|
An
Applied Approach to Teaching HR Concepts Using an ERP System
Paul
Hawking
Victoria
University,
Melbourne,
Australia
Susan
Foster
UNITEC,
Auckland,
New
Zealand
Penny
Bassett
Victoria
University,
Melbourne,
Australia
Abstract
Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) systems offer a software-based system
that handles an enterprise’s total
information system needs in an integrated fashion. These
systems are purported to incorporate “best business
practice”. Many universities have realized the potential
of these systems as educational tools and have
developed curriculum accordingly. Many companies in recent
times have identified the benefits of the
Human Resources functionality offered by ERP systems. However
universities in Australia have not realized
the potential of this functionality as a teaching tool to
reinforce many of the concepts covered in a Human
Resource Management curriculum. This paper outlines the
experiences at Victoria University where
SAP Human Resources functionality was incorporated for the
first time. It also describes a number of student
projects under development that will enhance this curriculum
development. The paper will provide a model
to other universities who are considering developing similar
type of curriculum. .
Introduction
Human
Resource Management (HRM) has evolved from an administrative
function to a strategic role that can
add value to an organisation. A major focus of HRM is now
seen in developing organisations and systems for
managing change to increase competitiveness. Most universities
around the world have realised the
importance of HR and have developed curriculum focusing
on personnel or HR management. Human Resource
educational programs can be traced back to the late 1910’s
when courses in personal management first
appeared at Dartmouth University. Kaufman’s (1999)
paper traces the evolution of university HR programs
and identifies a number of characteristics of HR management
and the impact these are having on today’s
HR curriculum. One of these, is the impact of technology
and the inability of academia to keep
abreast of issues associated with this impact. In accordance
with this, he believes there is a significant gap
between the skills and competencies of graduates and those
required by industry. A report conducted by IBM
and Towers-Perrin (1999) surveyed 3,000 HR professionals,
consultants and academics in an attempt
to identify key HR competencies. One key competency identified
was the level of computer literacy
of HR professionals. The question needs to be asked what
are the key technological skills and how
are universities responding to provide appropriate educational
experiences for graduates. A literature search
failed to identify any research on the appropriate technological
skill sets for HR management graduates.
ERP
Systems
There
has been a plethora of attention given to the impact of
the Internet on the commercial activities of business.
However an increasing number of researchers believe that
the adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
by business may be the most important use of information
technology (Davenport 1998). ERP systems are modular application
software that helps businesses increase their productivity
of such mission-critical
components as human resources, finance, parts purchasing,
inventory control, supply chain
and customer relationship management. The software infrastructure
facilitates the flow of information
between all functions within the business. This infrastructure
is built upon a common database
responsible for storing all of the data from processes that
are essential for business operations and
decision making. ERP systems are enterprise-wide and they
claim to incorporate best business practices
that replace separate functional systems and impact significantly
on the existing processes and practices
of business. ERP sales represent a significant proportion
of total outlays by business on information technology infrastructure.
It has
been estimated that worldwide expenditure on ERP software
was $16.6 billion in 1998
and
that the ERP market will sustain strong growth to reach
an annual revenue of $66.6 billion in 2003
(Busse
1999). The main ERP vendors are SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft
and JD Edwards. SAP is the leading ERP
vendor with approximately 25,000 employees, 15,000 customers,
and 1.7 million users worldwide (SAP
2002). SAP’s ERP system, referred to as SAP R/3 has
approximately 39% of the world ERP market.
In Australia
there are approximately 300 companies using SAP R/3 representing
a broad range of
industries
and organisations such as automotive, consumer products,
chemical, manufacturing, oil and gas,
high-tech pharmaceutical, and communications (Hawking and
Stein 2001). Of these 320 companies 150
have implemented the HR module. A survey (Watson Wyatt 2000)
of 295 American companies found
that approximately 50% used an ERP system to support their
HR management and payroll activities. Worldwide
there are 6,500 companies that use SAP to support their
HR functions (IDC 2001). A major
issue with ERP systems is the time required for their implementation.
