University Alliances suggestions

[OttoGold]

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

this thread should work the same way as the "Suggestions for forum improvements" thread, but for UA(C) only. We have some enthusiastic students/ SAP rising stars/ active SDN members willing to improve the UA(C) and this is the right place to do it. Follow/ watch the thread if you think you can contribute here or are interested.

Have a nice day, Otto

[OttoGold · Accepted solution]

From one of the emails:

Hi Kevin, Otto, and other SAP acquaintances,
I would love to help out any way I can!  I actually know Kevin personally; we were both interns at Grand Valley State University for Dr. Simha R. Magal.  Kevin, I hope your summer is going great at Perrigo.  I 100% agree with you about the transition from college to u2018actualu2019 work.  It has been interesting adapting to the complexities of the business processes where I have been working.  However, I am having a ton of fun learning!
Let me know how I could help,
David Herrema

Maybe you can ask Dr. Simha R. Magal to write a blog for us? Would be great to have his feedback as well. Is it possible to get him involved? Would be cool, Otto

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I reached out to Dr. Magal and pointed him to the thread, but I believe he is on vacation.

Topic 1:

There are several success stories that have happened at Grand Valley State University, but are not listed on SDN or UAC. Our MIS program has produced many graduates in the last few years that are employed at several fortune 500 companies(running SAP). Is there a possibility we can have a spot on the success stories page? I know we would be able to persuade the majority of the students to write blogs about their experiences. In addition, creating a summary blog which would highlight the program at GVSU? Check out the [ERP Initiative at GVSU|http://www.gvsu.edu/business/erp], which runs on SAP Enterprise Portal!

[former_member46 · Accepted solution]

I have forwarded the thread to colleagues in UAC.

Gali

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I agree with Dave. At Grand Valley there would be many people willing to write a blog about their experience. I'm sure at other schools there would be the same interest. Right now the UA offer a chance at a prize if you submit your resume. There could be a similar incentive to have students share their experience using SAP.

Kevin

[martinlang · Accepted solution]

Nice initiative Otto! I totally agree there must me many more success or otherwise inspiring stories out there from students that get in touch with SAP solutions, technology or just SAP "people" through their studies or through internships and alike. Would be great to get more great content to UAC and with that possibly also some more new faces here in the forums and elsewhere on SCN.

I am going to forward this thread to all the students and ex-students that I was in touch with as Interns in teams around me the past few years.

[OttoGold · Accepted solution]

Hello Martin, I like to see your name in my threads because you always share something new and unexpected (at least for me:)))) In fact I spent some time reading through the UA pages and have a file with the notes about what I have found and didn´t like, didn´t expected etc. Will share the rest of "The File" later, first I would like to get some more people involved (like the students, mentors, representatives and what other people we have here) and let them create something before opening all the fields we could discuss. I would like to see some more names and their offers/ suggestions how to help.

We don´t need my complaints, we need them - the students and other people who got something from the UAC (or didn´t get what they wanted) sharing the experience and stuff... It is always better to build something than criticise only (and I hope I can help people drive their energy towards some "material" results... would be great!!).

I expect Kevin´s blog to be the first bird of the spring...

Otto

[OttoGold · Accepted solution]

Where is your blog, Kevin? We need to have something "material" to start with as soon as possible!! Otto

[OttoGold · Accepted solution]

@all: I wonder if there is a procedure described how can a school became a member of UA? I didn´t find any "starter pack" or something like that. I have checked the list of participating schools and am aware of at least three from my country not on the list running SAP and at least one of them runs SAP related courses (at least one for sure).

I also wonder if a "starter pack" for students exists. And of course for the teachers.

Something like a brief PDF with appealing graphics where one can find the overall information about what UA offers for him/ her, where to get the details, how to apply forX, where to download the ...Y, which will have Z impact/ benefits etc...

It is very likely I didn´t look carefully enough and have missed the materials... So can anyody point me to the sources close to what I have described?

Example: I didn´t find "my school" on the list. What can I do now? And many more. Of course we can discuss the use cases/ business cases/ scenario or whatever you call it if not all the information sources exist yet.

Or: is there any members area I cannot visit?

regards Otto

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

On the UAC page, I can see the value for faculty who are current members of the UAC.

As a student, I have a harder time seeing the value. Most of the content I have tried to view under the UA Library is held at the Reserve Desk. Can students view this if their school is a member? If not, then why not?

I also wish there was more content from other SNC members. I really like Jarret Pazahanick's blog "Valuable Lessons to Make the Most of your SAP Career". I would like to see these types of blogs added to the UA Message board so other students can see their advice.

As Otto and others have mentioned above, I would like to see success story on the page as well!

[OttoGold · Accepted solution]

Blog is on its way...

I wonder if there was any reaction from the people you have challenged, Martin. I mean through the email?

