Review: Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management 9.1

I have been working my way through “Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management 9.1 Implementation“, and it has been a great experience for me.  For once, I get a beginner’s introduction to the system rather than trial by fire.  The book does a great job describing how PeopleSoft Financials works and how the modules fit together.  It is a first of its kind in the area of PeopleSoft Financials books.

While this book does not or could not ever give you all you need know about PeopleSoft Financials, it does give you a strong foundation.  No book nor person could contain everything about this system because it is so large, but this book is a definite starting point.  I would recommend it to anyone who is either starting a job where they will use PeopleSoft Financials or anyone going through a Financials implementation.  This book will give you the fundamentals that you need and provide a reference to understand why things work the way they do.

This book is definitely up to date as you can tell by the screen shots.  The book has plenty of graphics to let you know what the various pages look like as you read.  All of the shots reflect the new look delivered by PeopleSoft 8.5x.  The one thing I didn’t see is specific mention of new features delivered in Financials 9.1.  So, the book is geared toward a person new to financials or someone looking for a system overview rather than a person looking for new features after an upgrade from an older PeopleSoft release.

Chapter one did a great job providing an overview and foundation for the rest of the book.  I felt it was a bit long, but there was a lot to cover.  Next the security chapter gives you a good view of how security works in PeopleSoft applications and it also explains the preferences settings that go along with security.  The following chapters walk through the key modules: Billing, Accounts Receivable, Asset Management, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Expenses, and Commitment Control.  Each chapter tied the module in with the rest of the system, explained the main setup options, and showed the pages used to make it work.

One of the key features of this book was the real-world examples and situations.  The author did a good job of explaining situations in which one would use these features.  You can always go to PeopleBooks and read about what the pages do, but the author provides additional value by showing you how you use the pages of the application to accomplish a business goal.  Throughout the book, you will find “Implementation challenges” where you apply what you have just read in a read-world situation.

The book seemed thorough to me.  It covered many of the functional areas where I have done development work, and I was glad to understand the functional side of those areas much better.  For example, the Expenses module was very interesting to me.  Purchasing and Pay Cycle information was something I was looking for, and while they were mentioned, I learned from a friend that those are more Procurement topics which are outside the scope of the book.  So, the book did a tremendous job at covering such a huge system.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn the basics of PeopleSoft Financials.  It will give you a great overview of the system and is the best starting place I know. Check it out!