PeopleSoft - Explanation & Troubleshooting


IIS Project

 The IIS Project (Integrated Information Systems also known as PeopleSoft) is an ongoing development project to replace the "legacy" accounting, human resources and student information systems here at JMU. PeopleSoft deals in "modules" such as the "Financial Module", the "Human Resources Module" and the "Student Admin. Module".

This has been a long and complicated project with many people from all parts of the University involved. Getting in touch with an IIS contact person should not be necessary since the HelpDesk is front ending all support issues. Users experiencing problems with PeopleSoft will be channeled to the proper IIS contacts.

Users will NOT have accounts on the Student Admin. Module until they have been through training. Arrangements for training in "PeopleSoft" can be made by contacting Esther Nizer nizerem@jmu.edu

Who Determines Your Access Needs?


Also see the IIS Home Page for more about the project.


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Basic PeopleSoft Troubleshooting


Student Administration Module

Currently, all Student Administration users are supposed to contact the HelpDesk for any/all issues related to the PeopleSoft SA module. The form in Remedy being used by the HelpDesk includes four fields (assigned group, category, item affected and subitem) which, when saved, will cause the call to be routed to one of three groups within the IIS area (SA, HR and Finance). The rest of this section attempts to describe most commonly used values found under the items affected field.

1. Application. Once you have eliminated access and workstation as the problem, then it may very well be a Student Administration application issue. These calls will come from faculty and staff (not student users on ecampus).

Questions to ask the user

a. Does the problem exist in both 2-tier (Oracle) and 3-tier (Application Server)? Go to Help, About PeopleTools, Application Server. If blank, they are logged in 2-tier.
b. Have they deleted cache yet?

c. Have they rebooted their machine yet?
d. Do other people or machines in their office have this problem? If the answer is No, then it is most likely not an application issue, but instead related to security or workstation
e. Is their printer port captured correctly? Click Start, Settings, Printers, right-click on printer you want to print from, properties, Select the Detail tab. Highlight the current printer port and press CTRL-C to copy it to the clipboard. Next click the Capture Printer Port Button. Press CTRL-V to paste the printer port into the Path text box. Click Reconnect at Logon, and then click OK. This will put you back at the Printer Properties window. In the "Print to the following port:" dialog box, click the down arrow. Select LPT1 from the list. Then click OK again on the printer properties window.
f. The system is slow - is it just PeopleSoft Student Administration? What about email or the Internet? Are they slow too? If so, then it is most likely not an application issue, but instead related to a larger system issue.
g. Was the process run on the client or server?

Once you have determined that it is indeed an application issue, please include all the following information in the call log:

a) All the above information you have collected.
b) Captured error messages - screen prints are great as it gives us the entire message. Have user press alt+Print Screen (captures window to clipboard), then they can do an Edit, Paste into their wordprocessing package, attach this to an email message to HelpDesk@jmu.edu.
c) Navigation instructions as to which panel they were using
d) What time did the problem occur
e) Which student or record were they working with

Common Student Administration Application Problems

1) Transcript Request printing problems when printer port is captured correctly. This process is unique in that is uses the oprid run control behind the scenes via a push button. The user has no place to determine where to point the output; it uses whatever is attached to the oprid run control record.

Many application processes (for example: Class Roster, Schedule of Classes) require the user to enter a run control, which ties parameters to their oprid within the system to know who requested what. The users don't know what to enter in the prompt for a run control and typically enter their oprid - we do not want them to do this!! It causes problems with the transcript printing.

To resolve the problem when Transcripts won't print and their printer port is captured correctly, you need to do the following:


2) If Student Administration is inactive on a machine for 55 minutes, the user will be automatically logged out of the system. This is a security mechanism.
3) How to tell which database they are using? Go to Help, About PeopleTools, Database Name. This information also usually shows up in the bottom right-hand corner of the panel.
4) How to tell which PeopleTools release? Go to Help, About PeopleTools, PeopleTools version.
5) How to tell which Application release? Go to Help, About PeopleTools, Application release.


Clearing Cache

To purge most program errors and resolve some printing problems, clearing the cache is one of the easiest troubleshooting techniques we can offer. Basic training clearly covers this point but it is sometimes forgotten. Clearing the cache is accomplished as follows:

  1. Go to Start/JMU Apps.
  2. Under JMU Apps, look for PeopleSoft.
  3. The module you are working with (Human Resources, Financial or Student Admin.) will show in the next menu.
  4. Select Delete Cache


Verify PeopleSoft Shortcut Icon

Another way to resolve many PeopleSoft problems is to reinstall the application. If your PeopleSoft icon is being delivered to your desktop, you will notice a difference in the appearance of the icon. A delivered icon will have a RED shorcut arrow on the icon. You can try reinstalling the application from the shortcut. Simply right click on the PeopleSoft icon and you will get a small menu. One of the selections is verify . Select verify and this will launch a reinstall of the application. ( this will resolve some printer problems too! )

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Financial Module - data access problems


Problem: If you are a user of the PeopleSoft Student Adm system, you could possibly have problems accessing your financial data in the Finance system.

Solution: After using the Student Adm system, you should complete the following steps before logging on the Finance system.

Go to the Windows START/RUN/ then type in 'psupfs60'. This will set your pointers to the PeopleSoft Finance database. Resetting the pointers isn't needed each time you log into Finance, only after being in the Student Adm system. The reset is good until you use Student Adm again. For future running of 'psupfs60', you can then use the down arrow and select it.


Human Resource Module - general

Human resources has recently converted to NALEXPLD. This means that their PeopleSoft icon is delivered to their desktop and will have a RED arrow on it. Running the app. in this manner does away with the need for PSUPHR75 batch files. A detailed web page with screen captures can be found at http://helpdesk.jmu.edu:2080/helpdesk/utils/nal.html

Resolving PeopleSoft Printing Errors


Capturing Printer Ports
Click Start -> Settings and select Printers.

Right-click on the printer you want to print from. Select properties from the shortcut menu.

Select the Detail tab. Highlight the current printer port and press CTRL-V to copy it to the clipboard. Next click the Capture Printer Port button.

Paste the printer port into the Path text box. Click Reconnect at Logon, and then click OK. This will put you back at the Printer Properties window. In the "Print to the following port:" dialog box, click the down arrow. Select LPT1 from the list. Click OK again on the printer properties window and you're done!


Transcript Run Control

Certain Transcript printing problems can be resolved by modifying the Run control configuration while in the PeopleSoft application.

  1. Choose Edit/Preferences/Run Control
  2. Chose the run control that matches their Oprid (logon) and choose Edit (*note...if there is more than one, select the user ID that is in all caps)
  3. Under Run Output, choose Window
  4. Click OK's as needed



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e-mail comments to Lon Jarvis jarvislb@jmu.edu
last updated 2/30/00