89731391 The Prospects of ERP Systems on Quality of Education and Research in Higher Education and Research Institutions of Pakistan
JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2012, ISSN 2151-9617
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
115
The Prospects of ERP Systems on Quality of Education and
Research in Higher Education and Research Institutions of
Pakistan
Najia Saher1, Dost Muhammad Khan2, Faisal Shahzad3, Nawaz Mohamudally4
1
Lecturer, Department of Computer Science & IT, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, PAKISTAN
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science & IT, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, PAKISTAN & PhD
Student, School of Innovative Technologies & Engineering, University of Technology Mauritius (UTM), MAURITIUS
3
Lecturer, Department of Computer Science & IT, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, PAKISTAN
4
Associate Professor, & Consultancy & Technology Transfer Centre, Manager, University of Technology, MAURITIUS
Abstract
It has been challenging for the educational and research
institutions like universities and colleges to succeed in their core
missions. The universities are facing the reduction in funds from
traditional sources which has trimmed their revenues. The
competition for private funding including grants, endowments
and alumni donations is growing. The escalating student
populations are creating physical space and service challenges.
The Government regulations create pressure on the institutions to
operate with a high degree of transparency, which intensifies the
need to report, document and track financial, demographic, and
educational information. These myriad of challenges can be
addressed by better utilizing the current technology. The higher
education and research institutions should be powered with IT
that aligns with their requirements, supports for change and
improve in the human resource management system. The
institutions need to operate more efficiently and integrate
processes, from business services to academic affairs and student
care, while collaborating externally with government agencies
and other service providers. The most of the teaching institutions
in Pakistan are still using fragmented, nonintegrated and
disjointed business systems, which are resultantly inefficient,
outdated, and expensive. These systems are not helpful at all in
decision making. The implementation of ERP system is,
therefore, the best solution to envelop these bottlenecks. This
paper is a case study which shows the effects of using ERP
systems as an innovative learning and networked curriculum in a
public sector university of Pakistan. This case study aims at
emphasizing the importance of data integration and migration
explaining in detail the architecture of ERP. The Campus
Management Solution (CMS) is the name given to the ERP
implementation in The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan (IUB). This case study thoroughly examines the core
concepts of implementing ERP along with its consequences.
Keywords: ERP, SAP, Client-Server architecture, HEC, IUB
1. Introduction
Prior to the concept of ERP systems, each department has
its own computer system. The problem was integration of
data from different departments. For example, the Human
Resource computer system manages only employee
information while the payroll of the employee is calculated
and stored in the finance department. The data was
migrated and transferred from one department to another
department. The migration of data is an important activity
so many decisions i.e. identify the data to be migrated,
timing of data migartion and creating of data templates,
have to be made before migartion or transfer. The
following are the advantages of ERP systems:
a) Combines the data of formerly separate applications.
b) It keeps the data in synchronization across the
enterprise.
c) It simplifies the computer infrastructure within a large
organization.
d) It standardizes and reduced the number of software
specialties required within larger organizations.
e) Improvement in curriculum.
f) Improves student learning and the research capabilities
of faculty as well.
On the other hand ERP systems have disadvantage like:
a) Limited customization of software.
b) ERP systems can be expensive ans sometime too
complex measured against the needs of the enterprise.
JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2012, ISSN 2151-9617
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
c) The cost of switching is high and reduce its effectivess
due to resistance in sharing senstive internal information
between departments [1][2][3][4][12][13][14].
The rest of paper is organized as: section 2 deals with the
architecture of ERP system, section 3 is about the
methodology; a case study, the implementation of ERP
system with the name of the Campus Management
Solution (CMS) in The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan (IUB). Section 4 presents the results and
discussion and the conclusion is drawn in section 5.
116
In this paper we are discussing a case study of The Islamai
University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The university
currently has five campuses situated at different locations;
three campuses are within the city and the other two
campuses are at about 200 kilometers distance. All the five
campuses are connected with each other through the
modern network technology. Figure 2 shows the
interconnection of all the five campuses of the university.
