International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering, Vol. 1, No.

4, November 2012

Teaching Business Processes Integration with ERP

In Enterprise Architecture/Systems Courses
Ming Wang
multidisciplinary scope of enterprise system concepts that
requires internal cross-disciplinary coordination. To
understand them, students must acquire the concept of
business processes integration which is the theme in both
operational and analytical systems of ERP.
Business process is a list of related activities to produce an
outcome. Business processes integration means multiple
business processes are inter-related to each other. Fig. 1
illustrates the inter-relationship of the integrated business
processes in ERP.

AbstractInformation Systems (IS) education is being

transformed from the development of applications towards
implementation and configuration of the integrated
enterprise-wide system software - Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP). Teaching business processes integration has
become an important issue in IS education. To meet the
challenge, the author presents a comprehensive approach to
teach business processes integration with ERP. The paper
emphasizes on teaching business processes integration with
ERP as the whole process in the Enterprise Architecture and
Enterprise Systems courses. SAP ERP is utilized as an ERP
software tool for illustration purpose.
Index TermsBusiness processes,
planning, ERP, IS curriculum, SAP.

enterprise

resource

I. INTRODUCTION
The wide spread of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
technology has made information systems (IS) education
shift its focus from applications development to business
processes integration. In order to catch the industrial trend, IS
educators have made significant changes on IS cores and
elective courses in the Information Systems (IS) 2010
Curriculum Guidelines [1]. The Application Development
course is no longer included in the core of the IS 2010
Curriculum. Instead, the Enterprise Architecture course has
become as a new core and the Enterprise Systems course is
recommended as an elective course. To meet the challenge,
the author proposes a comprehensive approach of teaching
the Enterprise Architecture course and Enterprise Systems
course with emphasis on business processes integration based
on her years of ERP research and teaching experiences. The
paper specifies the course topics, objectives and
corresponding ERP hands-on activities and also presents a
framework which can be used by students to learn business
processes integration. The paper is intended to serve as useful
teaching resources for those information systems (IS)
educators who are interested in teaching business processes
integration using ERP in the two courses. The remaining
paper is organized into five sections: 1) ERP Business
Processes Integration, 2) ERP Data Integration, 3) Enterprise
Architecture Course, 4) Enterprise System Course, and 5)
Conclusion.

Fig. 1. Business processes integration [2]

III. ERP DATA INTEGRATION

ERP has the centralized data repository that integrates all
the business processes in the enterprise. This section specifies
how the organization data shared across different business
processes in the enterprise system. Fig. 2 shows how master
data occur in major business processes in the value chain.

Materials
Management
Production
Planning
Warehouse
Management
Sales &
Distribution

Customer
data

Vendor
data
x

Material
data
x

Fig. 2. Master data shared in business processes

Four types of data in the ERP system are organizational

data, master data, situational data and transaction data.
Organizational data are used to represent the structure of
an enterprise include client, company, plant and business
area data.
Master data represent entities associated with the
business processes such as buying materials from
vendors and selling materials to customers. Master data
are referenced more frequently than others across ERP
systems in both operational systems and analytical
systems.

II. BUSINESS PROCESSES INTEGRATION

An ERP system is large and complex and learning curve is
steep. Unlike other computer applications, ERP includes the
Manuscript received July 22, 2012; revised September 2, 2012.
Ming Wang is with the Department of Information Systems, California
State University, Los Angeles (e-mail: ming.wang@calstatela.edu).

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International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 4, November 2012

A. Organization Structure
Th
he organizatioonal diagram represents thee organizationnal
struccture implem
mented withinn the
ERP
P System. The
T
orgaanizational eleements are thhe same whetther the ER
RP
Systeem is being implemented
i
for manufactu
uring or serviice
relatted industry. The
T enterprisee structure can
n be representted
by an
n organizationnal diagram inn Fig. 5, whicch is a model of
the relationships
r
a
among
variouss ERP system
m organizationnal
elem
ments.

Situationall data are speccific to where and when thee task

being execcuted.
Transactionn data are com
mbination of organizational
o
data,
master dataa and situationnal data. Transaction data reeflect
the consequuences of process executionn. Transactionn data
include daates, quantities, prices paym
ment and dellivery
terms.
ws the relationnship betweenn transaction data,
Fig. 3 show
orrganizational data, master data
d and situaational data ass well
ass transaction documents
d
andd post transacttion documennts.
Maste
er Data

Org . Data
D

Situa
ational Data

Customer
Vendo
or
Material

Client
Comp. Code
C
Plant

Who
o
Whe
en
Whe
ere

Transaction Data
Dates
s
Quantities
Prices
Payment
Delivery Terms
T

Tra
ansaction
Doc
cuments :
In
nvoices
Purch
hase orders
Pac
cking lists

After transac
ction
Document
ts :
Financial
ng
accountin
Controllin
ng

Fig. 5. Organizaation diagram.

