Jan 30th: Business Features

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems encompass all business activities of an organization. The ERP system however is built with modules of functionality, based on the end to end business processes - such as P2P (Procure To Pay) or Order To Cash (O2C). Within 1 hour, today we have discussed at very high level all modules within SAP ByD ERP package. You are now required to study one Open source ERP product and compare it's business features as well as technical features with those of SAP ByD.

I have uploaded all classroom presentations as well as the spreadsheet required for assignment at CoEP's Moodle Application. Please go to CoEP's Moodle site at http://moodle.coep.org.in/moodle/course/view.php?id=7 and register as a student for ERP course. All presentations used in the classroom discussions till date are stored on Moodle.

The spreadsheet template required for preparing the ERP comparison assignment is also available on Moodle. After updating the comparative information, you can submit your updated spreadsheet at Moodle. Please note that you can only submit once, therefore, make sure that you have completed all the updates before uploading your file for assignment submission.

 Students have asked me for the full syllabus of the course. This is mainly a practical course. The theory for the course will practically be finished during this week. Thereafter, all students will execute SAP transactions on live SAP ByD system by assuming various different ERP user roles. You may access the tentative course schedule at http://goo.gl/iASZF for your information.

On Friday, I have requested Chetan Kumar, a software consultant, to come and talk to you as a Guest lecturer. Chetan is implementing ERP5, a open source ERP package. As you are already studying the various open source software packages, this discussion should be helpful. I hope you will have some good questions for discussion.

Today there is no input/feedback form to be filled in.

23rd Jan: ERP Assignment

We have devoted 3 lectures on understanding "What is ERP". I hope you now have reasonably good idea of what is called ERP. Why it is given so much importance and identified as a special category of Information System. We will take next few sessions to get into the details of Business Functionality built into ERP and the Technology of ERP. While we are doing this study in the class, I would like you to do some research independently and prepare a comparative study of various Open ERP products with SAP ByD ERP solution. At the end of your study, you are expected to provide a comparative report of one Open ERP product with SAP ByD business and technical features. You will get about 5 minutes to present your understanding to the whole class in about 2 weeks from now. As a group we will also compile your study of individual products into a single table and then publish it on Wikipedia.

Today in the class, we discussed few terms (the jargon) related to ERP. The special terms or jargon is created in every subject. For free and quick communication with experts you need to know all these terms very well. Here is one Glossary of ERP terms http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Openbravo_ERP_Glossary. This is not very exhaustive list and specially SAP related many terms are not included, but  looks like a good start. If we all start contributing to this Open Wiki Glossary list, this will become complete and we all can use it in future.

As discussed in the class, you need to make a group of minimum 4 and maximum 8 students to complete your ERP assignment. Identify each group with the first name of the leader of the group. If we end up in having more than one group with same first name of leader then we will do the separation when we meet next time on Wednesday (25th). Please enter the group name (first name of leader) in today's input form at http://goo.gl/9jFWf

The business and Technology features of the selected product by the group are to be entered and compared with ByD features in a spreadsheet available at http://goo.gl/9tdBl. First make a copy of this spreadsheet on your laptop and then start studying and entering feature comparisons with ByD. Use remark column for all the details you wish to record for that feature.

wish you good luck,

Ashok Ranade 

Extra session - Tomorrow 21st Jan at 4:30 PM in Classroom #17

Please note that on 21st January, Saturday, there will be an extra session on What is ERP by Prof Arati Mulay.
This session should help clear up many doubts you may have.

You may download the presentation slides at http://goo.gl/Z2V9v
I am not postimg any new input form for this session today.

Ashok Ranade

20th Jan: What is ERP (contd.)

This Friday, 20th January, we will continue discussing What is ERP.
You could not complete the online feedback form for the session on 18th January, because by mistake I had given the link to the spreadsheet instead of the input form. I have now corrected the link. If you have already not posted your feedback for 18th January post then please submit your form at http://goo.gl/OjWjn.

On 20th January, we will continue to discuss the same presentation that we used on 18th and you can download it at http://goo.gl/blUcs

You must have noticed that in this course, in addition to teaching ERP subject, I am also trying to expose you to many new web tools that are extremely useful in your learning as well as on the job when you join an organization as an employee. In this course therefore, I am going to ask you to use many of these new web2.0  tools and today I would like to get your feedback on which tools you are already familiar and to what extent. Please give your feedback at http://goo.gl/SNSSt

Thank you for continued interest in the course.

