Integrating SAP R/3 into a College of Business curriculum: Lessons learned

In the Fall semester of 1996, California State University Chico was the first school in the U.S. to implement the SAP ERP system into its College of Business curriculum. While the effort so far has been very successful by almost any means of measurement, many challenges still remain. This paper presents the problems encountered by the college and the approaches taken to overcome these problems.Five major areas of concern are identified. They include:forming a faculty team and then getting them to agree on how the ERP system should be incorporated into the curriculum, including the order of introducing courses into the curriculum; acquiring adequate funding to support all of the resources needed to implement a system of this magnitude, including funding for equipment, faculty training, new teaching facilities, etc.; setting up a technical infrastructure and a corresponding support team to install, monitor and administrate the ERP systems; properly managing the recruiting activities of companies recruiting the students, and retaining the faculty that have SAP experience in a competitive market that offers financial rewards well in excess of academic salaries.All of these issues must be addressed to successfully implement an ERP system. However, our experience has been overwhelmingly successful and all of the hard work has had a significant academic return on our investment.