Understanding PeopleSoft Processes and Reports

Although much of your interaction with the PeopleSoft system involves working with the online pages of a PeopleSoft application, you also run offline or batch processes that run in the background while you continue to use the application or even after you have left the office.

A batch process is a predefined process or program that runs independently of any end-user intervention. Typical offline processes include payroll, journal posting, complex mathematical calculations, or reports that you share with colleagues.

You run batch processes in the PeopleSoft system using the PeopleSoft Process Scheduler, which enables your organization to define processes, submit requests for processes, and set up an agent to scan for and run submitted processes.

As an end user, your only concern is with successfully submitting process requests, monitoring their progress, and viewing their output in Report Manager. You can safely leave process definitions and configuring the Process Scheduler Server to the technical staff at your site. This documentation covers the general procedure for running the standard reports that come with your PeopleSoft applications. If you or someone in your organization has added custom reports to the system, the procedure should be similar.

Note: The procedures described in these topics apply to most standard reports but not all of them. Some PeopleSoft applications include reports that you run from outside the system using PS/nVision or a third-party application. The documentation for your PeopleSoft application tells you which third-party application to use.