PeopleSoft Applications Portal 9.1 PeopleBook: Using Portal Features

Getting Started With PeopleSoft Applications Portal

This chapter provides an overview of PeopleSoft Applications Portal discusses:

PeopleSoft Applications Portal integrations.
PeopleSoft Applications Portal implementation tasks.

PeopleSoft Applications Portal Overview

Reviewing all elements of the PeopleSoft portal offerings helps you better understand how the PeopleSoft Applications Portal fits within your own portal strategy. The PeopleSoft offerings focus on providing you with products that can be combined in multiple ways to produce the applications portal configuration that addresses your organization's requirements. The fact that the PeopleSoft Applications Portal and PeopleSoft business applications share a common PeopleTools technology base makes integration easy. While our portal packs provide this prepackaged integration to PeopleSoft applications, you can also integrate with any web-enabled application by using the PeopleTools integration technologies.

This section discusses each element in the overall PeopleSoft portal infrastructure:

PeopleSoft Applications Portal.
PeopleTools portal technology.
Application portal packs.

Note. This PeopleBook documents only the functionality of the PeopleSoft Applications Portal. Detailed documentation for PeopleTools portal technology and the application portal packs is delivered separately with respective products.

PeopleSoft Applications Portal provides a selection of out-of-the-box features that enable you to quickly implement the portal. You can deploy enterprise-wide access to internet-based applications, unstructured content, a searchable resource repository, and collaborative services through an internet browser.

Deploying PeopleSoft Applications Portal provides you with peace of mind, knowing that your software investment is protected against rapidly changing technology standards through our full-service support, maintenance, and upgrade programs.

PeopleSoft Applications Portal Homepage

The PeopleSoft Applications Portal homepage aggregates a variety of content gathered from sources across an organization:

PeopleSoft Applications Portal homepage example

Users can configure their PeopleSoft Applications Portal homepages to display a variety of pagelets. Numerous pagelets are delivered with the PeopleSoft Applications Portal product.

These features are available on the PeopleSoft Applications Portal homepage header:

Home	Select to return to your PeopleSoft Applications Portal homepage (My Page).
Worklist	Select to access your worklist. See PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleSoft Applications User's Guide PeopleBook, “Using Workflow.”
Resource Finder	Select to access the Resource Finder - Advanced Search page, where you can perform detailed searches for resources in your enterprise and access relevant resource profiles. See Performing Advanced Resource Finder Searches.
MultiChannel Console	Select to launch the MultiChannel Console. See PeopleTools 8.52: PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework PeopleBooks PeopleBook, “Understanding PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework.”
Search	Submit a portal search request and access the Search page. See Submitting Searches in the Portal.
Add to My Links	Select to access the Add to My Links page, where you can add a My Link to the currently accessed component of your My Links collection. See Adding the Current Page to My Links.
Main Menu	Use the cascading drop-down menu navigation to view menu folders and navigate to a menu item.
My Page	Select to access your PeopleSoft Applications Portal homepage tab.
Guest	Select to access a sample tab that is configured for guest users. See Managing Guest User Accounts.
Investor	Select to access the Investor Portal homepage tab.
Administration	Select to access the PeopleSoft Applications Portal Administration homepage tab.

PeopleSoft Applications Portal Administration Homepage

The PeopleSoft Applications Portal Administration homepage tab displays homepage pagelets for administrative tasks:

These homepage pagelets display the same content as the navigation collection pages that are linked from the Enterprise Menu under Portal Administration:

Site Manager Center.

See Navigating in PeopleSoft Applications Portal Site Management.
Content Management Center.

See Understanding the Content Management System.
Branding Center.

See Navigating in PeopleSoft Applications Portal Branding.
Context Manager Center.

See Working With the Context Manager Center Pagelet.
Resource Finder Center.

See Enterprise Portal Resource Finder Overview.

Users can select which pagelets appear by personalizing content for their administration homepage tabs.

PeopleTools Portal Technology

All PeopleSoft applications are developed using PeopleTools application development technology. PeopleTools, an object-oriented development environment, allows for the rapid and efficient development of applications by storing application design as metadata. The PeopleTools development and runtime environment includes the basic technology features on which PeopleSoft Applications Portal is built.

PeopleSoft Application Portal Packs

Portal packs are predefined collections of pagelets that provide access to key data from PeopleSoft Enterprise business applications. Each product line has various portal pack offerings. They supplement PeopleSoft Applications Portal by adding a selection of pre-integrated application pagelets for placement on the homepage. After administrators register application pagelets in the PeopleSoft Applications Portal registry, or registries, and configure them to appropriate tabs, users manage which pagelets appear on their homepages by selecting the Personalize Content link on their homepages.

This diagram shows PeopleSoft Applications Portal as the integrating layer between the portal audience and the PeopleSoft applications and their associated portal packs:

PeopleSoft Applications Portal as an integrating layer

PeopleSoft Applications Portal Integrations

PeopleSoft Applications Portal can integrate with all of the following:

PeopleSoft applications.
Non-PeopleSoft applications.
Third-party internet services.
Internet content.
Extranet content.
Intranet content.

PeopleSoft Applications Portal Implementation Tasks

PeopleSoft Setup Manager enables you to generate a list of setup tasks for your organization based on the features that you are implementing. The setup tasks include the components that you must set up, listed in the order in which you must enter data into the component tables, and links to the corresponding PeopleBook documentation.

Other Sources of Information

In the planning phase of your implementation, take advantage of all PeopleSoft sources of information, including the installation guides, table-loading sequences, data models, and business process maps. A complete list of these resources appears in the preface in the PeopleSoft Applications Portal Application Technology PeopleBook, with information about where to find the most current version of each.