Exploring Process, Enterprise Integration and E-business Concepts in the Classroom: The Case of petPRO

Journal of Information Systems Education, Fall 2004 by Hajnal, Catherine A, Riordan, Robert

ABSTRACT

This paper highlights recent curriculum innovations that have occurred in Introduction to Information Systems, a required second-year course for all students completing an undergraduate degree in business or a business minor at the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University. The goal of this course is to highlight the role of technology in business today with particular focuses on enterprise integration and enterprise systems, management decision making in a process-oriented data-driven organization, and the transformation to e-business. The concepts are introduced in lecture and are then brought to life through active learning activities as the students become a company (petPRO) and work in groups to simulate the concepts they have learned. At a second-year level, students have neither encountered all of the functional areas of a business, nor have they seen the interplay among the functions. Through the simulated company experience, students come to appreciate what all the business functions are, and they experience some of the challenges a firm goes through on the road to becoming an integrated, e-business enterprise. Hands-on technology components such as the development of a corporate intranet, a data sharing assignment, execution of the procurement process in SAP, and the course website itself all provide additional mechanisms to bring the concepts to life.

Keywords: enterprise system, active learning, simulation, process, management decision-making, e-business

1. INTRODUCTION

While business schools generally remain functionally oriented, the reality of business today requires an enterprise-level, cross-functional process perspective for effective management decision-making (Hammer and Stanton, 1999; Keen, 2001: Khalakota and Robinson, 2001). At the same time, information technology is no longer the sole purview of the Information Systems function. Business leaders from each function must have a basic understanding of the information technologies being employed in the organization. A quick scan across teaching related literature for various business functions such as marketing, accounting, and operations finds calls to incorporate discussions of cntcrprisc-lcvcl concepts such as enterprise resource planning into the curriculum (Boykin and Martz, 2004; Noguera and Watson, 2004; Shoemaker, 2003; Shtub, 2001; Wygal and Harman, 2003). Conversely, IS professionals need to have an appreciation of the various business functions and have an ability to interpret business problems and develop appropriate technical solutions (Noll and Wilkins, 2002).

The implication for the students is that, regardless of which function they choose to focus on in their business school academic career, they must then be able to weave together the functional orientation of the firm with an overlay of integration. The integration occurs through cross-functional processes, information flows, and information technology. One of the modes of bringing these concepts of enterprise integration and e-business to the classroom has been through the introduction of enterprise systems, also referred to as enterprise resource planning systems (ERP). Through programs like the SAP University Alliance, universities world-wide are creating an environment in which students can use an e-enabled enterprise system like SAP R/3 to learn some of the enterprise and process concepts.

A number of papers have been written that give examples of innovative ways of using enterprise systems in the classroom. Shtub (2001) for example, presents a methodology for teaching processes along with a special training aid called the Operations Trainer that "simulates the entire order fulfillment process from customer orders to the purchasing of raw material. Four interconnected functional areas are presented. " (p. 569). The focus is on the traditional management of operations in a functional organization with process and advanced information systems being emphasized. Another example is an industry-oriented initiative developed in Australia (Stewart and Rosemann, 2001). Working with an industry partner, business and information technology graduate students develop an ERP-related reference process model of an actual business. "This project allows students to understand common business functions and appreciate a process view of organizations." (p.240)

This paper adds to this body of literature by describing the case of a particular innovation in a second year Introduction to Information Systems course. Using a variety of active learning strategies encompassed in a simulated company experience, students come to appreciate what all the business functions are, and they experience some of the challenges a firm goes through on the road to becoming an integrated, process-based e-business enterprise. Hands-on technology components such as the development of a corporate intranet, a data sharing assignment, execution of the procurement process in SAP, and the course website itself all provide additional mechanisms to bring the concepts to life.