This course was retired in October 2023.

Course Statistics

This course was held from April 29 through June 17, 2014.

• 10418 learners were enrolled on day 1 of the course.
• When the final exam ended, this number had increased to 15942.
• We issued 1803 graded records of achievement.

Course Summary

Conducting business in more sustainable ways is becoming increasingly relevant today and a “must-have” in the future. The sustainability megatrend is driven by a growing population, accelerating urbanization, resource intensity, government regulation, climate change, and – most importantly – by the fact that consumers are increasingly demanding healthy, affordable, as well as socially and environmentally responsible products. Organizations react by implementing more sustainable practices to grow their business, to attract the best talent and to remain relevant to their investors.

But what does “sustainability” mean in a business context exactly? How are sustainable strategies crafted? How are they put into action? And finally, what is the role of information technology in all of this?

Meet SAP, the global powerhouse in enterprise software, which has made it its purpose to use IT to help the world run better and improve peoples’ lives. Widely regarded as a sustainability thought leader, SAP has worked with some of the most advanced businesses to understand the challenges and formulate the solutions and strategies for how IT can help companies advance their sustainability journey.

In this course you will learn the links between sustainability and innovation, how IT can help create competitive advantage, reduce risk and cost as well as drive growth leveraging sustainable principles. Our objective is to help you succeed in articulating, embedding and executing a sustainable strategy at the company in which you are or will be working.

Here is what some participants are saying about the course:

• "A Great Effort.
  I've taken many courses in the past and when I started this course didn't know what to expect. This is an unbelievable effort by Peter Graf and his team and most importantly SAP for supporting this initiative." read the original post

• "Thank you!
  This course was one of the best in terms of generating interest and keeping me engaged, both for its content and Dr. Peter Graf's charismatic presentation. He has been very eloquent. Thanks to Dr. Graf and his openSAP team for this resourceful material. It was wonderful to be a part of this 6-week journey." read the original post

• "Thought Leadership. Delivered.
  A big thank you to Peter Graf and his team for this course, this is the kind of thought leadership we expect from SAP." read the original post

• "Far above average.
  As a person working in sustainability, I have seen and still see a lot of webinars etc. on sustainability topics. Often the webinars are not exactly giving the input the title is promising.
  I am very positively surprised that SAP has done a great job in compiling a comprehensive, very understandable course on all the different aspects and matters in sustainability. I am sure that many people enjoyed the course like I did.
  So, great job guys! Or to use one of the phrases you used: Dare to be real!" read the original post

• "Excellent.
  I wish all online courses are prepared and presented like this one. Short lessons, objective questions, very well presented, easy flow, easy to understand - well done." read the original post

Course Details

• Starting from: April 29, 2014, 09:00 UTC* (What does this mean?)
• Duration: 6 weeks (4 - 6 hours per week)
• Final exam: June 10 - 17, 2014
• Course language: English
• How is an openSAP course structured?

Course Content

Week 1: The Business Case for Sustainability The week contains the following units: Welcome; Root Causes; Sustainable Value Creation; Engaging Top Management; Organizational Setup for Sustainability & The Role of IT

Week 2: Sustainable Strategies The week contains the following units: Crafting a Sustainable Strategy; Stakeholders and Materiality; Analysis and Target Setting; Examples of Environmentally Driven Initiatives; Examples of Socially Driven Initiatives & Examples of Transformational Innovation

Week 3: Sustainable Business Processes (Part 1) The week contains the following units: Embedding Sustainability Into Business Processes; Sustainable Design; Sustainable Sourcing and Procurement; Sustainable Production & Sustainable Logistics

Week 4: Sustainable Business Processes (Part 2) The week contains the following units: Sustainable Consumption; Sustainable End-of-Life Processes; Environmental and Social Capital Accounting; Sustainability in Finance and Administration; Sustainability in HR & Sustainability in IT, aka Green IT

Week 5: Stakeholder Engagement The week contains the following units: Engaging Line of Business Leaders; Engaging Employees; Engaging Society - Corporate Social Responsibility; Engaging Business Partners, Authorities and Opinion Leaders & Engaging Investors

Week 6: Sustainability Reporting The week contains the following units: Purpose, Audiences and Standards; Data Quality and Assurance; Integrated Reporting; Report Delivery; Rankings and Recognition & Recap of Key Course Learnings

Week 7: Final Exam

Target Audience

• Students, young professionals and experts
• Professionals working with SAP customers, SAP customers’ suppliers, prospects or partners
• SAP employees
• The public

Course Requirements

• Basic understanding of business and administration processes
• Basis understanding of industry value chains
• Basic understanding of information technology (IT)
• Interest in sustainability

Development Systems

No development systems are required for this class.