2. PeopleSoft Advanced Reporting Techniques - Southern New ...

PeopleSoft Advanced Reporting Tips & Techniques 

Southern New England User Group Meeting, October 17th, 2008 

Stephen Wills 

Applied Technology Sales Consultant

The following is intended to outline our general 

product direction. It is intended for information 

purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any 

contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any 

material, code, or functionality, and should not be 

relied upon in making purchasing decisions. 

The development, release, and timing of any 

features or functionality described for Oracle’s 

products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

“I upgraded my application from 8.3 to 8.9. Now my query 

includes additional security joins and this is impacting 

performance. What if I don’t want the additional security 

joins?”

PS/Query 

Security Joins 

• When you join two 

different records with 

the same query security 

record, join the security 

record once for 

optimization 

• But when you need to 

join the same record 

twice the security join 

needs to be applied 

twice 

• Prior to 8.44 PS/Query 

only joined the security 

record one time. This 

could cause incorrect 

results in certain 

situations. 

GSC Resolution 200973569 

SELECT A.DEPTID, C.NAME, B.NAME 

FROM PS_JOB A, PS_FAST_EMPGL_VW2 A1, 

PS_NAMES B, PS_PERS_SRCH_QRY1 B1, PS_NAMES C 

WHERE A.EMPLID = A1.EMPLID 

AND A.EMPL_RCD = A1.EMPL_RCD 

AND A1.ROWSECCLASS = 'ALLPANLS' 

AND B.EMPLID = B1.EMPLID 

AND B1.ROWSECCLASS = 'ALLPANLS' 

AND C.EMPLID = B1.EMPLID 

AND ( A.EFFDT = 

C.EMPLID = B1.EMPLID 

(SELECT MAX(A_ED.EFFDT) FROM PS_JOB A_ED 

WHERE A.EMPLID = 

would A_ED.EMPLID 

only return rows of data when the 

emplid 

AND A.EMPL_RCD is 

= A_ED.EMPL_RCD 

also equal to supervisor id. 

AND A_ED.EFFDT

PS/Query 

Security Joins 

• The 8.44 correction introduced in a change in behavior for prior existing 

PS/Queries and although technically correct, performed slower 

• If you do not want multiple inclusion of the security join: 

INSERT INTO PSVERSION (OBJECTTYPENAME,VERSION) VALUES ('QRYSELFJ',1) 

• The existence of 'QRYSELFJ' in PSVERSION table is checked by 

PS/Query (as of PT8.47) 

• Alternative for situations where you need to include the same field 

multiple times include 

• Expressions 

• Views

“We need production reporting but the report 

processing is consuming my server.”

Monitoring Queries 

Query Administration Utility 

• PeopleTools > Utilities > Administration > Query Monitor 

• Administrative Information and Enable/Disable Query 

• Ability to Kill Long Running Queries on Executing Tab 

• Ability to Enable/Disable Stats for Test vs Production

Monitoring Queries 

Query Administration Classes 

• Query Classes provide many methods and properties for 

examining the QueryStatistics via PeopleCode API 

• AvgExecTime 

• AvgNumRows 

• ExecCount 

• LastExecDtTm 

• Delete 

• View real-time and historical performance data using 

Performance Monitor 

• Perf Mon Event 355

“Is there a difference in performance among the 

different supported data sources for XML 

Publisher for PeopleSoft?”

XML File 

Optimal Data Source for XML Publisher for PeopleSoft 

• Supported Data Sources 

• PSQuery 

• RowSet 

• XmlDoc 

• XML File 

• Relational based data 

sources, such as 

PSQuery and RowSet, 

will involve processing to 

align relational with XML 

structure 

• The processing required 

may impact performance 

of production reporting, 

however… 

Data Source 

Layout 

Translation 

Labels 

Invoices 

Reports 

Checks

XML File 

Optimal Data Source for XML Publisher for PeopleSoft 

• … it is often possible to preprocess the relational data source to 

prepare XML File for use at report time 

Labels 

Data Source 

• A batch program such as SQR or 

Application Engine can preprocess a 

relational data source to XML 

• Then use XML File as the Data Source 

Layout 

Translation 

Invoices 

Reports 

• Example: HCM 9.0 North American Payroll XML Publisher Reports 

• PeopleTools researching a generic Query to XML File capability 

Checks

“How can I see my Query results (data) formatted in 

XML? “

Generating XML 

• Add a Return statement to method CleanOutput() of the 

PSXP_RPTDEFNMANAGER:ReportDefn Application Class 

• Files placed in %PS_SERDIR%\files\XMLP\Data and 

%PS_SERDIR%\files\XMLP\RptInst directories

Generating XML 

• Create an xdodebug.cfg file and place it under 

[PS_HOME]\JRE\Lib (where your active JRE is installed) 

