EPR Simulation Game in Online Learning Essay

Understanding the concept of Enterprise Resource Planning (EPR) could be challenging task to students. This is brought by the fact that majority of the students could be having little understanding of the IT to which they can easily relate these concepts. In some cases, the students might have acquired some business experience in some functional areas.But, as attributed by Leger, Robert, Babin, Lyle, Cronan, & Charland (2014), some of them could be having a limited understanding of the operational aspects which are today used in the value creation process in the current firms. Since most of the students these days have access to laptops and computers, if they have their hands on experience with the EPR system, they can easily learn the concept of the system much quicker.

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According to Leger et al. (2014), EPR simulation game in an innovative "learning-by doing" approach which is used in teaching the EPR concept. In this game, the participants are normally put in a situation where they can run their business with the use of areal life EPR system which is similar to that of the real-world firm.

Just like any other game, EPR simulation game has its rules and requirements: The game is designed to be played in two hours and most preferred for a single lecture. The target audience is the junior business students'. Also, it can be used in industrial engineering and the actual business. The game is designed in a way that it can be played by teams of two participants. The first group usually is in charge of the marketing while the other group is put in charge of the procurement. It can, however, be played by a minimum of one team. The team, in this case, will be playing on the computer. EPR simulation game needs an introduction which takes about 20 minutes (Hwang & Cruthirds, 2017). After which, it has 60 simulated days which are typically split into rounds of 20days each. In actual classroom setup, the rounds take about 15 to 20 minutes. Upon completion of the very round, the participants normally discuss their experiences for about ten minutes as they prepare for their next round.

The primary equipment required by participants include; laptop, wife capability, internet explorer 7. Also, the laptop should be able to connect to SAPWebGUI. This is namely alight web technology which is usually used to interact with the SAP system (Hwang & Cruthirds, 2017). Also, all the participants in this game are required to connect to Skype which will be installed on their computers. An important note at this point is that; for one to fully experience the integration notion, the two teams should not see their team mate's screen.

The EPR simulation game is today used in the various introduction to MIS class. It is quite significant in that it allows for a short time business, or technical students to know the value of the integrated system (Hwang & Cruthirds, 2017).The EPR simulation is known to be serving three significant functions. First, it is a game which can provide a simulation of the market for the payers. In light of this, the participants would be able to see a reasonable market that responds as would have been in the real world. Secondly, the game is used in automating some of the business functions. These are functions which are considered to be more administrative. The purpose of this concept is to enhance the participants with some of the decision-making skills. Finally, it provides the simulation of passing the time. The game is capable of pressing time into short space. However, it will normally create the appearance of the evolving time such that the impact of the possible deacons which have been taken can be evaluated.

References

Hwang, M., & Cruthirds, K. (2017). Impact of an ERP simulation game on online learning. The International Journal of Management Education, 15(1), 60-66.

Leger, P. M., Robert, J., Babin, G., Lyle, D., Cronan, P., & Charland, P. (2014). ERP simulation game: a distribution game to teach the value of integrated systems. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, 37.