More than 800 customers, consultants and analysts gathered at Edinburgh’s new conference centre to hear PeopleSoft executives preview PeopleSoft 7, which is scheduled for delivery in September. The US developer is jumping on the Internet bandwagon with a new Java client module that will make some applications available over the World Wide Web.
PeopleSoft has designed its suite of financial, human resource, manufacturing and distribution applications to work within a three-tier architecture: a relational database running under Unix, VMS, Windows NT or the IBM mainframe operating system MVS; supported by PeopleSoft client software working on both Windows and OS/2 desktop systems.
The Java client will extend the reach of PeopleSoft applications to occasional users, explained Rick Bergquist, the company’s vice-president of technology. ‘The Internet is just another way of deploying applications.
PeopleSoft will ship a framework for Internet Explorer or Netscape browsers that will allow all our applications to be accessed by the Java client we’ve announced.’
PeopleSoft’s Web-enabled functions will be contained in a set of ‘universal applications’ to support self-service tasks carried out by occasional users. Bergquist said these activities will include requisition orders, enquiries on customer payments or stock queries. Among other enhancements due in September are the ability to carry out on-line analytical processing through links with Arbor’s Essbase OLAP server and PowerPlay analytical tools from Cognos.
Prudential merged its two main operating divisions in 1995 and decided to replace a battery of separate finance systems – including Millennium, JD Edwards, Coda, Insight and Chameleon – with a single installation.
Prudential’s project manager Phil Neat described his experiences implementing PeopleSoft accounting modules over the past nine months. ‘We did a full review of the marketplace and decided that all the applications would do what we wanted to do,’ explained Neat. ‘It came down to a choice of which company we wanted to work with and which would work with us for fast implementation and low cost.
Prudential signed a contract with PeopleSoft in August 1996. The company is working through a phased programme that will use elements of PeopleSoft’s workflow tools. The first phase tacked personal expenses, one of Prudential’s most common activities that involves processing 50,000 invoices a year.
The expenses system went live at the beginning of April, with a few minor teething problems that PeopleSoft consultants are helping to resolve.
‘There is some unhappiness at the response times of the on-line system, particularly for data entry,’ said Neat. ‘The client/server system is slower than the old system, but it also has the new workflow elements.’
Workflow rules in the Prudential set-up allow the accounting system to automatically authorise certain payments below u50. Non-standard expenses, for example from companies other than Prudential preferred suppliers, are routed to nominated accounts supervisors.
The next stages of the Prudential implementation will include a redesign of its purchasing processes and a ‘tidy-up’ of its supplier database, said Neat. Further enhancements will roll out throughout 1997.