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Former Member

This year as part of an ERP Masters course at the Victoria University of Technology, the following five students undertook an elective simply known as BCO6181 - Introduction to Netweaver Administration:-

Jelvie

http://au.linkedin.com/pub/jelvie-grech/28/926/675

Alison

http://au.linkedin.com/in/alisonrthomas

Sani

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sani-kassim/49/457/a93

Ankur

http://au.linkedin.com/pub/ankur-kumar/49/98b/5b3

Ana

http://au.linkedin.com/pub/ana-amirsardari/44/49/2b4

During the 12 weeks of this elective, SAP Mentor Tony de Thomsis challenged us to think outside the square and introduced us to several technologies which would inspire and change the way we look at the ever changing technology landscape and how SAP is adapting to these changes.

In the following weblog, we will describe the evolution of 5 University students preparing for a rewarding career in the SAP Industry..  

  • Ankur will share how he will use Amazon Web Services (AWS)  to further develop his skills,

  • Jelvie will describe how YouTube can used as a useful vehicle to share instructional videos for fast adoption of new technologies such as BI OnDemand,

  • Alison has been inspired by Prezi to create and deliver influential and exciting presentations,

  • Ana will explain how an up to date LinkedIn profile can be used to connect with colleagues in the industry; and

  • Sani has found productive use for Webex at work for demonstrations and training sessions.

Using AWS for vulnerability Testing - Ankur Kumar

I work in  the  security field and although I will not be able to use AWS at my workplace, I will be using it for my own professional development. The BCO6181 course demonstrated the many benefits in working within a virtual environment as well some practical experience using a virtual machine.  With my new knowledge and hands on experience, I intend to use AWS to provide several different environments that I can use to perform my own vulnerability testing on. Instead of  having to buy several additional PC boxes, I am looking forward to being able to exploit the cost effective AWS power to perform this activity in a far more efficient and timely manner.

It is very quick to set up and saves on cost and energy. I can also scale the environment up and down and provide access to others who can provide me with feedback from anywhere in the world, in any time zone. It also has the capability to provide support and is a great way for me to always be up to date with the technology.

Using  YouTube to help speed up Learning - Jelvie Grech

In the past, I have used YouTube to view entertainment videos from music clips to film trailers. There would be the occasional video that was presented in my school lecture but I was never one to think about using it to assist me with my work or studies. During BCO6181, Tony mentioned that YouTube also has tutorials and step by step demonstrations for many different topics and how to use new tools. When I found myself struggling with an assignment for Business Process Management which required me to draw a SAP Workflow, I decided to find some examples.    

After a quick entry of relevant keywords into YouTube, I found exactly what I was looking for. There were many different step by step instructions on how to create a SAP Workflow and what’s great is that there was information aimed at different levels of technical experience. It was also handy to be able to hear someone with the knowledge, explaining all the steps and I was also able to leave a question for the creator of the video. Using YouTube has saved me a lot of time. I will definitely use it more frequently to assist with my studies and work. 

Most recently I have used You Tube to create my own Business on Demand instructional video. I had a lot of fun creating the recording, and enjoy the idea of paying forward and helping someone else.

http://t.co/gI2YaYw1

Using Prezi to communicate more effectively  -  Alison Thomas

Prior to participating in BCO6181, I was not aware of Prezi, a tool that allows users to develop effective presentations as well as access anytime without the need for external storage hardware. The features of Prezi were very helpful to me in developing a BCO6181 class presentation to show the steps in accessing information within a SAP database table. The flexibility of Prezi allowed me to use external screen shots, shapes and variable text fonts to demonstrate the relevant technical steps relevant to my presentation in a fun and inspiring manner.

http://prezi.com/qv3gd_xva7l4/sap-table

One of the screen shot images imported to Prezi included an informative and entertaining poem about SAP tables created by an  SCN member so using Prezi also enabled me find a YouTube link to import as a small overlay to the poem slide to add a lighthearted touch to the presentation. Prezi has some great informative short instructional videos and flexibility to create presentations from scratch or from a library of templates.  I will find Prezi invaluable for creating presentations in future university subjects. The features of Prezi also make it easy to create a group presentation with group members being able to access and update the presentation together from different locations. I am also looking to use Prezi at work, or even video footage of  the presentation, as an alternative way of demonstrating access or process instructions steps, rather than sending users a lengthy email or document. After encouragement by fellow student BCO6181 Jelvie, I recently created a video of my presentation via Prezi and wrote a  blog about my learning experience in creating the Prezi and subsequently recording  and sharing it.   bit.ly/M6lS5R  I look forward to making greater use of Prezi in the future.

