RP school ties up with US IT firm

Asia Pacific College (APC) has formed an alliance with Great Plains Software Philippines, the local subsidiary of Great Plains of the US, to incorporate Great Plains Dynamics into the college‘s accounting curriculum.

Under the Great Plains-APC partnership, APC will be using Great Plains Dynamics version 6.0 in the Operations Management class, "as an instrument to automate operations management," according to Jed Loma, APC program director for Commerce.

Great Plains Dynamics is said to be a cost-effective, easy-to-implement solution that delivers Internet-ready accounting and business management capabilities to a business. It enables easy access to information, is fully integrated with Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic applications, and works well with other industry-leading time-tested e-business solutions.

APC chose Great Plains because of three things. "First of all, we know that Great Plains is one of the award-winning companies in the US," Loma explained. Among other citations. It was ranked No. 15 in Fortune Magazine’s "100 Best Companies To Work For" in January 2000.

Loma also said they are aware of the company‘s active involvement in the Philippines as it expanded operations and put up its regional office in the country. Thirdly, APC wants its students to be exposed in the "Great Plains culture and products" so they would want to work for the company.

Loma added that the current partnership might have to be expanded if the college wants to get the full benefit of using Great Plains products. The commerce department plans to establish a free unit course, Financial Accounting Plus, in the next term, which will immerse students into the Dynamics product through a full-blown laboratory.