Apply Bundles Manually (Without Change Assistant)

For yes, CA is a great tool to apply bundles, software updates etc., however at times we may need not to use CA to perform this task. Everyone who is aware of bundle stuff, knows where to find the documentation regarding any bundle and how to use the same to apply bundles manually. I am just collecting the task list and I am taking an example of GP Bundles here.

This is a general record sheet for the tasks involved in GP bundles which needs to be applied in instances. This sheet contains tasks and activities involved in one bundle.

-- Task: Apply Non Managed MetaData
-- Task: Apply Project
-- Task: Deploy Files
-- Task: Build and Alter
-- Task: Reapplying Customizations
-- Task: Execute Data Mover script(s)
-- Task: Apply GP Packages
-- Task: Additional Steps
-- Task: Update Package Prerequisites


Apply Non Managed MetaData

Import Tree Definitions etc. According to the requirement, you may cancel the steps if you don't require for any other language (like Dutch etc...).

Apply Project

Depends if you want to copy from file OR migrate from other instance.

Deploy Files

Below are the locations where files needs to be deployed...

MAINT ----- PS_HOME\maint
DATA ------- PS_HOME\data
SCRIPTS ---- PS_HOME\scripts
CLASS -------PS_HOME\class\
CLASSES ---- PS_HOME\classes\
SQR --------- PS_HOME\sqr
CRW ---------PS_HOME\crw\
COBOL ------ PS_HOME\src\cbl\base

Build and Alter

Run Create Tables Script
Run AlterTables Script
Run Create Trigger Script
Run Create View Script
Run Create Index Script

Reapplying Customizations

Depends on setup.

Execute Data Mover script(s)

Additional scripts which have been provided within the bundles.

Apply GP Packages

Depends on country extensions. For some country extensions, there are no non-rule packages. In HR bundles, this steps is not there. For more details of rule and non-rule packages, please refer my other blog "Global Payroll -- Rule and Non-Rule packages".

Additional Steps

Depends per bundle. Some bundles provides additional scripts to clean audit reports, XMLP errors etc...some bundles doesn't have this step.

Update Package Prerequisites

In the end, CA runs a script "prereqs_i.dms" to update the DB about the prerequisite info. You need to run this script manually. SQL statement in this script is like below:

DELETE FROM PSPROJECTDEP WHERE PROJECTNAME=PRJXXXXX
INSERT INTO PSPROJECTDEP VALUES (PRJXXXXX,'XXXXX');

where XXXXX is your Bundle ID/Update ID. Remember, if you are applying multilingual bundle (for unicode database), then in inset statement, first value precedes with ML, but second value will not. For example, if you are applying Bundle '12345', Delete and insert statement would be like:

DELETE FROM PSPROJECTDEP WHERE PROJECTNAME=PRJ12345ML
INSERT INTO PSPROJECTDEP VALUES (PRJ12345ML,'12345');

Change Assistant -- Apply bundles with “PeopleTools Upgrade option”

Change Assistant is all about EMF (Environment Management Framework). But at times, your infrastructure is like that which push you back not to configure the same in your environment. Also, in some cases, you can’t make your agents up and run say for example in PROD.

Now, you can skip doing below things to use CA if EMF is not configured:

-- Upload environment.
-- Go to Customer Connect. (No need if you know what your requirements are)
-- Download Change Packages. (You can do the same manually)

What you will not be able to do without EMF configured is “Apply change packages” step.


For that, we left with two options.

-- Use CA to apply software updates without using EMF.
-- Apply software updates manually (to be discussed in next blog).

Former step, (obviously not recommended by Oracle) eventually means “Applying bundles with PT Upgrade option”. Pain to using this option would be you need to keep a track of pre/postrequisites by yourself and you need to do some manuall steps. However, you will get the sequential orders of the steps to be run and also automatic steps will run by themselves which could make using this option bit different from option to apply software updates completely manual.

Below are the steps to achieve the same.

"Perform PeopleTools Only Upgrade" Option for applying bundles

“PeopleTools Upgrade only” option is primarily for the upgrade of PeopleTools lines (patches/fixes/PT upgrade). The basic difference between "PeopleTools Only Upgrade" and "Apply Application Updates" option is in "PeopleTools Only Upgrade" option, there will be one template can be loaded at one time, i.e. one jobset for one bundle.

Below are the steps which involved to create one job for one bundle using “PeopleTools Upgrade only” option to apply bundles.



Open Change Assistant; choose “Perform PeopleTools Only Upgrade Option”













Select New Environment
















Choose a meaningful name for this environment.














Setup your environment to fill with the options given













Fill the database options and TEST CONNECTION


























Finalize the options by clicking SAVE














Import the CA Template for desired Bundle














Create a New Job















Choose the desired template (In said example, I am applying GP Bundle # 7)














Select the environment (You have loaded earlier...)















