High school students take part in real-time business simulation competition at Rider 

Rider hosted its second ERPsim competition for high school students on Nov. 18, 2016. The competition involved a real-time business simulation game that uses SAP ERP software, which is used by 87 percent of Forbes Global 2,000 firms. The simulation game, developed by ERPsim Lab at HEC Montreal, is designed to be dynamic and fast-paced, so that students can see the results of their decisions and actions immediately.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integrate various functional areas of an organization, such as procurement, manufacturing, sales, finance and human resources, to provide real-time access to information to enable managers to make effective data-driven decisions.

The Academy of Notre Dame, a private girl’s high school located in Villanova, Pa., is a new member of SAP’s Young Thinker program, an experiential learning program designed to help high school students understand the impact of ERP systems on businesses and other organizations. The school reached out to Rider after learning about Rider’s SAP Student Recognition Award program in search of mentorship for their students.

Seven Rider students participated as mentors for the high school teams. The competition included five teams of three who managed a distribution company that buys and resells bottled water to retailers in the same marketplace. Each team was coached by a Rider student mentor, who is currently pursuing the SAP Student Recognition Award certificate, to offer guidance, answer questions and encourage them. The simulation ran for three rounds. Each round was 20 minutes, with every minute counting as a day in the simulation. The winning team was determined by their company’s value and profitability at the end of the third round.

"The simulation game gives students a firsthand experience of what it’s like to use an ERP system," says Dr. Lauren Eder, Professor of Information Systems at Rider. "They experience the value of having real-time data to react to a marketplace, make decisions and manage a business. They need to collaborate and use problem-solving skills in order to be competitive."

Based on the excitement of the high school students and the growing interest of the program, Eder has ambitions to expand the competition. "Next year, we will see if we can host teams from several area high schools for a really exciting competition," she says.

Ashley Costa, who is a marketing major and a mentor for the event, was inspired by the effort put forth by the high school students. "The students were not only introduced to, but tasked to master a subject that was foreign to them," she says. "Without reluctance, they faced the challenged. Each player was eager to learn beyond their roles and gain an understanding of how their actions would be translated into the real world."

Brighid Quinn-Gordon, also a mentor for the event, is a double major in management and leadership and international business. Quinn-Gordon, who has studied in the ERP program for the past two years, hoped to spark an interest in the high school students. "I hope that our program and competition can ignite the students' passion for computer information systems and business studies as a whole," says Quinn-Gordon. "I wish I had something like this when I was their age."

SAP’s software is widely used in the business world, and there is a demand for graduates to be familiar with such software systems in areas such as supply chain, accounting, information systems and marketing. Earning the SAP Student Recognition Award certificate gives Rider students something on their resume that can distinguish themselves from others.

Since 2001, Rider University has been a member of the SAP University Alliance Program, which has a membership of over 300 universities in the U.S. and over 2,650 universities in 90 countries worldwide. The College of Business Administration at Rider offers an SAP Student Recognition Award to students who successfully complete three or more courses using SAP enterprise, business intelligence and analytics software. For more information, contact Dr. Lauren Eder, [email protected].