B. Infrastructurre and Compoonents

Infrastructure
I
consists of aapplication modules
m
that are
a
acco
omplished viaa a very com
mprehensive set of busineess
process procedurees (BPPs). M
Major business processes are
a
posed of appllication moduules. The appllication modules
comp
in Fiigure 6 are orgganized into thhe following four
f
categoriees.
The financiall managementt application modules
m
incluude
Financial Acccounting (FII), Controllin
ng (CO), Fixxed
Asset Manageement (AM) aand Project Sy
ystem (PS).
m
includde Sales & Diistribution (SD
D),
The logistic modules
Material Mannagement (MM
M), Production
n Planning (PP
P),
Quality Mannagement (QM
M) and Plan
nt Maintenannce
(PM).
HR) module supports
s
hum
man
The Human Resources (H
capital managgement (HCM
M), payroll an
nd the planniing
and control off personnel acctivities.
WF) and Indusstry Solutions (IS) are know
wn
Workflow (W
as the Comm
mon Systems. The remaining modules are
a
known as primary
p
appllication mod
dules, and WF
W
integrates the functionality of these appliication modules.

Fig. 3. ERP daata integration [2].

Transaction documents record transactiion data durinng the

traansaction as the process is being execcuted. Transaaction
doocuments are purchase ordeers for vendorrs, packing lissts for
shhipping and innvoices. Posst transaction documents reecord
daata after the prrocess is finishhed. Post trannsaction docum
ments
innclude financiial account (F
FI) document, controlling (CO)
doocument and material docuuments. FI annd CO docum
ments
reecord the finnancial impacct of processs steps. Acccount
reeceivable docuuments are creeated after thee company recceives
thhe payment froom the custom
mer. Materialss documents reecord
m
material
movem
ment from a veendor to a cusstomer.
IV
V. ENTERPRIISE ARCHITECTTURE
The Enterpriise Architecturre course focuuses on concepts at
a higher levell of IT Infraastructure absstraction [1]. This
Ennterprise Archhitecture coursse explores the design, selecction,
im
mplementationn and manageement of enterrprise architeccture.
ER
RP software can help stuudents visuallize the enterrprise
innfrastructure, organizationaal structure annd understandd the
buusiness proceesses integratiion of enterpprise systems with
innter-organizatiional partners such as suppliiers and custom
mers.
Thhis section specifies
s
how
w to teach business
b
proccesses
inntegration in the Enterprisse Architectuure course. Fig.
F
4
illlustrates topiccs, objectives and activities of the enterrprise
arrchitecture couurse.
IS Core
C 2010.3

Topiccs

Enterprisse Architecture

Enterprise organization structure

Enterprise infrastructuree
Enterprise data integrattion
Enterprise business proocesses integration

Fig. 6. BPP
Ps Shared across application modu
ules [3].

Eaach applicatioon module is a collection of a number of

relatted business process
p
proceddures (BPPs), as illustratedd in
Fig. 6. BPPs are the
t smallest program units that provide the
t
a
functionality of thhe ERP Systtem. Many off these BPPs are
d by more thann one of the aapplication mo
odules. Busineess
used
processes found in the organnization are built
b
with theese
appliication modulles and BPPs.

Objectives
Students are able
a to:
Undertand entterprise organization struccture
Undertand entterprise infrastructure
Undertand entterprise data integration
Integrate businness processes

A
Activities
Exploring Enteerprise infrastructure
Nevigating ER
RP systems
Implementing business processes

Fig. 4. Enterprisse architecture couurse

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International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 4, November 2012

integ
gration in ER
RP re-engineeering and con
nfiguration. The
T
focu
us is to teachh students too transforms ERP busineess
procedures to orgaanization widde requirementts. Based on the
t
n business requirements, students will
w
reengineeer
given
busin
ness processees and configgure a simplee and workabble
integ
grated enterpriise operationaal system. Students will creaate
an en
nterprise struccture, financiaal system and relevant master
data using
ER
RP that dem
monstrates thee integration of
m several m
modules, such
h as accounnts
inforrmation from
receiivable, sales, manufacturinng production
n, procuremeent,
acco
ount payable, and
a general leedger. Fig. 8 illustrates courrse
topiccs, objectivess and class activities of the Enterprise
Systeems course.