Select the type of Upgrade









Your job starts now















Things need to be done manually:

-- You need to download the bundle/POC etc manually.
-- You need to unzip the same.
-- You need to create the job.
-- You need to import the template.
-- You need to create the directory structure manually and modify the scripts.


Step “creation of directory” and “modifying the scripts”:

When you tell CA what type of upgrade you want to do either “Initial Upgrade” OR “Move to Production”, CA creates a directory structure in “Staging Directory” like below:

/PRJ734353ML_XXXXX_Bundle7_MoveToProduction

PRJ734353ML ----------- Bundle name
XXXXX -------------------Instance name
Bundle7 ------------------ Bundle Number
MoveToProduction------- Type of upgrade you choose

Now when you will start the job, it will get fail with the error message “Script not found”. When you will go to the staging directory and open the said folder, chances are you will find the directory empty.

What you need to do is, copy all the folders from the UNZIPPED bundle directory (where you unzipped the bundle etc…) to the above location. Folders probably would be:

CopyObjectScripts
Data
Documentation
PRJ734353ML
Scripts

Now the next step “Modify Script”. (You may need not to do this if you copy the scripts from UNZIPPED folder. I did this because I copied the above folder from other environments staging directory, so the input files etc were already resolved/hardcoded by CA. This was due to the reason I use to make different staging and output directories per instance, like – Staging_instancename).

Say, for example, there is an automatic step “Import message Catalogue Definition”, which actually runs the datamover script “upd_msg_eng_i.dms”. When you will open the script, content will be like below:

SET INPUT D:\Staging_\softwareupdatePRJ734353ML{f781b618-f759-11dd-8039-816ad04724a0}\data\upd734353_msg_eng.dat;

So CA has already the OLD staging directory path where the input file is pointing.

As I said, this depends how your setup is and if you are copying the folders from UNZIPPED location, CA may be able to resolve the new path.

Also one more important thing. If you have applied the bundles anytime using CA and with "Apply Application Updates" option, you might have seen that in the end of each bundle, CA do an additional step: Update Package Prerequisites. Description below.

In the end, CA runs a script "prereqs_i.dms" to update the DB about the prerequisite info if you use "Apply Application Updates" option. You need to run this script manually in case you are using the option "PeopleTools Upgrade Option Only". SQL statement in this script is like below:

DELETE FROM PSPROJECTDEP WHERE PROJECTNAME=PRJXXXXX
INSERT INTO PSPROJECTDEP VALUES (PRJXXXXX,'XXXXX');

where XXXXX is your Bundle ID/Update ID. Remember, if you are applying multilingual bundle (for unicode database), then in inset statement, first value precedes with ML, but second value will not. For example, if you are applying Bundle '12345', Delete and insert statement would be like:

DELETE FROM PSPROJECTDEP WHERE PROJECTNAME=PRJ12345ML;
INSERT INTO PSPROJECTDEP VALUES (PRJ12345ML,'12345');


Hope this helps…comments/suggestions always welcome...

Portal Search feature

So ever tried the portal search option to find out something? Content reference? Menu?











This search index has been buit by a delivered AE, PORTAL_INDEX. Navigation of the same is below:

PeopleTools >> Portal >> Build Registry Search Index

To build a search index, go to build search index page using above navigation. Add a run control ID. Select the All Installed Languages box according to your setup. Run the build process. Scheduler starts the Application Engine program named PORTAL_INDEX. Got to Process Monitor link to view the status of the index build process.

Depending on your setup, say in development instance, there are many Menu/content reference additions in a week or so, you may wish to schedule the process using/making any recurrence definition in Scheduler as per requirement (daily, weekly etc...).

SQR output and Fonts

Yes, its graphics...which matters a lot when it comes to output of reports. Especially with SQRs in PeopleSoft where developers are conscious about showing the output of their reports, at the end of day, presentation takes most of the credit.

While there are various options being provided by adobe, however there is limited support for True Type fonts in PeopleSoft. I have been asked to findout where the font setting have been stored/listed in PeopleSoft and in result, I got a file where the fonts and their code has been mentioned.

Below is the extract from the same PS delivered file. You may try with any font which is not listed below and in case if that font is not supported, PS converts it to the default font, which is Courier.

