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PeopleSoft vs SAP HCM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

PeopleSoft
Ranking in Benefits Administration
4th
Ranking in Talent Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
ERP (9th), Activity Based Costing Software (4th), Demand Management (2nd), Talent Acquisition (4th)
SAP HCM
Ranking in Benefits Administration
3rd
Ranking in Talent Management
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Cloud HCM (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of PeopleSoft is 10.1%, down from 14.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HCM is 13.6%, up from 12.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Benefits Administration
 

Featured Reviews

UshaKatyal - PeerSpot reviewer
A mature solution that needs right implementation
I think PeopleSoft HR is pretty good and very mature. The people who built PeopleSoft now work on Workday. Workday has asked me to join them as an employee a few times, but I don't take anyone's employment because Workday isn't very user-friendly. With PeopleSoft, you can do a lot. Oracle now bundles PeopleSoft and calls it Oracle Cloud, but the programs are the same. Recruiters often don't know this and say you're not qualified if you don't have Oracle Cloud experience. However, Oracle has just put PeopleSoft in the cloud and packaged it as Oracle Cloud. Overall, if the solution is implemented correctly, it runs very smoothly. I think people shouldn't customize it. They should use it as is and try to adapt to it. Many people didn't understand PeopleSoft at first. For example, during COVID, some companies hired offshore people who didn't know what they were doing and messed everything up. You need to know the rules and regulations of the country where you're implementing the tool because every country has different rules for HR, benefits, and payroll. Canadian payroll differs from US payroll, but they're on the same platform in the solution. It's a very mature system, but people prefer newer options like Oracle Cloud. I was also involved with SAP S/4HANA. I don't think it's good for the government sector because government workers are a bit lazy about technical things. I understand S/4HANA because I have a technical background. It has a different structure, while PeopleSoft has more of a file and table structure, which is easier. If the tables are set up wrong, things go wrong. But if you know how to set it up correctly, it runs smoothly, and you can adjust it if needed. The problem is that companies are hiring big consulting firms that want money. They hire offshore people who don't know the country's rules and do programming. If you buy a package and still have to do custom programming, why buy the package at all? These days, I'm doing a lot of business process reengineering for people because they don't know how to implement it correctly. If you implement it right, you can reduce manual work. However, it depends on change management and how senior management handles it. It works fine if you implement the tool on-site or hybrid, not cloud and do it correctly. But in a cloud situation, there are problems. Many countries change their payroll and benefits rules often. With the cloud, you can't easily change things. You have to ask the company to make changes, which costs much money. People who don't want an IT department go for the cloud. But I've seen many companies fail with the cloud. The cloud is just everything packaged together. Your data sits in someone else's cloud, and you must accept whatever they do. Payroll is very sensitive. If payroll is wrong, the whole company suffers. I've worked on the financial and school sides, too. I'm comfortable with the tool if it's implemented correctly. But many companies don't implement it right, which is why they might say it is too much. I did a big project for an oil and gas company. I was a program control manager with 51 people under me. We used Oracle, but Oracle isn't as good as PeopleSoft for payroll. If the solution is implemented correctly, it's fine. But you need the right implementer. Big consulting firms often give wrong information and use inexperienced people. For maintenance, PeopleSoft sends updated rules to new tables at year-end. You compile the new tables and start the new year. But you need to know which changes apply to your country. I talk to many senior PeopleSoft people and always get LinkedIn messages about business opportunities. I now help about 50 clients when they have problems, but I'm not traveling. If you know the HR and payroll business well, you can implement anything - PeopleSoft, Oracle, or S/4HANA. I've done all of these. S/4HANA is more complicated and technical. It's similar to an old software called IDMS. You have to be very technical, and if you don't do it right, it won't work. I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.
Renelia Villanueva - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient payroll processing with comprehensive attendance management
I am currently heading the payroll benefits and HRIS team here in Manila. We are using SAP HCM on-premises, and we implemented SuccessFactors focusing on Employee Central and GMPM SAP HCM has helped a lot due to the always changing government regulations pertaining to taxation, social security…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Stability-wise, it is a good tool."
"The most valuable feature of PeopleSoft is the functionality that allows the ability to find all the data about employees that are needed."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its stability."
"PeopleSoft is an amazing solution. Its users can have total control of the system, including PeopleCode, Application Engine and Component Interface, along with many other tools delivered by PeopleSoft."
"PeopleSoft is resilient and has the flexibility for us to customize it."
"The most valuable feature for us is the integration between the HR Payroll and Financials modules"
"The solution is easy to scale, expand and make bigger."
"I've worked with HR, payroll, benefits, time and labor, health and safety, and every module. I've also worked on different modules for the education, health, and financial sectors. My 25 years of experience cover different industries and implementations. I've also worked in the public sector, which is a bit different. I implemented PeopleSoft for the state of Massachusetts, covering 168 schools, colleges, and universities."
"The setup was straightforward."
"The stability of the solution is good."
"SAP HCM can handle a large number of employees. We can easily process payrolls and check the arrangements, and the client can also check the performance of the employees. Additionally, it has some advanced features."
"The valuable features of SAP HCM include managing employee data from hiring to retirement."
"We have features such as ABKRS based on the client's requirement, tariff and TMSTA, and so on."
"They provide the most stable and powerful technology in the areas of human resources, information systems, and ERP."
"Payroll is always the central area the tool focuses on. It needs to ensure things are flowing, employees are paid on time, and there are no issues related to location, pay, or hiring. SAP HCM helps observe all the work, from hiring to paying paychecks every month. It's a system that depends on the data you input. You don't want to work with bad data and expect miracles. If the data isn't clean, it's more work."
"The payroll and time management features are useful."
 

