Enterprise Systems Competencies - Supplying the Skills – The Novice Practitioner Perspective

The demand for enterprise systems skills is increasing persistent enterprise systems skill shortages. One explanation for the skills shortages is the gap between enterprise systems curricula in higher education institutions and the competencies expected from graduates by industry. A contemporary South African study identified interpersonal and business process competencies as key skills required by enterprise systems practitioners. Further studies identified and ranked business process practitioner competencies from the perspective of business. The current research extends these studies by examining the competency requirements identified by novice enterprise systems practitioners undertaking in-situ business process improvement assignments. Informing the study was the principle that competency acquisition is a combination of theory and practice intertwined through reflection. The findings show the importance of both business process competency and interpersonal competencies and confirm that these are global issues. The study contributes to the existing enterprise systems education body of knowledge in highlighting limitations in the transfer of technical competencies and identifying five specific technical competencies.