Depending upon the size of the
business and the number of modules being implemented, the
full implementation process can extend to five
years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. A major
contributing factor to these high costs is the
expense associated with implementation consultants who are
in short supply world-wide. This was reflected
in a survey by Hewitt Associates (1999) which found that
people with ERP skills are in short supply,
high demand, and experiencing rapid changes in their market
value. While in Australia, an IT Skills
Shortage study (1998) commissioned by the Government found
skill shortages in enterprise wide systems
and more specifically SAP R/3 and PeopleSoft, implementation
and administration. The Department of Immigration
and Multicultural Affairs in their Migration Occupations
in Demand List (MODL
2000) identified information technology specialists with
SAP R/3 skills as people who would be encouraged
to migrate to Australia.
This
lack of skills is even more applicable to HR module implementations
as HR issues tend to be country specific
and have added complexities of a variety of payroll structures.
In addition to this HR is often given
a lower priority in terms of resources to other business
areas in the ERP implementation. (Walker 2002;
Stambaugh 1999)
Universities
and ERP Systems
Many
universities have identified the value of incorporating
ERP systems into their curriculum. ERP systems can
be used to reinforce many of the concepts covered in the
business discipline (Becerra-Fernandez et al,
2000; Hawking, Shackleton and Ramp 2001). The vendors argue
that their products incorporate “world’s
best practice” for many of the business processes
they support making them an ideal teaching tool
(Hawking et al, 1999; Watson and Schneider, 1999).
Even
though the value of including ERP systems into the curriculum
has been identified, there are a
number
of barriers preventing this from happening. One significant
hurdle is the limited knowledge and
experience
of academic staff charged with the responsibility of integrating
ERP curriculum into their
courses.
ERP systems are complex and the time required for developing
curriculum is far in excess to
Hawking,
Foster, & Bassett
701
what
staff have experienced for curriculum development in other
areas. Those who develop the necessary
understanding
of a particular ERP system to develop curriculum can be
lured away from the university
into
lucrative jobs in private industry. The shortfall of academic
skills and experience is further
compounded
by the limited access to relevant ERP professional development
activities and the continual
upgrade
of the ERP software. Another significant barrier to the
use of ERP systems in universities is the
perceived
need for students to gain “hands-on” experience
to master the concepts inherent in these types
of systems
(Watson et al, 1999). In the past, if a university decided
to incorporate a major software
product
into its curricula, it would have purchased the software
and set up the necessary infrastructure to
support
it. ERP systems themselves are expensive but there are the
additional associated costs of hardware
and
professional development for the computer support staff
together with the necessary incentives to
retain
these people once they are skilled. Many universities find
that the barriers associated with
introducing
ERP systems are just too great!
An increasing
number of universities are investigating strategic alliances
with ERP system vendors to
provide
the support for incorporating ERP knowledge into their curriculum
(Hawking 1998). The ERP
vendor
benefits from these alliances by increasing the supply of
skilled graduates that can support their
product
thereby enhancing its marketability and lowering the cost
of implementation.
The
SAP University Alliance Program in Australia is an example
of a strategic alliance between a number
of universities
and an ERP vendor. As part of its University Alliance, SAP
provides their R/3 software
and
technical and professional support for the integration of
the ERP system into the curriculum.
However
it is still the responsibility of individual academics to
develop the necessary curriculum and the
university
to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the system.
This is reflected in the diversity
and
extent of curriculum activities of the universities involved
in the alliance. A survey of these
universities
indicated that some were struggling to offer any ERP related
subjects while others offered
numerous
subjects over many disciplines (Gable and Rosemann, 1999).
However none of the universities
had
used the ERP system to support their HR curriculum.
ERP
systems incorporate “state of the art” technology
and have extensive functionality to support HR
management
including knowledge management, data warehousing and web
enabled technologies such as
employee
kiosks and online recruitment. The HR module is integrated
with the other business functional
areas
rather than being treated as a stand alone function. However
the lack of inclusion of the HR system
to reinforce
HR concepts does not appear unique to ERP systems. When
reviewing literature associated
with
the teaching of HR management very little attention was
given to the information systems which
support
this function. In a study (Gibb Dyer, 1999) which compared
three graduate programs which had a
HR management
focus it appeared that none of them had any required units
of study which had a
technological
focus.
