Headnote

ABSTRACT

Large parts of the enterprise resource planning $($ERP$)$ processes are automated. One example is the item values in the sales order process. To execute a sales order, the ERP system applies a specific "find" strategy on a wide variety of data sources such as customer master, material master, and customer price$-$specific data tables, and extracts information such as customer class, discounts, and dates for computations of line items, namely, prices, discounts, and taxes. While completing their ERP assignments on the sales order process, students often see only the final sales order amount and ignore$-$and thereby fail to appreciate and understand$-$the intricacies of the automated method that executes "behind the scenes" to achieve the sales order numbers. This leaves a gap in students' learning process, as they treat the ERP automation mechanism as a black box and do not appreciate the finer details of the business process that come into play. To illustrate the general method involved in a business automation process, we have developed a teaching technique where students$-$without the use of ERP software$-$complete a sales order by manually searching for values in a sequence based on the business processing logic. This task helps students understand and appreciate the internal processes of business automation in ERP systems.

Keywords: Enterprise resource planning $($ERP$),$ Pedagogy, Enterprise systems education, Teaching tip

$1.$INTRODUCTION

Business students intending to work with enterprise systems require a deep understanding of the business processes involved before they join the workforce. Enterprise resource planning $($ERP$)$ addresses modern businesses' complexities, such as price discrimination and dynamic pricing, through algorithms and automation. Most processes in ERPs systems are automated and occur behind the scenes without the user's awareness. As a case in point, posting of accounting journal entries is fully automated for many business processes, e$.$g$.,$ ordering, invoicing, shipping, purchasing, and inventory movement. When processing the sales order, the system running in the background considers various factors, such as customer, material, discounts, and dates to achieve the final sales order amount. For a better comprehension of the business process, students need to understand how the system obtains those values in the sales order. This helps students acquire problemsolving skills, a key asset for their future professional careers. Hence, the learning objective of this teaching module... What is the objective of this writing pap