List of defined fonts in PeopleSoft:

Number --------------- Name

---------------------------------

3 ----------------------- Courier
300 -------------------- Courier-Bold
4 ----------------------- Helvetica
400 -------------------- Helvetica-Bold
5 ----------------------- Times-Roman
500 -------------------- Times-Bold
6 ----------------------- AvantGarde-Book
8 ----------------------- Palatino-Roman
800 -------------------- Palatino-Bold
11 ---------------------- Symbol
12 ---------------------- ZapfDingbats
17 ---------------------- ZapfChancery-MediumItalic
18 ---------------------- Bookman-Light
23 ---------------------- NewCenturySchlbk-Roman
2300 ------------------- NewCenturySchlbk-Bold
30 ---------------------- Courier-Oblique
3000 ------------------- Courier-BoldOblique
31 ---------------------- Helvetica-Oblique
3100 ------------------- Helvetica-BoldOblique
32 ---------------------- Times-Italic
3200 ------------------- Times-BoldItalic
33 ---------------------- AvantGarde-Demi
34 ---------------------- AvantGarde-BookOblique
35 ---------------------- AvantGarde-DemiOblique
36 ---------------------- Palatino-Italic
3600 ------------------- Palatino-BoldItalic
37 ---------------------- NewCenturySchlbk-Italic
3700 ------------------- NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic
38 ---------------------- Helvetica-Narrow
3800 ------------------- Helvetica-Narrow-Bold
39 ---------------------- Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique
3900 ------------------- Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique
40 ---------------------- Bookman-Demi
41 ---------------------- Bookman-LightItalic
42 ---------------------- Bookman-DemiItalic

You can get this list of delivered SQR fonts in postscri.str file which you can access from the machine where scheduler is installed and configured.

Hope this helps... suggestions are always welcome in case I missed out something...

Manage Hire (TAM - WFA integration)

Manage Hire is the integration point between TAM and WFA, the component from where WFA admin starts the addition of records of the interested applicant to the HR database and create a relationship between applicant and the organization (EMP, POE etc…). For Manage Hire to work, Integration Broker should setup on the webserver to pass the messages (sync/async requests) to and from DB.

Below are the couple of steps to accomplish the same.

1) Verify the IB Gateway is setup under PeopleTools >> Integration Broker >> Gateways












2) Go to PeopleTools >> Integration Broker >> Monitor >> Monitor Message >> Channel Status and verify the Channel HR_MNG_HIRES is running.










3) Go to PeopleTools >> Integration Broker >> Node Definitions and verify the Transaction Types are active (under the Transactions tab) for HIRE_REQUEST and POST_HIRE_REQUEST









4) Go to PeopleTools >> Integration Broker >> Monitor >> Monitor Message >> Node Status tab and verify you can ping the node PSFT_HR









5) Go to PeopleTools >> Integration Broker >> Monitor >> Monitor Message >> Domain Status Status tab and verify you can domain is active for your server











At this point the messaging between RS and HR is setup

6) Now go to Recruiting >> Find Applicants – Search for applicants in “Offer Accepted” Status











Next page you would see will be below:








Choose your applicant whom you want to hire.













In the Take Action drop down – Choose “Prepare for Hire” and hit Go

You should see the below page.














a) Choose Start Date as > today’s date
b) Choose Hire Type as “Hire”
c) Hit the “Save & Submit Request to HR”.


The subscription peoplecode sends an email to the Role Query specified in this setup – Setup HRMS >> Product Related >> Workforce Administration >> Hire Notifications











Now go to Workforce Administration >> Personal Information >> Organization Relationship >> Manage Hires
You should see this on Manage Hires Page








Now click on “your applicant” link.
The page displayed is Manage Hire Details















On this page – put in an EMPLID and hit the “Add Person” Button.

This button would launch the “PERSONAL_DATA” (Add Person Component). If you look at the Post Build – the component would know you are coming from Manage Hires and initialize a bunch of controllers. These controllers would make the service call to RS to pull the data into the component buffer.

Once you verify the data and hit the save button >> go back to Manage Hires and for the same applicant and now click on the “Add Job” button.










Now click on the “Add Job” button. This will launch the “Job” components. Look at the Post Build of this component on how it initializes the controllers.

Once you verify the job information and hit save >> the save code will fire POST_HIRE_REQUEST message.

As always, any correction(s)/suggestion(s) are always welcome...

HRMS Store Scripts

HRMS PRODUCT's STORE*.DMS SCRIPTS:

PeopleTools
%PS_HOME%\src\cbl\base\STOREPT.DMS

HR Common
%PS_HOME%\src\cbl\base\STOREHRM.DMS

Benefits Admin
%PS_HOME%\src\cbl\base\STOREBAS.DMS
Note: If you have this module, always run this one LAST

Pension
%PS_HOME%\src\cbl\base\STOREPEN.DMS

Payroll
%PS_HOME%\src\cbl\base\STOREPAY.DMS

Time & Labor
%PS_HOME%\src\cbl\base\STORETL.DMS

Payroll Interface
%PS_HOME%\src\cbl\base\STOREPYI.DMS

GL Interface
%PS_HOME%\src\cbl\base\STOREJG.DMS

Global Payroll (Ind) Year-End Reports

At the end of the fiscal year, user has to generate certain statutory reports. Data needs to be setup in the system for the same purpose. Setup data for statutory reports is a critical part and the user has to ensure that the data setup for the report is done correctly. Below is a brief from my knowledgebase and that is for India (IND) country extension, application release HRMS 8.9.