HR Teaching
Example
Victoria
University joined the SAP University Alliance in 1998. It
adopted a faculty approach to the
incorporation
of ERP systems into business curriculum rather focussing
on one particular department.
Since
joining the Alliance the University has developed a Graduate
Certificate, Graduate Diploma and
Masters
of Business in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems as well
as incorporating SAP R/3 into
several
undergraduate and postgraduate subjects. Currently we have
15 staff teaching more than 20
subjects
at both the undergraduate and post graduate levels to approximately
1,000 students. Our
programs
are also exported in the Asian region using a e-learning
model (Hawking and McCarthy 2001).
The
faculty offers undergraduate and postgraduate HR management
programs that incorporate HR information
systems
subjects. However it has only been recently that the staff
involved in these programs
have
taken up the opportunity to use an ERP system to support
their teaching. The remainder of this paper
will
outline how the SAP R/3 was used in HR curriculum and future
initiatives.
Applied
Approach to Teaching HR Concepts
702
The
Human Resource Information Systems unit is a core unit in
the Bachelor of Business in Human Resource
Management
and taught 400 students across 2 campuses. A similar unit
is taught at the postgraduate
level.
Previously staff used a stand alone HR system which required
a new licensing agreement for the
upcoming
year. Due to the focus on SAP across the faculty it was
decided to trial this software in the unit
in 2001.
The unit involved a 2 hour lecture and 1 hour workshop for
13 weeks.
The
purpose of the workshops were to introduce students to the
complexity of these types of systems and
gain
an understanding of how these systems supports key HR functions.
It was expected that students
would
gain a basic comprehension of implementation issues, HR
master data and reporting options.
Students
were first introduced to SAP R/3 through a series of exercises
that reinforced navigation techniques
and
accessing the help documentation through a variety of methods.
They then viewed the material
master
for a product in the system and created a number of reports
where they performed simple calculations
and
demonstrated the concept of “drilling down”.
Once the basic concepts were mastered then
students
focused on the HR module.
To support
the teaching, a fictitious case study was developed based
on a bicycle company. Students
were
provided with the company’s organisational structure
including organisational units, job profiles and
positions.
Each student was required to map the company structure into
the SAP system. They gained an
understanding
of the enormity of this implementation task in relation
to large corporations and the work
required
in maintaining position descriptions and job profiles.
Once
the structure of the company was created students were introduced
to the recruitment process. This
involved:
creating a vacancy based on the positions they had previously
created. They then created the
vacancy
advertisement including content and medium. They entered
data relating to the received applications
and
then used the system to match the applicants to the position
description. Letters of acceptance
and
rejection were drafted and using SAP’s interface with
Microsoft Word created a merged letters for
each
applicant. Master data was then entered into the system
for the successful applicant as part of the hiring
process..
Each stage of the recruitment process required the students
to perform actions within the
SAP
system and enter the appropriate master data items.
The
SAP system has more than 15,000 reports available to users.
The reports are can be accessed through
a variety
of methods including, a hierarchical menu structure, an
organisational structure graphic and ad
hoc
queries. Students produced a number of reports using these
methods. These reports, other demonstrating
the
capabilities of the system were used as an assessment method
reflecting each student’s work.
Initially
the students found the ERP system complex and confusing
but after a few workshops they began
to grasp
some of the basic concepts. It is believed that this was
partly due to students being provided with
a step-by-step
tutorial in the workshop and then having exercises to complete
in their own time which
were
similar to the workshop task. This encouraged students to
understand the process rather than mindlessly
following
the steps.
An added
benefit of the using the ERP system was that many students
received positive feedback from
industry.
As part of their assessment they were required to complete
a case study on a company’s HR system
and
then present their findings to the remainder of the class.