2. Architecture of ERP System
The Information age is revolutionized due to advent of
Internet and Integrated Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) systems during the past decade. The e-biz
phenomenon has changed the way of traditional business
process. Now business is round the clock. On the other
hand this new paradigm has increase the volume of data.
The new business process becomes very complex, volatile
and spread across the world, as compared to the pre-e-biz
era. ERP system is to integrate all departments and
functions across the enterprise onto single computer
systems. ERP system is like a three-tier client-server
architecture, consists of operating system, application and
database. This architecture provides scalability and
customization ability. Data entered into one module is
immediately reflected in all other modules, allowing users
to access and make quick decisions [6][7][10][11][17].
The architecture of ERP system is illustrated in figure 1.
Figure 1 The Architecture of ERP System
The data is stored in a unified database for various
modules. The users can access data from different places
and also accommodate the growth of the data.
3. Methodology: A Case Study
Figure 2 The Interconnection of the Campuses of IUB
The five campuses of university are divided into five
network nodes as shown in figure 2. The hub of activity is
the main campus. Node 1 has 900 computers, node 2 has
150 computers, node 3, node 4 and node 5 are of 50
computers each. All faculty members, students,
researchers and administartive staff have an access to the
computers and the Internet. Figure 3 shows the networking
of three campuses of The Islamia University of
Bahawalpur namely New Campus, Old Campus and city
Campus situated at different places in Bahawalpur city.
JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2012, ISSN 2151-9617
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
Figure 3 The Architecture of Networking at three Campuses of IUB
The university has more than 10,000 students in 47
different disciplines. The figure is increasing each year due
to the induction of new and innovative disciplines by the
uinversity. The university has more than 2,000 emplyees.
The university has more than 200,000 books in its
Resource Center and a Digital Library is also functioning
in the Resource Center. Table 1 below shows the number
of students, the number of disciplines, the number of
books and the number of emplyees of the university from
year 2000 to 2009.
Table 1. The Data of Students, Employees, Books and Disciplines from
Year 2000-2009
Sr.
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
No. of
Students
3,000
3,500
3,300
3,100
4,000
5,000
7,000
8,500
10,000
13,000
14,500
No. of
Employees
500
500
500
510
575
700
800
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,000
No. of
Books
75,000
85,000
85,000
86,000
90,000
95,000
100,000
125,000
150,000
200,000
210,000
No. of
Disciplines
22
22
22
22
25
30
35
38
47
47
48
A graph in figure 4 shows the yearly increase in the
number of students. At the same time the number of
employees, the number of books and the number of
disciplines are also increasing yearly.
No. of students
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
117
also for the other higher education and research
institutions of Pakistan.
The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan is
implementing the Campus Management Solution(CMS),
an ERP system in its all five campuses. It will provide the
students, the faculty members and the administartion an
immediate access to real time information and connects
that information to specific action. In the first phase,
students examination system and hostel management
system are integrated with each other. Later on, the
Library information system, Budget, Payroll, Store,
Planning and Development, Advanced Studies and
Research and the Audit systems will be developed and
integrated with all the rest of university’s systems
[5][8][9][15][16].
4. Results and Discussion
The students want a web-based enrollment of courses and
examinations and even e-learning opportunities as part of
the curriculum. The Internet is becoming an essential part
of education and research. The only and trivial solution is
the implementation of ERP systems. The major benefits of
this solution are:
a) Satisfied students: because students have 24/7 access to
the system and can generate time table, examinations
reports, attendance records, books record and fees records.
The students may be able to download missing lectures.
The students have a chance to exchange their ideas with
international students
b) Better organization: the smooth running of the
administartion.
c) More effective management:
d) More efficient IT: and
e) Transparency in use of funds: the funding bodies can
generate reports at any time. It also helps in auditing
system of the universities.
