive, role-based, contextual and easy to use Reporting / Analytics Solution or Platform that does not depend on batch, that is accessible through multiple devices (think mobile first) and is rich in its presentation when it needs to be and tactical and detailed otherwise.
Thus, with Smart Analytics users can quickly adapt and navigate through the familiar intuitive graphical user interface. In addition, everyone can use the data export feature, which is very important because users can create sub-reports from the standard production reports.
Smart Analytics is chosen for its ease of installation and implementation, user friendliness and functionality. With SmartERP’s technical support team, you can load it right out of the box, and have it up and running in no time at all. You will be able to figure out a lot of it yourselves without any formal training.
Customers view SmartAnalytics as centralized report repository, archival, distribution, printing and viewing solution. Users can run their own reports, download them through Microsoft Excel or PDF (or Word) and create sub-reports for analysis or subsystems for individual departments.
Sometimes working on the newly-required queries by Business team, wasn’t a practical option because it required IS support for creating, testing and validating reports. Now, SmartERP has already done the job for you.