Many of the case studies involved an
ERP
system, especially SAP R/3. Often students informed their
industry contacts that they were working
with
a similar system and the value of these skills were highlighted
to the students. This also illustrated
the
calibre of our students and curriculum activities to industry.
The
trial was considered successful even though there was considerable
amount effort required in developing
the
workshop exercises. A shortcoming of the teaching was the
use of the demonstration system
within
R/3. SAP R/3 is provided with a fully populated database
which reflects a sample company
(IDES)
to demonstrate the capabilities of the system. In the HR
module, the screens reflect a German example
with
data fields relevant to that country. It was felt that students
learning would be enhanced if
Hawking,
Foster, & Bassett
703
Australian
examples were used. Through a curriculum innovation grant
a group of graduate information
systems
students in consultation with SAP will be implementing the
Australian version of HR in the next
6 months.
It is
envisaged that this will be extended to include SAP’s
HR portal technology. This will be used to
demonstrate
to students how web enabled technology is being applied
to HR functions. At the graduate
level
the curriculum will focus on the strategic functionality
of the HR module including the advanced
reporting
features such as the Managers Desktop.
Conclusion
It is
important for students to feel that their education is unique
and of value. The use of an ERP system
to teach
HR concepts meets these criteria. Although the development
of curriculum using an ERP system
requires
an enormous amount of work the outcomes justify it. Our
use of SAP R/3 in the area of HR was
only
a starting point and provides the foundations for some exciting
and innovative curriculum.
Hopefully
other ERP alliance universities around the world will realise
the potential of using these systems
to reinforce
HR concepts.
References
Becerra-Fernandez,
I., Murphy, K. E. and Simon, S. J. (2000) “Enterprise
resource planning: integrating ERP in the business
school
curriculum” Communications of the ACM, Volume 43,
No. 4, April, Pages 39 - 41
Busse,
T.,(1999) “ERP market will reach $66 billion by 2003,
AMR says”, InfoWorld Electric, August,
Davenport,
T.H., (1998)“Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise
System”. Harvard Business Review,. July-August.
Gibb
Dyer W.,(1999) “Training Human Resource Champions
For The Twenty Century”, Human Resource Management
Journal,
Vol.
38, No. 2, Summer.
Hawking
Paul, Stein Andrew,(2001) “An Insight into the Australian
ERP Market”, Proceedings of ICIES 2001, Portugal.
Hawking
P, Adrian Ramp, Peter Shackleton, (2001) "IS'97 model
curriculum and enterprise resource planning systems"
Business
Process
Management Journal, Vol.7 No. 3.
Hawking
Paul, McCarthy Brendan, (2001) “A Model for Delivering
ERP Education over the Internet”, SAP Curriculum Congress
San
Diego.
Hawking,
P. (1999) “The Teaching Of Enterprise Resource Planning
Systems (Sap R/3) In Australian Universities” in Proceedings
of 9th
Pan Pacific Conference, 31 May-2 June, Fiji.
Hewitt
Associates, (1999) Hot Technology Study: Scarcity of IT
Professionals Means Big Pay Raises, retrieved May 2000
from
the World Wide Web http://www.hewitt.com/compsurveys.
IBM/Towers-Perrin,(1999)
Priorities For Competitive Advantage, a 21st century vision:
A Worldwide Human Resources
Study,
Towers-Perrin, New York.
IDC
Report (2001) Worldwide Human Resources Management and Payroll
Applications Market Results and Forecast, 2000-
2005,
retrieved January 2002 from the World Wide Web http://www.idc.com/en_US/.
Kaufman
B. E.,(1999) “Evolution And Current Status Of University
HR Programs”, Human Resource Management Journal,
Vol.
38, No. 2, Summer.
MODL
(2000) Migration to Australia - Skilled Migration, Migration
Occupations in Demand List, retrieved May 2001 from
the
World Wide Web http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/modl.htm.
SAP,
SAP Corporate Overview, retrieved January 2002 from the
World Wide Web
http://www.sap.com/company/publications/fs_corp_over.asp
.
Stambaugh
R. H.,(1999) “Post-Modern HR Systems (Part 2)”,
IHRIM Journal, June.
