Port of Seattle deployed a comprehensive Fluid navigation paradigm

Summary

The Port of Seattle, in conjunction with their partner SmartERP, deployed a comprehensive Fluid navigation paradigm, using Home Pages, Tiles, Navigation Collections to harmonize access across Fluid pages, Classic pages, and custom reports and interfaces, deploying Work Centers, the Financial Audit Framework, Elasticsearch, and using Page and Field Configurator to convert invasive customizations into configurations without impacting the end user experience.

Customer comments

The Port of Seattle has just completed their upgrade to version 9.2. Unlike many companies that simply perform a technical upgrade, Port of Seattle has fully embraced the new features available in 9.2. Examples include:

Fully leveraging Fluid Navigation - They have not given users the option of selecting a Classic Menu interface. All users are navigating via Fluid. PoS has many custom reports and interfaces. These have been gathered into Fluid Navigation Collections for access. The Fluid Homepage even has a tile for Port News and Events. Fluid pages are also being used wherever available and are especially useful for workflow approvals, which are heavily utilized at the Port.

Elasticsearch - Port of Seattle deployed Elasticsearch on day 1 of their 9.2 go-live and users have been trained in how they can use it to quickly find detailed information throughout the system.

Page and Field Configurator - As part of the upgrade, the Port went through all delivered pages that had been customized to determine of the customization could be removed and replaced with configuration via the Page and Field Configurator. Where possible, this was done. Thus, the number of customizations has been reduced without any impact to the end users.

The Financials Audit Framework was deployed in several subject areas. In some cases, use of the framework replaced the traditional audits that were created via PeopleTools Application Designer, thus removing additional customization while providing users with the ability to more easily search audit information.

WorkCenters - Port of Seattle has deployed all available WorkCenters available for the modules that they use. During the project, these WorkCenters were carefully studied and configured so as to provide maximum usability. Commonly used pages and queries that Port personal access frequently that were not already on the WorkCenters were added as links. Many Port custom queries were also added to the WorkCenters. The goal was, as much as possible, to make the WorkCenters the place where most users can spend their entire day and be able to access all of their regular functions.

So many of our customers view an upgrade as just an opportunity to "get current" to ensure that they are covered by Premier Support without actually taking advantage of the new features. The Port of Seattle has really gone the extra mile to investigate the new features that are available and taking full advantage of them. A great deal of user training was done to ensure that users would be familiar with the new features and with the new Fluid Navigation. On go-live day, it was basically business as usual. This proves that it is possible to have an upgrade project and take advantage of the new capabilities without causing business disruption.