Purpose of the Assignment: This assignment has a two-fold purpose: 1. To help students better understand Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and the three leading ERP vendors: SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics. 2. To find out the strengths, weaknesses and tradeoffs that tend to neutralize the appeal of each of these leading ERP systems.

Requirements of the Assignment: 

Visit the websites of SAP at http://www.sap.com, and Oracle at http://www.oracle.com, and Microsoft Dynamics at http://www.microsoftdynamics.com, then, identify the following: 

1. The strengths, weaknesses and tradeoffs that tend to neutralize the appeal of each of these leading ERP systems; 

2. Three major trends we would expect to see with SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics between now and the near future.

Write a short report on the findings of the above items 1 and 2 with appropriate comparison, contrast, analysis and discussion. The report should be in (American Psychology Association) style but without a cover pager. The report should be word-processed in Times New Roman 12 pt font and double spaced, with no less than four and no more than SIX double-spaced and numbered pages (with 1” margins on all sides), excluding figures, tables, illustrations, and references. Fewer or more pages will result in points deduction. The report should include the following parts (in order to save paper, no cover page! Otherwise, some points will be taken off):  Your name and course information  Title of the report  Abstract of the report (single spaced and in between the title and the Introduction)  Introduction  Main findings and major trends with comparison, contrast, analysis, and discussion in details  Conclusion  References (not counted for the requirement of the report length)

Grading Criteria: Grades will be based on:

  The appropriate content of your report (50%).

  The quality, clarity, and concise of your report (50%).