Häufig gestellte Fragen
How does a higher education ERP differ from a standard ERP?
Higher education institutions usually need parallel accounting across cameralistic and double-entry structures, fine-grained funds management via budget titles, accounts and projects, and comprehensive third-party funding management with individual grantor conditions. Added to this are public sector particularities such as the budget law of the German states, collective agreement rules under TV-L and procurement regulations, which an ordinary industrial ERP does not cover out of the box. Standard platforms are therefore either extended with public sector and higher education modules or complemented by specialised solutions such as the higher education ERP modules of HIS eG. The specific setup depends heavily on the size, the responsible state and the depth of customising of the respective institution.
What role does the campus management system play alongside the ERP?
Campus management systems handle the student lifecycle from application through enrolment, module and examination management to graduation, while the ERP takes over the administrative processes around finance, procurement, human resources and third-party funding. The two worlds exchange data on students, fees, scholarships and staff via standardised interfaces. In the German higher education landscape, HISinOne from HIS eG is very widespread - according to its own figures, the cooperative has more than 220 higher education institutions as members; in addition, solutions such as CampusNet or CAMPUSonline as well as in-house developments are in use. A clean coupling of the two systems is crucial so that data does not have to be maintained twice.
How does the ERP support third-party funded projects with different grantors?
A capable higher education ERP models funding lines as separate project structures with stored grantor rules, funding rates, personnel cost categories and reporting deadlines, so that postings are automatically checked against the requirements. This matters because grantors apply different overhead and flat-rate rules: the DFG grants a programme allowance of 22 percent for current awards (raised to 25 percent for new awards from 2027), the BMBF a project allowance of 20 percent, and the EU framework programmes Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe an overhead of 25 percent on direct costs. Funds calls and statements of use can thus be generated semi-automatically in the respective format of the funding organisation, which reduces the manual workload for third-party funding offices that would otherwise have to switch between spreadsheets, funding portals and the ERP.
How high is the share of third-party funding at German higher education institutions and why is this relevant for ERP selection?
Third-party funds account for a considerable share of higher education funding: according to the DFG Funding Atlas, in 2022 around 26.7 billion euros in basic funds stood against around 10.4 billion euros in third-party funds, corresponding to a third-party funding ratio of roughly 28 percent. The federal government was the largest third-party funder, while the DFG's share of higher education third-party funds, at around 31.5 percent, remained at roughly one third. Because these funds are earmarked and must be accounted for to the grantors, the ERP must ensure a clear separation between basic resources and third-party funds as well as project-based full-cost accounting. For system selection, the depth and grantor-rule compliance of third-party funding management is therefore often a key criterion.
Which tax and invoicing obligations must a higher education ERP cover?
As public-law corporations, state higher education institutions must apply the VAT rules under Section 2b UStG on a mandatory basis from 1 January 2027 at the latest, after the transition period was extended several times until the end of 2026. As a result, more economic activities become subject to VAT, which requires a clean mapping of services, contracts and commercial-type operations (Betriebe gewerblicher Art) in the ERP. In parallel, the electronic invoice is the standard in invoicing: public contracting authorities must be able to process structured formats such as XRechnung, and since 1 January 2025 there has been a general obligation in the domestic B2B sector to be able to receive e-invoices compliant with the EN 16931 standard, with a classic PDF invoice alone no longer sufficient for this. A higher education ERP should therefore support these formats, procurement workflows and complete audit trails end to end.
What needs to be considered with parallel bookkeeping between cameralistics and double-entry accounting?
Many higher education institutions are in transition from classic cameralistic budgeting to commercial double-entry bookkeeping (Doppik), in some cases combined with the switch from biennial budgets to multi-year global budgets set by the states. Since this transition is regulated very differently across the federal states, ERP systems often have to run both worlds in parallel and reconcile between them. A higher-education-capable ERP therefore maps cameralistic budget title structures, double-entry accounts and commercial reporting in one consistent data model. This facilitates both internal management and reporting obligations towards ministries and statistical authorities.