5 Ways to Properly Document What PeopleSoft Really Does (Before You Even Think About SaaS)

Step 1 in the 10 Steps to Get Your PeopleSoft System Ready to Move to a SaaS Solution.

In my recent article, “10 Steps to Get Your PeopleSoft System Ready to Move to a SaaS Solution,” I laid out a roadmap for preparing your PeopleSoft environment for whatever comes next, regardless of whether that is hybrid, cloud-hosted, or complete SaaS. If you want a full review of the ten steps, feel free to read that post first. You can find it here.

This post is the first in a deeper series that breaks down each of those steps. We’re starting with Step 1: Document What PeopleSoft Really Does, because you can’t plan a migration, modernization, or even a serious conversation about SaaS until you have a clear picture of what PeopleSoft is doing for your organization today.

If your organization is thinking about SaaS, cloud, or hybrid ERP, the very first step isn’t picking a vendor. It’s understanding what PeopleSoft actually does for your organization today.

For many IT leaders, this step gets skipped or done halfway. Someone finds an old Visio diagram, a few Word docs from a previous upgrade, and declares the system “documented.”

It’s not.

Not even close.

To make smart decisions about SaaS, about things like cost, scope, risk, and timeline, you need a complete PeopleSoft Blueprint: a clear inventory of business processes, customizations, integrations, reports, and automations your organization depends on.

Here are five practical ways to get that done the right way.

✅ 1. Map Business Processes, Not Just Menus

Don’t start with the navigation. Start with the work.

• What actually happens in Payroll, Admissions, Accounts Payable, Benefits, Student Records, etc.?

• What steps happen inside PeopleSoft vs outside (email approvals, spreadsheets, middleware tools)?

• Who owns each step? Is it IT or the business?

Your output: A process map for each functional area with roles, inputs, actions, and outcomes.

✅ 2. Inventory Customizations, Bolt-Ons, and “Quick Fixes”

Every organization has them: SQL hacks, App Engine tweaks, PeopleCode mods, bolt-on pages, and SQR scripts that keep the lights on.

Document:

• What was changed (object name, type, purpose)?

• Why does it exist (regulation, union rules, historical decision)?

• Can SaaS replicate it, or is it technical debt that needs to die?

Your output: A customization catalog with business justification + retirement vs migration status.

✅ 3. List Every Integration, Even the Rogue Ones

PeopleSoft rarely works alone.

Make a list of:

• Inbound and outbound integrations

• API calls, flat file transfers, web services (REST/SOAP), database links, or ETL jobs

• Ownership: who maintains it (IT, vendor, third-party)?

• Frequency and criticality (real-time payroll data ≠ weekly report email)

Your output: Integration matrix and an architecture diagram.

✅ 4. Audit Reports, Queries, and Shadow Spreadsheets

Decision-making lives in reports, and so does technical debt.

Document:

• nVision, PS/Query, BI Publisher, SQR, Tableau, Power BI, Access reports

• Who uses them and how often

• Which ones are critical vs no longer used

• Where data is being manually copied to Excel or Google Sheets (danger zone)

Your output: Reporting inventory with the business owner and system dependency.

✅ 5. Capture Tribal Knowledge Before It Walks Out the Door

PeopleSoft often runs on expertise that lives in one person’s head, not in official documentation.

Fix it by:

• Interviewing SMEs, admins, and power users

• Recording screen shares of how they run batch jobs, fix errors, move data, or restart processes

• Storing it in a shared, searchable place (Confluence, SharePoint, Git, Notion, etc.)

• Making it part of your runbook and future SaaS requirements

Your output: A living knowledge base, not a PDF that nobody reads.

🎯 Why This Matters

When leadership asks, “Can we move to Workday / Oracle Cloud / SAP SuccessFactors?”, your answer can’t be guesswork. It must be:

✅ Here’s what PeopleSoft actually does

✅ Here’s what can move to SaaS

✅ Here’s what needs rework, replacement, or retirement

✅ Here’s the real effort and cost

That’s how you shift from reacting to leading.