Welcome to the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Initiative at the Seidman College of Business, Grand Valley State University.

The goals of this initiative are to provide students with:

1. an understanding of integrated, cross-functional business processes
2. experience using enterprise software (SAP) to execute business processes

To achieve these goals we have developed a virtual business environment, including manufacturer and partner (vendor and customer) organizations, that serves as the background for a central teaching case.  This teaching case is the foundation for many exercises that integrate the different disciplines and focus on business processes.  The virtual business environment has been implemented in the market-leading ERP software package, SAP ERP 2005.

To promote full comprehension of key concepts, students learn through a two-step method. Students first execute the processes manually (on paper) and then execute them in SAP.  Students' hands-on application of SAP’s software is enhanced by our recently-implemented support database, which challenges students to research and implement solutions to any difficulties they encounter rather than passively wait for help.

Students gain abundantly from the ERP Initiative.  Students learn about various documents and how data and information flows within a company when processes are executed.  They have a greater understanding of the dynamics within business organizations, which provides insight to problems that may arise.  They have more confidence in their work and their future involvement in the workplace.  And they gain hands-on practice with SAP's ERP software, a powerful tool used by many Fortune 500 companies.  This combination of education and knowledge puts them ahead of their peers who study at other institutions.  

The ERP Initiative benefits not only our students, but also their future employers.  This program ensures that students have a better understanding of how businesses and their underlying processes function.  It provides the skills necessary to deal with difficult problems, and the framework to approach problems from a cross-functional perspective.  And because we provide students with hands-on experience using SAP, hiring companies benefit from both reduced training costs and employees who understand upfront, the nature of work in an organization that uses enterprise software.

The ERP Initiative began in Fall 2000 and presently has about 1,400 student enrolled annually in courses that use SAP.  Across Seidman’s business curriculum there are currently eleven courses that utilize SAP, and twelve additional courses that integrate aspects of the ERP Initiative’s virtual business environment but without the use of SAP.  Thirteen full-time professors or assistant professors and four adjunct professors are involved in the Initiative. 

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