A Perfect Score for BPERP Certification

TP’s Business Information Technology (BIT) students attained a 100% passing rate in the BPERP (Best Practice in Enterprise Resources Planning) examinations they took on 11 Apr. All 22 students are now certified SAP solution consultants for SMEs! In preparation for the examinations, the students completed a 15-day intensive programme conducted by Kelvin Lim, a lecturer from the diploma in BIT, on ERP best practices.

The BPERP certification program is developed by German software company SAP in collaboration with local universities and polytechnics under the University Alliance Programme to meet the increasing demand for SAP consultants. The program is supported by IDA who aims to train 1000 students on ERP best practices by 2010.

Asked to comment on their learning experience, Lim Chu Ti, a Junior student, said “The certification will definitely help me if I take up a career in business solutions consultancy.”  Shawn Ang, a Senior student who recently graduated, found the training useful in helping him understand how companies use mySAP software to automate and improve their processes. For Norliyana Bte Mohamed Jufri, her learning was enhanced by her interaction with her instructor and classmates. “Though the course is tough, my instructor has made it simple to understand. Questions asked by my classmates also helped stimulate my thinking!” said Norliyana.

Mingjie loves the sea, the waves and the sun. He used to be a trainee kayaking coach at the People’s Association Sea Sports Club. He has a Powered Pleasure Craft license and enjoys going out to sea in a boat, to just take a break from the hustle and bustle. His love for the sea has led him to achieve the award of the Sword of Honour in the Republic of Singapore Navy for the 61/05 Officer Cadet Course. Mingjie has just passed his course, and during his commissioning parade on 10 June 2006, he received the Sword of Honour from DPM Prof S Jayakumar.

On top of that, Mingjie has been awarded the Non Graduating Military Training Award (NMTA) to train in UK-Dartmouth at the Britannia Royal Naval College for a year. There were only two officers who received this award and Mingjie has just left for the UK on 11 June 2006, a day after his commissioning parade. He is looking forward to an exciting year ahead in the UK.

In the Officer Cadet School, Mingjie was appointed the Midshipman Wing Commander during the sailing trip to Malaysia, China and Thailand. Later, he was promoted to Deputy Cadet School Commander.

When Mingjie first joined TP, his main goal was to make it to the Director’s Honour List and he succeeded every year. Now, he had also fulfilled his goals that he set for himself when he first joined the Navy. Mingjie has shown his mettle time and again in planning well, and succeeding as planned. We wish Mingjie all the best and success in achieving his goals.

Shirley Leow Xue Li graduated as the top BIT student in August 2004. Currently she is pursuing a double degree in Information Systems Management and also in Accounting, at SMU.  She has earned herself a $38,000 scholarship with SMU Shirley has continued to do well in her present course, scoring a GPA of 3.84 at the end of her first year and is in the dean’s list. Shirley’s group project for the subject Financial Services Business IT, won an award of $500 sponsored by OCBC.

Shirely has just returned from the 3rd Sino-Singapore Undergraduate Exchange Programme (16 to 30 May 2006).  Under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Ministries of Education of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Singapore on 29 May 2002, an exchange programme would include up to 50 outstanding university students annually.  Shirley was one of the six selected student representatives from SMU.  The objectives of this programme are to broaden bilateral ties between China and Singapore as well as to foster understanding, collaboration and bonding between Chinese and Singaporean students. Shirely has an enriching experience learning China’s culture, education and political systems.

Shirley’s journey through school and life has been hard.  Despite financial difficulties, she has done her parents proud by excelling in her studies and earning a scholarship for her university education.  Ultimately, she hopes to get her master’s degree and help her father realise his dream – to set up his own business.

Lau Jiarong graduated in June 2005 and was recently featured in the Straits Times YOUTHink on 22 May 2006 as a new breed young entrepreneur.  He credits TP for encouraging his entrepreneurship spirit through his internship at STARTUP@BIT, when he started one of his companies Lobangz Pte Ltd with two other course-mates.  The company provides web hosting, networking and other IT-related services.

Jiarong’s entrepreneurship drive began even before he joined TP when he started an online radio station called DreamstationZ in 2002.  At its peak, the station registered over 200 simultaneous listeners and had a crew of 15 which included DJs, web designers and scriptwriters.  Although it had to cease operations in December 2004, in accordance with new digital music infringement laws, Jiarong intends to revive it in the near future.

In his final semester at TP, Jiarong started another business – Asia Business Communications Pte Ltd (ABC), providing competitively charged IDD and Call Back/Forward services to substitute costly roaming services.  ABC is a joint venture with Asiatel Pte Ltd, a telecommunications company that provides technical expertise to facilitate IDD calls.  Currently, ABC enjoys a vast clientele base from all round Asia and has launched VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) which allows users from two or more countries to communicate at little or no expense.  The latest update from Jiarong was that ABC aims be a mini-ISP, providing broadband connections for companies and acting as a one-stop voice data solution provider.