SLCM Functional Experience

[Former Member]

Hi All,

I have expereience of creating POC'S Proof of Concept for three to four big universities in Asia Pacific Region.

It mainly covered broader requirement as Admission Process,

Creation of Organisation Structure catering Dual Degree Program. Event Management ,cohorts and likewise.

After working on these ends I really felt Product is missing on some essential functionalities as Time Tabling , Hostel Management etc.

What I would really want from SAP is Asia Pacific is big Market, SAP should seriously make a foray into it handpicking requirement from these region which I can definitely say is complex.

As it could see it is loosing ground to peoplesoft , Sungaurd,

or some other home grown bspoke application.

In process we to would have to switch our competency.

[former_member583013]

Deepak,

Thanks for your perspective. Through the open architecture of SLCM, we have always been of the position that time-tables/scheduling and hostel/housing management are best handled by third-party solutions which:

A) have in many cases already been adopted by educational institutions, and

B) have best-of-breed functionality already for these 'encapsulated' processes.

SAP SLCM is able to provide all of the information about students and courses that would allow these focused thrid-party applications to function properly.

That being said, we are constantly evaluating new functionality that is more 'central' to the academic life-cycle. As an example, we are planning to release new functionality for detailed attendance tracking at the end of the year. We have definitely involved the Asia-Pacific market in analyzing the requirements.

One very important aspect of SLCM is that the architecture of the academic structure was not created for any specific region, which allows for a great deal of flexibility for handling all regions. Many other products were created specifically for the U.S. market, and adapting the framework for global specifications becomes very cumbersome, involving serious product modifications.

Michael

[Former Member]

Hi Michael ,

Which would be the best thirdparty solutions for hostel ,library management ?

As customers prefer to have the above functionalities with SLCM ....

Your advice would be appreciable ...

Thanks in advance!!

Regards

Gajalakshmi

[former_member197295]

Hi, Plz inform in detail., what are the third party applications in SAP SLcM?

[Former Member]

Hi Michael,

This is in furherance to Deepak's viewpoints....and i agree totally with what he says.He has the experience of producing 'Proof Of Concept' while i have the experience of implementing it and the tougher part of selling the module.He says APAC is a big market...i do not know the figures of APAC but India has 100 odd Universities,200 odd deemed Universities and over 16000 colleges.That im sure is a considerable figure.

There might be many third party products in the market...but when i as a customer decide on buying a product i would want to buy one which has all the features...why should i go for SAP which does not have the Time table and hostel facility features among others when they are available as a package in other ERP's which also have sufficient brand-name.The implementation of these ERPs is a different matter.

Another concern is that in India atleast, most Universities though having funds do not have the budget to buy a set of third party softwares...one for Library.one for time tabling and another for Hostel management.If you have to beat the market you have to have a product that encapsulates all requirements of the market.( accepted that Library is too specific a process to have SAP SLcM getting into it)

There are no product modifications to be made...only additions.And this is not some favor we are doing the customers but something we ought to give them if they are to be satisfied with the product.For one,we need to have a reporting tool in the module...the one which we have--if we have is absolutely inadequate.To provide customer delight,we as implementors are actually creating reports.

Michael:SAP is a great product and over the years it has consistently proved so.SLcM is a new area...a niche segment and if SAP is to be the Numero Uno in this segment winning 60 % of all campus managemnt deals 6 years from now ,it better ramp up fast...otherwise other players who are already in the market will make a big dent.