The Clerk & Comptroller, Palm Beach County deployed a host of user friendly, branded PeopleSoft HCM capabilities with the Fluid user interface, including Manager and Employee Self Service, Paycheck Modeler, and they newly implemented PeopleSoft Health and Safety functionality, used Page and Field Configurator and Event Mapping to easily tailor the solutions to fit their unique needs, used Pivot Grids with Fluid tiles and configurable Home Pages to replace over 250 old payroll reports, provided enhanced search capabilities with Elasticsearch, and drove patching and lifecycle management efficiencies and time savings with the use of PeopleSoft Deployment Packages.
We have accomplished many crucial PeopleSoft projects with great success at the Clerk & Comptroller’s office, allowing us to enhance the user experience while also increasing efficiencies.
We completed multiple projects geared to leveraging PeopleSoft Fluid technology and to enhancing the user experience and look-and-feel of the application. First, we implemented the Fluid Employee Self Service and Manager Self Service and utilized Event Mapping with Page & Field Configurator to hide or display features based on roles and permission lists. Then, we included the use of Pivot Grid functionality to convert over 250 Crystal reports into about 50 pivot grid payroll reports using tiles and configurable homepages. Finally, we used fluid tiles and homepages to enhance the user experience when implementing the PeopleSoft Health and Safety module to support approximately 8,000 Palm Beach County employees.
Along with the Fluid Employee Self Service, the Payroll department configured the Paycheck Modeler functionality, which provided a simplified user experience by summarizing the earning types and benefit choices.
We also replaced Secure Enterprise Search (SES) with Elasticsearch, which enhanced the searching capabilities within the applications and provided more efficiencies to the user community. We created our internal processes for using Selective Adoption and PeopleSoft Update Manager to rollout critical patches, enhancements and features that were required or requested by the functional teams. We are also in the process of upgrading the PeopleSoft Application database to Oracle 12c and PeopleTools to 8.56 using PeopleSoft Deployment Packages (DPKs).
Fluid Employee and Manager Self Service allows employees to access their information on a user-friendly and custom branded platform that is also accessible remotely on a variety of devices. Using the Page & Field Configurator, we were able to provide County employees access to change their 457 plan amounts while maintaining the amounts displayed-only for the Clerk employees. This enhancement was done without customizations. Fluid technology, the pivot grid payroll reports and the Health and Safety homepages and tiles allow users to get the information they need effectively with minimal to no training required, which reduces the amount of time and effort spent on training materials and sessions. We also were able to reduce paper and printing costs; provide on-demand and secure access to reports; allow users to sort and filter data with graphical representations; and provide an easier way to create and deploy additional reports as needed with minimal effort and without engaging the technical team.
The Paycheck Modeler is utilized not only for regular paycheck review and what-if scenarios (W-4, voluntary deductions, etc.), but it also was promoted as a tool to be utilized in conjunction with open enrollment, benefit/payroll fairs, our financial wellness program, and our Harvard award-winning Financial Literacy Internship Program.
The implementation of Elasticsearch allowed the team to utilize the latest search technology provided for PeopleSoft, which provided enhanced searching capabilities to the user community. The deployment of critical POCs (proof of concept) patches and critical year-end enhancements such as 1099s with minimal testing and impact to the rest of the application was a great advantage this year. It allowed us to provide the functions and services required by our users, reduce testing time and increase the time of production availability. This was especially helpful during heavy operational times such as fiscal and/or calendar year-end processing.
PeopleSoft Deployment Packages have allowed us to simplify the PeopleSoft architecture and prepare it to be able to respond efficiently to applying critical patches and maintenance. We have experienced process efficiencies and time improvements when completing the upgrade steps from environment to environment. We anticipate even more efficiencies as we complete the Oracle 12C and PeopleTools 8.56 upgrade project.