2010
Ye ar
Figure 4 A Graph for Number of Students per Year (1998-2010)
Only to keep the record of students, their examinations,
fees and dues, number of courses taken and books issued
from the resource center is a very complex task. The
university have other important entities like employees,
faculty and resource center. The examinations system, the
finance system and the library information system are
already computerized but they are not integrated with
each other. The decision making from these nonintegrated
systems is very difficult. The implementation of ERP
system is the only choice not only for the universities but
The ERP systems will force the higher education and
research institutes particulaly the universities to redefine
the roles of the students, the employees and the
administartion. It will create a competetion to win research
projects and recruit the new students. The quality of
education and research will be improved because both the
students and the faculty will become regular in their
respective tasks. The problems with the higher education
and research institutions are that they have fragmented,
nonintegrated business systems, which are inefficient,
outdated and expensive to maintain. These problems can
be addressed with the better use of technology. The
implementation of ERP system in higher education and
research institutions is now the need of the hour to meet
the future of the higher education and research and step
JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2012, ISSN 2151-9617
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
forward with the developed countries. The ERP provides
the best solution to coup with all issues and problems of
the institution. It will be fruitful if all the business modules
of the university are integrated. The true picture of ERP
systems can not be drawn with the implementation of two
or three modules. The Internet is essential for the
education, learning and research needs of the future.
118
The Campus Management Solution (CMS) is implemented
at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan (IUB)
due to the courtesy of Higher Education Commission
(HEC), Pakistan. The project is fully funded by HEC,
Pakistan.
References
5. Conclusion
In this paper we discuss the importance of data integration
and migration and the effects of using the ERP systems in
the education and research institutions as an innovative
learning and networked curriculum. After the
implementation of ERP systems the information about the
students, faculty, resource center, finance and the general
administration etc. are available when you need it; any
where and any time. We conclude this paper that
universities have sufficient in-house IT skills personnel,
they can develop new modules and integrate them with the
multiple software products. It is better to implement only
portions like student examinations and hostel mangement
of an ERP system and the rest of the university’s modules
may be developed in-house. Another important point is elearning and distance learning modules may be added in
ERP systems. It will help the students living in the remote
areas of the country. The research capabilities of the
faculty will be improved with ERP systems. The
innovative curriculum will be introduced in different
disciplines. Hence the quality of education and research
will improve with the implementation of the ERP systems.
One can say a university using ERP is: “Shaping a
university that can compete with the best”.
Future Work
The data of the university increases yearly due to the
induction of new disciplines, employees and the number of
books in the resource center, it is better to use data mining
techniques in the ERP systems. The campuses of the
university are situated at different locations and the two
campuses are far away from the main service provider of
the ERP systems, this is an example of n-tier client-server
distributed system, the use of intelligent mobile agents will
be further benefited for the ERP systems. The intelligent
mobile agents are very commonly used in distributed
network systems given that they are not cumbersome for
the network traffic. More over, they overcome network
latency, operate in heterogeneous environment and possess
fault-tolerant behavior.
Acknowledgement
[1] Injazz J. Chen, "Planning for ERP systems:
analysis and future trend", Business Process
Management Journal (MCB UP Ltd) 7: 374-386,
ISSN 1463-7154, 2001
[2] Anderegg, Travis, “Confusting Terms and
Definitions for a Murkey Alphabet Soup”, at
http://www.wlug.org.nz/EnterpriseSpeak, 2007
[3] Monk, Ellen & Wagner, Bret, “Concepts in
Enterprise Resource Planning”, (Second ed.), Boston:
Thomson Course Technology, ISBN 0-619-21663-8,
2006
[4] Ramaswamy V. K., “Data Migration Strategy in
ERP” , 2007
[5] Turban et al., “Information Technology for
Management, Transforming Organizations in the
Digital Economy”, Massachusetts: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., pp. 300-343. ISBN-13 978-0-471-78712-9,
2008
[6] Brown, C., and I. Vessey, "Managing the Next
Wave of Enterprise Systems: Leveraging Lessons from
ERP”, MIS Quarterly Executive, 2(1), 2003.
