On February 26, 2011 an upgrade to PeopleTools will be released to our production environment of PeopleSoft. PeopleTools drives the look and feel of PeopleSoft and with this update there has been an overhaul to the end user interface. The notes and examples below may be useful to review prior to the release so that you are familiar with the new layout and behavior. As always, don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions.

Main Page

When you first log in, you’ll now be presented with the “Home” page. The tool bar along the top that contains links to Favorites, Main Menu, and Home remains regardless of where you are in the system. Clicking the “Home” link (located in the right portion of the bar) will return you to this screen. Please note that the static menu list along the left is always present on the Home page, but accessible via the Main Menu option on all other pages.



Favorites

Any favorites that you currently have setup will be retained; you will not need to reset them. Clicking on the Favorites link in the menu bar will drop down a list containing not only your favorites, but a smaller list at the top of the most Recently Used pages.

Main Menu and Search

Clicking on the Main Menu link from the menu bar will bring down a list similar to the previous version’s main menu, the biggest difference this time around is that the folders are arranged alphabetically as opposed to being arranged by module (HR, Student, Payroll, etc.).
Additionally, the Search function, used to find pages or components in the system instead of filtering down the menu/folder structure, is under the Main Menu link.



Once you click on a menu option, you’ll be presented with a folder structure where you can drill down to the component you need. Along the top, in the menu bar, you’ll have breadcrumbs showing the previous level that you were at in case you need to go back.

Working With Pages

Once you are on the page you need, you’ll notice that the menu bars are all collapsed, giving you the full screen to work in. Note in this example, that you may now limit the “Maximum number of rows to return” by entering the desired limit. The default maximum is 300 rows.



The previously used “Processing” message that would appear in the upper right corner and flashed while the system was working a query or action has been replaced with a twirling activity icon now.



Alerts and Lookups

When you click on the eyeglass icon to do a lookup within pages, you are now presented with a pop-up window with the active page greyed out in the background. Previously you were taken to a separate page and returned when you finished your lookup.



Alert messages are also displayed as pop-up windows that overlay the main page. The one difference here is that sometimes the main page is blacked out instead of greyed out.

Note that these pop-up windows/messages indicate that activity has stopped and require action before returning to using the main page.