February 17, 2000
Contact: Andrew Careaga
573-341-4328
[email protected]
STUDENTS TO LEARN E-COMMERCE THROUGH "VIRTUAL ENTERPRISE"
Engineering students from the University of Missouri-Rolla will soon work with students in marketing, accounting, business and other majors from the three other University of Missouri campuses in a "virtual enterprise" designed to prepare students for the business world of electronic commerce and Internet-based data management.
That's the vision of faculty and administrators from all four University of Missouri campuses -- in Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla and St. Louis -- who are working with leading software and computer manufacturers and e-business solutions providers to develop the virtual business environment.
The effort is a collaboration between the University of Missouri and three information technology companies -- SAP, IBM and Unisys Corp. Through SAP's University Alliance Grant Awards Program, the University of Missouri received software from SAP and two hardware server systems, one each from IBM and Unisys.
Through the virtual enterprise program, students from diverse academic majors will share information electronically, in much the same manner as major corporations now engage in business-to-business electronic commerce, says Dr. Majdi Najm, the University of Missouri's SAP program coordinator. Najm also is a research associate professor of engineering management at UMR.
The project will involve the development of virtual "companies." Students, working with experts from the faculty and corporate partners, will learn how to conduct business in this new environment. They will purchase and sell products and services electronically, as well as manage projects online and share information about budgets, employees and even technical drawings.
"This is the best way to learn," Najm says. "We're giving the students the environment to learn by doing. Through this concept, the students will begin to see the relationship between the different disciplines. Engineering students will better understand the business side of an operation, and business majors will learn what is involved from the engineering or research and development end of a business enterprise.
"By using this kind of enterprise resource planning software, our students will see immediately that the work they're doing in engineering, marketing or human resources affects the bottom line," Najm says.
The first step in this project involves using SAP's enterprise resource planning software in classes. Already, the Management Information Systems courses taught in UMR's engineering management department are incorporating the software. The same software is being used in an accounting course now under way in the University of Missouri-Columbia's accountancy department.
Najm and the coordinators on each campus plan to incorporate the enterprise planning software in other courses over the summer and fall. By the end of 2000, they are to have in place the virtual enterprise, along with case studies that can be used by the simulated businesses on each campus.
Although other colleges and universities are involved in the SAP University Alliance Grant program, this is the first endeavor by a multi-campus system. According to Najm, the systemwide approach creates a more realistic setting for a virtual enterprise, because the four campuses are separated geographically.
For more information about the UM System SAP Program and the virtual enterprise project, visit the program's Web site at sap.umsystem.edu.
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