The first time through multiple exercises using SAP may be a real experience for an instructor that is not experienced in all of the transactions processed in the five SAP modules addressed in this case. This guide is intended to help the instructor when confronted by student errors. Numerous undergraduate and graduate students at more than 40 universities within the SAP University Alliance successfully complete the exercises in this case each semester (for example, at one particular university, approximately 1,000 undergraduate students successfully complete the exercises in this case each semester). In cases where there appeared to be a potential for confusion in the instructions within exercises, those instructions have been improved to help eliminate ambiguity and prevent errors. However, students still make the two big mistakes that lead to errors regardless of the clarity of instructions: (1) speed and (2) failure to read instructions. Student should not hurry through the steps in exercises. They should be instructed to deliberately and carefully complete each step and not skip steps in an exercise or exercises in a chapter. Students, like all of us, many times fail to read the instructions and do not try to understand what it is they are doing. Instructors should attempt to ensure that students understand what they are doing in each exercise.
Some errors may be the result of a problem or issue with the configuration or loading of the client by the UCC administrators. Over the wide use of this case, the UCC basis administrators have generally cleared any systemic problems of this nature. However, sometimes they occur. As an instructor, you may or may not be aware of whether an error is a basis problem or a student error (until you gain additional experience). If you will email the authors with any errors encountered that you cannot identify using this guide, we will get back to you as soon as we can with solutions, suggestions, and/or sympathy and work with the UCC administrators on any basis-type issues.
The student errors discussed below are divided into general errors and exercise specific errors. The exercise specific exercises are coded based on the particular exercise where the error occurs.
Classic Rockers Error Troubleshooting (Lessons from the School of Hard Knocks)
General Errors:
A. Using the fully integrated version of the case, student attempts to complete exercises in subsequent modules when one or more previous modules was not fully completed. For example, student tries to create a sales order in SD for rocking chairs and Cushion, but does not complete the PP module that created rocking chairs (may also have not completed MM module that acquired Cushion, either). Each exercise in each module must be completed successfully before moving to the next module or exercise.
B. Student completes an exercise and then, for some reason (probably failure to write down the document number) completes the exercise a second time. For example, student creates an invoice receipt and then goes back to do it over again. This will cause one of the problems discussed below in specific exercise errors. An exercise should not be repeated unless any underlying error causing a problem with the exercise has been identified and corrected.