Each core buusiness processs consists of business appliccation

modules. Entterprise softw
m
ware integratess the core bussiness
prrocesses foundd in an organnization. The following
f
bussiness
prrocesses can be
b used to illlustrate the arrrangements of
o the
suupply chain management
m
prrocesses.
Manufactuuring Planningg and Executioon.
Procuremeent (purchasingg).
management accounting
a
andd reporting
Financial/m
S
Order Management
M
(ssales)
Customer Sales

Fig. 7. Application
A
modules and business processes
p
[3]
Fig. 8. Enterprise systems.

Fig. 7 showss FI and CO application

a
m
modules
occurrred in
alll the listed buusiness processes.

A. Business Proocess Reenginneering (BPR))

Bu
usiness Process Reengineerring (BPR) is the analysis and
a
desig
gn of workfloows and proceesses within an
a organizatioon.
Re-eengineering is the basis for many recent developments
d
s in
manaagement. Thee cross-functional team, fo
or example, has
h
beco
ome popular because of the desire to re-en
ngineer separaate
functional tasks into
i
completee cross-functiional processes.
o, many reccent manageement inform
mation system
ms
Also
deveelopments aim
m to integratee a wide num
mber of busineess
processes. Businness Process Reengineerring transform
ms
d more effectiive
orgaanization operrations to entiirely new and
busin
ness processes. BPR is usuually utilized in the Blueprrint
Phasse of ERP Im
mplementationn Methodolog
gy. BPR is allso
know
wn as Business Processs Redesign
n or Busineess
Tran
nsformation.
There
T
are num
merous BPR appproaches and
d they each difffer
acco
ording to the magnitude off the change and the channge
efforrt involved. Selecting
S
the right model to
t teach BPR
R is
thus a difficult taask. We adoppted the modeel developed by
t course. Thhis BPR modeel consists of six
s
Guhaa et.al. [5] in the
phasses: 1) Envisioon new proceesses, 2) Initiaating change, 3)
process diagnosis,, 4) process reedesign, 5) recconstruction, and
a
6) prrocess monitoring.

C. ERPSIM Simulation Gaames

The ERPSIIM simulatioon game [4]
[
provides the
ennvironment for
f
students to experiennce an integgrated
ennterprise systeem. Students are
a divided too teams. Each team
opperates a makke-to-stock maanufacturing plant
p
that inteeracts
w the suppliiers and custoomers by sendding and receeiving
with
orrders, deliveriing their prodducts and com
mpleting the whole
w
caash-to-cash cyycle. Students get the oppportunity to make
strrategic decisioons for recipe (product desiign), sale forecasts,
prroduction impprovements, prroduction releease.
At the end of the game, raaw materials and
a finished goods
g
innventory will be
b sold out at a reduced pricce. Team mem
mbers
m renegotiate their bank loan
may
l
with the bank at the end of
eaach quarter. Interest
I
is caalculated quarrterly and wiill be
chharged automaatically at the end of a quaarter. Customeers do
noot change throoughout the game, hence you may learn from
paast their behaaviour. The company
c
(teaam) displayingg the
hiighest equity value (sharehholder capital)) at the end of
o the
sim
mulation winss the game.
As a make-too-stock manuffacturing comppany, there aree four
off processes thaat must be perrformed (i) thee planning proocess,
(iii) the procurem
ment process, (iii) the produuction processs, and
(ivv) the sales prrocess. Each process
p
can be decomposedd into
traansactions. To
T complete the four opeerational proccesses
m
mentioned
above, a total off fourteen traansactions muust be
peerformed. Moost of the transactions
t
i
involved
in these
prrocesses are operational in nature, succh as to purcchase
m
materials
or to deliver
d
finisheed products.

B. ERP Implem
mentation Methhodology
Accelerated SA
AP (ASAP) is a System Deevelopment Life
L
c
to guiide
Cyclle (SDLC) meethodology thhat has been created
the rapid
r
implemeentation of thee ERP Enterprrise System. The
T
Solu
ution Managerr is the SAP plaatform that deelivers the ASA
AP
meth
hodology. It is a computer systems anallysis and desiign
meth
hodology andd tools provvided by SAP
S
AG. Thhis
meth
hodology seekks to standarddize and expeedite the typiccal
ERP
P implementattion. It has pproven to be effective whhen
impllementing thee SAP ERP soolution acrosss industries and
a
diffeerent customerr environmentts. In practice,, ASAP makess it
easieer to assign consulting
c
tassks among diifferent projects
effecctively and to provide an inncreased levell of consistenccy.

