Happy 26th Birthday PSPA

Lately, the people I meet have been wondering just what the future looks like for PeopleSoft Pension Administration.

Our good friend, Pension Administration, turned 26 in October 2022.

We first met Pension at the release party for PeopleSoft 6.0 in October 1996. For two and a half decades, Pension has been working hard.

She has been helping retirement plans and their administrative staff keep meticulous records, perform accurate benefit calculations, and ensure retirees get paid on time. All while staying flexible when facing plan changes, and keeping current, with technology.

We had a lot of good times. Remember Cash Balance Accounts from 7.5, the big move to the web in the 8s, and Service Purchases from 9.2?

But, you may have noticed that Pension is not feeling very loved lately. Since the release of 9.2 in March 2013, there has only been a slow trickle of patches and updates (PUM) impacting Pension users.

Meanwhile, all of Pension’s buddies, like PeopleTools, and the other Human Capital applications, have really evolved.

They have introduced new business features, that leverage new PeopleTools development capabilities.

They are working towards modernizing the user experience. And are now making it possible, to configure the system, where previously complex costly customizations were required.

Sadly, Pension has been mostly left out, of this rally. (But she doesn’t want to be.)

Wouldn’t it be great, if Pension, were to get some new features, and capabilities, for her Birthday?

A really big bash. One that makes up for the last few birthday bummers.

That’s where I come in. My name is Mark Tomsheck. Pension and I have been friends, for well over two decades. Well, best friends, actually.

So I started thinking, about how to cheer up Pension, by throwing her a big birthday celebration, with lots of cool gifts.

I have been solving challenging problems for all kinds of Pension users, for years.

I have been improving user workflow and throughput, making systems run faster, and customizing complex pension rules in ways that bring universal flexibility.

Along the way, I have been collecting ideas, about how to make Pension better, for everyone.

So I took the best of these ideas, to Oracle, and to others, to see if maybe, they might be interested in, co-hosting the party.

No luck. But no worries. This just means there won’t be any glitches in the space-time continuum as I take Pension into the future.

Undeterred, I started dreaming big, planning and prioritizing. I built a laboratory. And starting experimenting. I began testing and refining these ideas.

Getting ideas working, and seeing them in action, brought on new ideas, better ideas, and bigger ideas.

I shared these ideas with other users. And they got really excited! Together, we even put some of these ideas, into their production systems.

With each enhancement, my birthday celebration planning gained more and more momentum.

Until one day, there were hundreds of working enhancements gifts for Pension.

These are the kind of gifts, that Pension, can share, with ALL her friends.

You know, the real people that can see significant improvement in their daily interaction with Pension. Like you and me.

Pension was so happy.

Now, she can’t wait for me to wrap up all these wonderful gifts and send them out to you as soon as possible, so you too can see what the Future of PeopleSoft Pension Administration will look like.

Let’s celebrate Pension’s big birthday together.