Developing feature-rich solutions to support business operations

Yogesh Patel

Senior PeopleSoft Developer for Campus Solutions

By the Numbers

  • A team 18 strong advances and supports the Peoplesoft ERP applications at Princeton
  • Collaborate with campus colleagues to drive the business operations of 4 university offices in Peoplesoft
  • Write solutions that support 8,200+ students who use our systems

A Day in the Life

I have been working as a PeopleSoft developer for the past ten years, and most recently with  OIT to advance and support PeopleSoft Campus Solutions at Princeton University. Campus Solutions is a special module because it provides solutions for the student community. In my time at Princeton, I mostly worked on the Student Financials Implementation Project, which involved moving campus colleagues from a custom developed system to a PeopleSoft solution. This project created an opportunity for me to connect with other colleagues and learn more about operations across campus. I had the chance to work with the Bursar’s Office and other offices on campus, and learned about their operations, as well as Princeton operations. I am also gaining experience in important new Peoplesoft features and technologies, such as Fluid and the Integration Broker. Our team’s work also employs user experience (UX) and accessibility best practices---areas that were new to me when I joined. Having the responsibility to ensure my programs and modules are accessible and easily usable makes me feel proud because these measures ensure even more people can use our systems. 

It takes a team

I am one of twelve developers responsible for supporting and maintaining the Peoplesoft ERP system. Our team is made up of three groups that collectively support the Peoplesoft modules that drive Princeton Financials, Human Resources and Campus Solutions operations. Working as one team makes it easier to take advantage of any new technology delivered by Peoplesoft. We like to implement the latest functionality, and when one group implements it, we all gain an advantage from that experience. I continuously learn and implement something new.

Every member of our team is professional and a team player. As a long-term investment at Princeton, we also learn and leverage the latest Peoplesoft technologies and features so our programs offer the best user experience that can be had.

Path to Princeton OIT

When I began working with PeopleSoft at a prior employer, I worked on the Human Capital Management (HCM) module. I then moved to a position in higher education where I had an opportunity to expand my Peoplesoft programming skills and work on the Campus Solutions module. Working on Campus Solutions was particularly enjoyable to me because of the student impact and functionality. My experience eventually brought me to Princeton University OIT. The professionalism that I experience here is unlike what I’ve experienced at other institutions. For me, it’s also a plus to work for an Ivy League school, not to mention one of the top schools in the world.

Here at Princeton, we are always using the latest technology. This is rare and hard to find at other institutions. 

OIT and My Career

People here are very experienced, yet very open when you ask for help. As a result, it took me less time to get settled than I had experienced before working for at other places where I worked. Your team and managers are always there to help you when you are new. Princeton also  provides you an OIT buddy so you can ask  questions and learn how the work gets done here. We offer a lot of training too. If you want certification in a certain area, you can go for it. Personally,  I am interested in learning more about project management and guiding a team. This is another skill that I can take with me when I am ready to move to the next level and manage people. 

OIT leadership puts trust in you, and that trust brings out the confidence in you to perform well in any given project or task.