By the way, who is responsible for the UAC content? Maybe we could get the right person into the discussion to have our questions answered from the right people...?

Would be cool, regards Otto

[OttoGold]

Not enough interest from the people who could really change something. Closing. Otto

[OttoGold]

Is SAP career good for top IT students?:

/people/otto.gold/blog/2010/07/28/is-sap-career-good-for-top-it-students

What about you? Will you contribute to UA? Don´t hesitate!

Regards Otto

[Former Member]

Hell of a lot better than the current gmail strategy in the SDN forums...

Go Otto and let me know if I can help in any way in the security area.

Particularly "base line" security aspects are important from the beginning because they are very troublesome and expensive to retro-fit.

Cheers,

Julius

[OttoGold]

Hello Julius, it´s always nice to have your support:))

If you would like to help, it would be cool to have some easy-to-get content where one can understand the security risks and the costs. I have attended few security classes at the university, but must admit I have never put any special accent to the security aspects in the daily routine. Even for me (after those classes) it would be cool to learn what, how, when and stuff. Especially because you are a cruel-world-professional which differs a lot from the university classes and could provide a brief overview of quick-wins as well as the quick-loses (what is the biggest problem, I believe).

Or if there is a text, which could help here, written already, could you please share the link(s) here? Why: please check this blog by Juan Reyes: /people/juan.reyes/blog/2010/05/11/back-to-basis about what is the basis

or XY: From Java developer to SAP Java developer by me: /people/otto.gold/blog/2010/05/24/xy-from-java-developer-to-sap-java-developer which are targeted on the young or new people in our field. I have noticed people appreciate this kind of "opening content".

If we could have one for the security (or like a short series), would be cool to add it here:

/people/otto.gold/blog/2010/03/31/want-to-switch-to-sap-consultancy where some of the newbies come to start from (I have spotted this article has been featured on some SAP official start pages/ twitter etc.).

For both of us it may not be a problem but a benefit, that SDN is stuffed by high quality and deep content, since we have years of experience (I need one hand, how many hands do you need to count:)) but I still feel a debt to the newbies, students and other who need some more help to become the new rising stars and SAP professionals.

Regards Otto

[OttoGold]

I can understand that my expectations can be different than yours (share yours, please), although:

- I have finished school 2 years ago

- I was working and studying at the same time

- I had many questions about my future career when studying and when the SAP was one of like dozen options what to do, what career path to follow, what to learn

- after finishing school and gathering some SAP experience I was thinking about throwing my own SAP "course" at the university. It would be difficult political issue and stuff, but that is something the students would like to see here

So I call Kevin and other young friends to tell us about the expectations, doubts, fears, ideas, wishes and more of the young people studying and thinking about a career in SAP. What are your feelings?

Otto

[OttoGold]

Topic 2: Virtual classroom (menu item) and Resources for Lecturers (Professors) headline

Both can be seen here:

Virtual classroom

- there are the virtual classes, ok, but this is SDN, where can I offer a free class (as a teacher) or apply for a free class (as a student)? Or you don´t think anybody would throw a course for free? Or you don´t want to support such initiative?

- that is what I would expect to find on SDN, a practical approach, not the business offer

- role-based learning: 1100 bucks for 150 hours, cool, but where can I get a demo?

Why don´t you provide anythng for free? In my country students don´t have the money to pay and don´t have the will to pay either, teachers may find it difficult to pay for themselves (we don´t have anything like rich teachers in my country)

Resources for Lecturers (Professors)

- but nothing to download

- why there are no valuable downloads for UAC?

- I mean except the marketing talks

For me these "headlines" were a big disappointment. Is there a development strategy which will widen the offer?

Otto

[Former Member]

Hello All,

I think Topic 2 is very important for students. I am always looking to learn something new and within SAP there's always something new. I have found it hard to find specific "topics" that interest me and can be beneficial for my career. As a current student I don't know exactly what I will be doing, but I know now is a great time to learn.

With that being said, I think it would be great for the UAC to have some basic demos on specific topics. I know there are already plenty of demos and PDF's on how to learn things but the UAC could tailor those toward students. Make a section with a list of a few demos just to get students interested and have topics to research.

Would this be possible for the UAC?

Regards,

Kevin Coolman

[OttoGold]

(Note: I don´t say all the topic I start are relevant, provide any quick-wins etc. But I have browsed the UAC site and didn´t find many things which I did expect to find. Feel free to comment on any topic or start your own).

Topic 1: Success stories

Page: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/uac/overview?rid=/webcontent/uuid/00d21e15-c836-2d10-3aa1-9673cf6f3d2f

- there are only the Indian so-called success stories, why?

- there are no universities somewhere else where any success have been achieved?

- if there are, can we contact the students to promote their sucess first through... discussion, blogs, and then help them to promote their success through the success stories?