Leverage “Fluid Discussion Service” for effectual cross team
Leverage “Fluid Discussion Service” for effectual cross team communications
Communication is key in any organization. It is a very crucial and essential element. One of the features of PeopleSoft that can be well used for cross-team discussions is “PeopleSoft Fluid Discussion Service”
This feature is a simple and easy tool that enables context-specific discussions across teams. It has been prevalent in PeopleSoft HCM since image version 23.
Fluid Discussion Service can be used to –
- Initiate and maintain discussions within the organization
- Improve employee engagement and evidently result in faster incident resolutions due to collaborations
Discussion Tile
Navigation: Employee Self Service > Discussions Tile.
The tile displays the cumulative count of unread and active discussions from all the nodes of discussions. Clicking on the discussion tile, a list of all the discussion threads will be visible to the user.
Fig.1: Discussion Tile on ESS Page
Fig.2: Discussion Page
Discussion page
The discussion page displays comments against each conversation and the comments of each user. Only top fifty discussions will be displayed on the Selection of any discussion.
Navigation: Employee Self Service > Discussions Tile > One of the discussions.
In the below example of troubleshooting, different users are part of the conversation, logs are attached and reviewed and comments posted.
Fig.3: Discussion Chat page
Discussion Action page
In the Discussion page, user can perform three actions –
- Details
- View Attachments
- Notification Preferences
Navigation: Click on the related action against a specific discussion
Fig4: Discussions-Actions page
- Details
In the Details option, Creator can update the discussion subject, discussion description, and add or remove participants.
Fig.5: Discussion Details Page
- View Attachment Option
In View Attachment action, users can access view all discussion attachments posted in the discussion Conversation.
Fig.6: Discussion Attachments page
- Notification Preferences
Notification Preferences (Enabling/Disabling) can be changed using this screen.
Fig7: User Notification Preferences
Configuration Page for “Discussion user Group”
To define a discussion group, which helps to add participants dynamically, based on the discussion content, the below navigation has to be followed,
Navigation: Enterprise Components > Discussion Service > Discussion User Group.
Fig.8: Discussion user Group Page
Configuration Page for “Discussion Type”
Discussion Type page is used to add attachments to the discussion, add a Default list of participants, define permissions for Adding/Removing participant, update subject, and close or re-open the Discussion.
Navigation: Enterprise Components > Discussion Service > Discussion Type.
Fig.9: Discussion Type page
Roles Configuration
Discussion Type roles page is used to define user roles and select the checkbox ‘Allow Create’ so that users are able to create new discussions based on the requirements.
When ‘Allow Create’ is turned off, the creator role is removed, and the user will not be able to add a new discussion.
Navigation: Enterprise Components > Discussion Service > Discussion Type > Roles.
Fig.10: Discussion Type –Roles page
Participants page
Participants tab is used to automatically add users when a discussion is created. A Creator can add multiple participants base on the discussion requirement. Participant/Administrators role can be assigned to user/group in this tab.
Navigation: Enterprise Components > Discussion Service > Discussion Type > Participants.
Fig.11: Discussion Type –Participants page
Define Related Content Service
To add a new discussion type, a related action with context has to be created on the below navigation
Navigation: People Tool > portal > Related Content Service > Manage Related Content Service > Configure Related actions.
Fig.12: Assign Related Actions page
Scheduling Notification
In Fluid Discussion Service, “Scheduling Notification” is used to send an email message and a Notification that appears on the Discussion List page.
Notifications are triggered when the user has initiated the following action.
- User gets added to a new/existing conversation
- A new message is posted in a conversation
- Subject is changed
- Discussion is closed or reopened
Navigation: Enterprise Components > Discussion Service > Run Discussion Notification.
In Process Scheduler Request page, select Process list then click on Ok.
Business Benefits
- Cross-Team discussions on any topic pertinent to Support
- Discussion forum between teams/team member-manager
- Key benefit of notifications and attachments
- Tracking capability for discussions updates
- Overall, improve employee engagement and result in faster incident resolution, due to collaboration among peers and administrators
Author – Akhilesh Kumar, PeopleSoft Consultant.