Effectivness of a Post-Graduate Program in Enterprise Resource Planning Incorporating SAP R/3
Ravi Seethamraju
A significant number of businesses world-wide have implemented enterprise resource planning systems in order to achieve improvements in transaction processing efficiency, process integration and productivity and these enterprise systems have generally lead to a significant paradigm shift in managing business operations. With too much focus on specialism, traditional curricula ofbusiness education, however, did not make any provisionfor the holistic approach integrating the different aspects ofbusiness operations. Recognizing the importance ofprocess centering and enterprisewide computing solutions available in the market, apostgraduate business course in enterprise resourceplanning using SAP R/3 system as a teaching and learning aid, was designed and implemented in an Australian university. This paper reviews the program after four years ofprogram delivery, and expounds the background to this program, its unique design features, delivery processes, and assessment systems from the educational effectiveness perspective. Based on the feedback from graduates and the analysis of the data collected the program appeared to have succeeded in transforming the students into business specialists with strong process, software and project management skills. Complexity ofthe software. limitations ofacademic skills andknowledge, lack ofquality curriculum materials, reliability ofthe system, support facilities, varying student mix, and difficulty in obtaining the industry support, however, are observed to be problematic.
Ravi Seethamraju The University of Sydney
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