2022 PeopleSoft Innovator. Kaiser Permanente rolled out Fluid User Interface to their 250,000 OneLink (PeopleSoft Finance and Supply Chain) end-users (employees, contractors and some external vendors). They established an annual ‘stay current’ update project that allows them to selectively adopt the latest features from PeopleSoft Images and the current PeopleTools release. During “year 5” of the process – Kaiser Permanente was on PI35, moving to PI39 in September ’21. More recently, while taking advantage of PeopleSoft configuration utilities, they used PeopleSoft Forms to help manage internal administrative costs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Summary
Kaiser Permanente has subscribed to Oracle’s Guided Learning cloud offering and are using it with PeopleSoft – they have created 400 FSCM guides that are live and have been used thousands of times in the last year! Additionally, end-users benefit by having the same UI experience as with the Guided Learning on the recent Oracle HCM Cloud deployment.
Since the job of “staying current” and improving the user experience is never finished, in 2021 the Kaiser Permanente OneLink team tackled Fluid ePro and deployed initial Chatbot functionality (using PeopleSoft delivered chat functionality on the ODA (Oracle Digital Assistant) technology. They were excited to start a new journey, and plan to continually expand over the upcoming years.
End Results:
- An easy-to-navigate user group
- The application of appealing images on homepages
- Resolution of scaling issues on mobile devices
- Reduction of training costs
- Overall improvement of functionality for new Classic Plus pages
The people that participated in the pilot spread the word…and before we knew it, the rest of the users asked to get Fluid too!
Comments that the implementation team heard
“It’s so easy, even my son can use it.”
“What did you guys do to the application? It’s so easy, I love it now.”
“I have access to more stuff now.” To which the team responded, “Actually, you’ve always had access to that stuff, you just didn’t know it because of the old navigation!”
Selective Adoption
Kaiser Permanente adopted a “stay current” process – which annually, involves a combination of PUM updates, some Fluid UI/features and, depending on the year, PeopleTools and/or Database upgrades. The annual updates project takes approximately 6 months, and involves substantial systems integration testing (SIT) and functional/user validation to ensure a seamless experience for the 250,000 end-users and the 315 integrations to 118 upstream, and downstream, systems! We also evaluate new features with our business process owner community and have them prioritize the features based on perceived value. We have been phasing in Fluid features over the last couple of years to the “heavier used” functional areas such as expenses, eSettlements and payment check request. This year we are focusing on Fluid ePro.
Kaiser Permanente also heavily invested in using PTF (PeopleSoft Test Framework) for 70-80% of Systems Integration Testing. We also worked with our key Business Stakeholders to reduce the amount of testing that they need to perform – by having our SIT and functional support teams do the “lion’s share” of the testing. The business stakeholders then validate the results.
It is a true testament to the amazing abilities and experience of the entire Kaiser Permanente OneLink, IT and Business team involved show smoothly the annual updates projects go – to the point where Sr. Executives do not even realize that the significant updates have occurred!
- An easy-to-navigate user group
- The application of appealing images on homepages
- Resolution of scaling issues on mobile devices
- Reduction of training costs
- Overall improvement of functionality for new Classic Plus pages
The people that participated in the pilot spread the word…and before we knew it, the rest of the users asked to get Fluid too!
Oracle has recognized SpearMC for our specialization and deep expertise in their products. This success story was originally published on Oracle’s website as an example of how organizations are unlocking their potential with the help of our team and Oracle solutions.
