Micss

THE USE OF MICSS/MERP, AN ERP MODEL, IN EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

J. Chen*, M. Yerushalmy**, J.E. Ward***, S. Y. Nof*(

* School of Industrial Engineering
Purdue University

** MBE Simulations Ltd.

*** School of Management
Purdue University

+ Corresponding author:snof@purdue.edu

Abstract: In order for students to have better understanding on ERP system, aneducational model based on MICSS/MERP is introduced. With this model, students do not need to learn a complex ERP system, but can still understand the fundamental principles of an ERP system. MICSS/MERP is also applied for the research of information assurance on ERP systems. Experimental data show that MICSS/MERP is an effective and efficient tool for education and research tasks of ERP. Copyright( 2001 IFAC

Keywords: information system; information integration; system management; enterprise modeling; production systems.

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

MICSS (Management of Interactive Case Study Simulator) is a helpful tool achieving ease of use and assisting better understanding of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) from both education and research points of view. It iswell known that ERP is a complex system. Implementation of ERP involves large investment and is time consuming. One of the major causes of difficulty in implementation is lack of education. Recognizing this problem, in our practice of computing education and research, we introduced MICSS. MICSS is a case study simulator for management of production and service. Four functional views are modeled,including Marketing, Production, Purchasing, and Finance. For each view, a set of policies and actions can be changed. The changing policy itself in any functional view might require certain knowledge of the state of other functions. By changing the right policy and actions at the right time, we expect better performance of the simulated company, such as higher profit and better reputation.

Theadvantage of MICSS is that the information exchange among the different functional views is clear. This exchange can help understand the information exchange among the different modules of ERP. Moreover, it can then help understand the data structure of ERP. Two versions are applied, MICSS and MERP (web-based ERP simulator). Both have been used in the School of Industrial Engineering at PurdueUniversity. To measure the effectiveness, an undergraduate class has participated in several experiments. The activities of the students are classified into three levels: (i) individual level; (ii) grouped, but without communication among group members; (iii) grouped, with communication among group members. Three operational scenarios are simulated: Wrong Information; Delayed Information; and NormalCase. The measured results include the history of changed policy, the reputation, and the profit. From the feedback of students and analysis of experimental data, the conclusion that MICSS/MERP is useful to understand ERP can be drawn.

1. Educational Model

The advances of enterprise-wide client/server computing now makes it possible to control all major business processes with a single softwarearchitecture, virtually in real time. This integrated solution, known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), promises benefits from increased efficiency to improved quality, productivity, and profitability.
ERP software is relatively new and complex. For example, one of the leading ERP software systems SAP R/3, is composed of four major parts: accounting, manufacturing, sales, and humanresources – containing more than 70 smaller modules. R/3 is a totally integrated system, allowing companies to automate or eliminate many costly and error-prone manual communication procedures. R/3 can help multinational corporations, since it can handle different currencies, different languages, different tax laws and regulations, and different requirements of several countries. SAP enforces business...