SAP R/3 Implementation at the ETH Zurich - A Higher Education Management Success Story?

Enterprise systems have arrived in the higher education sector. Exposed to increasing external pressure universities are being affected by global economic changes, ongoing technological innovation, changes in demographic structures and substantial financial cutbacks. By adapting to these environmental changes many universities are implementing reengineering projects to improve their business processes. Relying on the implementation of successful enterprise systems universities are attempting to face the managerial challenges they are being confronted with. This paper shall describe the SAP R/3 implementation project at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and the university management team’s implementation strategy which has been relatively successful, though questionable