Our Challenge in Business Education
Most undergraduate business students embark upon their college studies without any comprehension of the enormous complexity that modern business entails. Their primary experiences have been as end consumers or as low-level summer employees. Those who have held brief internships usually have had just narrow experiences with a few of these business activities. Upon assuming professional positions in a large-scale business environment after graduation, they soon become immersed in a plethora of complex business processes. How can we best equip them to cope with this 21st century business environment?
The business arena today is very complex, global in scope, and relentless in its quest to achieve competitive advantage over business adversaries. The marketing, manufacturing, and distribution of goods and services in a large corporation today depend upon a tightly orchestrated interplay of thousands of company processes. Cooperation between business partners is ever-tightening in an effort to make the exchange of goods and services relationships more efficient, and business processes must be engineered to be as responsive and error-free as is possible. A challenge in business education is helping the student to learn how to comprehend and to manage the complexity of massively integrated business processes.
This is especially important to those students who plan on careers involving information systems development and operation, as do the majority of our MSIS and OISM majors and MIS minors. Understanding business information systems goes beyond skills and comprehension of computers and software. It requires a deeper understanding of how such information technology can be applied to the design and operation of business processes, where "the rubber hits the road." To understand what information must be maintained in the corporation, and how it must be "captured" by certain processes, securely stored and then made available to other processes requires a level of business knowledge that the typical student hasn't had the opportunity to acquire.
For example, a student may learn how to create a database "table" used to store information, or to write a computer program or operate a software package to manipulate that data to produce reports. These are skills that are relatively easy to learn without prior business experience. However, if the same student is asked to describe how such techniques can be applied to the engineering of processes to support a purchasing system, a keen understanding of many business processes is necessary. Receiving, inventory, production planning, and accounts payable all involve activities that are interdependent on such purchasing information and processes. The typical business student enters with little more than a very rudimentary understanding of why or how such systems are interrelated.
Awareness of this educational challenge led, in the early nineties, to a search for ways in which emerging educational technologies might be used to overcome it. A grant was provided by the Center for Educational Technology Services [CETS] (then known as CBEL) to assist in creating a multidimensional business case. Instead of a dry, narrowly focused approach used in the typical business case study, the goal was to provide a wide perspective and graphically vivid portrayal of a company's operations. It would depict real people doing real jobs that required such information to drive essential processes. Students could see with their own eyes how a modern business enterprise's operations are integrated through business information processing technology. University Testing Services assisted CETS in the design of techniques to evaluate individual student progress.
Over the past decade, several companies have at various times permitted themselves to be the focus case. The first was Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of Pepsi-Cola, well known in the snack food industry for their innovative use of information technology to achieve tight integration and control over all areas of their business. Its product line, unlike the boring "widgets" of traditional business education, was something to which every college student could relate. Later, in support of the business "core" courses, a case was developed involving a small, locally owned and operated business, a spring water bottling company called AquaPenn. Another was developed to showcase the global business reengineering efforts of the AMP Corporation, an international manufacturer of electronic components headquartered near Harrisburg.
Today, almost a decade after the first attempts, a new generation of this business case study is being developed. As always, the continuing goal is to provide the student with an understanding of the importance of the seamless integration of data and processes across the entire business enterprise. Students gain appreciation of the intricate requirements demanded of the enterprise-wide information architectures designed to achieve enterprise integration. However, unlike the "passive" cases of earlier attempts, the newer case design is aimed at dynamically involving the students in semester-long team-oriented projects that provide active, collaborative learning strategies.
In 1999, the Smeal College of Business Administration, in cooperation with the College of Engineering and assisted by the Office of Corporate Endowments, was successful in acquiring rights to use the world's leading enterprise-integration software. The SAP Corporation, whose U.S. headquarters is located near Philadelphia, donated a license to use its R/3 software and its process engineering methodology called ASAP with the intent of helping students understand the requirements and techniques of enterprise-wide systems integration. Although few outside of industry are aware, SAP is one of the world's largest software companies. SAP's R/3 systems integrate the essential operations in many major Fortune 500 corporations. Led by the efforts of Ravi Ravindran of the College of Engineering and John Krumrine of the Office of Corporate Endowments, SAP has provided Penn State a grant to install and use its R/3 software. Additional software was provided by Intellicorp, a leading developer of modeling and development software used in enterprise-wide systems integration. The hardware servers were provided by a generous equipment grant from the UNISYS Corporation of Pennsylvania.
In conjunction with this alliance between Penn State and SAP, a partnership has been developed between Penn State and some of the major corporations who use SAP and similar software systems to integrate their business processes. Leading industry experts from major corporations such as Kodak, General Electric, TRW, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Lockheed-Martin and Owens-Corning have joined together to form the Enterprise Integration Industry Advisory Board [IAB]. The members of the Board, many former Penn State graduates, well-understand both the necessity of such an educational goal and the challenges involved. Members meet twice yearly and provide assistance in designing curriculum involving such concepts. From their advice an understanding emerged concerning what were the essential goals of such education as it related to our business students. Their recommendations were of crucial importance in designing the case study.
Managing the Case Project
A focus case was developed with Owens-Corning, a company involved in the manufacture of construction and home improvement products that are familiar to the students, and whose business processes are typical of large manufacturers. The Owens Corning case is designed so it may be used in both lower and upper division courses. In introductory courses it provides a basic backdrop for the introduction of concepts concerning the integration of business processes through information technology. In the upper division courses in Management Science and Information Systems and the Operations and Information Systems Management, the case study requires much greater student involvement and is used throughout the semester. Concepts concerning enterprise-wide systems integration are introduced in parallel with hands-on project activities. At the beginning of the semester students in each section are divided into eight teams. The students are provided background information about Owens Corning's business and strategic plans. Then each team is assigned to one of four major areas of operational interest; Accounting, Sales and Distribution, Procurement and Manufacturing.
