As of version 8.1, Oracle BI Publisher (formerly known as XMLP Publisher) has replaced Actuate as report generating tool for Siebel. During a Siebel Case Management implementation, I got some insights which I’d like to share.

The first step was a rather smooth installation and configuration process. We had BI Publisher up and running within no-time, and only very minimal configuration was required to integrate it with Siebel. By pointing the web services to the right URL’s and adjusting some BI settings, we could start making the first reports.

Siebel ships with a large number of out-of-the-box reports, and it’s easy to create your own. The reports combine RTF-templates from the BI Server with XML data from Siebel into various document types, such as PDF. The templates are easy to maintain using BI Publisher Desktop, a simple plugin for MS Word. XML data is composed by Siebel Integration Objects.

As of PeopleTools 8.50, Oracle introduced Generic Prompting for process definitions. With this feature the creation of runcontrol pages has become obsolete.   PeopleBooks describes the ability of Generic Prompting, but does not give an example how to achieve this, nor does DMO provided an example.

This post describes the steps needed to get Generic Prompting working properly.

Active Recruiter  is an Applicant Tracking System. In this case I discuss using the application for internal job application. The manager posts a concept vacancy in PeopleSoft HCM MSS. The concept vacancy only consists of some elementary data ( the department, the details of the manager, the amount of people needed, the amount of weekly hours, a jobcode, a unique identifier of the vacancy and ther closing date). But does not contain the job description or de demands. After the concept-vacancy is approved further up the organization (using PeopleSoft workflow), the concept vacancy is sent to ActiveRecruiter by means of SOAP messaging. There is a link on PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal which leads the manager to the ActiveRecruiter application with Single Signon, where he can finish the concept into a complete vacancy. There is another link on the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal which leads an employee to the ActiveRecruiter application with single signon, where he can apply on the job. ActiveRecruiter is an external application, hosted by JobPartners.

Better late than never is a famous saying and was one of the first things that came up in my mind when I first saw the Oracle Siebel CRM Desktop (released in Fix Pack for Siebel CRM). My actual first thought was: Nice! This looks great! and was immediatly followed by: “this is something we have been waiting for for years!”. I am aware of the fact that this might sound a little bit to enthousiastic. Fact is that I really mean it. And yes; Siebel CRM Desktop still has to prove itself in production. The start, however, is promising.