Walker
A., “How the Web Will Change The Structure Of HR”,
retrieved January 2002 from the World Wide Web
http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/22/28/76/index.php.
Applied
Approach to Teaching HR Concepts
704
Watson,
E. and H. Schneider, (1999) "Using ERP Systems in Education".
Communication of the Association for Information
Systems,.
1(9).
Watson
Wyatt, (2001) “The Net Effect: e-HR And The Internet,”
Watson Wyatt Worldwide 2000, retrieved January 2002 from
the
World Wide Web http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=W-319&page=1.
Biographies
Paul
Hawking is a lecturer in the School of Information Systems
at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
He is
the SAP Academic Program Director for the Faculty of Business
and Law and is responsible
for
the facilitation of ERP education across the university.
He has been involved in education delivery
and
curriculum development for the past twenty years and has
co-authored a series of computer texts. He
is currently
Chairperson of the Australian SAP User Group.
Susan
Foster is an Information Systems lecturer at UNITEC, Auckland,
New Zealand. She is coordinator
of the
SAP University Alliance Program in her institution. Susan
has been involved in education
delivery
and curriculum development for the past twenty years. Her
research focuses on ERP systems
and
the impact they have on organisations.
Penny
Bassett is a lecturer in the School of Management at Victoria
University, Melbourne, Australia.
She
has an ongoing interest in research and teaching in the
area of human resource information systems.
She
is a Member of the Australian branch of International Human
Resource Information Management
(IHRIM)
and was a founding member of the HRIS special interest group
of the Australian Human Resources
Institute
(AHRI).
(17)
Abstract
Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) systems offer a software-based system
that handles an enterprise’s
total
information system needs in an integrated fashion. These
systems are purported to incorporate “best
business
practice”. Many universities have realized the potential
of these systems as educational tools and
have
developed curriculum accordingly. Many companies in recent
times have identified the benefits of
the
Human Resources functionality offered by ERP systems. However
universities in Australia have not
realized
the potential of this functionality as a teaching tool to
reinforce many of the concepts covered in a
Human
Resource Management curriculum. This paper outlines the
experiences at Victoria University
where
SAP Human Resources functionality was incorporated for the
first time. It also describes a number
of student
projects under development that will enhance this curriculum
development. The paper will provide
a model
to other universities who are considering developing similar
type of curriculum. .
Introduction
Human
Resource Management (HRM) has evolved from an administrative
function to a strategic role that
can
add value to an organisation. A major focus of HRM is now
seen in developing organisations and systems
for
managing change to increase competitiveness. Most universities
around the world have realised
the
importance of HR and have developed curriculum focusing
on personnel or HR management. Human
Resource
educational programs can be traced back to the late 1910’s
when courses in personal management
first
appeared at Dartmouth University. Kaufman’s (1999)
paper traces the evolution of university
HR programs
and identifies a number of characteristics of HR management
and the impact these are having
on today’s
HR curriculum. One of these, is the impact of technology
and the inability of academia to
keep
abreast of issues associated with this impact. In accordance
with this, he believes there is a significant
gap
between the skills and competencies of graduates and those
required by industry. A report conducted
by IBM
and Towers-Perrin (1999) surveyed 3,000 HR professionals,
consultants and academics in
an attempt
to identify key HR competencies. One key competency identified
was the level of computer
literacy
of HR professionals. The question needs to be asked what
are the key technological skills and
how
are universities responding to provide appropriate educational
experiences for graduates. A literature
search
failed to identify any research on the appropriate technological
skill sets for HR management
graduates.
ERP
Systems
There
has been a plethora of attention given to the
impact
of the Internet on the commercial activities
of business.
However an increasing number of researchers
believe
that the adoption of Enterprise
Resource
Planning (ERP) systems by business may
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Applied
Approach to Teaching HR Concepts
700
be the
most important use of information technology (Davenport
1998).