[7] King. W., "Ensuring ERP implementation
success”, Information Systems Management, 2005
[8] Web site, The Islamia University of Pakistan:
http://www.iub.edu.pk, 2010
[9] Voskob. Max., Howey. Rob., Panin. Nick., “Data
mining and Privacy in Public Sector using Intelligent
Agents”, Discussion paper, New Zealand, 2003
[10] R. Buck-Emden, J. Galimow, “Client/Server
Technology SAP R/3 System” (Hardcover) Publisher:
Addison Wesley; Subsequent edition ISBN-13: 9780201403503, 1996
[11] Elbert B, Martyna B, “Client/Server Computing
Architecture, Applications and Distributed Systems
Management”, Publishers, Boston * London, ISBN 089006-691-4, 1994
[12] Somerville, Ian, “Software Engineering”, 6th
Edition. ISBN: 020139815x, 2001
[13] Pressman, R.S., “Software Engineering: A
Practitioner’s Approach, 6/e.”, ISBN: 0072853182, 2005
[14] Lethbridge, T.C. ,and Laganiere, R., “Objectoriented Software Engineering: Practical Software
Development
using
UML
and
Java
2/e”,
ISBN:
0077109082McGraw Hill, 2001
JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2012, ISSN 2151-9617
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
[15] Reis, Christian Robottom, Fortes, Renata Pontin
de Mattos, “An Overview of the Software Engineering
Process
and Tools in the Mozilla Project”, Brazil 13560-970,
February 8, 2002.
[16] Coulouris, George., Dollimore, Jean., and
Hindberg, Tim., “Distributed Systems Concepts and
Design Third Edition”, ISBN:0201619180, 2000.
119
[17] Khan, Dost Muhammad. & Mohamudally,
Nawaz., “From Mainframe to Cloud Computing: A
Study of Programming Paradigms
with the
Evolution of Client-Server Architecture”, Journal of
Computing, Volume 3, Issue 12, pp 21-27, ISSN:
2151-9617, 2011.
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
115
The Prospects of ERP Systems on Quality of Education and
Research in Higher Education and Research Institutions of
Pakistan
Najia Saher1, Dost Muhammad Khan2, Faisal Shahzad3, Nawaz Mohamudally4
1
Lecturer, Department of Computer Science & IT, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, PAKISTAN
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science & IT, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, PAKISTAN & PhD
Student, School of Innovative Technologies & Engineering, University of Technology Mauritius (UTM), MAURITIUS
3
Lecturer, Department of Computer Science & IT, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, PAKISTAN
4
Associate Professor, & Consultancy & Technology Transfer Centre, Manager, University of Technology, MAURITIUS
Abstract
It has been challenging for the educational and research
institutions like universities and colleges to succeed in their core
missions. The universities are facing the reduction in funds from
traditional sources which has trimmed their revenues. The
competition for private funding including grants, endowments
and alumni donations is growing. The escalating student
populations are creating physical space and service challenges.
The Government regulations create pressure on the institutions to
operate with a high degree of transparency, which intensifies the
need to report, document and track financial, demographic, and
educational information. These myriad of challenges can be
addressed by better utilizing the current technology. The higher
education and research institutions should be powered with IT
that aligns with their requirements, supports for change and
improve in the human resource management system. The
institutions need to operate more efficiently and integrate
processes, from business services to academic affairs and student
care, while collaborating externally with government agencies
and other service providers. The most of the teaching institutions
in Pakistan are still using fragmented, nonintegrated and
disjointed business systems, which are resultantly inefficient,
outdated, and expensive. These systems are not helpful at all in
decision making. The implementation of ERP system is,
therefore, the best solution to envelop these bottlenecks. This
paper is a case study which shows the effects of using ERP
systems as an innovative learning and networked curriculum in a
public sector university of Pakistan. This case study aims at
emphasizing the importance of data integration and migration
explaining in detail the architecture of ERP. The Campus
Management Solution (CMS) is the name given to the ERP
implementation in The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan (IUB). This case study thoroughly examines the core
concepts of implementing ERP along with its consequences.
Keywords: ERP, SAP, Client-Server architecture, HEC, IUB
1. Introduction
Prior to the concept of ERP systems, each department has
its own computer system. The problem was integration of
data from different departments. For example, the Human
Resource computer system manages only employee
information while the payroll of the employee is calculated
and stored in the finance department. The data was
migrated and transferred from one department to another
department. The migration of data is an important activity
so many decisions i.e. identify the data to be migrated,
timing of data migartion and creating of data templates,
have to be made before migartion or transfer. The
following are the advantages of ERP systems:
a) Combines the data of formerly separate applications.
b) It keeps the data in synchronization across the
enterprise.
c) It simplifies the computer infrastructure within a large
organization.
d) It standardizes and reduced the number of software
specialties required within larger organizations.
e) Improvement in curriculum.
f) Improves student learning and the research capabilities
of faculty as well.
