Shelby Klingerman, Content Curator |

At RECONNECT 18, customer panelists came together to discuss their journey with Selective Adoption. Panelists included Pam Dymoke from Hennepin County; Jun Choi from AvalonBay; and Andrew Maxedon from Centene. While each panelist had a different approach to Selective Adoption, the session focused on how it’s all about what works best for your organization! Here’s a breakdown of each panelist’s approach:

Hennepin County

Footprint

Hennepin County is the largest county in Minnesota. They utilize HCM, ELM and FSCM all on 9.2. They are on PeopleTools 8.55.21. Other programs that they use include Interaction Hub, PTF and PHIRE for Change Management.

Process

After reviewing the PeopleSoft Update Image Overview document in My Oracle Support, the system administrative team pulls the Update Image into PUM. The developers review bugs and produce a comparison spreadsheet sorted by module to share with the entire team that is involved with the process.

A functional lead reviews both the Overview document and the comparison spreadsheet and selects the bug fixes they want. They then share and discuss their choices with a developer and the developer creates a change package. The developer and functional lead review the change package together and revise it if needed. They identify the number of objects modified and the number of components to test.

After all the selections are made, a large group meeting is held to discuss each team’s choices and how they might impact others- this way everyone is aware. Once change packages are fine-tuned, an Administrator creates a “release package” with all of the bug fixes. This package moves through environments for testing. Hennepin County plans “to get current” on an annual basis.

AvalonBay

Footprint

AvalonBay is an equity Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) with a track record of developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing distinctive apartment homes. They utilize FSCM and HCM on 9.2. FSCM uses PeopleTools 8.55.13, and HCM uses PeopleTools 8.55.04.

Process

AvalonBay uses a varied approach when it comes to its Selective Adoption strategy. AvalonBay has applied entire Images before but also has selected only individual functionality before. It depends on what they need at the time. Something interesting about their approach is that they host two PUM Images concurrently for the sake of comparison.

Additionally, they apply individual patches and functionality as they see fit. Their overall strategy is to do a full Image upgrade and PeopleTools upgrade every eighteen to twenty-four months. They plan to keep current with the latest PeopleTools features and applying regulatory updates. Plans are also in place to implement Classic Plus and Test Framework in the near future.

Centene

Footprint

Centene is based in St. Louis and is the largest managed-care organization for government-sponsored healthcare in the country. They currently run FSCM on 9.2 Image 26 with PeopleTools 8.56.

Process

Centene has decided “to get current” on an annual basis for both Images and PeopleTools. Everyone in the company knows to expect updates in the “May release” every year; which makes the changes seem less disruptive because they always know when they’re coming. However, they do bug fixes throughout the year as needed and may adopt an occasional new feature throughout if required.

They chose “to get current” on only an annual basis because it reduced the amount of testing and switching costs associated with doing it this way- as opposed to doing it on a more frequent basis.

The beauty of Selective Adoption is that you can take as much or as little as you want as often as you want. It’s all about what works for you and your company. To learn more about the benefits of Selective Adoption and lessons learned from these customer panelists, check out the full video:

Would you like to learn more tips and tricks your organization could apply towards its Selective Adoption strategy? Read this Quest PeopleSoft blog about Adopting Selective Adoption!