• The file should include the following two entries: 

LogLevel=STATEMENT 

LogDir=c:\temp or any appropriate temp directory 

• Run your XMLP report 

An xdo.log file (and related xml, xsl, translation and template 

files) will be written to the specified LogDir.

“Do I need schema in order to define an XMLP 

report? If so, how do I generate one?”

Schema & Sample Files 

• Both Schema and Sample files are required for PDF 

mapping 

• Schema file is required for bursting 

• Schema and Sample files are auto generated only 

for PS/Query data source 

• For non-PS/Query data sources 

• User must generate schema using an external tool such as 

XML Spy, Visual Studio etc. 

• Sample files can be created using notepad, a representative 

clone of your actual data file, etc.

Generating Schema with Excel 2003+ 

• Have your XML data or sample file ready 

• ‘File | Open’ in Excel 2003+. ‘Open XML’ dialog box pops up. 

Select either ‘As an XML List’ or ‘Use the XML Source task 

pane’ 

• Click OK. Ignore the following warning message coming from 

Excel 

• Click OK


• The XML Source window will 

appear on the right 

• Open VBA,Tools/Macro/Visual 

Basic Editor (Alt+F11). Type in the 

following:


• Click “Enter” 

• the XML schema string appears 

• Copy this string into any text editor (ie Notepad, etc) 

• Add the following string at the top of the file: 

• 

• Save the file with an ‘xsd’ extension 

• Schema can now be uploaded to the XMLP Data Source. 

• There are several websites like 

http://tools.decisionsoft.com/xmlpp.html that will format 

your xml data or schema files for free

“XML Publisher for PeopleSoft means more decisions 

regarding report templates. How do I choose?”

XML Publisher Reporting 

Choosing a Template 

Feature 

Custom/dynamic output 

Existing PDF Template (government forms) 

Pixel perfect positioning (using Adobe) 

Charts 

PDF Output 

HTML, Excel and potential other output formats 

Sub-templates 

Runtime parameters 

Translation files 

Higher performance on very large reports (hundreds of mega bytes) 

Output Formulas 

Flexible Field-data mapping (XPath vs. simple name matching) 

RTF 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

PDF 

x 

x 

x 

x

“Sub-templates are a new concept for us. How do 

they work?”

RTF Sub-templates 

Header_Std_lower.rtf 

• Can include image, text, XSL templates, etc. 

• Usually used for logos, headers, footers, etc. 

• Each primary template can import multiple sub-templates


• Add to Content 

Library 

• Subtemplates 

files stored in 

database 

• No 

definitional 

link to 

primary 

template


• Imported from primary template using Sub-Template ID 

Within in 

PIA 

() 

Retrieved at runtime by core engine using psxmlp protocol 

(Java to PeopleCode call) 

Within 

Template 

Builder 

Test/preview using file system import 

Runtime Parameters 

• Can be added 

to any template 

• Delivered set 

through the 

ReportDefn 

class 

• Can 

programmaticall 

y add via XML 

PeopleCode 

API 

• Need to be 

declared before 

use

“I need to run reports for every department in our 

global operations.”

