This is a major collaborative group-work assignment. (group size will be 4 students). The topic selected for the assignment will be in conjunction with your workshop leader. The topic chosen will form the basis of a presentation.
Students can select topics based on their own understanding and investigations of one issue listed. Some suggested topics might include the following:
Enterprise Modelling Financial Accounting General Ledger Financial Accounting Controlling and Asset Accounting Financial Accounting Reporting and Analytics Procurement and Material Management Sales and Distribution Asset Accounting in an ERP system
**Blockchain and its implication for ERP systems ** IoT and ERP Systems ** Big Data and Machine Learning *The topic should be specific and focused. See next page for topics READ— before contacting the workshop leader: You must apply for approval for your topic by e-mailing your workshop leader with group member names and student numbers and the topic you wish to deliver at the presentation.
Provide a description of the topic you will use in the presentation/paper. DO NOT commence work on this assessment task until you receive approval by return e-mail from your workshop leader. Note— Not all topics may be approved. Groups that are organized and get back to me with their topic, week of delivery and cases will have a high likelihood of early approval.
QUESTIONS Topic 1: Enterprise Modelling One of the issues faced by a business when implementing an ERP system relates to enterprise modelling. Discuss what you understand by Enterprise Modelling with reference to Financials and explain why it may have a negative/positive impact on a successful/unsuccessful implementation of an ERP System. In your discussion, clearly explain what Enterprise Modelling is, using some real-life companies with a simple structure. Investigate some case studies of simple structure companies that tried to implement an ERP system that failed or succeeded. When choosing the companies, do not restrict yourself to SAP as the vendor of the ERP system but also consider other vendors, such as Oracle, Sage etc. in your presentation. Pay particular attention to the organizational structure of the company, in terms of the subsidiaries in the group, products/service sold/manufactured/provided, geographic locations, Sales and Distribution, procurement and material management, assets and reporting aspects.
Topic 2: Financial Accounting – The General Ledger SAP has transformed the General Ledger with its introduction of S4 HANA Enterprise Management. Discuss some of the changes adopted by SAP from its ECC version to S4 in relation to the Universal ledger and single source of truth, using a few examples in your discussion/presentation. Also mention some of the benefits of the new system and if there are disadvantages to these changes.
Topic 3: Financial Accounting – Controlling and Asset Accounting SAP has transformed Controlling and Asset Accounting with its introduction of S4 HANA Enterprise Management. Discuss some of the changes adopted by SAP from its ECC version to S4 in relation to the Controlling and Asset Accounting, using a few examples in your discussion/presentation. Also mention some of the benefits of the new system and if there are disadvantages to these changes.
Topic 4: Financial Accounting – Reporting and Analytics SAP has transformed Reporting and Analytics with its introduction of S4 HANA Enterprise Management. Discuss some of the changes adopted by SAP from its ECC version to S4 in relation to the Reporting and Analytics, using a few examples in your discussion/presentation. Also mention some of the benefits of the new system and if there are disadvantages to these changes.
Topic 5: Procurement and Material Management Procurement and Material Management is a very important part of any successful business. Ensuring that reliable ERP systems are implemented in a business to carry out this function is of utmost importance. Discuss the benefits of an ERP system in the procurement and material management process, using examples from at least 3 different vendors and how their systems may be beneficial to a company. You should make use of real-life company examples in your discussion
Topic 6: Sales and Distribution Sales and Distribution is a very important part of any successful business. Ensuring that reliable ERP systems are implemented in a business to carry out this function is of utmost importance. Discuss the benefits of an ERP system in the sales and distribution process, using examples from at least 3 different vendors and how their systems may be beneficial to a company. You should make use of real-life company examples in your discussion.
Topic 7: Asset Accounting Keeping proper records of tangible assets in any business has several benefits, in that a business can claim tax deductions for these tangible assets and truly reflect the value of their tangible assets to prospective investors and stakeholders. Businesses make use of ERP systems to automatically record transactions involving tangible assets and their value over each financial period. Discuss the reasons for keeping proper records of tangible assets and then compare at 3 vendor’s ERP systems that capture transactions involving tangible assets. Discuss some successes and failures using real-life companies in your discussion.
