I am attending the 14th annual SAP Curriculum Congress 2011 as a SAP Mentor. This is the annual get-together for Universities to exchange ideas about the teaching of SAP in the classroom. Below is a summary of my notes from the first day.
Engaging in a University Alliance Program -Valley City State University
Sue Pfeiffer, Valley City State University, in North Dakota, spoke about how to engage/grow the SAP curriculum. She said they started in 2007. Some faculty are resistant but they have been able to make one class required - an overview of ERP and business process management. She said they have been so successful that companies come to them for graduates. She said last year the Computer Science professor taught an ABAP course. The best way to engage faculty is to offer stipends – that is the biggest motivator
TERP10 (Integration of Business Processes) is a 2 week course, 8 hours a day and on the last day you take the exam. If you pass, you are a certified associate in SAP. She also attends local ASUG meetings to help with possible student internships.
Engaging the America’s SAP User Group - Georgia Southern University
Tom Case of Georgia Southern then spoke about working with his local ASUG Chapters (Georgia, and even North Carolina/South Carolina). He said the students will be the “best ambassadors” for your program. The SAP University Alliance has a lot of information; he especially encourages his students to use the SAP Career Center. He showed one student to search SAP entry-level jobs and 293 openings returned!
He suggested each school develop their own brand, online, Facebook and brochures. He suggested that faculty pitch their programs to accounting and logistics majors. Their brand is SAP@GSU
He said they make it a point to attend every Georgia Chapter Meeting of ASUG, taking 30-40 students since 2009. They have their own special badges.
Recent employers include Coca Cola, Newell Rubbermaid, Home Depot and BMW.
They have a SAP@GSU steering committee and he showed some astonishing numbers – in 2008, they had 13 students become SAP-certified and in 2010 that grew to 71 students becoming certified – a tremendous increase of over 400%!
If a university becomes a member of the SAP University Alliance, they also become ASUG members, free of charge. Tom said ASUG is a win-win situation for the student.
Business ByDesign
Business ByDesign is a strategic direction from SAP for small and medium enterprises. There have been several demonstrations of this and even a hands-on workshop today.
Question & Answer:
Q.: Will it replace BusinessOne?
A: No - BusinessOne will still sell
Mentor Presentation
Mark Finnern and I discussed what the Mentors are, and asked how we can help connect universities to local experts. We received feedback about the tammy.powlas3/blog/2011/02/28/student-bi-club-class-is-in-session-for-best-practices-for-integration-crystal-reports-with-sap-erp-and-bw-including-40-no-homework-hero-needed-herewebinars we have been doing; they like hearing real-life stories from customers.
Also read more about the SAP Mentors and the Student BI Club in our most recent SAP Mentors Quarterly magazine, published this week.
Today I am looking forward to the hands-on workshops.