ERP
systems are modular application software that helps businesses
increase their productivity of such
mission-critical
components as human resources, finance, parts purchasing,
inventory control, supply
chain
and customer relationship management. The software infrastructure
facilitates the flow of
information
between all functions within the business. This infrastructure
is built upon a common
database
responsible for storing all of the data from processes that
are essential for business operations
and
decision making. ERP systems are enterprise-wide and they
claim to incorporate best business
practices
that replace separate functional systems and impact significantly
on the existing processes and
practices
of business.
ERP
sales represent a significant proportion of total outlays
by business on information technology infrastructure.
It has
been estimated that worldwide expenditure on ERP software
was $16.6 billion in 1998
and
that the ERP market will sustain strong growth to reach
an annual revenue of $66.6 billion in 2003
(Busse
1999). The main ERP vendors are SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft
and JD Edwards. SAP is the leading
ERP
vendor with approximately 25,000 employees, 15,000 customers,
and 1.7 million users worldwide
(SAP
2002). SAP’s ERP system, referred to as SAP R/3 has
approximately 39% of the world ERP market.
In Australia
there are approximately 300 companies using SAP R/3 representing
a broad range of
industries
and organisations such as automotive, consumer products,
chemical, manufacturing, oil and
gas,
high-tech pharmaceutical, and communications (Hawking and
Stein 2001). Of these 320 companies
150
have implemented the HR module. A survey (Watson Wyatt 2000)
of 295 American companies
found
that approximately 50% used an ERP system to support their
HR management and payroll activities.
Worldwide
there are 6,500 companies that use SAP to support their
HR functions (IDC 2001).
A major
issue with ERP systems is the time required for their implementation.
Depending upon the size
of the
business and the number of modules being implemented, the
full implementation process can extend
to five
years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. A major
contributing factor to these high costs
is the
expense associated with implementation consultants who are
in short supply world-wide. This was
reflected
in a survey by Hewitt Associates (1999) which found that
people with ERP skills are in short
supply,
high demand, and experiencing rapid changes in their market
value. While in Australia, an IT
Skills
Shortage study (1998) commissioned by the Government found
skill shortages in enterprise wide
systems
and more specifically SAP R/3 and PeopleSoft, implementation
and administration. The Department
of Immigration
and Multicultural Affairs in their Migration Occupations
in Demand List
(MODL
2000) identified information technology specialists with
SAP R/3 skills as people who would be
encouraged
to migrate to Australia.
This
lack of skills is even more applicable to HR module implementations
as HR issues tend to be country
specific
and have added complexities of a variety of payroll structures.
In addition to this HR is often
given
a lower priority in terms of resources to other business
areas in the ERP implementation. (Walker
2002;
Stambaugh 1999)
Universities
and ERP Systems
Many
universities have identified the value of incorporating
ERP systems into their curriculum. ERP systems
can
be used to reinforce many of the concepts covered in the
business discipline (Becerra-Fernandez
et al,
2000; Hawking, Shackleton and Ramp 2001). The vendors argue
that their products incorporate
“world’s
best practice” for many of the business processes
they support making them an ideal teaching
tool
(Hawking et al, 1999; Watson and Schneider, 1999).
Even
though the value of including ERP systems into the curriculum
has been identified, there are a
number
of barriers preventing this from happening. One significant
hurdle is the limited knowledge and
experience
of academic staff charged with the responsibility of integrating
ERP curriculum into their
courses.
ERP systems are complex and the time required for developing
curriculum is far in excess to
Hawking,
Foster, & Bassett
701
what
staff have experienced for curriculum development in other
areas. Those who develop the necessary
understanding
of a particular ERP system to develop curriculum can be
lured away from the university
into
lucrative jobs in private industry. The shortfall of academic
skills and experience is further
compounded
by the limited access to relevant ERP professional development
activities and the continual
upgrade
of the ERP software. Another significant barrier to the
use of ERP systems in universities is the
perceived
need for students to gain “hands-on” experience
to master the concepts inherent in these types
of systems
(Watson et al, 1999). In the past, if a university decided
to incorporate a major software
product
into its curricula, it would have purchased the software
and set up the necessary infrastructure to
support
it. ERP systems themselves are expensive but there are the
additional associated costs of hardware
and
professional development for the computer support staff
together with the necessary incentives to
retain
these people once they are skilled. Many universities find
that the barriers associated with
introducing
ERP systems are just too great!