Following are the setups that the user has to do:

a) Form 5 Data Setup
b) Form 6 Data Setup
c) Form 12BA Data Setup
d) Form 24 and 16 Data Setup
e) Form 24Q setup

Form 5

At the end of the fiscal year Professional Tax Remittance Details has to be given to the government in the form 5. To generate the form 5 certain details are to be setup in the system. Navigation below.

Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt > Year-End Processing > Define Form 5 Data IND

Data needs to setup:

Total Tax Paid for the Year: This is the amount payable as total Professional Tax for the year for all the employees of that Establishment.

Tax Paid: This is the PT paid till date by all the employees.
Balance Tax Payable: This is Balance PT that is yet to be deducted.
Tax Paid Under Challan: This is the Amount of PT paid under Challan.
Month: Select the individual month in this column.
Tax Deducted: Enter the amount deducted as PT for that particular month for all the employees of that establishment.

TDS Form 24 and Form 16

Form 24 reports the Income Tax details for each employee and is to be handed over to the employee at the end of each financial year.

There are two steps in TDS Form 16 generation

1. Define Form 24 and 16 Data
2. Create Form 24 Report
3. Create Form 16 Report


Define Form 24 and 16 Data

Before generating Form 24 and 16, the TDS remittance details should be entered using the following page. The information provided in this page will be used for Form 24 and 16 reporting.

Navigation: Global Payroll> Year End Processing> Define Form 24 and 16 Data

Period ID: Enter the Period ID for the period on which you want to enter the details.
Amount Deducted: Enter the TDS amount remitted for the period.
Voucher Number: Enter the remittance voucher number.
Voucher Date: Enter the remittance voucher date.
Bank ID and Branch ID: Select the Bank ID and Bank Branch ID for the bank branch from which the monthly remittance was transferred to the central government account. The Description displays once Bank ID and Bank Branch ID are selected.

Create Form 16 Report

Navigation: Global Payroll> Year End Processing> Create Year End Reports IND

Create Form 24 Report

Navigation: Global Payroll> Year End Processing> Create Year End Reports IND

Reports shares a common screen to run from.



















TDS Form 12BA

Form 12BA reports the perquisite details for each employee for the financial year.

There are two steps in TDS Form 12BA generation

1. Define Form 12BA Data
2. Create Form 12BA Report

Define Form 12BA Data

Before generating Form 12BA, the Perquisite details can be modified for each payee based on the declarations and actual payments using the following page. The information provided in this page will be used for Form 12BA reporting.

Navigation: Global Payroll> Year End Processing> Define Form 12BA Data

Amount Paid: Enter the amount of the perquisite paid to the employee

Create Form 12BA Report

Navigation: Global Payroll> Year End Processing> Create Year End Reports IND

Common runcontrol page looks like below for most of the reports.

Report Name, Period ID, Payee Sort Option (option in which the entries are to be sorted)













As always...any comments/suggestions are welcome...

Candidate Gateway (e-recruitment)

Candidate Gateway which earlier was known as e-recruitment til HRMS 8.8, enables applicants to View information about current job openings in the organization. Applicants can search, save search criteria, save job openings. There are three main functionalities of CW.

Applicants can search for jobs, apply for jobs, and employees can refer applicants.

Applicants can upload their resumes (depends on setup), submit job applications and resumes for specific job openings. Applicants can maintain and update their personal profile information.
There are certain steps needs to be done to setup this module to be accessible for external world (outside your domain). Below are some steps in brief to accomplish the same task in application version HRMS 8.9.

Create a permission list A and include the menus given below in that:

HRS_HRAM and HRS_HRS

In menu HRS_HRAM, make sure you have given the access of component HRS_CE only and under pages, for all pages:























In HRS_HRS menu, make sure you have given the access the components HRS_APP_SCHJOB and HRS_APP_SEARCHES only and with all the pages under that:











Make a new role B and add permission list A and HCCPRS1100 in that role. Then create a new user say C and assign role B to him.























In ID info of this user, enter the following information:
Operator Alias value: PUBLIC












Now, make 2 app server domains and corresponding to each of them, create 2 web server domains choosing different web profiles (for examples if in one you have chosen DEV, in second, choose PROD).

In one domain, check the bypass signon checkbox in the PIA which you are configuring to setup for external candidate.












Here (arrow), enter the user ID which you have created and its password. After doing this, restart the app and web server domain in which you have done this proceeding with clearing the cache.

Now, in given below URL, enter your server and information which will redirect to Candidate Gateway page only and then test if it is working or not:

http://:/psc/ps/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?FolderPath=PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT.HC_HRS_CE_GBL2&IsFolder=false&IgnoreParamTempl=FolderPath%2cIsFolder