Part 3 of the “Rethinking PeopleSoft” Series

Read part 1 here: Rethinking PeopleSoft: Stop Supporting. Start Enabling: Why It’s Time to Rethink PeopleSoft as a Platform

Read part 2 here: Rethinking PeopleSoft: What Actually Changes When PeopleSoft Becomes a Platform?

Customizations have always been a double-edged sword in PeopleSoft. They can unlock incredible functionality for your organization and have historically been where the true power of PeopleSoft could be found. However, they can also create upgrade nightmares, hidden technical debt, and fragile processes that hinder system performance.

Platform thinking changes that. When you start treating PeopleSoft as a platform instead of a monolithic application, you approach customizations differently. You shift from adding code wherever you can to building extensions the right way, with guardrails, visibility, and repeatability.

From Chaos to Composability

In the old application model, customizations were often quick fixes: a SQL tweak here, a hard-coded SQR there, maybe a page modification that someone swore you’d remember in the next upgrade cycle. These changes often lived outside version control, and the knowledge was trapped in the heads of a few admins or developers.

In a platform model, every customization is treated as a component, designed to be portable, modular, and upgrade-safe. You’re no longer hacking the core; you’re building on top of it.

Key platform-friendly tools and patterns include:

  • Drop Zones: Add new fields and components without touching delivered objects.
  • Event Framework: Trigger logic at specific events without hardcoding into the application.
  • Page and Field Configurator: Adjust labels, hide/show fields, and add behavior without modifying delivered pages.
  • Configuration-Driven Development: Rely on delivered setup tables instead of custom SQL or PeopleCode.

These tools aren’t just nice extras. They are your building blocks for safe, upgradeable enhancements. They make it possible to limit or remove customizations altogether, while continuing to deliver high-value, business-specific functionality. On top of that, the features allow you to do that quickly.

Guardrails Over Gatekeeping

A common mistake is swinging from chaos and customization everywhere to total customization lockdown. This can turn the platform development teams into the “no” police. That’s the best part about platform thinking: it’s not about stopping customizations; it’s about enabling safe customizations with clear guardrails.

This approach creates a balance:

  • Guardrails: Code must be versioned, modular, and linked to a deployment pipeline. Extensions should use modern frameworks like Event Mapping or Drop Zones whenever possible.
  • Not Gatekeeping: Developers still have freedom to innovate, but in a structured environment where changes are tracked, reviewed, and automatically tested before hitting production.

By shifting the culture from “don’t customize” to “customize the right way,” you empower teams to solve problems without increasing risk.

Versioned, Modular, and Safe

One of the biggest wins of platform thinking is moving customizations into a version-controlled, modular workflow. That means:

  • All changes live in version control (PeopleCode, SQRs, configurations, DPKs, etc.)
  • Custom code is organized into identifiable PeopleSoft projects
  • Automated pipelines handle builds, deployments, and regression checks

This structure gives you rollback options, audit trails, and the confidence to deploy more frequently, because your system is designed for change, not afraid of it.

Here are a few options for PeopleSoft version control:

The Payoff

When you adopt platform-friendly customization practices, you reduce upgrade friction by keeping core code clean, accelerate development by enabling teams to build and deploy safely, and increase system reliability through traceable, testable changes. These practices also unlock composability and reusability, making future projects and upgrades faster and easier. Instead of being viewed as a source of headaches, customizations become strategic enhancements that strengthen and extend the value of your platform.

In the next post, we’ll talk about observability, telemetry, and self-service. These are the tools that make platform operations hum and keep your PeopleSoft environments healthy, fast, and future-ready.