Relationships matter - Using LinkedIn - Ana Amirsardari

I am quickly discovering the benefits of an up to date and accurate LinkedIn profile when connecting with colleagues in the industry. In the BCO6181 subject, the students were exposed to LinkedIn and the important role it plays in developing our professional network. The development of technology over the years has had a great impact on how potential employers can access and obtain vast amounts information about candidates before walking into an interview room. The class quickly realised the importance of having a complete and professional LinkedIn profile and also being able to find, research and possibly connect with potential employers or individuals in the industry that we admire and look up to.

I personally find LinkedIn a great tool with many beneficial attributes. Being able to see a list of people who have viewed my profile provides me an initial contact with individuals who may be interested in me and the work that I do. I can then if not already connected with them, send an invite out as this indicates that I am also interested in their work. Another great advantage about LinkedIn is that I am able to find and connect with previous colleagues whom I have worked with in the past, learning about their experiences and maybe even finding a new job opportunity. I am also able to connect with colleagues working for the same company but at various office locations, as the company that I work with currently has offices both in different states within Australia as well as overseas.

In Summary, LinkedIn provides a great opportunity to broaden my professional network and develop my communication skills. LinkedIn also enables me to promote myself to others within various industries and provide possible opportunities that would have otherwise never been able to be presented to me.

Face to Face contact over distance using Webex - Sani Kassim

I have found Webex to be a fast and  reliable mechanism to conduct demonstrations and training sessions over long distances.

The current organisation that I work for allows its employees to use Webex for a variety of purposes. I use Webex to provide training and demos to current and prospective clients. Our organisation and clientele is spread globally, so it has become an indispensable productivity tool. As Webex is a cloud based offering, it can be accessed easily, it's GUI is familiar and easy to use as an effective collaboration tool.

There are very handy features built in to Webex which allows me to even record and playback sessions. There can be Video feeds of the session which allows real time interaction and enables the presenter to gauge the response from the audience. The cost to provide a Webex session is so small as compared the time and travel overheads otherwise incurred. In class we were exposed to how SAP conducts their Expert Guided Implementation(EGI) training sessions via a Webex session. This has reaffirmed the fact that Webex is an invaluable Enterprise tool. In the future, I believe Webex will evolve to be a mandatory tool as organisations seek global presence.

The group effort - Using Streamwork

The BCO6181 course exposed us to several useful Cloud based offerings, including SAP Streamwork. This weblog you are currently reading was designed, developed and moderated using the easy to use Streamwork platform.

We quick setup an activity in Streamwork, invited the other class participants then uploaded documents and rich media as an activity task. Streamwork allowed for collaboration in the form of comments linked to each document. The moderator left feedback very quickly and we were notified at each point, similar to the feed in the example screenshot from Streamwork.

The flexibility of Streamwork has been ideal for developing our group Weblogs. Activities can be shared with each group member together with the addition of new text comments or text documents in new activity tasks. Whether we are in class together or not, it is easy to see the flow of each addition to the activity and also for each member to provide separate feedback, which is sent as an email feed to all in the group.

Having  the group activity information flow available on this exciting Cloud based platform, Streamwork has made our collaborative SCN Weblog effort simple and enjoyable. Gone are the days of writing essays for University assessment!

Closing comments

Thank you to the Victoria University,our BCO6181 lecturer  (and SAP Mentor) Tony de Thomasis and class laboratory assistant Nasir Gondal for giving us the opportunity to expand our learning, work skills and professional networks.

Alison Thomas, Jelvie Grech, Sani Kassim, Ankur Kumar, Ana Amirsardari

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