MS
V. ENTERPPRISE SYSTEM

The Enterprrise Systems course is reccommended by

b IS
e
coursse for
20012 Curriculuum Guidelines [1] as an elective
teeaching techniical ERP impplementation and configuraation.
Thhis section describes
d
how
w to teach business
b
proccesses
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International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 4, November 2012

Fig. 9 illustrates the SAP Implementation Methodology Road

Map [3].

contribution of the paper is to provide IS educators a

comprehensive approach and a new BPI learning framework
for teaching business processes integration with ERP in the
Enterprise architecture and Enterprise systems courses
recommended in IS 2010 curriculum. The goal is to teach
students to understand business-centric information system
and be able to implement and configure business processes.

Project
Preparation

Business
Blueprint

Realization

Final
Preparation

Go Live &
Support

Fig. 9. SAP implementation methodology phases.

Project Preparation defines the projects scope and

organizes the team, the vendors and hardware.
Business Blueprint defines the business process
requirements and discusses configuration and data
migration.
Realization configures the system, writes middleware
interfaces and develops ABAP code.
Final Preparation includes testing and training.
Go Live begins using the system.

Fig. 10. BPI learning framework.

C. SAP Configuration
ASAP Roadmap and Solution Manager drive ERP
configuration. The completed reference model is known as
the Enterprise Model when the configuration activities have
matched the business requirements to the processing
available in the Reference Structure.
The Implementation Guide (IMG) is a SAP system tool for
actually making the settings that configure the R/3 System to
meet a companys requirements. The SAP IMG is an integral
part of the R/3 System that is used in the configuration of the
R/3 System. About 80 percent of a typical SAP system
installation is handled by the IMG configuration setting.
Another 10 percent are enhancement of ABAP tools and
appended structure, while 10 percent are customer developed
via ABAP tools.
A Project IMG is a subset of the Reference IMG that
contains the documentation for selected IMG components
that are implemented as part of the specific configuration
project. The Project IMG facilitates the establishment of the
organization arrangement during a companys configuration
by using SAP IMG [6].

The paper intentionally does not specify any ERP software

in most context of the paper. Institutions have to make the
decision of whether and how to provide students with
hands-on use experience with actual ERP software such SAP,
JD Edwards, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SSA Global and Microsoft
Dynamics (Axapta, Great Plains and Solomon) etc.
Enterprise system software is in place in a majority of large
organizations and increasing in use in small and
medium-sized organizations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Professor Hayen, Magal,
Monk, Wagner and Word for their SAP ERP textbooks. We
are also grateful to the SAP University Alliance Program for
providing us SAP software, server hosting and high quality
SAP laboratory materials.
REFERENCES
[1]

VI. SUMMARY
The proposed ERP business processes integration (BPI)
learning framework shown in Figure 10 summarizes the
important BPI components students supposed to learn from
the Enterprise architecture and enterprise Systems courses. It
is a good tool to use for teaching business processes
integration with ERP in Enterprise Architecture/Systems
Courses. Filling out the form can be the benchmark to
measure whether students have grasped the six major
business processes in the ERP operational system. Students
need to this framework in their mind through both courses.
ERP systems, by their multi-dimensional integrative
nature, offer the depth of functionality and breadth of
integration to demonstrate how global operations of
organizations are managed. The learning curve is steep. The

[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]

H. Topi, J. Valacich, S. Wright, and T. Ryan, IS 2010 Curriculum

Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information
Systems, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and
Association for Information Systems (AIS). Retrieved from the web
site.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.acm.org/education/curricula/IS%202010%20ACM%20fin
al.pdf
S. Magal and J. Word, Integrated Processes with ERP Systems, Wiley,
2011.
R. Hayen, SAP R/3 Enterprise Software: an Introduction,
McGraw-Hill, 2007.
ERPsim 2012 Web Site. [Online]. Available: http://erpsim.hec.ca/
S. Guha, W. J. Kettinger, and T. C. Teng, Business process
reengineering: building a comprehensive methodology, Information
Systems Management, Summer, 1993.
D. Monk and B. Wagner, Concepts in enterprise resource planning,
4th Edition, Course Technology, 2013.

Dr. Ming Wang is a professor of Information Systems, California State

University, Los Angeles. She is SAP faculty Coordinator, At Cal State LA.
She received her Ph. D. from Southern Illinois University in 1993 and taught
previously in the Department of Computer Science at Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University, in Daytona Beach, Florida.

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