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Time to pay attention to Oracle Guided Learning – The next generation of training and guided processing in PeopleSoft (Part 1)

Over the course of 30 years, there have been many innovations in the PeopleSoft world. There is a new one that has a lot of people excited. Let me tell you about Oracle Guided Learning (OGL) and why I think it will revolutionize the way we will all interact with PeopleSoft.

Prior to moving to Consulting, I worked for many years at several different organizations providing PeopleSoft support, implementations, and training like many of you. One thing we all know is that there is an inverse correlation between how well we train our users and how many support tickets are generated. In fact, most support tickets are simply training issues and not system “bugs.”

In addition, some users may want to be guided through a process because they don’t have time to look at a training manual.

We can write the most eloquent and comprehensive training manual. But if nobody reads it, how effective is it? Sure, your users may have your training guide on a bookshelf somewhere, but they aren’t generally looked at after the initial, possibly mandatory, training. This type of “look away” training is destined to be a relic of the past along with the rest of those books on the bookshelf.

I’ve heard from many PeopleSoft customers who put a lot of time into User Productivity Kit, or “UPK,” scripts as well, only to have them become stale. Great documents, but completely disconnected from helping users in their time of need, i.e., when they are in the actual system entering data or running a report or approving a transaction.

With UPK moving to Sustaining Support after December 2022, I’ve spoken to a lot of organizations in the past year who are interested in a “UPK replacement.” But as I spoke with them, it turned out they didn’t merely want to replace UPK. They were interested in the next generation of technology that would offer more effective guidance for their users.

Enter Oracle Guided Learning (OGL). OGL is a “Digital Adoption Platform” which offers a solution to many of the above frustrations. Digital Adoption Platforms are everywhere, hiding in plain sight.

Every time you go to a website and there is a message bubble on top of the main site pointing you to a new feature or offering to walk you through how to find what you’re looking for; you’re looking at a digital adoption platform tool. I even saw it on my phone after an OS update:

This isn’t your father’s Clippy (remember that?)… This new technology is intuitive, real-time, and offers help to the user without being heavy-handed. You don’t need to click on a ‘Help link’ to learn how to use the application anymore. PeopleSoft should also be the same way. With OGL for PeopleSoft, it now is.

OGL for PeopleSoft guides users through a Process, offers contextual Smart Tips, Task Lists, and more.

OGL Process Example:

OGL Smart Tip Example:

Click here to watch a Feature Overview of OGL in action.

And the great thing about these guides? No code in PeopleSoft or users’ desktops. A link creates a connection between your PeopleSoft environment (which can be on-prem) to the OGL application on the web which stores your guides.

Analytics take this tool to the next level. This built-in tool tells administrators which guides are being used effectively and collects feedback from the users.

OGL will transform the way you support your users with more effective guidance at the point of need and ultimately reduce support tickets.

SpearMC is the exclusive Oracle University Reseller and PeopleSoft Learning Services Provider for Oracle Guided Learning in North America. Our OGL Starter Kit will help expedite your implementation. Our OGL developers and PeopleSoft process experts can help transform your training guides into in-app OGL guides. Reach out to us for a live demonstration.

Part 2 of this blog post will focus on the best Use Cases for OGL on PeopleSoft.