The Department of Marketing Management (DMM) of the University of Kelaniya is known in the higher education sector as a leading education provider and a trendsetter in the marketing fraternity, producing globally competent, future-ready human capital for the country. It is the first academic body to obtain and maintain ISO 9001-2015 Certification for over five consecutive years for quality in programme design, teaching, learning, and assessments. 

DMM proudly announces the launch of a new online Diploma in Enterprise Resources Planning (DERP) for external students. Ms. Shanika Wijenayake, Senior Lecturer of DMM and Coordinator of DERP, says that the DERP is Sri Lanka’s first industry-based Diploma in ERP offered by a state university in Sri Lanka. “We introduced the DERP to our internal students in 2016 with the expectation of making them readily employable with the right toolset and the right mindset required by any organization operated via integrated systems”. Today, the world is at a critical juncture in every aspect, including health, economy, and environmental sustainability. As all of us experienced, during the past year, the whole world fought so hard merely to survive, and Information & Communication Technology was one of the forces that kept the wheels turning. For every organization - irrespective of the state, scale, capital, or the industry they are operating in - Information Systems and management of information have become the backbone of the business process. Also, in this backdrop, the biggest challenge faced by organizations today is sourcing the right human resource or training the existing human resource with the right technical mindset and skills to drive the business process effectively and efficiently. As a leading national supplier of skilled human resources for Sri Lanka, DMM’s DERP programme aims at meeting tomorrow’s demand for knowledge and skills. Prof. Nilanthi De Silva, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, notes, “As one of the oldest universities in the country, we take our national responsibility in providing high-quality post-secondary education very seriously. We foster a culture of close collaboration with our industry partners, and our academic programmes are designed to meet the current needs of industry and enable our students to experience world-class academic programmes tailor-made to craft a future-ready scholar who can make a positive impact on society”. 

DERP at DMM…

Adding to Prof. De Silva’s statement, Ms. Shanika Wijenayake stated that “DMM recognized information systems literacy as a crucial skill for an entry-level employee. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the ERP implementation and usage in organizations. It is evident by the leap in recent market growth statistics of ERP, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. ERP systems are the enabler of ubiquitous working arrangements, ubiquitous business transactions, implementation of e-commerce solutions, and, more importantly, improving the business processes. The success of ERP implementations mainly depends on the users of the system. Therefore, organizations invest money, effort, and time in training their employees to work in an integrated, technical environment confidently. DERP at DMM takes the responsibility of training the entry-level job candidates with the highly sort-after skills through their strategic partnerships with some industry giants.” Explaining further about DMM’s strategic partnerships, Ms. Wijenayake mentioned that “DMM’s partnership with SAP University Alliance Programme (SAP-UAP) was the critical catalyst of the DERP. With the SAP-UAP partnership, DMM obtains the proficiency to educate the next generation talents with Enterprise Resources Planning skills essential for the emerging intelligent enterprise and experience economy. SAP has been the global market leader for ERP solutions; through their SAP-UAP programme, they enable their partner universities to engage with SAP events, build industry partnerships, access new product solutions like SAP simulation games, and many other opportunities to inspire more young thinkers. Another significant pillar of the success of DERP is attune Lanka (Pvt) Ltd coming onboard as a delivery partner of the DMM in 2016. This partnership was instrumental in creating a collaborative knowledge-sharing platform where both academia cum industry experts join hands to disseminate the content of DERP. As an ownership-taking CSR venture, attune has shared a wealth of experience, knowledge, and expertise they possess in diverse aspects of ERP and SAP since the inception of the partnership. attune’s expertise in ERP consultation includes a broad spectrum of proficiencies, starting from requirements gathering to the successful deployment of an ERP system, which makes them the ideal delivery partner of the DERP. 

Sujith Jayasekera, the Support Services Manager, SAP at attune said “We are excited to be part of the ERP education journey undertaken by the DMM, at the University of Kelaniya. This program was initially able to bridge the gap between business and IT and was offered to internal undergraduate students. Over the last few years, there has been much demand for this program. It has also been instrumental in moulding students to play this dual role in organizations and thereby add value to organizations  ERP implementations or their day to day operations. We showcase what the industry best practices are, how the different departments use SAP and how the end to end business processes are carried out. Coming from a Global Consulting Company we can give these students unparalleled industry exposure. This is in no way a theoretical diploma. The students can learn these concepts through series of lectures, industry-backed knowledge sharing and real-life case studies. The sessions are conducted on the SAP University Alliance platform, giving the students the ability to learn and practice on the SAP cutting edge S/4 HANA.”

Are you an external candidate? DERP is now open for you!

DMM has been delivering the DERP for its undergraduates since 2016 and has developed capabilities and expertise over the years. This year, DMM leaps its academic activities by extending the DERP to external students. It will be offered as an online diploma with hands-on experience in SAP-ERP. DERP will be hailed as the first-ever diploma level qualification in ERP systems provided by a state university. As an ISO 9001-2015 certified academic body, DERP offered by DMM is combined with a promise of quality in teaching, learning, and assessments. Further, DMM’s experience in providing DERP for undergraduates has internalized the best practices in delivering the program to meet the international standards for over five consecutive years. The first intake of the DERP external offering will commence in July, and the applications are now open for enrollment. 

Contact Details:

Ms.Shanika Wijenayake

Senior Lecturer/ Coordonator -DERP

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