1. Herding CATS: Creative and Thought-provoking Suggestions Susan Crosson, Santa Fe Community College (susan.crosson@sfcc.edu )susan.crosson@sfcc.edu Joann Segovia, Minnesota State University Moorhead (segovia@mnstate.edu )segovia@mnstate.edu Carol Yacht, Textbook Author (carol@carolyacht.com )carol@carolyacht.com

2. 2 Objectives Share results of survey –Demographical Information –Curriculum –Systems support and IT environment Facilitate a discussion –Discuss and share best practices –Innovations –Visions –Other information of interest

3. 3 Distribution of Survey Present and past Convergence attendees AIS Educators Conference attendees N=20

4. 4 Demographics

5. 5 Where do you teach?

6. 6 What department do you teach in?

7. 7 How many years have you taught?

8. 8 How many years have you taught systems or software?

9. 9 What courses do you teach? Accounting Professors (n=14) IS Professors (n=6) I S Courses: Intro to IS or IT Management System Analysis & Design Programming Database Design/Management ERP Enterprise Project or ERP Operations Management Supply Chain Management Quality Management Decision Models Virtual Business Technology Client/Server Database Projects in MIS Stats Business Research Methods Economics AIS Profs: Other Courses Taught Systems Analysis & Design Databases Enterprises Application Dev. Statistics and Datamining Auditing IS Business Finance Managerial Finance Strategic Management Business Software Ethics IS Small Business Current Topics PhD Seminar

10. 10 CURRICULUM

11. What software does your college and courses emphasize? 11

12. 12 Software Taught Wide variety of accounting software taught by AIS profs –Small Business: GP, Peachtree, QuickBooks, Office Accounting –Medium-Sized Business: GP –Large Business: SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Oracle More commonly taught by IS rather than AIS

13. 13 Number of Projects Assigned

14. 14 Use of Academic Alliance Data Sets

15. 15 Where do students complete software projects?

16. 16 Systems Support/IS Environment Generally systems support installs and supports software in computer labs –Some instructor or student tech involvement Generally, software applications are installed both on individual computers and on the network Generally few specific software installation problems –Intuit authorization and registration each term –Security issues Business One Generally schools ghost software with few problems Generally schools do not require students to purchase their own laptop

17. 17 CATS: Creative and Thought-provoking Suggestions Topics for Further Discussion Opportunities with partners Development of new projects Using software throughout the curriculum Other issues raised in the survey

18. 18 Opportunities with Partners? Only 3 faculty in the survey have contacted a Microsoft partner for help with their course or their students….

19. 19 What new AIS materials are needed? Accounting projects rather than transaction processing –Flowcharting business process –Designing and implementing systems for the process –Internal control and security issues Projects for use with datasets Projects that integrate software (GP, Access, Excel)

20. What new IS materials are needed? ERP Simulations Visio: How used as development tool in creating SQL script for creating database SQL 2005: From creation to implementation Template (Enterprise Project Model) for a variety of industries 20

21. Integration of Software? Key observations: Three out of six IS instructors integrate across courses. Only one out of fourteen AIS instructors integrate across courses. Accounting integration is not accounting software. 21

22. Examples of how software is integrated Accounting: one doctorate university includes Java, Unix, shell scripting in systems analysis and design, enterprise applications, S-plus for stats and data mining, Oracle and Access database course IS: three (one doctorate, two 4-year): Access, Visio, Project, MS Excel, SPSS, MS Dynamics-GP in Operations Management & Supply Chain 22

23. 23 Publisher Designed GL, Peachtree; QuickBooks; Office Accounting 2007 Peachtree Dynamics-GP Financial/ Principles I Managerial/ Principles II IntermediateCost Excel Access Computer Accounting AISTax Excel Dynamics-GP Tax Software Accounting Course Sequence Audit ACL 23

24. Concluding Comments by IS Profs Microsoft support for generating new projects “Microsoft needs to change their support methods for people generating new projects. Their support hindered me in my project development rather than helped me. It was most frustrating. I ultimately abandoned working with them and solved my own problems.” ERP simulation for various classes “Regarding ERP Simulation, I would like to see if there are any projects to build simulations for various classes (Marketing, Accounting, Mgmt) into Dynamics. I would be interested in participating in a project such as this.” 24

25. Concluding Comments by IS Profs How to promote MIS degree? “I would like to see the discussion continue on how to promote the MIS degree. I think it would be very valuable to MS to partner with their partners and develop a marketing plan to focus on the promotion of MIS degree and more specifically what a student.” How can GP be integrated with other software packages? “How can Great Plains be integrated with other business software packages, e.g., CRM?” 25

26. Software2006-7 Educational CostRetail Cost Peachtree by Sage FREE to schools www.peachtree.com/training/educatio nal_partnerships.cfm $69.99 - $699.99 QuickBooks by Intuit Educational pricing: $99.95 - $599.95 Or 30 day FREE Online Edition www.intuitadvisor.com/education $99.95 to $3,000.00+ Online: $19.95-39.95/mo. Office Accounting 2007 by Microsoft Two versions: Express or Professional Office Accounting Express 2007: http://www.ideawins.com/home.html Office Accounting Professional 2007: http://us1.trymicrosoftoffice.com/product.aspx?fam ily=officeaccounting&culture=en-US Express FREE download or part of Office Small Business, Professional, or Ultimate Suites Professional (with texts): $149 new or $99 upgrade Dynamics-GP by Microsoft Academic Alliance FREE to schools or 120 day educational version www.microsoft.com/education/acade mic_alliance.mspx $15,000.00+ Peachtree; QuickBooks; Office Accounting 2007; Dynamics-GP Resources 26