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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Successor | Oracle Corporation |
| Headquarters | Pleasanton, California, United States |
Key people | David Duffield, Ken Morris |
| Owner | Oracle(2005–present) |
| Parent | Oracle Corporation |
PeopleSoft, Inc. was a company that providedhuman resource management systems (HRMS), financial management solutions (FMS),supply chain management (SCM),customer relationship management (CRM), andenterprise performance management (EPM) software, as well as software for manufacturing, and student administration to largecorporations, governments, and organizations. It existed as an independent corporation until its acquisition byOracle Corporation in 2005. The PeopleSoft name and product line are now marketed by Oracle.
Founded in 1987 by Ken Morris andDavid Duffield, PeopleSoft was originally headquartered inWalnut Creek, California, before moving toPleasanton, California. Duffield envisioned aclient–server version of Integral Systems popularmainframe HRMS package. He cofounded PeopleSoft after leaving Integral Systems which was also based in Walnut Creek. It should not be confused withIntegral Systems of Columbia, Maryland, a different company. The company's sole venture backing came from IBM.[1] George J. Still Jr. fromNorwest Venture Partners joined the Board of Directors.[2]
PeopleSoft version 1, released in late 1989,[3]: 18 was the first fully integrated, robust client–server HRMS application suite.[3]
PeopleSoft expanded its product range to include a financials module in 1992, distribution in 1994, and manufacturing in 1996 after the acquisition of Red Pepper.[3]
In 2003, PeopleSoft accomplished a friendlymerger with smaller rivalJD Edwards.[4] The latter's similar product line,World andOneWorld, targeted mid-sized companies too small to benefit from PeopleSoft's applications. JD Edwards' software used theConfigurable Network Computing architecture, which shielded applications from both theoperating system and the database back-end. PeopleSoft branded the OneWorld productPeopleSoft EnterpriseOne.[5]
Beginning in 2003,Oracle began to maneuver for control of the PeopleSoft company. In June 2003, Oracle made a $13 billion bid in a hostile corporatetakeover attempt. In February 2004, Oracle decreased their bid to approximately $9.4 billion; this offer was also rejected by PeopleSoft'sboard of directors. Complicating Oracle's takeover attempt was PeopleSoft'spoison pill, allowing their customers to potentially receive refunds of 2–5 times the amount they had paid in the case of a takeover.[6]
Later that month, theU.S. Department of Justice filedsuit to block Oracle, on the grounds that the acquisition would breakantitrust laws. In September 2004, the suit was rejected by aU.S.Federal judge, who found that the Justice Department had not proven its antitrust case. In October, the same decision was handed down by theEuropean Commission. Although Oracle had reduced its offer to $7.7 billion in May, it again raised its bid in November to $9.4 billion.
In December 2004, Oracle announced that it had signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire PeopleSoft for approximately $10.3 billion. A month after the acquisition of PeopleSoft, Oracle cut over half of PeopleSoft's workforce, laying off 6,000 of PeopleSoft's 11,000 employees.[7]
Oracle moved to capitalize on the perceived strong brand loyalty within the JD Edwards user community by rebranding former JD Edwards products. Thus PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne became JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and PeopleSoft World became JD Edwards World.[citation needed]
Oracle announced in 2005 thatFusion Applications would combine the best aspects of the PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Oracle Applications and merge them into a new product suite.[citation needed]
Under Oracle, PeopleSoft offers different cloud-based software products, including Human Capital Management (HCM), Campus Solutions, Procurement and Supplier Management, Financial Management, and PeopleTools and Technology.[8][9][10]
In 2010, PeopleSoft released its In-Memory Project Discovery.[11] It translated unstructured data into structured data, which then allowed users to analyze keywords and data in the Services Automation suite. It ran on Oracle's Exalytics in-memory machine andOracle Endeca Information Discovery enterprise data platform.[11]
In 2015, Oracle PeopleSoft ERP (enterprise resource planning) was anon-premises system capable of running inWindows,Linux,UNIX, andIBM mainframe environments.[8] In 2019, theDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) used the PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resource platform for time and labor tracking, manager and employee self-service tools, and security.[12]
The original architecture for the PeopleSoft is a suite of products built on aclient–server (two-tier) approach with a dedicatedclient.[3] With the release of version 8, the entire suite was rewritten as ann-tierweb-centric design called PeopleSoft Internet Architecture (PIA).[3] The new format allowed all of acompany's business functions to be accessed and run from within aweb browser.[13]
Originally, a small number of security and system setup functions still needed to be performed on afat-client machine; however, this is no longer[when?] the case.[clarification needed][citation needed]
The PeopleSoft application suite can function as anERP system, similar toSAP, but can also be used for single modules; for example,Student Administration or HCM (Human Capital Management) alone.[citation needed]
PeopleSoft uses a functionality now known as Integration Broker[14] to communicate with different modules (known as pillars). In addition Integration Broker can be utilized for web services calls between PeopleSoft and other applications.
Implementation focuses on PeopleSoft's proprietaryPeopleTools technology. PeopleTools includes many different components used to create web-based applications: a scripting language known asPeopleCode, design tools to define various types ofmetadata, standard security structure,batch-processing tools, and the ability to interface with aSQL database. Themetadata describes data for user interfaces, tables, messages, security, navigation, portals, etc. This set of tools can make the PeopleSoft suiteplatform-independent.
Before PIA version 8.0, Components were called Panel Groups.[15]
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PeopleSoft applications, which address complex business requirements, have some known issues in terms of online security. PeopleSoft was used by Fortune 500 companies and government organizations, and almost 50% of them are vulnerable and can be hacked via the internet, as researchers state.[23]
The risk factor lies in existing vulnerabilities of Oracle PeopleSoft systems that could enable data breaches at businesses, government organizations, and universities.[24] Because of this, companies using PeopleSoft applications are under constant threat of cyber attacks.[25]
According to the research[26] on public-facing Oracle PeopleSoft applications and their vulnerabilities, systems available online are susceptible to the TokenChpoken attack. A TokenChpoken attack, which affects systems that use Single Sign-On (SSO), is possible because an authentication cookie (PS_TOKEN) used by PeopleSoft applications can be forged. When the PS_TOKEN is identified by a "brute force" TokenChpoken attack, it is possible to log in under a system account and gain access to all data from the compromised system.
Since 2010, several cases have been reported of PeopleSoft security breaches. In March 2013, Salem State University in Massachusetts alerted 25,000 students and employees that their Social Security Numbers might have been compromised in a database breach. Similarly, in February 2016, the University of Central Florida disclosed that over 63,000 student Social Security numbers had been compromised.[27][better source needed]
All organizations that use PeopleSoft (including companies specialized in charity, food, manufacturing, retail, transport, etc.) stay vulnerable to TokenChpoken and other interventions if they do not pay due attention to security.[28]
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