On the other hand ERP systems have disadvantage like:
a) Limited customization of software.
b) ERP systems can be expensive ans sometime too
complex measured against the needs of the enterprise.
JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2012, ISSN 2151-9617
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
c) The cost of switching is high and reduce its effectivess
due to resistance in sharing senstive internal information
between departments [1][2][3][4][12][13][14].
The rest of paper is organized as: section 2 deals with the
architecture of ERP system, section 3 is about the
methodology; a case study, the implementation of ERP
system with the name of the Campus Management
Solution (CMS) in The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan (IUB). Section 4 presents the results and
discussion and the conclusion is drawn in section 5.
116
In this paper we are discussing a case study of The Islamai
University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The university
currently has five campuses situated at different locations;
three campuses are within the city and the other two
campuses are at about 200 kilometers distance. All the five
campuses are connected with each other through the
modern network technology. Figure 2 shows the
interconnection of all the five campuses of the university.
2. Architecture of ERP System
The Information age is revolutionized due to advent of
Internet and Integrated Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) systems during the past decade. The e-biz
phenomenon has changed the way of traditional business
process. Now business is round the clock. On the other
hand this new paradigm has increase the volume of data.
The new business process becomes very complex, volatile
and spread across the world, as compared to the pre-e-biz
era. ERP system is to integrate all departments and
functions across the enterprise onto single computer
systems. ERP system is like a three-tier client-server
architecture, consists of operating system, application and
database. This architecture provides scalability and
customization ability. Data entered into one module is
immediately reflected in all other modules, allowing users
to access and make quick decisions [6][7][10][11][17].
The architecture of ERP system is illustrated in figure 1.
Figure 1 The Architecture of ERP System
The data is stored in a unified database for various
modules. The users can access data from different places
and also accommodate the growth of the data.
3. Methodology: A Case Study
Figure 2 The Interconnection of the Campuses of IUB
The five campuses of university are divided into five
network nodes as shown in figure 2. The hub of activity is
the main campus. Node 1 has 900 computers, node 2 has
150 computers, node 3, node 4 and node 5 are of 50
computers each. All faculty members, students,
researchers and administartive staff have an access to the
computers and the Internet. Figure 3 shows the networking
of three campuses of The Islamia University of
Bahawalpur namely New Campus, Old Campus and city
Campus situated at different places in Bahawalpur city.
JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2012, ISSN 2151-9617
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
Figure 3 The Architecture of Networking at three Campuses of IUB
The university has more than 10,000 students in 47
different disciplines. The figure is increasing each year due
to the induction of new and innovative disciplines by the
uinversity. The university has more than 2,000 emplyees.
The university has more than 200,000 books in its
Resource Center and a Digital Library is also functioning
in the Resource Center. Table 1 below shows the number
of students, the number of disciplines, the number of
books and the number of emplyees of the university from
year 2000 to 2009.
Table 1. The Data of Students, Employees, Books and Disciplines from
Year 2000-2009
Sr.
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
No. of
Students
3,000
3,500
3,300
3,100
4,000
5,000
7,000
8,500
10,000
13,000
14,500
No. of
Employees
500
500
500
510
575
700
800
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,000
No. of
Books
75,000
85,000
85,000
86,000
90,000
95,000
100,000
125,000
150,000
200,000
210,000
No. of
Disciplines
22
22
22
22
25
30
35
38
47
47
48
A graph in figure 4 shows the yearly increase in the
number of students. At the same time the number of
employees, the number of books and the number of
disciplines are also increasing yearly.
No. of students
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
117
also for the other higher education and research
institutions of Pakistan.