Bursting 

Report by Burst Key 

Use for Security & for Distribution 

 

 

1000 

01 

1000 

 

 

1001 

01 

1000 

 

 

1002 

02 

1000 

 

 

Bursting by EmplID 

emplid: 1000 emplid: 1001 

Bursting by Deptld 

DeptId: 01 

emplid: 1001 

emplid: 1000 

emplid: 1002 

emplid: 1003 

emplid: 1002 

DeptId: 02

Bursting 

Composite Key Bursting with XML Publisher 

• Single burst field 

• Create composite key in data source 

e.g. Use Query expression to concatenate 

Bursting by Country by Region 

emplid: 1002 

emplid: 1001 

emplid: 1000 

CountryState: USCA 

emplid: 1005 

emplid: 1004 

emplid: 1003 

CountryState: USNY

Bursting templates/translation 

• ‘Template controlled 

by’ does not have to 

match ‘burst by’ 

• Default Template ID 

specified on Run 

Control 

• Could include one 

template per data 

value 

• Multiple languages per 

template 

COUNTRY_REGION 

COUNTRY_REGION 

W2 

T4 

T4 

Emplid 1002 

EmplID 1005 employé 1012 

Emplid 1001 

Emplid 1000 

EmplID 1004 

EmplID 1003 

employé 1011 

employé 1010 

CountryRegion: USCA CountryRegion:CABC PaysRégion:CAQB

“How do I make my XMLP reports reflect dates and 

times based on the recipients setting?”

Recipient Time Zones 

• Report template must be of type “RTF” or “XSL” 

• Ensure user time zone is one of the standard 3 character 

delivered time zone codes ( “PST”, “EST”, etc.) 

• XML Publisher does not recognize custom time zones and will 

revert to the “GMT” time zone 

• Include the offset from GMT for each date-time element 

• 2008-07-27T12:48:00.000+02:00 

• Appropriate abstract format mask must be used in the 

template in order to display the time zone 

•

“When Query Access List Cache is 

enabled, Crystal Reports & Queries seem 

to run slower for User Id’s that have a 

large number of roles assigned”

Query Access List Cache 

• Open the SQL definition PSQRYACCLISTFASTSQL in App 

Designer (pside.exe), and replace the following SQL 

SELECT DISTINCT C.RECNAME 

, C.RECDESCR 

FROM PSROLECLASS A 

, PSROLEUSER B 

, PSQRYACCLSTRECS C 

, PSVERSION D 

WHERE A.ROLENAME = B.ROLENAME 

AND C.CLASSID = A.CLASSID 

AND C.VERSION = D.VERSION 

AND D.OBJECTTYPENAME = 'QAL' 

AND B.ROLEUSER = '%s' 

WITH 

SELECT DISTINCT A.RECNAME 

,A.RECDESCR 

FROM PSQRYACCLSTRECS A 

,PSVERSION B 

WHERE A.VERSION = B.VERSION 

AND B.OBJECTTYPENAME = 'QAL' 

AND A.CLASSID IN (SELECT C.CLASSID FROM PSROLECLASS C, 

PSROLEUSER D WHERE C.ROLENAME = D.ROLENAME AND D.ROLEUSER = 

'%s')

“We always seem to have some users who jump on 

the latest version of Office before we can upgrade 

our servers and others who keep using older 

versions long after our servers are upgraded. Any 

suggestions for us regarding Office 2007?”

PS/nVision 

Office 2007 

• PS/nVision is now certified with Office 2007 

• Recommendation is (as in the past) to use the same version of 

Office for all PS/nVision environments: 

• Report Batch Server 

• User Browser Workstation 

• Report Designer Client Workstation 

• Different versions of Office in the mix have often worked in the 

past but a workaround will be required in certain instances

PS/nVision 

Office 2007 

• Office 2007 will save nVision 

reports as .xlsx 

• Designers using 

Office 2007 need to 

rename or save as 

.xls before running 

the report in an 

environment using 

Office 2003. 

Report User 

• End users need to save as .xls 

before using Office 2003 to 

open a report generated with 

Office 2007 

May require 

explicit 

saveas .xls 

Report 

Repository 

Report Designer 

Web Server App Server 

May require 

explicit 

saveas .xls 

Process 

Scheduler 

COBOL 

Application Engine 

SQR 

Crystal Report 

XML Publisher 

nVision 

Batch Server 

Report Server

XML Publisher 

Office 2007 

• PT bundles the BIP Template 

Builder 

• While Customers can download 

Template Builder the bundled 

version is the Certified, 

Recommended Version 

• Offcycle certifications may create 

an interim gap in time 

• For e.g. the recent certification of 

Office 2007 

• Customers will want to download the 

version 10.1.3.3 of the Template 

Builder from the Oracle website. 

