MAN 256

INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

Summer 2014
M 8:40-10:30
T 15:40-17:30
Th 10:40-12:30
In MA 201
Instructor : Nagihan Çömez Dolgan
Office : MAZ 20
Phone : (312) 290 3069
E-mail : comez@bilkent.edu.tr
Office hours : Tuesday 13:30 – 15:30 and Thursday 14:00 – 15:00 and by appointment

Labs : In the weeks to be announced by the instructor in the computer lab to be

announced by the instructor.

Course description: This course will enable you to build, solve and analyze quantitative
decision making models which can be applied to a wide variety of business problems in
various contexts.

Course themes: Model building, quantitative decision making methods, spreadsheet

solutions.

Prerequisites: MATH 227 Introduction to Linear Algebra.

Learning outcomes: Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to:
(1) identify the need for quantitative managerial decision making tools to improve
decision making in a business context and apply the appropriate tools,
(2) demonstrate and understanding of building blocks of quantitative managerial
decision making models,
(3) build quantitative managerial decision making models which allow you to get
maximum values from business strategies, recognize inherent assumptions, interpret
the data and evaluate arguments when the firm has a single or multiple objectives
and faces various constraints,
(4) solve and analyze quantitative decision making models using spreadsheets,
(5) analyze the best solution with respect to changes in the parameters of the problem,
and evaluate solutions.

Learning resources:
Textbook: The required textbook for this course is Introduction to Management Science, B.W.
Taylor (available at the bookstore).

Software: The Add-In Solver for Microsoft Excel for Windows will be used extensively; to see
if your copy of Excel has Solver, pull down the “Tools” header on the top of your screen and
check if there is a command “Solver”. If not, you should invoke “Add-Ins”, and check if Solver
is among the available add-ins. If not, you should reinstall Excel fully. If you are using 2007
version, invoke Excel Options in the startup menu and check Add-Ins.

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MOODLE: I will post the slides, deadlines, homework assignments, key to selected problems,
cancellations, postponements, etc. on MOODLE throughout the term. Please check it
frequently to see if new material has been placed. E-mails will also be sent to your Bilkent e-
mail addresses to announce the important news through the BAIS system. Students are also
responsible to check Moodle frequently and report any record that does not match their
own grade (e.g., missing or wrong grade for any assignment) within one week after the date
the information is posted.

Assessment and Grading

The breakdown of the grading of the course will be as follows:
Attendance & Class participation 5%
Computer Exercises 15%
Project 15%
In-class Quizzes 20% (Both paper and computer-based quizzes)
Midterm exam 35% on July 4, 2012
Final exam 10%

For the final letter grade, I look for natural breakpoints among total weighted scores. The
particular grade depends on respective class performance.

Eligibility to Take the Final Exam: To be eligible to take the final exam, you should attend at
least 50% of each of classes, lab sessions, and in-class quizzes. Otherwise, you get an FZ
grade.

Class and Lab Attendance: You are expected to attend all lab and class lectures, arrive on
time, and stay in the room for the entire session. If you have an excuse to miss an entire or a
portion of a session, you should inform the instructor in advance.

Class Participation: You are expected to participate in class discussions, answer and ask
questions. These questions are intended to help you better understand the concepts and
learn the mechanics of specific solutions approaches. From time to time you are expected to
write the answers of some questions in 10-15 minute sessions during classes. Please note the
importance of coming to classes prepared.

Project
This course aims to introduce students methods for identifying and solving optimization
problems. In order to bring these concepts to life, you will be preparing projects to identify
and model a real world optimization problem. Students will select an actual situation and use
the concepts from class to define the problem, build an optimization model, and solve it. You
can work in groups or choose to work individually.

An example of such a problem could be which marketing plan you should choose in light of
their premiums, benefits, and available resources. Another example can be to support
decisions for which products to carry in your retail assortment. It is not absolutely necessary
to have actual data for the problem, realistic values for model input parameters can be
determined based on qualitative research results.

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There are three deliverables of the project; (i) a written report that is maximum of five pages
defining the business problem and providing the mathematical model used, (ii) a
spreadsheet that is working to solve your business problem, consistent with your developed
mathematical model, and user friendly for anyone’s use, (iii) a 10-minutes in-class
presentation to introduce your model and spreadsheet solution to classmates.

The students will present their work in class within the week of July 14-17. Your project will be
graded according its business application attractiveness, richness of content, consistency
between mathematical model and spreadsheet, and user friendliness of the spreadsheet.
Students submitting spreadsheets that are not unique will receive a zero grade for the
project!

Homework assignments & Quizzes: To help developing your understanding of the material,
some problems will be recommended after completion of each subject. No homework
submission is required unless it is explicitly stated by the instructor. Rather, I will occasionally
give a pop-up quiz based on these assignments, concepts covered, and cases assigned for
discussion. There will be no make-up for quizzes missed. The homeworks will be posted on
MOODLE.

Midterm Exam: The midterm exam will be given in-class. During the exam all books and
notes will be closed.

Final Examination: The final exam will take place during the finals period (date to be
announced). The final exam is going to be comprehensive, i.e. it might include all the material
covered throughout the semester.

Make-up Exam Policy: If you miss the midterm exam and can document a health problem
approved by the university health center or another valid excuse, you will take a makeup
exam before the end of classes, which will be a comprehensive exam. There will be no make-
up for the final exam. Instead, you can the retake exam, if you are eligible to.

Academic Honesty:
Learning is enhanced through cooperation and as such you are encouraged to work in
groups, ask for and give help freely in all appropriate settings. At the same time, as a matter
of personal integrity, you should only represent your own work as yours. Any work that is
submitted to be evaluated in this class should be an original piece of writing, presenting your
ideas in your own words. Everything you borrow from books, articles, or web sites (including
those in the syllabus) should be properly cited. Although you are encouraged to discuss your
ideas with others (including your friends in the class), it is important that you do not share
your writing (slides, MS Excel files, reports, etc.) with anyone. Using ideas, text and other
intellectual property developed by someone else while claiming it is your original work is
plagiarism. Copying from others or providing answers or information, written or oral, to
others is cheating. Unauthorized help from another person or having someone else write
one’s paper or assignment is collusion. Cheating, plagiarism and collusion are serious
offenses that could result in disciplinary action. Please pay utmost attention to avoid such
accusations. Please visit
http://www.provost.bilkent.edu.tr/procedures/AcademicHonesty.htm to see the university’s
policy on plagiarism.

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 COURSE TIMELINE*

Week Date Topic Readings

1 June 9-12 Linear programming: Model formulation and • Chapter 1
graphical solution • Chapter 2
2 June 16-19 Computer solution & Sensitivity analysis • Chapter 3
3 June 23-26 Advanced Linear programming models Chapters 4, 6, 7
4 June 30-July 3 Integer Models Chapter 5
5 July 7-10 • Midterm Exam
• Multi Criteria Decision Making Chapter 9
6 July 14-17 • Introduction to Probabilistic Models
• Project presentations
7 July 21-24 Simulation Chapter 14
Final Exam

*Please note that above is a tentative outline of the course and those topics might be
expanded, reduced, or rearranged as the course progresses.