SAP Expands OpenSAP MOOCs to Business Learners

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SAP is expanding its OpenSAP platform and the massive online open courses, or MOOCs, offered there. Initially built around courses for developers, the OpenSAP course offerings are now growing to include classes for a business audience. SAP hopes to serve customers, partners, developers and students with its SAP-centric classes, all of which are completely open to the public and free.

The new classes designed for business users include:

• SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA: The course will provide insight into the business value of SAP Business Suite with the added value of SAP HANA. It will answer the questions of what is going to change and what will stay the same, and will give an overview on why SAP Business Suite powered by HANA is relevant to various lines of business. It will also discuss the importance to different industries and how companies there drive value. The course begins April 9.
• Sustainability and business innovation: Dr. Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer at SAP, will share the key learnings from the sustainability and innovation journeys of SAP and SAP customers, including how companies drive significant business value from acting environmentally and socially responsible. The course covers best practices in sustainability, from strategy to business cases, business processes, engagement and reporting. The course begins April 29.
• Rapid-deployment of SAP solutions: SAP offers a fast and simple way to implement solutions with best practices for rapid deployment. The course explains how the methodology can be used to shorten the time-to-value, reduce project risk and deliver predictable business outcomes for users.

SAP offered its first MOOC for developers, “Introduction to Software Development on SAP HANA,” in April 2013 and has since seen over 200,000 participants in its eight courses offered so far. SAP will continue its strong focus on developer learning, it says in a release, while broadening its approach:

“With openSAP, we now offer education on the latest technology and business innovations to everyone,” said Dr. Bernd Welz, executive vice president and global head, Solution & Knowledge Packaging, SAP. “We believe that by addressing the broadest possible audience of professionals, students, experts and the general public we help drive positive, tangible business outcomes across the world. This is specifically true for the three exciting new classes we are launching today.”

Course participants can also use a new iPad app to download and complete materials offline, to be synced later.