Researching new enterprise technology solutions can be a lengthy, time-consuming exercise, often resulting in lack of essential information to drive progress and decisions. The EDUCAUSE Technology Solutions Market Dashboard enables institutions to explore details on more than 50 unique Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system products, all in one platform.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems form the backbone of most business processes at higher education institutions, automating a wide variety of administrative processes, from student registration to financial accounting. ERPs are massive, complex systems, and upgrading or implementing new systems requires a significant investment of human and financial resources.
If your institution is seeking answers to questions about ERP systems, the EDUCAUSE interactive Technology Solutions Market Dashboard can provide peer insights and connections.Footnote1
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems: Introduction
Since 2019, 871 institutions have contributed to information on a myriad of technology solutions, including three of the most prominent categories of ERP systems employed in higher education: the finance system, the human resources (HR) and payroll system, and the student information system (SIS). The following analysis reviews the utilization of each category of ERP system, as well as product utilization, by Carnegie classification.
Finance Systems
Overview
A plurality of the reported finance ERP market share (44%) is held by Ellucian products, followed by Oracle products (21%), Workday Financial Management (9%), and Microsoft Dynamics (4%). Five percent of institutions reported using "other" systems, and 1% have homegrown systems. The top five finance ERP systems for each Carnegie classification make up 74–93% of the total market share.
Utilization By Carnegie Classification
A majority of associate's (70%) and master's (51%) institutions employ Ellucian products. While a plurality of bachelor's (45%) and doctoral (43%) institutions also employ Ellucian products, the market share among bachelor's and doctoral institutions is smaller. In addition, 29% of bachelor's institutions utilize various Oracle (12%) or Jenzabar (17%) products, and 33% of doctoral institutions utilize various Oracle (31%) or Jenzabar (2%) products.
More than 20 finance ERP products were reported in the Technology Solutions Market Dashboard. Master's and doctoral institutions are using a larger assortment of finance ERP solutions (15 and 16, respectively) than are associate's (7) or bachelor's (12) institutions. This is perhaps due to the greater complexity and more varied nature of the financial operations and needs at master's and doctoral institutions.
The interactive graphic below illustrates the top 5 most-utilized finance ERP systems by Carnegie Classification across more than 20 reported products (see figure 1). The percentages in these graphics do not always correspond with the percentages in the text above, which are based on all financial ERP systems utilized. To explore all reported finance ERP systems, see the Technology Solutions Market Dashboard.
Figure 1. Top 5 Most-Utilized Finance ERP Systems, by Carnegie Classification
HR/Payroll Systems
Overview
Ellucian products currently hold slightly more than one-third of the HR/payroll ERP market share (35%), while various Oracle products are utilized by nearly one-quarter (23%) of institutions. Ellucian Banner Human Resources (24%) was the most frequently reported HR/payroll ERP, followed by Oracle PeopleSoft HCM/HRMS (21%), Ellucian Colleague HR (11%), and Workday (10%). Less than 10% of institutions reported using Jenzabar products, SAP products, "other" systems, or homegrown systems. The top five HR/payroll ERP systems for each Carnegie classification comprise 69–88% of the market share.
Utilization By Carnegie Classification
Nearly half of associate's institutions (49%) and a plurality of master's (28%) institutions utilize Ellucian products, while half of doctoral institutions are split between Ellucian Banner Human Resources (28%) and Oracle PeopleSoft HCM/HRMS (28%). Bachelor's (10%) and master's (10%) institutions were more likely to report employing "other" HR/payroll ERP systems.
The Technology Solutions Market Dashboard includes information on 18 HR/payroll ERP products. Similar to their usage of finance ERP products, master's and doctoral institutions employ a wider variety of HR/payroll ERP products (16 and 14, respectively) than do associate's (9) or bachelor's (12) institutions.
The interactive graphic below illustrates the top 5 most-utilized HR/payroll ERP systems by Carnegie Classification across 18 reported products (see figure 2). The percentages in these graphics do not always correspond with the percentages in the text above, which are based on all HR/payroll ERP systems utilized. To explore all reported HR/payrollERP systems, see the Technology Solutions Market Dashboard.
Figure 2. Top 5 Most-Utilized HR/Payroll ERP Systems, by Carnegie Classification
Student Information Systems
Overview
More than half of the 14 reported SIS ERP products are offered by two companies: Ellucian (4) and Jenzabar (4). While the four Ellucian SIS ERP products hold 57% of the reported market share, the four Jenzabar products make up just 7% of all reported SIS products. Ellucian Banner Student was the most frequently reported product, both overall (37%) and across Carnegie classifications (ranging from 28% to 48%), followed by Oracle PeopleSoft Campus Solutions (21%), and Ellucian Colleague Student (16%). The top five SIS ERP systems for each Carnegie classification make up 78-93% of the total market share.
Utilization By Carnegie Classification
While more than one-quarter of associate's (28%) and doctoral (28%) institutions use Oracle PeopleSoft, fewer bachelor's (10%) and master's (14%) institutions use this system. Doctoral institutions were the least likely (8%) to report using Ellucian Colleague Student, compared with associate's (25%), bachelor's (26%), or master's (19%) institutions.
Whereas only 1% of institutions overall reported utilizing homegrown solutions for finance ERP systems and only 3% for HR/payroll ERP systems, 6% of institutions reported using homegrown solutions for SIS ERPs, perhaps due to a belief that the needs for student data cannot be met by an off-the-shelf product.
While master's and doctoral institutions reported using a wide assortment of finance and HR/payroll ERP products, the use of SIS ERP products is less varied across Carnegie classifications: each classification utilizes 10–11 of the 14 total products.
The interactive graphic below illustrates the top 5 most-utilized SIS ERP systems by Carnegie Classification across 14 reported products (see figure 3). The percentages in these graphics do not always correspond with the percentages in the text above, which are based on all SIS ERP systems utilized. To explore all reported SIS ERP systems, see the Technology Solutions Market Dashboard.
Figure 3. Top 5 Most-Utilized SIS ERP Systems, by Carnegie Classification
Conclusion
Upgrading or implementing new ERP systems requires significant investments in human and financial resources. For institutions experiencing staffing and budgetary challenges, implementing finance, HR/payroll, and/or SIS ERP systems presents opportunities to increase efficiencies and automate a wide variety of administrative processes.
If your institution is seeking to implement a new ERP, or upgrade or replace existing ERP systems, you can utilize the EDUCAUSE interactive Technology Solutions Market Dashboard to access details on more than 50 ERP products, including deployment strategies (e.g., on-premises, cloud, hybrid), plans for upgrading or replacing systems, product utilization, and peer insights and connections.
Note
- The Technology Solutions Market Dashboard is accessible to all institutions that have submitted technology solutions data. Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.
Ashley Caron is Researcher at EDUCAUSE.
© 2023 Ashley Caron. The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License.