Introduction to SWS

What SWS is, who it is for, and why organizations use it to expose PeopleSoft data faster.
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SWS is a PeopleSoft integration acceleration platform. It helps organizations expose PeopleSoft data faster, safer, and at lower cost for vendors, portals, analytics, and AI - without building a new custom web service for every request.

SWS is created by Cedar Hills Group, Inc and delivered as a standard PeopleSoft Application Designer project. It uses the PeopleSoft technology you already run, but changes the delivery model from repetitive development to repeatable configuration.

If you are evaluating whether SWS is worth buying, start with Why Buy SWS and Purchase SWS. If you already know you need a technical overview, keep reading here.

What problem does SWS solve?

Most PeopleSoft teams already know how the story goes:

  • a vendor needs a new feed
  • a portal team needs JSON
  • an analytics or AI project needs governed access to data
  • the request turns into another web service project
  • delivery depends on scarce PeopleSoft development time

SWS exists to break that pattern. It turns most read-oriented PeopleSoft data exposure into a reusable platform and configuration workflow instead of a custom build each time.

Why teams choose SWS

  • Speed: stand up production APIs in under 5 minutes for standard use cases
  • Lower cost: avoid repeating $3,600-$13,000 bespoke web service efforts
  • Better capacity: let power users handle common data feeds through configuration
  • Safer modernization: support vendors, portals, and AI without replacing PeopleSoft
  • Lower risk: zero delivered objects modified and no external runtime to operate

Who uses SWS?

SWS is a fit for organizations that need PeopleSoft data in places such as:

  • LMS, student success, and payment vendor integrations
  • Salesforce and iPaaS platforms
  • modern web and mobile applications
  • dashboards, monitoring, and operational reporting
  • AI agents, chatbots, and RAG pipelines

How SWS works at a high level

SWS understands PeopleSoft metadata and handles the repetitive plumbing automatically:

  • request parameter binding
  • security checks
  • output encoding
  • pagination
  • effective-date patterns
  • prompt and XLAT descriptions

That lets your team focus on the data shape and business rules instead of recreating Integration Broker mechanics for every project.

The two SWS service paths

When you install SWS, it gives you two PeopleSoft service operations with different audiences.

1. SWS GET Services - the 95% path

SWS Get Services are the default and most important part of SWS.

  • A PeopleSoft admin or power user configures the URL path, parameters, filters, and security.
  • The caller uses a normal REST GET.
  • The configuration, not the client, defines what data is exposed.

This is the easiest and safest way to expose PeopleSoft data to vendors, portals, and standard REST consumers.

Behind the scenes, the integration partner calls the IB Service CHG_SWS, which is handled by the Service Operation CHG_SWS_GET. That single service operation resolves parameters, checks security, runs the SQL or PsoftQL, and returns the response.

2. PsoftQL Web Services - advanced and high trust

PsoftQL Web Services are the advanced option.

  • The client sends PsoftQL syntax directly in the request body.
  • This is designed for highly trusted internal integration platforms such as MuleSoft, SnapLogic, and Boomi.
  • It is also useful while prototyping new SWS configurations.

You generally do not expose this service broadly. It is for cases where the caller itself is trusted to shape the request.

Not sure which path fits your situation? See Which SWS Method Should I Use?.