What do you consider to be your main area of expertise?
Specialised Dogsbody :*)

Since joining Congruent I've been involved in all things technical from setting up and configuring the infrastructure to writing and testing the code that goes on it. I've especially enjoyed using the Application Engine\Component Interface Technology with external interfaces, as it's great to see a load of changes appear in the database or a file with the relevant data created in the output.

What is the most interesting customisation that you have done or seen in PeopleSoft?
A Salary Planning module for Ernst & Young which utilised the basic functionality of the vanilla module, but which was completely customised to fit the clients needs. The employee data was extracted using Congruent's SQRXLS tool to Excel, filled in by the relevant departments and imported in again through SQRXLS. The area I was responsible for was creating Application Engines and Component Interfaces to approve the salary review, upload the data to the job records and send an encrypted email to the user advising them of their review.

Another interesting customisation I was involved in was to write all of the data migration Application Engines for an upgrade. This involved detailing the initial functional specifications to encompass all of the core HR data. As the V7.5 system was heavily customised and was being returned to vanilla in the upgrade, deciding how to transform the data to fit with V8.3's structure, while maintaining data integrity was the core driver of this activity. Due to the heavily customised nature of V7.5, it was much easier to create the upgrade scripts from scratch than to alter the delivered PeopleSoft Upgrade Application Engines, which was why we chose this path.

What project have you most enjoyed working on and why?
The Ernst & Young Upgrade. The project was on quite an aggressive timeline and involved returning a heavily customised system closer to vanilla. Due to the timescale it required a high level of commitment and good integration between the E&Y and Congruent project teams. Thanks to good mangement on both sides, we were able to get decisions when they were needed and despite the long hours and stress at the time, it was well worth it when it went live with no problems.

What would you most like added to the PeopleSoft product?
Rocket Launchers, but failing that a more stable debugging environment for Application Engines. There is nothing worse than stepping your way through the code, only to have it all fall over at a crucial moment.

What is the most frustrating thing about the PeopleSoft product?
When the product does not work out of the box. Too many patches and bundles are released without being thoroughly tested.

What advice would you give to a new client starting with PeopleSoft?
Think long and hard about your business processes beforehand and involve key users early in the scoping stage. Once key users have a good idea about how the new version works and become involved in the decision making process, they then drive the functional analysis, and the technical design and development flows from there. They commonly have the most detailed knowledge of a business' processes and are invaluable in the functional fit gap analysis, along with allowing a more seamless transition between systems on go live.

Where do you want to be in 5 years time?
Striking a good balance between interesting project work and extended surfing holidays.

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