SQR Migration Strategies

In continuation to my earlier post on SQRs and XML Publisher, this discussion aims to arrive at a decision matrix to migrate from SQRs to other Peoplesoft/Fusion tools. A number of organisations that run on 8.0, 8.3 and other older versions of Peoplesoft have widely utilised SQRs for non-reporting scenarios like Inbound Interface processing, Mass Updates, Utility processes etc. With the very vocal recommendation of Oracle that customers should refrain from using SQRs (though its unlikely that Oracle will stop supporting SQRs on Peoplesoft any time now) in newer releases, it is extremely prudent to have in place a strategy to move all the SQR programs to an alternate tool. The decision matrix below has been prepared by taking into consideration the various type of SQRs programs as well as the capability/weaknesses of the other tools. This is a very high level illustration and your expert comments and thoughts are invited to further refine this tool.

Type of SQR	Migration Strategy
Inbound Interface – Data source: File	File Layout + AE + CI if insertion is done to a component
Inbound Interface – Data source: Peoplesoft	App Messaging/IB
Mass Data Changes (Mass hires, Mass update of a table etc.)	AE + CI if updation to a component is done. Analyse whether the Peoplesoft Mass Change functionality can be utilized.
Outbound Interface (Flat files, Dataset)	AE + XML Publisher for report generation/ Web Services if 3rd party supports
SQCs	Custom SQCs can be replaced by Application Classes to be invoked from Peoplecode.
Utility programs (Clean up, File manipulation, Audits, Status Checks)	Audits, File Operations, OS related processes are better done by SQRs, retain them. Utilities that affect database can be replaced by AE.
Letters and Forms (online forms as well as letters that are mailed)	XML Publisher + Peoplecode notification classes for mails
Reports – Simple single data source (reports with one BEGIN-SELECT)	XML Publisher
Reports – Simple multiple data sources (reports with more than one BEGIN-SELECT and simple calculations)	Migration of these might require the use of AE to execute the calculations and XML/XSL modifications. Move to XML Publisher if the logic is not complicated, otherwise retain SQRs.
Reports – On-breaks and multiple reports	XML Publishers
Reports – Complex with multiple BEGIN-SELECTS and complex conditional logic	Do not migrate – the effort is not worth it.
Reports – Status of batch process	This category contains the production of error reports and status reports of processing done by an AE or other batch programs – move to XML Publisher.