Sunday, November 10, 2013

On Oracle delivered PeopleSoft HCM - Taleo Recruitment Integration

[Update July 2015] The delivered integration between PeopleSoft and Taleo Enterprise Edition is being deprecated and will not be supported by Oracle going forward. For customers who are currently implementing this solution, you will still be able to utilise the PeopleSoft objects related to this integration, but Oracle will not be providing product support for the same. Alternatively, you can utilise Taleo Bulk APIs or Taleo Connect Client to build out this integration.

Oracle has recently released pre-built integrations between PeopleSoft HCM and Taleo Enterprise Edition (TEE). These integrations will be available for new Taleo Recruitment customers who are on PeopleSoft HCM 9.1 and Peopletool 8.53+.
The following integration touchpoints are covered by this new feature:

1. Import of Organsations and Locations into Taleo from PeopleSoft.
2. Import of Requisition Templates into Taleo from PeopleSoft.
3. Import of Employee information into Taleo from PeopleSoft.
4. Export of 'Ready to Hire' candidates from Taleo to PeopleSoft.




Additionally, a new pagelet is also delivered in PeopleSoft, that will display open requisitions and candidate information from Taleo in PeopleSoft Manager Dashboard.

These integrations have been built on Taleo's SOAP based Web Service APIs and PeopleSoft's Integration Broker. Two new services at PeopleSoft, called -  TI_NEWHIR_CAND_DATA and TI_SETUP_EMPLOYEE_OB will handle the above integrations. 

Key Takeaways:
  • This integration is available for new Taleo customers, though Oracle will be considering controlled availability for existing Taleo customers.
  • The organisation and location structures in Taleo need to follow a specific hierarchy for this integration to work. Organisation structure has to be of 3 levels, namely Company, Business Unit and Department. Location structure has to be Country, State, City and Work Location. This rigidity in terms of the OLF structure in Taleo, may not suit a lot of customers and would be a key point in the evaluation of this functionality.
  • Customers can choose to turn on any of the available integrations in PeopleSoft. A new folder for Taleo Integration setup will be available under Setup HRMS > Common Definitions in PeopleSoft.
  • Requistion Templates in Taleo will be primarily driven out of Job Codes in PeopleSoft. Every valid combination of Company, BU, Department, Location and Job Code in PeopleSoft, that is included in the Taleo integration, will create a Requisition Template in Taleo.
  • 'Ready to Hire' candidates who are pulled from Taleo, will be populated in the 'Manage Hires' component in PeopleSoft. Creation of Personal/Job Data/Employment Instance can be carried out from the Manage Hires component.
  • PeopleSoft Candidate Gateway has the functionality to create requisitions from open positions in PeopleSoft. I did not see a mention of a corresponding functionality, where an open position in PeopleSoft triggers the creation of a requisition in Taleo. Hopefully, this should be in the roadmap!
  • This feature highlights the rich web service and file based integration capabilities of Taleo. Almost every object is exposed as a service in Taleo using SOAP based or CSV based integrations, thus greatly extending the functional capabilities of the product.
  • Considering that Taleo will be the recruitment module of Fusion Apps, a similar integration of Taleo Recruitment with EBS and Fusion HCM is also in the product roadmap.



Saturday, November 2, 2013

Oracle Cloud Marketplace: The App Store for Oracle Cloud and On Premise Applications

I have toyed around with the idea of an enterprise app store for PeopleSoft in the past. Succeed Consultancy in the UK has even built out a dedicated PeopleSoft app store.
Now, Oracle has come out with a dedicated App Store for Oracle applications, specifically targeted towards Oracle cloud applications.


In my opinion, an app eco-system is critical for cloud software vendors and it is heartening to see Oracle take an early plunge in this direction. As we stand at the cusp of a transition from traditional on-premise consulting models to rapid SaaS based implementations, the app marketplace provides an avenue for consulting SIs to tap into an alternate revenue stream.
All in all, the customer will come out as the clear winner, with an elaborate menu of features to choose from.
Let the appification of Oracle cloud begin!