F ive management information system (MIS) students, in their first experience competing, placed sixth in the Enterprise Resource Planning Simulation (ERPsim) North American Competition, a part of the 13th ERPsim International Competition.

The competition pitted seniors Tyler Maxwell, Daniel Marcus, Edward Cooper, Palmer Wilson and junior Jacob Wood against 21 other universities from North America. This included universities like Valdosta State University, University of Southern California and Université de Sherbrooke, in Canada. 

After qualifying, the top three teams move on to compete on the international stage, with universities from South America, Europe and Asia. In sixth place, the team missed that shot by a hair, but that only stoked their passion for the sport.

“The fact that we made it to that final round was a great feeling,” Maxwell said. “I was very happy with the results, since we got sixth place out of North America. Next year, with our foundational knowledge and experience actually playing, we can help the next team do even better.”

The ERPsim competition is a business simulation game powered by Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing (SAP) technology. SAP is a frontrunner in the market world of enterprise application software, a type of large-scale computer software that supports organization’s buying, selling and marketing efforts.

Georgia College, a new SAP Next-Gen school, trains its students in this software since it’s universally-known and used by many large companies, like International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Amazon, BMW, Coca-Cola, Samsung Electronics and eBay. 

The students first learned to use the ERPsim in Introduction to Enterprise Resource Planning, taught by Joy Godin, associate professor of management information systems—and the team’s coach. Using the ERPsim teaches students business process integration, and is an active learning activity in the course.

In the competition, the students worked together as a fictional, virtual company to control all manner of the business’ success in operations; think purchasing, manufacturing, marketing and analysis. With one catch—each day is equivalent to one minute. 

“Everything you do has to be done by the minute,” Marcus said. “If you miss a deadline, or miss a day, you could jeopardize the result of the competition. You have to literally scream sometimes, and make sure your team is working together. You’re not just one role.”

The game isn’t played purely for prestige, though. Their performance in the competition gave the students real-world experience, taught them teamwork under pressure and showed employers they are serious about the field. Plus, Maxwell said, it was fun.

“Some factors of a project you’re working on can be ambiguous,” he said, “so you’re really learning on the go. The idea of learning, implementing and getting results is huge for MIS majors, because computers are always changing.”

Godin was impressed by their work ethic. She plans to send more teams to the competition with what they’ve learned this year as guidance. 

“At first I was hesitant about joining because it was a commitment without credit, but I’m infinitely happy I participated,” Marcus said. “I’m proud of the things our team did, I’m happy that I’m a Georgia College Bobcat and that we were able to do this for our school.”