Each team first writes a "business case" detailing the business drivers that would favor the adoption of a fully integrated software system such as SAP R/3. The students create a project plan using SAP's ASAP implementation methodology, which provides computer-based project planning and management tools used to implement R/3. During the second phase of the project each team is provided with process flow diagrams of Owens Corning's operations pertaining to the team's assigned operational area. Diagrams, as well as "FAQ" pages that provide details concerning those processes, are provided to the teams through a password-protected web site. Teams are required to use the diagrams and other written documentation and information gleaned from video presentations and live Q&A sessions to elicit Owens Corning's requirements for the team's assigned area of operations.
During the third phase, the teams must compare the company requirements with the capabilities of R/3. Using Intellicorp's LiveModel software, teams can examine the details of business processes that are graphically depicted in the R/3 process "reference model." If, as is frequently the situation in real-world implementations, a business requirement of the company does not precisely match the capabilities of the software, the teams are required to document the problem. They must also provide a solution that either requires modification of company practices or enhancements to the R/3 software itself through either custom programming or the integration of other third-party software. Each team provides this process analysis report as the second deliverable for their semester project.
The greatest challenge the student teams face, as it is in the real world, is in the fourth phase of the project involving the full-scale integration of their individual process team findings. The teams are grouped into two integration teams, each consisting of four process teams, so that each integration team has process "expertise" from each of the four business areas. Because business processes frequently cut across such functional areas, the students must carefully review their prior work to identify discrepancies and challenges in providing a fully integrated solution to meet Owens Corning's requirements. Among these requirements is the ability to interact with Owens Corning's retail customers and suppliers; in this way the students are also encouraged to examine processes that involve the flow of information between companies. In this way, students learn to confront the wider issues of enterprise integration both within the company and with its business partners. Finally, each of the integration teams must prepare a final implementation plan detailing the "roll-out" strategy and all required activities that are necessary to complete installation and cut over from current systems and processes to the new integrated R/3 system.
Technology + Cooperation = Success
Technological support is critical to the successful "delivery" of the case. Video presentations have been prepared by Owens Corning to inform students about the company and the kinds of processes and information required to support its essential business processes. Using video conferencing technologies supplied by the Office of Telecommunications, students can engage in a live, remote question and answer session with Owens Corning to uncover additional facts that can be used to bolster their case. Lotus ScreenCam presentations are also available at the web site, where students can actually see running simulations of how processes using SAP R/3 were implemented at Owens Corning. These narrated presentations show actual business operations being carried out right before the student's eyes by Owens Corning employees using R/3 software. The business case, as well as all other deliverables by the teams during the course, are provided in digital format so that they can be shared with Owens Corning.
This real-world business case provides students the opportunity to experience the complexity of complete enterprise-wide systems integration and to grasp its vital importance to all essential business operations. To achieve such an ambitious semester-long case project requires the involvement of many computer and communication technologies and the cooperation of many academic departments and operational units throughout Penn State. The SAP R/3 and ASAP software is maintained by Mike Errigo of OAS , who had previously worked in supporting SAP's own training division.
To provide students with an interface to SAP R/3 and ASAP, software clients must be maintained in lab PCs and on classroom computers by Eric Umberhocker of CETS. Classroom support services in Thomas building provided by Ken Boonie of AVS are also essential to the success of multimedia case presentations. High-resolution computer projection equipment to display graphic models, telephone connections to permit teleconferencing with Owens Corning and a variety of other equipment must operate reliably. SAP's R/3, ASAP, and Intellicorp's LiveModel software are all designed to interoperate, so all software must interface smoothly within Penn State's complex infrastructure. The LiveModel software, used to graphically depict R/3 enabled processes, requires very special lab set-ups, and is installed and administered by Dan Foster of the Smeal College of Business RIIT group. The Smeal College also provides the web server used to provide the extensive documentation the students must access to complete their analysis.
Of all of the enormous help and resources that have been provided, the most important resource is that provided by the companies that have partnered with Penn State. They have devoted great time and corporate involvement, and continue to send their own experts to Penn State to provide guidance in the development of this case. Patient and time-consuming efforts have been made by of Bob Heineman, the SAP project manager from Owens Corning, in preparing the company case materials and then in interacting with the students to provide as much of a real-world flavor as is feasibly possible. Each semester Lockheed-Martin sends its own business process integration expert, Mark Gasper, to describe process modeling techniques using LiveModel. Students have formed their own club, called the SAP Student Interest Group, and bring in speakers from the major Fortune 500 corporations to describe their own experiences with systems integration using R/3. The club has access to the Owens Corning case materials, and provides tutorial sessions to other students who cannot fit the full course in their schedule. Many corporations such as Kodak, PWC, Hershey Foods, AMP, Deloitte/Touche, ExxonMobile and Unisys have sent guest speakers.
The success of this case study is an example of what is possible when many academic departments and operational units at Penn State can team up together to provide an environment of cooperation. The list may sound like alphabet soup, CAC, RIIT, OAS, UTS, CETS, OTC, IAB, but really represents the hard work and dedication of many individuals. It also underscores the great achievements that can be attained with the help and generous support of Penn State partnerships with business. The case is designed to help students learn about the importance of the integration and coordination of business units within the enterprise and between business partners. It seems fitting that its successful delivery is achieved by the integration of technologies that requires the coordination and cooperation of many within Penn State and among its business partners. What began as a small seed sown by a Faculty Technology Grant almost a decade ago has, with the patient efforts of all, grown into a wonderful teaching and learning experience.