Cons

"Scalability is not there in PeopleSoft. Its performance and resilience are also very bad. When you're trying to stretch it, it breaks. It is not resilient. It is also not stable. It is stable as far as data is concerned, but the infrastructure is not stable."
"I would like to see better support, bug fixing, and documentation."
"The ease of integration needs improvement."
"One of the areas that could improve is the capability of utilizing mobile for some of the self-service activities that are missing. They are running on the older platform. What is happening is people are focusing on the cloud. PeopleSoft is a good provider and should into the cloud. That could be an advantage for them. Customers would not have to go find another solution that is a completely different platform that has different functionality altogether."
"We have already deployed it and we have had it for several years but we are switching to a modern HCM SaaS cloud product."
"The product is not intuitive, and finding the right candidate can be arduous."
"Agile system configurations to accommodate business dynamics."
"There could be more adaptability of the system."
"In my experience, SAP HCM and similar products are very good, but the focus now should be on providing features to encourage employee adoption. For example, accessing pay slips is a task that naturally drives adoption. However, AI tools that can prompt employees at the right time through the right application are needed for actions such as conducting surveys or gathering performance feedback."
"The setup comes with a set of challenges as well."
"We find some challenges in the integration between SAP HCM and SAP SuccessFactors."
"SAP HCM has many different channels for communication with the consultants which makes it complex. There are delays when there is a problem."
"SAP HCM has helped a lot due to the always changing government regulations pertaining to taxation, social security service, and local regulations that change frequently."
"On the personnel administration side, it's very difficult to do custom development."
"I would like it to move more towards a single data space, a single data source. SAP as a platform relies on multiple data sources because traditionally, it's been bolted together by the acquisition of other products rather than a single database. That's why there are lots of points of failure and lots of required points of integration. They need a single integration point."
"It would be very helpful for our company if a new version was released with the ability to contain all of the things that we have newly introduced in our company."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are a University and the cost and license are negotiated privately."
"Yearly payments are to be made toward the licensing costs of PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft is not very expensive, so I feel it is an affordable product."
"The main issue we have with the solution is that it is very expensive."
"The tool is expensive."
"I would consider this to be an expensive product, but the quality justifies it."
"Check all options before a decision is made."
"It's approximately $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 USD per year."
"The product's cost depends on the number of people in your company or the number of paychecks processed. They charge based on these factors, plus a maintenance fee. I'm not sure about current pricing since Oracle took over."
"The solution is cheap."
"Be careful and guard against future changes in licensing."
"The pricing is really high."
"I believe HCM is a little expensive, but I don't know the exact price because I'm involved with the sales team. However, I think the price must be reasonable because many organizations are migrating their current ERPs to SAP. It's excellent software, and the price is competitive."
"SAP is expensive, but if you're using the product, then the expensive product becomes inexpensive. Considering its performance and features, I find it quite reasonable."
"For implementation, SAP offers little support unless you buy SAP Safeguarding from SAP Consulting."
"The terms on which you buy licenses might change due to the way they license in a particular product."
"The product is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are the differences between Oracle HCM Cloud and PeopleSoft?
Although both are solutions to manage HR, their differences make each one suitable for different companies. Oracle Cloud HCM is a platform for connecting all human resource processes in your organ...
What do you like most about PeopleSoft?
I use the reporting feature occasionally to check for potential improvements in timesheets. We have integrated it with Power BI.
What do you like most about SAP HCM?
SAP HCM is the one of the best ERP for an organization with a small to large scale business. It has the most efficient payroll functionality. Regards : SAP HR classes in pune
What do you like most about SAP HCM?
HCM is a very important module that each organization should want to use. It will help any organization to calculate and control the cost of their human resources.
What is better, SAP HCM or SAP SuccessFactors?
When it comes to user experience, SuccessFactors is unquestionably superior, as it provides end users with a new experience and an advanced user interface. Additionally, the entire concept of SF is...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP Human Capital Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

BMI Healthcare, Lone Star College System, Jefferson County Public Schools, Griffith University, Los Rios Community College District, Tervita Corporation, INFRA S.A. de C.V., ICF Habitat, Central Washington University, Tech Mahindra Limited, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Stanford Childrens Health
City of Cape Town, ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd., TransAlta Corporation, Keolis, PT XL Axiata Tbk, National Football League (NFL), Plan International, Yoh, A Day & Zimmermann Company, China Talent Group (CTG TMO), Umicore S.A., Butterfield Bank, Skrill Group Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about PeopleSoft vs. SAP HCM and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.