• 

• Or be on a Tools Patch of 8.49.07 

and 8.48.16 or high (which updates 

the PT bundle)

“PeopleTools provides several reporting tools. 

When would I use nVision vs. XML Publisher vs. 

Crystal Reports?”

Report Development 

Excel Integration 

Forms Based (PDF, Word, etc) 

Pixel Precision Formatting 

MICR 

Graphics/Logos 

Charting 

Simple Tabular 

SubReport 

Matrixed 

Financials, Ledger, Trees 

Reporting w/Logic /Processing 

Scheduled/ On Demand 

Ad-Hoc 

Bursting 

Drill Down 

Windows Batch Server 

Unix/Linux Batch Server 

390 Batch Server 

Which 

Reporting 

Tool? 

 

nVISION 

 

XML 

PUBLISHER 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRYSTAL 

REPORTS 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOE 

 

Server 

 

PS/QUERY 

 

 

 

SQR 

 

 

 

REPORTING NEED FORMATTING DATA ORGANIZATION EXECUTION 

PLATFORMS

“When using multiple schedulers in multiple OSs, 

for load balancing, how can I assign AE process to 

execute in a particular OS?”

Scheduling Scenario 

• System setting - Unix is the primary OS and system load is 

set to ‘Assign To Server In Any O/S’ 

• A Master Scheduler 

• Customer has 4 schedulers - 2 on NT and 2 on UNIX 

• Each is set up as ‘use for load balancing’ & ‘redistribute to same 

OS’ and a Master Scheduler is booted 

• They want all AE processes to run on Unix - except 3 

• The 3 exceptions have been hard coded to run on a particular NT 

scheduler 

• But… sometimes the remaining AE processes are getting picked 

up by NT schedulers 

• Why? Is there any way to specify that these AE processes 

run only on the Unix Schedulers?”

Process Category 

• Define 2 Process Categories for AE processes (AE_NT 

and AE_UNIX) 

• Process Scheduler -> System Settings -> Process Category Admin 

tab 

• Assign the 3 AE processes you always want to run on NT 

to process category AE_NT 

• Assign the rest to process category AE_UNIX 

• NT server definitions - set ‘max concurrent’ AE_NT > 0 

and AE_UNIX = 0 

• Unix server definitions - set ‘max concurrent’ AE_NT = 0 

and AE_UNIX > 0

“When running an AE process to Window (output), 

did you know you can have more than just the run 

status displayed in popups?”

Run Status popups 

• By default the popup windows reflects the request run 

status

User Defined Progress 

• Add the following PeopleCode 

to display a customized status 

message in popup window 

• import PT_PRCS:API:*; 

• Local PrcsApi &api = create 

PrcsApi(); 

• &nret = 

&api.notifyToWindow(QE_AE 

STATUS_AET.PROCESS_IN 

STANCE, "Executing 

initialization steps…");

“Did you know you can define links to Application 

pages from the Process Request result page?”

Links in Report results 

• This can be done by defining links to pages on process 

definition 

OR

Example 


• Upon completion of process TREEMAINT, user may either 

(1) Go to View result of an audit, (2) Go to Repair Tree 

page. 

• You can setup these links for navigation from the process 

result page via Process Definition URL Links page.


• URL Keys page is used to supply key values needed to pull 

up the appropriate data in the page 

• Values can be in the format of meta-variables or inline bind 

variables


• Submit the process TREEMAINT to run from Tree Manager 

-> Tree Auditor…


• On completion of process request, user clicks to view request/report 

details from process monitor (or via notification email …etc) 

• User will find URL link(s) associated with the generated instance


• User can then click the link to navigate directly to the page 

with the appropriate keys populated 

• (ie. Process Instance and Run Control ID in this example)

“Tired of losing your PeopleSoft Tree changes?”