The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan is
implementing the Campus Management Solution(CMS),
an ERP system in its all five campuses. It will provide the
students, the faculty members and the administartion an
immediate access to real time information and connects
that information to specific action. In the first phase,
students examination system and hostel management
system are integrated with each other. Later on, the
Library information system, Budget, Payroll, Store,
Planning and Development, Advanced Studies and
Research and the Audit systems will be developed and
integrated with all the rest of university’s systems
[5][8][9][15][16].
4. Results and Discussion
The students want a web-based enrollment of courses and
examinations and even e-learning opportunities as part of
the curriculum. The Internet is becoming an essential part
of education and research. The only and trivial solution is
the implementation of ERP systems. The major benefits of
this solution are:
a) Satisfied students: because students have 24/7 access to
the system and can generate time table, examinations
reports, attendance records, books record and fees records.
The students may be able to download missing lectures.
The students have a chance to exchange their ideas with
international students
b) Better organization: the smooth running of the
administartion.
c) More effective management:
d) More efficient IT: and
e) Transparency in use of funds: the funding bodies can
generate reports at any time. It also helps in auditing
system of the universities.
2010
Ye ar
Figure 4 A Graph for Number of Students per Year (1998-2010)
Only to keep the record of students, their examinations,
fees and dues, number of courses taken and books issued
from the resource center is a very complex task. The
university have other important entities like employees,
faculty and resource center. The examinations system, the
finance system and the library information system are
already computerized but they are not integrated with
each other. The decision making from these nonintegrated
systems is very difficult. The implementation of ERP
system is the only choice not only for the universities but
The ERP systems will force the higher education and
research institutes particulaly the universities to redefine
the roles of the students, the employees and the
administartion. It will create a competetion to win research
projects and recruit the new students. The quality of
education and research will be improved because both the
students and the faculty will become regular in their
respective tasks. The problems with the higher education
and research institutions are that they have fragmented,
nonintegrated business systems, which are inefficient,
outdated and expensive to maintain. These problems can
be addressed with the better use of technology. The
implementation of ERP system in higher education and
research institutions is now the need of the hour to meet
the future of the higher education and research and step
JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2012, ISSN 2151-9617
https://sites.google.com/site/journalofcomputing
WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG
forward with the developed countries. The ERP provides
the best solution to coup with all issues and problems of
the institution. It will be fruitful if all the business modules
of the university are integrated. The true picture of ERP
systems can not be drawn with the implementation of two
or three modules. The Internet is essential for the
education, learning and research needs of the future.
118
The Campus Management Solution (CMS) is implemented
at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan (IUB)
due to the courtesy of Higher Education Commission
(HEC), Pakistan. The project is fully funded by HEC,
Pakistan.
References
5. Conclusion
In this paper we discuss the importance of data integration
and migration and the effects of using the ERP systems in
the education and research institutions as an innovative
learning and networked curriculum. After the
implementation of ERP systems the information about the
students, faculty, resource center, finance and the general
administration etc. are available when you need it; any
where and any time. We conclude this paper that
universities have sufficient in-house IT skills personnel,
they can develop new modules and integrate them with the
multiple software products. It is better to implement only
portions like student examinations and hostel mangement
of an ERP system and the rest of the university’s modules
may be developed in-house. Another important point is elearning and distance learning modules may be added in
ERP systems. It will help the students living in the remote
areas of the country. The research capabilities of the
faculty will be improved with ERP systems. The
innovative curriculum will be introduced in different
disciplines. Hence the quality of education and research
will improve with the implementation of the ERP systems.
One can say a university using ERP is: “Shaping a
university that can compete with the best”.
Future Work
The data of the university increases yearly due to the
induction of new disciplines, employees and the number of
books in the resource center, it is better to use data mining
techniques in the ERP systems. The campuses of the
university are situated at different locations and the two
campuses are far away from the main service provider of
the ERP systems, this is an example of n-tier client-server
distributed system, the use of intelligent mobile agents will
be further benefited for the ERP systems. The intelligent
mobile agents are very commonly used in distributed
network systems given that they are not cumbersome for
the network traffic. More over, they overcome network
latency, operate in heterogeneous environment and possess
fault-tolerant behavior.
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