An increasing
number of universities are investigating strategic alliances
with ERP system vendors to
provide
the support for incorporating ERP knowledge into their curriculum
(Hawking 1998). The ERP
vendor
benefits from these alliances by increasing the supply of
skilled graduates that can support their
product
thereby enhancing its marketability and lowering the cost
of implementation.
The
SAP University Alliance Program in Australia is an example
of a strategic alliance between a number
of universities
and an ERP vendor. As part of its University Alliance, SAP
provides their R/3 software
and
technical and professional support for the integration of
the ERP system into the curriculum.
However
it is still the responsibility of individual academics to
develop the necessary curriculum and the
university
to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the system.
This is reflected in the diversity
and
extent of curriculum activities of the universities involved
in the alliance. A survey of these
universities
indicated that some were struggling to offer any ERP related
subjects while others offered
numerous
subjects over many disciplines (Gable and Rosemann, 1999).
However none of the universities
had
used the ERP system to support their HR curriculum.
ERP
systems incorporate “state of the art” technology
and have extensive functionality to support HR
management
including knowledge management, data warehousing and web
enabled technologies such as
employee
kiosks and online recruitment. The HR module is integrated
with the other business functional
areas
rather than being treated as a stand alone function. However
the lack of inclusion of the HR system
to reinforce
HR concepts does not appear unique to ERP systems. When
reviewing literature associated
with
the teaching of HR management very little attention was
given to the information systems which
support
this function. In a study (Gibb Dyer, 1999) which compared
three graduate programs which had a
HR management
focus it appeared that none of them had any required units
of study which had a
technological
focus.
HR Teaching
Example
Victoria
University joined the SAP University Alliance in 1998. It
adopted a faculty approach to the
incorporation
of ERP systems into business curriculum rather focussing
on one particular department.
Since
joining the Alliance the University has developed a Graduate
Certificate, Graduate Diploma and
Masters
of Business in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems as well
as incorporating SAP R/3 into
several
undergraduate and postgraduate subjects. Currently we have
15 staff teaching more than 20
subjects
at both the undergraduate and post graduate levels to approximately
1,000 students. Our
programs
are also exported in the Asian region using a e-learning
model (Hawking and McCarthy 2001).
The
faculty offers undergraduate and postgraduate HR management
programs that incorporate HR information
systems
subjects. However it has only been recently that the staff
involved in these programs
have
taken up the opportunity to use an ERP system to support
their teaching. The remainder of this paper
will
outline how the SAP R/3 was used in HR curriculum and future
initiatives.
Applied
Approach to Teaching HR Concepts
702
The
Human Resource Information Systems unit is a core unit in
the Bachelor of Business in Human Resource
Management
and taught 400 students across 2 campuses. A similar unit
is taught at the postgraduate
level.
Previously staff used a stand alone HR system which required
a new licensing agreement for the
upcoming
year. Due to the focus on SAP across the faculty it was
decided to trial this software in the unit
in 2001.
The unit involved a 2 hour lecture and 1 hour workshop for
13 weeks.
The
purpose of the workshops were to introduce students to the
complexity of these types of systems and
gain
an understanding of how these systems supports key HR functions.
It was expected that students
would
gain a basic comprehension of implementation issues, HR
master data and reporting options.
Students
were first introduced to SAP R/3 through a series of exercises
that reinforced navigation techniques
and
accessing the help documentation through a variety of methods.
They then viewed the material
master
for a product in the system and created a number of reports
where they performed simple calculations
and
demonstrated the concept of “drilling down”.
Once the basic concepts were mastered then
students
focused on the HR module.
To support
the teaching, a fictitious case study was developed based
on a bicycle company. Students
were
provided with the company’s organisational structure
including organisational units, job profiles and
positions.
Each student was required to map the company structure into
the SAP system. They gained an
understanding
of the enormity of this implementation task in relation
to large corporations and the work
required
in maintaining position descriptions and job profiles.