Collaborative work on PeopleSoft Trees 

• On the PeopleTools Options page, select the ‘Use Tree 

Update Reservation’

Check Out Tree 

• Tree opened in Read Only 

• ‘Check Out Tree’ to reserve/lock for update 

• Tree or branch can be reserved/locked by Owner ID and 

Timestamp

Release Tree 

• Reservation released when user selects ‘Release Tree’, 

closes the tree or when ‘Max Tree Inactivity Period’ is 

reached 

• timestamp on LAST_ACTIVITY_TIME field updated whenever 

owner performs any action on tree - including navigation

Accessing a Reserved Tree 

• If tree is currently checked out, user will be notified of the 

User Id of the person holding the reservation

PeopleSoft Enterprise 

Reporting Tips & 

Techniques Looking Ahead 

“How do I map my data to a government supplied 

PDF form when it contains repeated elements?”

PDF Mapping 

Looking Ahead 

• Full Path Mapping

PDF Full Path Mapping – 8.50 

• Enable mapping PDF form fields to XML 

elements positioned under any level in the 

data source XML structure. 

• No schema required. Only sample xml file 

is needed 

 

 

00001 

 

1 Company st. CA 00001 

Company Info 

 

 

1 Employee st. CA 00001 

Employee Info 

50000 

12 

...... 

 

 

 

...... 

...... 

 

“How can I email the results of a Scheduled Query 

or XMLP report?

Emailing Reports 

Looking Ahead 

• Query Report Scheduler supports email now. 

• Email actual report file as attachment. 

• Multiple levels of validation

“Every time I run my report it outputs the exact 

same filename. In fact, it overwrites the existing 

file.”

Prevent File Overwrite 

Today 

• Specify only the folder name when writing to a file 

• Report name is system generated 

• Each run of the report overwrites previous report 

with that name 

• The workaround is to specify a different folder

Descriptive Report Names 

Looking Ahead 

• Report output names (and file names) are now 

customizable using a name template 

• Plain text intermixed with output parameters: 

• %BTV%: 

• %ASD%: 

• %RID%: 

Burst value (bursting mode only) 

As of Date 

Report ID 

• %Field% (any candidate burst field under highest repeating element) 

• ie %EMPLID%

Descriptive Report Names 

• Can be set on the Output page 

• Or programmatically using ReportFileName property on the 

ReportDefn class. 

• If set, it will override UseBurstValueAsOutputFileName property

“I have a PS/Query that uses ‘in tree’ criteria. 

Problem is I need to select a different set of nodes 

just about every time I run it”

inTree Criteria 

Today 

• For criteria, DEPTID as “in tree” and try to save.

Tree Prompt Option 

Looking Ahead

Tree Prompt Option

Tree Prompt Option

Tree Prompt Option

“What happens if I need to keep certain reports for 

7-10 years or longer?

Report Retention Days 

Today 

• System wide setting impacts all report retention

Report Retention Days 

Looking Ahead 

• Maximum retention days setting allowed has changed 

from 999 to 9999 days 

• Set the default retention at four levels 

• Process Type Definition 

• Process Definition 

• Job Definition 

• Schedule JobSet Definition

Process Type Definition Default 

• Takes precedence over System setting

Process Definition Default 

• Takes precedence over Process Type definition or 

System setting

Job Definition Default 

• Takes precedence over system setting 

• Used to enforce the same retention days for all 

processes within a job

Override at Schedule time 

• Process Request / Scheduler JobSet UI (Distribution Link) 

• With output type of web/window

“Can you explain what a ‘Run Control Id’ is to a new 

user? What if you never had to again?”

Run Control 

Today 

• Required to prompt users for the parameters needed to 

run the process

Generic Run Control 

Looking Ahead 

• Register parameters 

• Once “Generic Run Control Page” option is enabled 

on process definition, users can “Schedule” process

Generic Run Control 

• Generic run control page generated based on the 

registered parameters

Reporting Console 

Looking Ahead 

• Single location/launch pad for reporting activities 

• Run, schedule, monitor, view process requests 

• Create ad-hoc reports 

• Share and email report instance 

• Manager process and report definitions 

• Admin functions 

• Manage process and report definitions

Reporting Console 

Looking Ahead

For More Information 

search.oracle.com 

or 

oracle.com

The preceding is intended to outline our general 

product direction. It is intended for information 

purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any 

contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any 

material, code, or functionality, and should not be 

relied upon in making purchasing decisions. 

The development, release, and timing of any 

features or functionality described for Oracle’s 

products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

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