Scenario
You have just completed your degree and have now joined Abbott, Bronson and Cole, a professional services firm with a strong practice in Higher Education. You just learned about your first assignment — to help a major university develop plans for a major ERP implementation covering all business operations of the university, and potentially the academic functions as well.
One of the ABC partners, Patricia Abbott, asked that you provide some perspective on the ERP Program currently being implemented at OSU. She has asked that you prepare a brief memo summarizing the OSU effort.
Your Assignment:
Research the Workday Program at OSU. Fortunately, The university has provided a website for the community to enhance understanding and awareness for the entire Buckeye community. This should be your starting place:
Navigate from the home page to learn about the capabilities and features of the new business model. Once you have a good sense of the program, write a brief memo summarizing your findings. Your memo should address these questions, if possible:
- Program Scope: What business and academic functions will be moved over to the ERP Platform?
- ERP Product Suite Selected: Given that WorkDay is the core software suite being deployed, what are the key features/characteristics of the solution. Are other solutions included within the program as well?
- Business Objectives: What does OSU hope to achieve through its implementation program?
- Timing and Progress: What is the implementation timing? How long will it take, and where is OSU today?
- Audit Implications: Are there any accounting and auditing implications that come to mind?
Document your observations in a short memo to Patricia — 1-2 pages, single-spaced. Be sure to follow class standards for writing memos. (See sample document.)
Additional Tips:
1. This assignment is intended to get you thinking about the complexity of today’s business environment, and also the inherent risks associated with new ways of doing business. Additionally, you should gain some preliminary insights into the impact of ERP software on the business environment. The assignment is also intended to reinforce business writing skills, so be sure to format your response in a well-organized business memo.
2. You should not conduct extensive research on either Workday or OSU. Rather, your memo should be a guide for additional in-depth research at a later point.
3. Be sure to follow class standards for writing memos.