Once
the structure of the company was created students were introduced
to the recruitment process. This
involved:
creating a vacancy based on the positions they had previously
created. They then created the
vacancy
advertisement including content and medium. They entered
data relating to the received applications
and
then used the system to match the applicants to the position
description. Letters of acceptance
and
rejection were drafted and using SAP’s interface with
Microsoft Word created a merged letters for
each
applicant. Master data was then entered into the system
for the successful applicant as part of the hiring
process..
Each stage of the recruitment process required the students
to perform actions within the
SAP
system and enter the appropriate master data items.
The
SAP system has more than 15,000 reports available to users.
The reports are can be accessed through
a variety
of methods including, a hierarchical menu structure, an
organisational structure graphic and ad
hoc
queries. Students produced a number of reports using these
methods. These reports, other demonstrating
the
capabilities of the system were used as an assessment method
reflecting each student’s work.
Initially
the students found the ERP system complex and confusing
but after a few workshops they began
to grasp
some of the basic concepts. It is believed that this was
partly due to students being provided with
a step-by-step
tutorial in the workshop and then having exercises to complete
in their own time which
were
similar to the workshop task. This encouraged students to
understand the process rather than mindlessly
following
the steps.
An added
benefit of the using the ERP system was that many students
received positive feedback from
industry.
As part of their assessment they were required to complete
a case study on a company’s HR system
and
then present their findings to the remainder of the class.
Many of the case studies involved an
ERP
system, especially SAP R/3. Often students informed their
industry contacts that they were working
with
a similar system and the value of these skills were highlighted
to the students. This also illustrated
the
calibre of our students and curriculum activities to industry.
The
trial was considered successful even though there was considerable
amount effort required in developing
the
workshop exercises. A shortcoming of the teaching was the
use of the demonstration system
within
R/3. SAP R/3 is provided with a fully populated database
which reflects a sample company
(IDES)
to demonstrate the capabilities of the system. In the HR
module, the screens reflect a German example
with
data fields relevant to that country. It was felt that students
learning would be enhanced if
Hawking,
Foster, & Bassett
703
Australian
examples were used. Through a curriculum innovation grant
a group of graduate information
systems
students in consultation with SAP will be implementing the
Australian version of HR in the next
6 months.
It is
envisaged that this will be extended to include SAP’s
HR portal technology. This will be used to
demonstrate
to students how web enabled technology is being applied
to HR functions. At the graduate
level
the curriculum will focus on the strategic functionality
of the HR module including the advanced
reporting
features such as the Managers Desktop.
Conclusion
It is
important for students to feel that their education is unique
and of value. The use of an ERP system
to teach
HR concepts meets these criteria. Although the development
of curriculum using an ERP system
requires
an enormous amount of work the outcomes justify it. Our
use of SAP R/3 in the area of HR was
only
a starting point and provides the foundations for some exciting
and innovative curriculum.
Hopefully
other ERP alliance universities around the world will realise
the potential of using these systems
to reinforce
HR concepts.
References
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Biographies
Paul
Hawking is a lecturer in the School of Information Systems
at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
He is
the SAP Academic Program Director for the Faculty of Business
and Law and is responsible
for
the facilitation of ERP education across the university.
He has been involved in education delivery
and
curriculum development for the past twenty years and has
co-authored a series of computer texts. He
is currently
Chairperson of the Australian SAP User Group.
Susan
Foster is an Information Systems lecturer at UNITEC, Auckland,
New Zealand. She is coordinator
of the
SAP University Alliance Program in her institution. Susan
has been involved in education
delivery
and curriculum development for the past twenty years. Her
research focuses on ERP systems
and
the impact they have on organisations.
Penny
Bassett is a lecturer in the School of Management at Victoria
University, Melbourne, Australia.
She
has an ongoing interest in research and teaching in the
area of human resource information systems.
She
is a Member of the Australian branch of International Human
Resource Information Management
(IHRIM)
and was a founding member of the HRIS special interest group
of the Australian Human Resources
Institute
(AHRI).
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