Organizations today have become process-focused, linking product development and order fulfillment across functions and across the globe. Integrated Enterprise Systems (ES) support this process orientation through cross-functional software applications built upon a common database. Companies need graduates who understand the process-wide benefits and risks of their decisions and who can use ES data effectively to make these decisions. In response, universities need to create process-oriented and data-rich educational experiences.
We are developing five ES-based decision-making modules, a case linking these modules across courses, and a supporting database. For each module, students use the ES software and data to make decisions in a traditional course and to explore their decision's impact on product development and supply chain processes. Since each module is designed around a traditional decision, such as product design, taught in a traditional course, our approach introduces a flexible view of integration into engineering and management curricula without curriculum re-design, increasing the likelihood of adoption and further development at other institutions. We are testing these modules in two engineering and two management courses at WPI. Our evaluation measures whether these ES-based, active-learning modules increase students' comprehension of enterprise-wide decision-making and their ability to apply ES data to make decisions.
