Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS)
BITS accelerates PeopleSoft transformation by managing PeopleSoft customizations.
Summary
The Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani, in conjunction with Kovaion Consulting, upgraded their PeopleSoft FSCM 9.1 and Campus Solutions 9.0 applications to the latest databases, PeopleTools, and PUM application versions. During this upgrade process, the Kovaion upgrade team, in consultation with the BITS Pilani ERP team, used recent feature innovations such as drop zones, Page and Field Configurator, Application Engine plugins, and event mapping to isolate a multitude of customizations, ensuring effective life cycle management and seamless selective adoption.
About the customer
BITS is a leading institute of higher education and a deemed university offering degree programmes in engineering, sciences, technology, pharmacy, management, and humanities. Ranked #1 in private engineering colleges with the best placement record in India per “India Today Ranking 2021,” the institute is a dream come true of its founder, the late Mr. G.D. Birla—an eminent industrialist and a participant in Indian freedom struggles. BITS Pilani has four established campuses: Pilani (Rajasthan), Goa, Hyderabad, and Dubai.
About the project
BITS' IT team planned to upgrade their PeopleSoft FSCM and Campus Solutions systems to the latest versions, considering a host of new features and technologies released by Oracle in the later versions.
Student Information System (PeopleSoft Campus Solutions)
BITS' key objectives for the upgrade of PeopleSoft FSCM and Campus Solutions were to:
- Accelerate PeopleSoft transformation by managing customizations.
- Fully leverage the many configurable frameworks:
- Application Engine plugins.oDrop zones.
- Event mapping framework.
- Page and Field Configurator.
- Stay current with PeopleSoft enhancements.
- Increase and optimize the user experience.
- Lower the cost of maintenance due to fewer customizations.
Isolation of customizations play a key role in cost-effective life cycle management. Kovaion and BITS leveraged the upgrade opportunity to identify custom objects and were able to effectively isolated more than 50% of customizations via PeopleTools features—drop zones, event mapping, Page and Field Configurator, and Application Engine plugins. For example:
- Customizations were significantly reduced in the Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cashbusiness processes in the PeopleSoft FSCM application.
- Customizations were also significantly reduced in the Student Financials, Student Records,and Advisement business processes in the PeopleSoft Campus Solutions application.
- PeopleCode customizations done for business validations have been moved to event mapping toease future upgrades.
Related Content - Event Mapping
Event Mapping Framework Configuration
Page and Field Configurator
Classic plus mode was enabled using branding system options to create a more consistent look and feel of the important components.
Classic+ Enablement
Application Engine plugins were created and deployed for the customized Receipt Delivery BIPublisher report.
Application Engine Plugins
The upgrade journey and isolation of customizations
The upgrade program was executed in two parallel rapid sprints with both upgrades executed in about 20 weeks:
- Six-step upgrade of the PeopleSoft FSCM application:
- Oracle database upgrade from 11g to 19c.
- PeopleTools upgrade from 8.51.22 to 8.58.
- PeopleSoft application upgrade from 9.1 to 9.2.
- PUM update to version 9.2.39.
- Seven-step upgrade of PeopleSoft Campus Solutions application:
- Oracle database upgrade from 11g to 19c.
- PeopleTools upgrade from 8.51.22 to 8.58.
- PeopleSoft application from 9.1 to 9.2.
- PUM update to version 9.2.19.
BITS' IT and end user teams were able to reap the below benefits of the upgrade, when they completed the very first student registration event after the 9.2 upgrade. The student registration activity at BITS is a very complex activity and involves the coordination of multiple academic teams across all campuses of BITS. This is a highly visible activity for BITS senior management. The registrations were handled very successfully on a transformed, user-friendly Campus Solutions application.
Student Registration
Key benefits of the rapid upgrade
- Transformed both PeopleSoft applications from unsupported versions to the latest PUM images.
- Accelerated business transformation and innovation.
- Leveraged the enriched user interface and interaction possibilities available with fluid.
- Ease of selective adoption.
- Optimized user experience and enhanced operational efficiency.
During the upgrade assessment and "Keep/Drop Analysis Phase," over 100 customizations inFSCM and over 250 customizations in Campus Solutions were identified. The project team opted to dropmore than 50% of those customizations. Kovaion’s upgrade specialists isolated those customizations by moving them into event napping and drop zones, which eventually will make the maintenance ofthe application easy. It will also simplify futue selective adoption.
About 270 pages had been customized and about 30% of those pages werereconfigured using Page and Field Configurator, which will also simplify future life cycle management.
Team behind the success
See also
BITS has been recognized as a PeopleSoft innovator, and as a feature innovator for another initiative:
- PeopleSoft innovator: BITS migrated their PeopleSoft environments to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
- Feature innovator: BITS deploys fluid self service for PeopleSoft Campus Solutions.