COLLABORATIVE TEACHING OF

ERP SYSTEMS IN

INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

Jānis Grabis1, Kurt Sandkuhl2, Dirk Stamer2

1Institute of Information Technology, Riga Technical University, Kalku 1, Riga, Latvia2 Chair of Business Information Systems , University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 22, Rostock, Germany

grabis@rtu.lv, {kurt.sandkuhl, dirk.stamer}@uni-rostock.de

Outline

• Background and objective

• International ERP case

• Technical approach

• Observations

• Conclusion

2

Background

• ERP systems in higher education

• Study materials provided by ERP vendors

– Step-by-step

– One does it all

• International collaboration

3

Literature Review

• Standard introductory curriculum– Magal and Word (2012)

• Skill requirements of ERP graduates– Boyle and Strong (2006)

• Integrated approach– Hepner and Dickson (2013)

• Different roles involved– Theling and Loos (2005)

• Global context– Pawlowski and Holtkamp (2012)

4

Objective

• To elaborate an international ERP

teaching case and to reflect on initial

experiences in collaborative studying of

the ERP systems

– Didactical approach to studying ERP systems

– Technical approach

5

International ERP Case

• Extension of the standard GBI case

• Activities are distributed among students

in different countries

• Focuses on sales and distribution process

6

Learning Objectives

• Strengthening general ERP usage skills

• Strengthening knowledge of the sales and distribution process

• Ability to track the process execution progress

• Improving communication skills and foreign language skills

• Business process execution in the collaborative setting

• Understanding of roles and user permissions in ERP systems

7

Extended GBI Case

8

GB

I Ger

man

yG

BI B

PO

Pla

nt

resp

on

sib

leSa

les

per

son

War

eho

use

em

pl.

Bill

ing

cler

kA

cco

un

tan

t

Create Inquiry

Create Quotation

Create Sales Order

Check Stock Status

Create Outbound Delivery

Change Outbound Delivery

Create Invoice

Display Billing

Post Incoming Payment

• Main GBI

company

• Outsourcing

partner GBI BPO

• Sales and

distribution

process starting

Technical Approach

• Design of instructions

• ERP setup

• Role setup

• Learning process

9

Instructions’ Template

10

Create empty inquiry

Customer master

Select customer

Input purchasing

number

Select products

Price the products

Determine expected

order valueSave inquiry

Inquiry document

Customer request is received

Nr Data item Value Description

Task 1

1 Inquiry type IN A classification that

distinguishes between

different types of sales

document.

2 Sales org. US East An organizational unit

responsible for the sale of

certain products or services.

3 Distribution

channel

WH

4 Division Bicycles

Tasks 2, 3, 4

5 Customer <customer> Customer from the initial

data of the assignment

6 PO number <any string> Number that the customer

uses to uniquely identify a

purchasing document

7 PO day <today’s

date>

8 Valid from <today’s

date>

The date from which the

inquiry is valid.

9 Valid to <today’s date

+ 30 days>

The date till which the

inquiry is valid.

10 Inquiry

items

<product

name>

<quantity>

Product name and quantity

from the initial data of the

assignment

Integration Scenarios

11

ERP client

Company code

Main unit BSP

ERP client

Company code A

Main unit

Company code B

BSP

ERP client A

Company code A

Main unit

ERP client B

Company code B

BSP

ERP client A

Company code A

Main unit

ERP client B

Company code B

BSP

B2Bgate-way

a)

b)

c)

.

Roles

Company Role Activity

GBI

(Z_GBI_RTU_

ROLE_A)

Plant rep. Create new customer

Create quotation

Create sales order

Check stock status

Billing Clerk Create invoice

Accountant Post incoming payment

GBI BPO

(Z_GBI_RTU_

ROLE_A)

Sales person Create inquiry

Warehouse Emp. Create outbound delivery

Change outbound delivery

Procurement

12

Collaborative Learning Process

13

• Introductory lecture

• Teams are formed

• Individual assignmentKick-off

• Initiated by GBI BPO

• 2 working days per activity

Process execution

• Joint report

• QuestionnaireEvaluation

Fall 2014 Results

• 46 students in 7 teams

• All 7 teams completed 2 out of 3

exercises

• 3 teams did not complete one of the

exercises

– Incomplete master data setup

– Lack of coordination in inventory

replenishment

14

Observations

QuestionStrongly

AgreeAgree Disagree

Strongly

Disagree

International ERP was a more interesting way of studying

than traditional exercises

36 42 19 3

Completing International ERP exercises was more complex

than completing the standard GBI exercises

46 43 11 0

Completing International ERP exercises required more in-

depth understanding of SAP ERP than completing the

standard GBI exercises

43 46 9 3

Completing International ERP exercises improved my

understanding of SAP ERP system

39 39 11 11

Having specific roles in the process execution improves

understanding of the way enterprise applications work

36 33 19 11

Communication with your other teams was positive 28 47 19 6

International ERP improved my collaboration and problem-

solving skills

17 47 25 11

International ERP consumed more time than I expected 78 14 8

We needed to communicate with the other team too often 31 42 19 8

We needed to seek outside assistance (e.g., from

instructor) too often

28 44 17 1115

Conclusion

• Improved student engagement

– Focus on problem-solving

– Team cohesion

• Implementation of other integration

scenarios

• Joint learning platform

16