Lecturers from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein traveled to Seville to share their research interests with the students.
Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke, University of Münster and visiting professor at the University of Liechtenstein, introduced the general topic of process science. Other topics covered at the Winter School included the concept of workarounds in BPM, hyperautomation and the social impact of RPA implementation. On the more technical side, there was an outlook on how BPM can provide support in the future.
As BPM is above all an area that has a direct impact on practice, the experience of how processes can be supported by BPM systems was particularly valuable: in one of the slots, the students set up a fully-fledged process including interfaces to Slack and other online services using Camunda 8 - a very impressive achievement, as for many of them it was the first time they had come into contact with such a system.
Konstantin Kudra, Bachelor student of Business Administration at the University of Liechtenstein, emphasized: “From my point of view, the highlights were the lectures on automation and robotics processes and programming. The kayaking was also fun and provided a change of pace. The two dinners together were really great.”
Another participant from the University of Liechtenstein, Tim Rotter, explained: “In addition to the exciting lectures, I particularly liked the fact that we also did a practical example using the Camunda 8 program, where we were allowed to model a BPMN workflow in teams. Another highlight of the Winter School for me was the location in Seville. Two joint dinners and a kayak tour were organized. We got on very well with each other and were able to make new contacts with participants from other universities. In retrospect, however, I would not recommend the ERCIS Winter School for students in their first semester.”
Clarissa Rixmann was also enthusiastic: “There were some highlights, including the lectures, in which we learned a lot about automation and robotics processes, among other things, and were also able to apply our theoretical knowledge in practice in another lesson. These lessons were very varied and I learned a lot of new things. I also really enjoyed kayaking and we were able to see the beautiful city from a different perspective. I would highly recommend the Winter School to other students.”
The week ended with a panel led by Dr. Bernd Schenk from the University of Liechtenstein, among others, to discuss any questions that remained unanswered.