Topic 8: **Blockchain and ERP systems for Financial Accounting Blockchain is a relatively new “buzzword” that many confuse with crypto currency. Identify how blockchain may prove to be advantageous to ERP systems in relation to the Financial Accounting functional area of a business in terms of transaction processing, procurement, sales and distribution, asset accounting, production etc. Provide some case studies or real-life examples of its application.
Topic 9: **IoT and ERP systems The Internet of Things (IOT) can be useful to any business and especially to ERP systems. Discuss how IoT can be relevant to ERP systems with respect to the Accounting/Financials of a business. Identify and present some case studies that expose the benefits of IoT in this respect.
Topic 10: **Big Data and Machine Learning in ERP systems Big Data and Machine Learning can be beneficial to a business’s ERP system especially in its analytical abilities. However, it may also be useful in the Financial/Accounting side of the business. Identify some issues in the literature regarding Big Data and Machine Learning in the accounting/financial side of an ERP system using some case studies. ** These topics are optional and will receive bonus marks as they are current
The Short Paper You are to prepare a short paper that briefly outlines the relevant and up-to-date issues associated with your chosen topic. The paper will contribute up to 8% towards the final assessment and should be between 1500-2000 words in length. Papers that are outside the suggested word length will receive a severe penalty mark. The paper must be concise. It is important that the paper’s content and points be referenced. You should consult a broad set of sources for the paper that include books, journals, consultancy reports, industry articles, websites and so forth.
The paper should cite at least ten articles and Harvard referencing is be used. The paper should NOT include content covered in lectures. As a current issues paper— references should be no older than 5 years. The paper should be of a professional standard and needs to include documentation features such as appropriate & consistent size font, title page, headers/footers, page numbering and proper labelling of any tables or figures. The paper should include the following sections:
¨ Abstract or Executive Summary (not part of the word count)
¨ Introduction— this section will give a brief overview of the paper’s content.
¨ Brief review of your topic area—These examples should be succinct and selectively referred to in the main paper.
¨ Conclusion (place the paper’s word count at the end of the conclusion)
¨ References (not part of the total word count).
¨ Appendix (not part of the total word count). The appendix is a section containing one paragraph that summarizes the examples used in the paper. Please indicate the source of the examples.
¨ All papers MUST be submitted to Turnitin via the Assessment Dropbox navigation area of Collaborate by one member of the group. The similarity check must be less than 20%. The paper should be of a professional standard.
The Presentation The presentation to the class will contribute up to 12% towards the final assessment. The presentation should:
• Be no longer than 25 minutes in length. Overtly short or long presentations will be penalized. Long presentations will not be allowed to proceed beyond 25 minutes.
• Provide a brief overview of the short paper. The main presentation will focus on the examples or cases that you have chosen as part of the topic. • Allocate time equally between group members.
• Be of a professional standing— this is expected and assessment will be appropriately allocated. Your presentation should be prepared using Microsoft PowerPoint. Other electronic presentation media can be used.
**The inclusion of video or other support material needs to be relevant and short. The inclusion of videos or support material will count toward the overall time limit of the presentation. Students should hand out summary notes of the presentation to the workshop leader for reference purposes. Presentations will occur during each week of the trimester as advised by your workshop leader in VU Collaborate. Presentation Requirements:
¨ Prepare and present your topic in 25 minutes using Microsoft PowerPoint. Groups need to be available to present at the start of the presentation session. Group members who are late for the start of the presentation session should submit either a doctor’s certificate or other appropriate documentation after the session to avoid being penalized for lateness. It is expected that all students will attend all presentation sessions (marks may be deducted for non-attendance).
¨ Hand out summary notes for the presentation (workshop leader). Date Due: The short paper should be submitted at the same time as the presentation Penalties for late paper submissions are 5% of available marks per day. NOTE: The short paper and presentation contribute a significant component of the overall assessment in this unit. There is an expectation that student’s efforts associated with undertaking this assignment will result in a professionally written paper and presentation.