Integrating Oracle ERP Into Business Curricula: Challenges And Measurement Of Student Outcomes

Recent research has pointed out the need for academia to provide business students with core competencies higher on the value chain. This has motivated schools to consider their curriculum in light of these increasing demands, and many schools are responding by incorporating ERP packages into their curriculum. This paper describes the experiences of two universities in integrating Oracle ERP into business curricula. Challenges are outlined as well as results of a student survey, which suggest that while students perceive Oracle’s ERP system to be complex and difficult to use, overall they believed it helped them better understand business processes and key concepts in enterprise systems theory

Extending the IS-Impact model into the higher education sector

The study addresses known limitations of what may be the most important dependent variable in Information Systems (IS) research; IS-Success or IS-Impact. The study is expected to force a deeper understanding of the broad notions of IS success and impact. The aims of the research are to: (1) enhance the robustness and minimize limitations of the IS-Impact model, and (2) introduce and operationalise a more rigorously validated IS Impact measurement model to Universities, as a reliable model for evaluating different Administrative Systems. In extending and further generalizing the IS-Impact model, the study will address contemporary validation issues

Teaching with Enterprise Systems

With the wide-spread adoption of Enterprise Systems (ES), such as SAP, Oracle, and Peoplesoft, in medium and large-sized organizations, there is increasing demand for students who know how to work with such systems. While the demand for ES developers and integrators has declined, the demand for employees that can help companies achieve benefits from these systems continues to grow. Such employees need skills in decision-making and process design in an integrated, data-rich environment enabled by an ES. This paper provides advice about teaching with enterprise systems at the undergraduate and graduate levels within the IS curriculum and across management and engineering curricula. This advice is provided by five professors from five different schools, California State University at Chico, Louisiana State University, Queensland University of Technology, Bentley College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute that together have many years of experience in teaching with SAP or with the Oracle e-business suite. This paper includes a summary of the experiences at each of these schools, advice based on questions from the audience at an AMCIS 2005 panel, and references to resources that may be helpful to those considering, or already engaged in, teaching with enterprise systems

Experiences of enterprise resource planning system at a flagship university in Africa: Familiarity, barriers and way forward

Recent research has discussed the difficulties with implementing ERP systems, and the opportunities associated with the use of these systems in university contexts, but has not examined the experiences that internal stakeholders, particularly in African contexts puzzled by certain technology, have with these systems in the period after the systems ‘go-live’. This study explored these experiences, at one Flagship University in Botswana. Students, academic and administrative staff were surveyed about their familiarity with using the ERP system and the barriers they faced. Additional qualitative data probed into motives for ERP system use and concerns thereof. Findings revealed that the stakeholders showed high familiarity with, and usage of, the ERP modules tailored to their particular needs. The motives for use were mainly related to management efficiency and customer satisfaction, but not information accuracy. Information inaccuracy was an obstacle, along with academic and administrative staff relapse into old habits, weaknesses in the transitional change management, a detached persona of the university administration, and inadequate training/support, particularly for stakeholders who were not part of the system development. The gravest barriers were experienced these stakeholders. Importantly, the study offered insights into how the barriers and concerns held can be mitigated.

Rapid Implementation Of ERP Financials Into The Curriculum: A Success Story

Most academic institutions wish to provide current, up to date and real world software applications to their students and this causes a number of common difficulties.  This is especially true as those applications become far larger and more complex, such as in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, more recently referred to as Enterprise Systems.  The authors’ institution has a degree program in accounting information systems, and the authors believed that it was critical that ERP skills and applications be included in order to maintain the stature of the program.  Although difficulties were expected, the authors nonetheless pursued various classroom ERP alternatives.  This paper reports on those efforts, which culminated in the creation and offering of an ERP financial applications class in a six month time period.  It is believed that such information will provide encouragement and useful information to other institutions that are considering such implementations

Benchmarking performance management systems

The Balanced Scorecard and associated performance management approaches, has become a widely practiced and popular management reporting method in recent times. Moreover, enabling technology, which assists in the delivery and personalisation of corporate performance information, is having a deeper and more rapid impact than ever before. This paper presents a brief comparative benchmarking study of leading enterprise performance management systems. Also, the author discusses the merits of bespoke internet technology development and out-of-the-box portal functionalities. An analysis of key business drivers and implementation risks of such approaches is highlighted via a case study example, and concludes the paper