Presentation given by Jānis Grabis at ICEIS 2015, Barcelona, Aprial 29, 2015 on Collaborative Teaching of ERP Systems in International Context

1. COLLABORATIVE TEACHING OF
ERP SYSTEMS IN
INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
Jānis Grabis1, Kurt Sandkuhl2, Dirk Stamer2
1Institute of Information Technology, Riga Technical University, Kalku 1, Riga, Latvia
2 Chair of Business Information Systems , University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 22,
Rostock, Germany
grabis@rtu.lv, {kurt.sandkuhl, dirk.stamer}@uni-rostock.de

2. Outline
• Background and objective
• International ERP case
• Technical approach
• Observations
• Conclusion
2

3. Background
• ERP systems in higher education
• Study materials provided by ERP vendors
– Step-by-step
– One does it all
• International collaboration
3

4. 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

5. 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

6. International ERP Case
• Extension of the standard GBI case
• Activities are distributed among students
in different countries
• Focuses on sales and distribution process
6

7. 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

8. Extended GBI Case
8
GBIGermanyGBIBPO
PlantresponsibleSalespersonWarehouseempl.BillingclerkAccountant
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

9. Technical Approach
• Design of instructions
• ERP setup
• Role setup
• Learning process
9

10. Instructions’ Template
10
Create empty
inquiry
Customer
master
Select
customer
Input
purchasing
number
Select
products
Price the
products
Determine
expected
order value
Save 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

11. 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
B2B
gate-
way
a)
b)
c)
.

12. 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

13. Collaborative Learning Process
13
• Introductory lecture
• Teams are formed
• Individual assignment
Kick-off
• Initiated by GBI BPO
• 2 working days per
activity
Process
execution
• Joint report
• QuestionnaireEvaluation

14. 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

15. Observations
Question
Strongly
Agree
Agree 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 11
15

16. Conclusion
• Improved student engagement
– Focus on problem-solving
– Team cohesion
• Implementation of other integration
scenarios
• Joint learning platform
16