Why PeopleSoft Update Manager?

Since CS 9.2 information started coming out, PeopleSoft Update Manager (PUM) caught my attention. It was projected as a highlight feature of 9.2 version. So that was something worth to take a look. The first thing as usual was to do some research and gather some information to get started. 

PUM been around for some time from Applications 9.2 with PeopleTools 8.53 except for Campus Solutions that gives me an option to say that I didn’t try that yet :)

Technically this should be making the life easy as Oracle recommends it by making the tool to be the one stop shop for any kind of SELECTIVE (you can decide/adopt the changes that matters to your business) updates / patches / bug fixes. 

Oracle strongly recommends minimum version PeopleTools 8.53.10+ to avail the minimum benefits of the tool and this is again the pre-requisites for CS 9.2 upgrade. Again, this is a no-brainer. It is a free and powerful upgrade anyway.

What are PI’s? 

PeopleSoft Update Images (PIs) are Oracle VM VirtualBox virtual machines that you download locally. One PI is available per application (database instance), and each will be released periodically according to the image schedule posted on your application's update image home page. 

The PI is the master source environment from which Change Assistant will pull the updated objects, create a custom change package, and apply updates to your environment. The PI for your application is cumulative, so you will download the most current image and get all of the updates that you need.

The PI is a virtual machine running Oracle cross-platform virtualization software called Oracle VM VirtualBox. The PI is offered with Oracle Enterprise Linux as the guest operating system and with Oracle Database as the RDBMS. No additional license requirements exist for PeopleSoft VirtualBox images used for non-production activities such as maintenance, new feature delivery, and demonstration purposes.

Understanding picturization of PUM

Using PeopleSoft Update Manager is the only way to apply maintenance for PeopleSoft 9.2 and Interaction Hub 9.1.

Why Campus Solutions 9.2?

If you haven't gone through the CS 9.2 FAQ's yet, it is on Oracle Support. Read through and get apprised of its features. 

(Snippet from Oracle Support below)

Announced at Alliance 2014 (March 10, 2014), Oracle is making new, significant investments in Higher Ed solutions that will complement the ongoing investment in functionality to support global Higher Ed operating models in our industry-leading SIS, HCM, and ERP applications.  This includes the creation of a Campus Solutions (CS) 9.2 release, to bring customers a simpler, more productive user experience and more tailored, efficient application life-cycle management process.

 

Campus Solutions 9.2 is focused on three strategic areas:

 

• Intuitive Experience – Campus Solutions 9.2 will take advantage of the significant enhancements by leveraging  the Tools 8.54 User Experience called Fluid to provide a simpler self-service capability that is optimized for mobile devices as well as a more modern, streamlined maintenance process.
• Selective Adoption: Campus Solutions 9.2 will enable new methods for managing the Continuous Delivery Model with PeopleSoft Update Manager.  “PUM” is a new, innovative way to manage system updates, fixes, and new feature functionality as they are released. Customers can tailor their maintenance to the needs of their campus, up taking only the items that meet their needs while also reducing the time, effort, and cost required to maintain Campus Solutions.
• Innovative Functionality: The CS 9.2 release will include all the functionality that has been delivered through the Continuous Delivery Model to the CS 9.0 code line.  CS 9.2 provides the upgrade “event” many customers require to resource, budget, plan and implement the wealth of new capabilities already available to reduce their customizations and improving their business processes.