See you on Friday 20th at 9:30AM.

ERP Overview

My apologies for some miss communication. By mistake, I was informed that all lectures scheduled on 11th are cancelled because of Zest'12 festival. Therefore, I did not come to the classroom and many of you had to go back. I will do my best to avoid such error in future.

The cancelled lecture of 11th January was rescheduled to conduct on Monday, 16th January.
On 16th Jan, we discovered that majority of students attending the lecture were not present for the first lecture and hence the lecture will now be conducted on 18th Jan.

================================================================
Current Session, 18th January: ERP Overview

From Wednesday, 18th, we will start a high level overview of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system , consisting of 3 parts - (1) What is ERP, (2) ERP Business functionality and (3) ERP Technology.

Before the class, you are encouraged to read through this Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning for a general understanding of ERP.
Slideshare is another very good resource for professional learning. Check out these 2 presentations on the topic of "What is ERP" on slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/mahmoud_elmasry/what-is-erp and http://www.slideshare.net/dcampbe511/erp-4764964

Presentation slides for this classroom session can be downloaded at http://goo.gl/blUcs
Session Feedback post at http://goo.gl/OjWjn
Assignment related to today's discussion: You are required to study the ERP solution of a specific vendor that is assigned to you in the class. Search information about about the vendor, various ERP related solutions being marketed by this vendor, What is special (USP) of each of the solution that is marketed by this vendor, Product Features, Target customers, Market size (no. of installations, no. of users, no, last year sales volume, Future plans/ directions/ strategy.
Wikipedia: Access the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ERP_software_packages. Create a new table for this page which compares the product features of each Free and Open Source ERP software packages. You can start by reviewing all the features of SAP ByD product at http://www36.sap.com/solutions/products/sap-bydesign/what-is-sap-business-bydesign/for-your-business/supply-chain.epx and then check for each Opensource product whether these features are available. Each pair of 2 students should evaluate 1 Open Source product. The end results should be tabulated in the spreadsheet at http://goo.gl/Sz6xF. You can later add this table at the wikipedia page.

For those interested in reading more about ERP, please visit these pages from CIO magazine at http://www.cio.com/article/40323/ERP_Definition_and_Solutions

===================================================================
Previous session on 9th January: Course Profile
You are required to complete an online feedback/input form at http://goo.gl/utJJb
Less than 10 students have completed this form as of 11th January. By 17th Jan, 21 students have completed this form. Please note that completing this input form after every session is a must. Physical presence in the classroom is not adequate for being marked present. Only those who complete this online form after the session will be considered present at the class.

====================================================================
Next Session on 18th January: ERP Overview continued
Business functionality and Technical features, both aspects we will not be able to cover in one session. Therefore t eremaining portion we will continue on 18th. 

Welcome to ERP Course, Winter Semester 2012, College of Engg, Pune.

Welcome to the first ERP related course offered at College of Engg, Pune.

This is the first course being offered by the Aa Ab Laut Chalen initiative of IIT Alumni Canada members to introduce this fast growing technology area in the past 2 decades. The course is developed and being supported by SAP University Alliance program. SAP UA program is global initiative of SAP A.G., the world leader in the ERP technology.

The course will start on 9th January and end on 30th April 2012. The detailed course schedule will be shared with you in the first session on 9th January. Before each classroom or Lab session, the session plan will be shared with all participants by a post to this blog. Each student is expected to subscribe to this blog and check all the communication. After each session, as well, this blog will be posted with details of the deliberations during the session. All students are also encouraged to post any questions or doubts they have. This will help sharing with all students, the questions and doubts that you may have and the answers from the faculty. This ensures that you will participate in all learning process through out the 4 month period of the course.

After each session, you are also required to answer a set of questions on an online form. This is a regular feedback to the faculty and for reporting the status to the COEP management. After completion of the first session on 9th, please access this online form at http://goo.gl/utJJb

During the first session, we will go through the basic logistics and organization of the course. Following is the agenda for first session:

1. Need
2. Course Overview
3. Understand Course Objectives
4. Understand Course Organization
5. Methodology
6. Training Materials/ Tools
7. Course schedule
8. Q&A

The presentation for the classroom session can be downloaded at http://goo.gl/IGciE

Thereafter, during this week, you will complete various preparatory steps to get ready to do this course.

I am delighted that you elected this course and look forwaerd to meeting you,