Considerations for PeopleSoft Fluid Application Implementation

Not all PeopleSoft application pages will be delivered for the PeopleSoft Fluid User Interface. The majority of PeopleSoft applications, components, and pages will, for the foreseeable future, continue to be delivered and accessed in classic mode, which is the way PeopleSoft applications have been accessed using desktops and laptops for over a decade. PeopleSoft application teams will be offering selected applications for fluid deployment that your organization can choose to enable and deploy.

In most cases, there is no quick and simple method for converting an existing custom classic application to a fluid application. Plenty of time should be spent analyzing requirements and discussing design options and considerations. In some cases, adjusting a classic page following the fluid approach to page design may be all that's required, while in other cases, you may consider building a new application from the ground up, perhaps reducing the number of fields and records required, and streamlining the entire data model.

Converting an application to fluid and bringing with it all the classic application techniques and elements may result in poor performance and usability on a mobile device. While some of the structural elements of the application must be analyzed and adjusted for fluid application deployment, such as page layout, some elements, such as PeopleCode business logic, can be used in either classic or fluid mode with little, if any, modification.

Before you consider deploying any PeopleSoft applications in fluid mode, it is important to consider the following items, which may help you to determine if fluid applications are appropriate for your user base at this time.

Consideration	Discussion
Not all applications (currently) are candidates for fluid deployment.	Currently, the applications that are most suited for fluid deployment are those that are already considered streamlined, self-service type applications. For example, accessing a page to check a new hire’s job status would be a more appropriate fluid application as opposed to accessing a component with a cell phone to complete a new hire’s “add employee” business process.
Are mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets used widely to access PeopleSoft applications at your site?	If your user base already accesses or has expressed a demand for accessing your PeopleSoft applications using mobile devices, fluid deployment would be a good option for you. However, if mobile devices are not part of your user base or application delivery strategy, while you cannot disable fluid deployment at the system level, you can direct all users to the classic homepage at signon. See Setting Device Homepage Defaults for more information.
Application usage and workload?	Pages where there is heavy data entry required would not be suitable for phones or even tablets. The functional use of the page must be paramount. Plus, some pages are administrative in nature. Would these pages benefit from a simpler reworking to make them classic plus, but consequently foregoing the responsive and adaptive nature of fluid applications? See Converting Existing Classic Pages to Fluid for more information.
Does an application require functionality that does not exist in the fluid user interface?	For example, some features, like spell check, trees, and others are not available in fluid. See Page Controls Not Supported in Fluid Applications for more information.