Fraser Street - Digital Centre of Excellence: Equipping Students for Success in a Digital World
Fraser Street, a final-year student in Finance, Accounting, and Management at Nottingham University Business School, has fully embraced the opportunities presented through the Digital Centre of Excellence.
The Digital Centre of Excellence supports the integration of digital skills into academic courses. It provides a physical teaching space for modules with digital content and supports students in gaining digital partner certifications in software packages such as SAP S/4 HANA and Microsoft Azure.
The aim is to enable students to become cloud and data ready in an increasingly digital world.
Fraser’s journey with the Digital Centre of Excellence began unexpectedly when he took part in the League of Legends eSports Challenge, organised by Professors Natalie Moore, Andy Callaghan, and Steve Lofthouse.
Fraser explained: “I came across an email about the event and saw an opportunity to attend the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2023 and meet Twitch streamer Broxah. At the time, I had no idea what SAP was. As part of the challenge, I had to create a strategy for an esports team using SAP Analytics Cloud. Teaching myself the software and completing the tasks really opened my eyes to the world of SAP, and I was hooked from there.”
This initial experience along with his curiosity and passion for learning new practical skills, led Fraser to actively seek out further opportunities through the Digital Centre of Excellence. He attended the UK & Ireland SAP User Group conferences in 2023 and 2024, where he expanded his professional network and gained valuable industry insights. These experiences cemented his interest in SAP and motivated him to explore more SAP tools such as Signavio and Datasphere.
Fraser has undertaken several projects through the Digital Centre of Excellence during his time at Nottingham University Business School:
SAP Analytics Cloud eSports Challenge:
Fraser developed a data-driven strategy for top perfoming esports team Team Liquid, handling 20 gigabytes of raw game data from over 8,000 matches. He cleaned, analysed, and visualised data trends, creating dashboards to showcase player performance.
SAP Signavio and Datasphere:
Fraser found a free academic version of Signavio, evaluating the tool along with Datasphere for their potential in academic settings, and provided feedback for an SAP module developed by the Vice President of SAP University Alliances.
Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals Certification:
Fraser earned his Microsoft Azure AI certification over the summer, adding to his growing skillset and CV.
SAP ERPsim Lab:
Collaborating with his peers and professors, Fraser took part in a manufacturing simulation using SAP S/4HANA, focusing on developing profit maximisation and carbon reduction strategies.
Reflecting on his journey, Fraser highlighted the challenges he faced teaching himself complex SAP tools with limited prior knowledge:
“The data I had to work with during the eSports challenge was extensive. I learned to be patient and resilient, realising I’m capable of more than I thought. Attending UKISUG conferences was another challenge. Initially, I lacked the experience to engage with professionals, but by the second year, I was more experienced, prepared and confident.”
Fraser’s involvement with the centre has been transformative. While his degree has provided him with a strong theoretical foundation in finance, accounting and management, his practical experience with SAP tools has helped bridge the gap between academia and industry.
Looking ahead, Fraser hopes to work within businesses using SAP software, leveraging his newly gained technical skills and connections.
Fraser’s advice to his peers is clear:
If competitive edge was a department, it’d be the Digital Centre of Excellence. I’m walking out of my degree with real-world experience and understanding in the systems that businesses use daily. It’s not just the technical side but also the transferrable skills I’ve built: networking, problem solving, and data analysis, to name a few. The connections I’ve formed have given me leads to graduate jobs.
My advice to other students is make use of the centre. It offers so much opportunity and potential and it could quite literally change the course of your life.
