Wednesday, April 2, 2003

Dakota State U. Sells Access to Its PeopleSoft Installation for Other Colleges' Classes By FLORENCE OLSEN Dakota State University has installed PeopleSoft's complex administrative software -- not to run the business side of the university, but to teach courses in business and information systems. The university has even gone a step further and set up a large server on its Madison, S.D., campus so that other colleges can use the software in their own classrooms, over the Internet. According to PeopleSoft, Dakota State is the first university to offer "academic hosting" of the company's software. Through PeopleSoft's On Campus program, Dakota State has received free from PeopleSoft several complete software applications that the company values at about $3-million. Now Dakota State plans to charge other colleges that want to teach courses using the software. Those colleges, in turn, can avoid buying new hardware and technical-consulting services that would be required to install PeopleSoft systems on their own campuses. Typically, the fee for colleges that use the systems to teach four courses and receive faculty training from PeopleSoft would be about $8,000, says John W. Webster, an assistant professor of computer education who is now the PeopleSoft programs director for Dakota State's new Center for Remote Enterprise Systems Hosting. Using PeopleSoft's software for teaching is not easy, Mr. Webster says. Just as many colleges have had difficulty installing PeopleSoft systems for running their business operations, Dakota State's faculty members faced an equally challenging task, according to Mr. Webster. "It takes a couple of years really to get your hands around how this whole thing all fits together," he says, "and then you try to mesh that with curriculum development without selling yourself out to a company, because that's not what we're about." But now, he adds, Dakota State has a stable systems infrastructure for teaching human resources, financial accounting, and supply-chain concepts. (Supply chain refers to modern business processes for managing inventory.) PeopleSoft 8 software has been "infused" into half a dozen business and information-systems courses at Dakota State, Mr. Webster says. Beginning this fall, he expects to have other colleges using Dakota State's hosted service. Stephanie B. Narvell, associate professor of business at Wilmington College, in Delaware, says that she expects to take advantage of the new arrangement in the fall, provided that all of the contract details are completed and approved. Wilmington's current course in human-resources management lacks a software component, and "that's what the students are really screaming for," says Ms. Narvell. "Right now, one of our adjunct faculty members has taken it upon herself to create exercises [in PeopleSoft] and match some of the information in the text." PeopleSoft officials have endorsed the Dakota State project. One of the company's goals, they say, is to see colleges graduating students who are already familiar with the company's software. "I call this kind of initiative enlightened self-interest, rather than corporate philanthropy," says Mark Conway, director of academic programs for PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft also offers faculty members free software training through its corporate-education program. "One of our goals was to increase the pipeline so that students would have a familiarity with our enterprise systems," Mr. Conway says. Enterprise systems are comprehensive business systems made up of smaller but interrelated systems that effectively transform an institution's administrative operations. "What we provide them is the same human-resources system that Daimler Chrysler uses to run its HR operations worldwide," he says. "But how do you turn that into an HR-systems class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings?" The software that PeopleSoft and its competitors sell is typically discussed only generically in business schools offering survey courses in enterprise systems. Even after PeopleSoft systems are installed, a considerable amount of work remains to create hands-on lessons using the software, according to Mr. Conway. He says that the company will be working with colleges this year to develop additional teaching materials that make use of PeopleSoft systems. Unlike faculty members at Dakota State, many professors are unwilling or unable to take on the technical challenges of installing PeopleSoft systems, Mr. Conway adds. "One of the things we found with Dakota State is they're one of these real can-do schools." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

U.S. Supreme Court hears affirmative-action cases from Michigan; questions signal cautious approach Thousands rally for affirmative action as justices hear U. of Michigan cases China eases way for foreign universities to offer degrees in the country Spring commencement speakers are announced by 11 colleges Penn State provost warns students that they could go to prison for illegal file sharing Dakota State U. sells access to its PeopleSoft installation for other colleges' classes