Simha R. Magal, Ph.D., is professor of management(MIS) and director, ERP initiative, in the Seidman College ofBusiness at Grand Valley State University. He received hisdoctorate from the University of Georgia. His primary researchinterests include e-business and enterprise systems. Dr.Magal s articles have appeared in such publications as MISQuarterly, Journal of MIS, and Information and Management, amongothers, and he has served on the editorial boards of severaljournals. Dr. Magal has taught courses related to businessprocesses and enterprise systems that utilize SAP for more than adecade. He is an SAP-certified associate consultant and a TERP10academy instructor. Jeffrey Word, Ph.D., is vice president of productstrategy at SAP AG. He is responsible for defining SAP's futureproduct strategy and for fostering product innovation within SAP.Dr. Word has worked for several Global 1000 companies in thehigh-tech industry for nearly 20 years, specializing in businessconsulting and IT strategy. At SAP, he has driven the evolution ofthe company s enterprise technology strategy, with a specialfocus on corporate process improvement initiatives andservices-based IT architecture design. Dr. Word earned his Ph.D. ininformation systems at Manchester Business School in England.