Many universities have indicated to me that they would like to teach BI but are unsure where to start. They are unsure of which BI concepts are should be taught and what tools are best to use to reinforce these BI concepts. Then what curriculum is available through the University Alliance Program (UAP) and how much will it cost to access tools and implement the curriculum. Yes SAP BI is confusing.
I have been teaching BI for a number of years now and our curriculum continues to evolve as the discipline evolves and new tools become available.
So where could a university start to teach BI? I was introduced to a new resource, by Adrian Gardiner from Georgia Southern University. This resource is part of the Experience SAP HANA site.
The site provides scenarios where students can analyse the supplied data using SAP Business Objects Explorer.
https://www.experiencesaphana.com/community/solutions
Each scenario allows the student to analyse the data as per an employee role in a company. As they answer the questions they take on a different role.
I used the resource for the first time with students yesterday. Most students had no prior BI experience. We used the CO-PA Accelerator scenario.
This is how I structured the class. The students were organised into groups of two and were directed to the site to answer the supplied questions. I indicated that there was a link to video if they wanted an overview of the tool. Students collaborated to answer the questions. If a group became stuck on a question I asked which group had successfully answered the questioned and encouraged them to assist.
The first group to finish were given a simple prize.
At the end of the exercise we had a de-brief about the exercise. We discussed the functionality of the tool, what type of users is the tool best suited for, how did the questions differ between the various roles? It also gave me the opprotunity to briefly talk about HANA.
I then demonstrated SAP Business Objects Explorer through BI OnDemand and demonstrated how a student could load their data and for analysis.
http://www.biondemand.com/businessintelligence
Finally I demonstrated the SAP Business Objects Explorer mobile app from Apple itunes to and how their loaded data could be accessible for analysis via a mobile device.
It was a good class and everybody seemed to enjoy the learning process. So in terms of where to start when you want to teach BI. To tool is a good learning resource and the students don’t need any training. The tool is free so give it a go!
Below are some links to other blogs I have written in regards to teaching BI
Teach SAP BI to Students through Gamification
http://scn.sap.com/people/paul.hawking3/blog/2011/10/25/teach-sap-bi-to-students-through-gamificatio...
paul.hawking3/blog/2011/05/07/australian-university-dashbaord-competition
Good Luck
