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.

The end of this turbulent year is coming soon. The year where Oracle delivered new versions of their business applications. PeopleTools 8.50 and PeopleSoft 9.1 have been released. On this year’s Oracle Open World Larry Ellison announced the first version of Fusion Applications. What can we expect in 2010 from Oracle Applications?

Gartner published a report in July of this year about the strategy of PeopleSoft Upgrades. The report gives a couple of recommendations. The most important, in my opinion are:

• PeopleSoft customers with long-term commitments to Oracle Applications should upgrade to version 9.0 or 9.1 (9.1 available in H2Y09)
• PeopleSoft customers should minimize customizations and extentions to their existing PeopleSoft application

When customers are planning a new installation of PeopleSoft, Gartner suggest to implement version 9.0. “Gartner believes that v.9.1 will be released during 2H09, but most customers will not want to be the first to take on a new release. If you need the newest functionality right away (such as compensation management or succession management in HCM), then implement v.9.1 as soon as is practical for your organization. If you don’t need the new functionality, then implement v.9.0 until v.9.1 has more market traction and proof points, which Gartner expects within 12 to 18 months of release.”

Read the full article.

Source: Gartner (July 2009)

Regularly I write about the developments in the field of Oracle Applications. One of the changes that I foresee in the coming years is that the traditional activities of a functional or technical consultant will change dramatically.

Oracle Fusion Middleware is now a accepted product and is increasingly being used by our customers. It forms the technical basis for the next generation application: Fusion Applications. In my view this means a whole new playing field for the traditional ERP consultant. Fusion Applications consists of processes (with BPM and BPA Suite), services developed with Java and integrated with Fusion Middleware, service bus and BPEL. To keep it simple I leave IDM/SSO, BI, MDM out of the equation. Striking is that on the playing field for instance PeopleTools or Siebel tools are not mentioned. The focus is no longer on the ERP application but more on processes and services. Integration is the key word.