peoplesoft forms and approval builder - now better with fluid

Prepared by:

Session ID:

PeopleSoft Forms and Approval Builder

Steven Canter

Director, Global Service Delivery

Smart ERP Solutions

Steve.C@SmartERP.com

Now Better with Fluid

100350

Agenda

• Overview of Approval and Forms Builder

• How to design a form

• Linking a form to a PeopleSoft transaction via Component Interface

• Filling out and approving the form

• Limitations and other considerations

• Wrap-up/Questions

About Smart ERP Solutions, Inc

Achieve Best-In-Class PerformanceOur mission is to provide innovative, configurable, flexible, cost-effective solutions

to common business challenges, enabling our clients to save time, increase productivity, minimize costs, and maximize their return on investment.

SolutionsBusiness applications that offer organizations an end-to-end solution providing

the right design and implementation from start

to finish.

ServicesA 24/7 seasoned and

experienced staff of experts to help you implement your

business solutions efficiently and effectively at

a cost-effective rate.

CloudCloud applications provide solutions built on proven

enterprise class architecture that enable high configurability and

ease of monitoring.

What is the Forms and Approval Builder?

• Enables organizations to replace paper forms and emails with electronic forms

• Forms are configuration by business analysts – no writing of code required

• Forms are enabled for approval workflow

• Developers can map data collected on forms to PeopleSoft Component Interface to allow form data to be copied to a PeopleSoft transaction.

Quick History

• Forms and Approval Builder was introduced in PeopleSoft 9.1 as an Enterprise Component

• Fluid Support added in FSCM Image 20 and HCM Image 20.

• Fluid makes forms easier for casual users and allows forms to be filled out and approved on mobile devices

• Forms created with Classic UI and those created in Fluid are not interchangeable

Why Use Forms Builder?

• Does your organization have paper-based or Excel-based forms that must be filled out?

• Do you have things that need to be circulated for approvals outside of standard PeopleSoft transactions?

• Are there simple PeopleSoft transactions for which you desire approvals where there is no standard workflow?

• Do you have a need for a document repository of forms?

• Do you need to maintain an audit trail of forms approval history?

Key Features

• Forms can be designed with both data fields and text information.

• Form Instructions can be included (Classic UI Only)

• Forms can contain various types of data including Date, Yes/No, Text, etc.

• Prompts can be defined to constrain entry of fields to only valid values

• Support is provided for attachments to forms

• Form access is controlled by Role (Fluid UI only)

Example Business Cases

• Permission to bring in a temporary worker

• Request for employee payment outside of normal expenses (Example: tuition reimbursement)

• Requirement for computer or office equipment for an employee

• Request to add new master data configuration (Examples: Carrier ID, Commodity Code, Item Group, etc.)

Fluid Form Sample

These areas are automatically included

Delivered Security Roles

• FORM_USER – User has the ability to complete and submit forms

• FORM_DESIGNER – All abilities of FORM_USER but can also add/update forms for which they are the owner

• FORM_ADMIN – All abilities of FORM_DESIGNER but with permission to access all forms regardless of ownership

• FORM_CI_DEVELOPER – All abilities of FORM_ADMIN but can also perform integration to PeopleSoft transactions by mapping form data to Component Interface

Creating a Form

Access the Fluid Forms Designer

Example Business Case

• All managers in the company have the ability make a request for a capital expenditure

• All requests must be circulated for approval before the expenditure can be made

• Many people that might have the need to make a capital expenditure request are not regular PeopleSoft users

• The Forms and Approval Builder will be used to create a form and workflow for these requests

Step 1 – Form Definition

Customize Tile Image (must be SVG

format)

Step 2 – Form Layout (drag and drop)

View Form Factor

Sample Form Factors

Phone form factor Landscape tablet form factor

Adding a Yes/No field

Adding a Code field

Define Valid Code Values

Adding a Prompt Field

Adding Prompt Records

• Navigation is Enterprise Components > Forms >Define Prompt Records (Classic only)

• Define records here that are available as Prompt records in Forms Builder

Prompt Table Lookups

Adding a Numeric Field

Adding a Divider

Adding a Text Field

Step 3 - Instructions

Step 4: Approval and Lockdown

Notes on Approval and Lockdown

Approval

• Approved User List is defined at Enterprise Components > Approvals > Approvals >User List Setup

• Approval paths are sequential – no branching is allowed

Lockdown• Do not lockdown:

changes can be made at any time

• Lockdown after submit: After the form is submitted, it cannot be changed

• Lockdown after approval: After the form is approved it cannot be changed

Step 5 - Security (not available in Classic)

Activate the Form

Note: Form can be saved at any point along the way and edited. Must Activate the form before it can be used.

