According to the recent email from Oracle and the information on the PeopleSoft customer connect website, the existing “customer connect” is going to be replaced by the MetaLink3 scheduled during November 7-9, 2008.

Oracle is going to use Siebel CRM 8.0 for their Customer Support Management (CRM) System. This is indirectly saying that the Siebel CRM is better than PeopleSoft CRM and Oracle Apps CRM .   That is ok as they have to select one from the existing CRM tools.

PeopleSoft CRM has chat service. Does the Siebel CRM have chat service? If it has or not, one thing is for sure that they have not mentioned anything about it anywhere in providing it to “PeopleSoft Customers”.

Once you login, the logo says, “My Oracle Support” and “Formerly MetaLink” and then why name url as https://metalink3.oracle.com? Are they going to change the url later?

The Advantages as per Oracle Site:

• Faster Problem Solution – How does changing the portal will fasten the solution provided by the support analysts?
  
• Reduce your time to resolution with quick access to the information you need using a new personalized dashboard – Didn’t we have a kind of dashboard in existing ”Customer Connect”, even though it is not called dashboard?
• Facilitate faster resolution with a robust knowledgebase and powerful self-service tools - The existing search engine in PeopleSoft Customer connect sucks. Refer to this earlier discussion here . One has to wait and see if the Siebel CRM search Engine is better.
• Quickly access your Service Request (SR) history with MySRs – Don’t we have that feature already in existing customer connect with the “Recent cases” pagelet?

What is good in MetaLink3?

• The patch downloads are similar to the existing Oracle Database Metalink patch download. Which means it is lot more easier than “PeopleSoft Customer Connect”. Believe me, if you are a PeopleSoft customer, and using PeopleSoft customer connect to download a patch or Maintenance Pack, the first cumbersome one is downloading itself. The most confusing thing, which is not there in the new MetaLink3. If you want to know a DBA or Admin is new to his job, ask him/her to download MP and he/she succeeds in the first time finding it, then you can be sure of it.

• The Software Configuration Manager is linked with the MetaLink3. What about the link through “Upgrade Assistant” or “Change Management Software”?

Here you go

• According to the email, you need to pre-register before through Nov 6th. The Pre-registration page did not work this morning. In the evening they started working. I could register myself and had a chance to go through the Live and recorded training pages.
• Could not see anything in the knowledge settings for All products or there is no PeopleSoft.
• Knowledge Preferences do not have PeopleSoft Product sources.
• “Recent Documents” from internet explorer link freezes the browser, while it is trying to open a pop-up window.

What is actually needed?

• We would be interested in having a chat service embedded with the CRM. Aren’t the PeopleSoft customers are like any other customer?  May be one has to provide solution instantly if you are a customer support personal?  Yuck. At least they should provide to non technical area.

• I can understand asking the existing customers to update their setting when you migrate to a new system, but why would anyone have to register in the new system? Can’t they export and import the existing customers to new system without any settings? Can you tell PeopleSoft CRM customers to register in the new system when you upgrade to newer version?
• If you have other Oracle product supports including Oracle DATABASE, you should continue to use the existing MetaLink for now. It would be lot better if a shop has PeopleSoft and Oracle DB license to have them in one place instead of having it separately.

 Keep your fingers Crossed?

• Will they migrate “Recent Cases” from existing “Customer Connect” to new system? Doubt it.
• Everyone knows that the search engine in existing customer connect sucks. Google search engine provides links to better and correct solution than the Customer Connect. Will there be any improvement in the Siebel search engine?
• The Oracle site says one can have “Quickly access your Service Request (SR) history with MySRs”. Are they talking about the new ones created in MetaLink or the existing ones in “Customer Connect”. There is a ton of valuable information in the existing “Customer Connect”. Are they going to get migrated to the new MetaLink3? Or is it going to be history for the "Customers"?
• Hope they fix all these issues before November 7th, which is about 2 weeks.

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