Linking a Form to PeopleSoft Content

Linking to Component Interface

• Can use either delivered CI or create your own

• Limited to simple transactions (Example: each form can only add one row in a scroll level)

• Can only add new values – cannot update existing rows

• Prompts and XLATS must match between the form and the CI properties

• Details on creating new CI are beyond the scope of this presentation

Add a Commodity Code via Form

• Commodity Codes are used on Bills of Lading to group and identify products for freight rating and insurance purposes

• Commodity Codes in PeopleSoft often correspond to Freight Classes

• Items are assigned a Commodity Code

• For this example, we want to create a form that will allow a user to request the addition of a new Commodity Code and then for that code to be automatically added to PeopleSoft when approved

Commodity Code Example

Existing CI for Commodity Code

Form for Commodity Code

Setup Form to CI Mappings

Navigation: Enterprise Components > Forms > Form to CI Mapping

Mapping the Form Defaults are provided where field is not on the form

Form Use and Approval

Fluid Page with Forms Tiles

Fill Out a New Commodity Form

Completed Form Before Save

Preview Approval Workflow

Submit Form for Approval

Form is Available for Approval

Review Form Data

Add Comments and Submit

Must Post to Update CI

Transaction is Successful

Commodity Code has been Added

Submitter Can See Approval Status

Considerations / Limitation

Workflow Considerations

• Approver lists are same as AWE engine.

• Only simple in-sequence workflow allowed – No ability to have parallel approvals or branching

• Approvers cannot be data driven (Example: different approvers depending on dollar value)

• Approvals are designed into the process, requires workarounds to have a form that does not require approvals. Must create an AWE workflow that is always True to emulate auto-approval.

Forms Design Considerations• Inflexible in regard to forms design and layout

• Can only specify forms sequence, not specific positioning • For Classic, can specific one-column or two-column design• For Fluid, it auto-sizes to fit

• Limited scales available for Text and Numeric fields• Cannot auto-fill data into form or constrain entries based on

user or previously entered data – Example: cannot enter Employee ID and have the Employee Name appear on the form

• Attachments, Description, and More Information fields cannot be controlled

• CI interfacing is Add Only, cannot be used to update existing data

Fluid Form Security

• Any Fluid user can see all Form tiles

• Security will prevent unauthorized users from filling a form – Fill out a new form box will be greyed out

Other Potential lssues

• In Fluid UI, Instructions are not available

• In Classic UI, Security by Form is not available

• When designing form, there is space for detailed field information, but it is not displayed on the form.

• Limited capabilities for CI integration – Add mode only and limited to a single row per scroll level

• No automated recovery if CI update is unsuccessful

• Fluid version is very new – don’t be surprise to find a bug or two

Tips for Testing/Deploying Forms

• Only status available for a form are In Design, Active, and Inactivated – there is no Test mode

• Make sure to test forms thoroughly in a test environment before deploying in Production – Once activated, existing fields cannot be deleted or modified

• Details on DMS script for Forms Migration can be found on My Oracle Support under Doc ID 1379385.1

• FORM_TYPE: Contains 1 row for each defined form• Includes Form Name, Description, Owner

• Indicates whether or not Form is Fluid

• FORM: Contains 1 row for each submitted form. • Includes OPRID for Submitter and Last Updater

• Includes Submitted Date/Time and Last Update Date/Time

• Includes Status

• For more detailed information on approval status, needto query the AWE tables.

Key Records for Reporting

Sample Query

Wrap Up

• Use Forms and Approval Builder when you have simple paper-based or email forms that need circulation for approval

• Useful for simple PeopleSoft transactions, particularly for set-up and configuration steps that don’t have delivered approval workflow

• Most things can be done by a Business Analyst. Developer may be needed for CI work or migration of forms between environments

• Worth trying out in your organization – but don’t set expectations too high

Any Questions?

Session ID: 100350

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