Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala

L M Thapar School of Management

MBA-1st Year (I Semester – EST) OP5306: Excel Modeling for Decision Making
Date: 27 November 2019
Time: 2 Hours 45 Min; Max. Marks: 40 Name of Faculty: Dr. Sandeep Goyal & Dr. Amit K Bhardwaj

Paper Set 2

Student Name: _____________________ Roll No.: ____________________ Section: ____

INSTRUCTIONS
All the SIX Questions below are compulsory. Please refrain from using any unfair means. If found, you will be dealt with as per
university rules and regulations. Please solve the questions on your laptops and provide all the requested details on this answer sheet.

Note: Please ensure that right data values, currency symbols, units of measurement and number formats are used for all data
points, inputs and outputs. If data values are copied wrongly or currency symbols, or units of measurement are mentioned
wrongly, no marks will be awarded.

Q1. Roger is working as an Operations Manager for GLOBAL FORGINGS Inc. The company manufactures forgings at three locations
- Pittsburg (Pi), Toronto (To), and Philadelphia (Ph). The maximum daily manufacturing capacity at these three locations is as
follows: Pittsburg (40 tons/day), Toronto (80 tons/day), and Philadelphia (60 tons/day). The company makes a supply of these forgings
at three locations – Albany (Al), Buffalo (Bu), and Cleveland (Cl). The minimum daily demand of forgings at these three locations
is as follows - Albany (70 tons per day), Buffalo (60 tons per day), and Cleveland (50 tons per day). The table below shows the overall
transportation cost (in dollars) per ton of forging for shipping from one manufacturing location to a specific demand location.
a) Solve the following transportation problem to minimize transportation cost and give criteria for optimality. Explain your inference in
terms of how much quantity of forgings should be shipped from one location to another and what is the minimum overall transportation
cost? [7 Marks]

Answer 1)

A) Results (After Running Excel Solver):

Al Bu Cl

Pi

To
Ph

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 • Total Quantity Shipped from Pi, T and Ph locations & Received by Al, Bu and Cl locations:

Pi To Ph
Actual Quantity Shipped
(tons)
Al Bu Cl
Actual Quantity Received
(tons)

• Overall Transportation Cost in dollars: ______________________

B) Fill up Excel Solver Layout Details:

C) Formulas Used and Explanation for Different Variables:

Variable Formulas Used & Explanation

Set Objective

Constraints Variables
& Conditions

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Q2. You are working for an Advertising distribution company. You allocate different advertisements to different TV programs. The
below table lists down key different TV programs. For each TV program, following details are provided. Number of viewers (in million)
in different age groups watching a particular TV program, Cost (in thousands of dollars) of putting a 30-second advertisement or
commercial on that TV program and minimum numbers of viewers (in millions) in different age groups, an advertiser expects to see his
advertisement.
For example, it costs $100,000 to place a 30 second advertisement on Discovery Channel, this show is watched by 6 million males and
1 million females in age group of 18 to 35 years. The advertiser wants at least 28 million Males whose age must be more than 55-years
to see his advertisements.
a) How should the advertisements be placed (How many advertisements and on which TV programs) so that company incurs
minimum cost of advertisements? Provide details regarding total number of advertisements, total cost of advertising and allocation to
which channels. [7 Marks]

Answer 2)
A) Results (After Running Excel Solver):
• Number / Count of Advertisements on each TV program

TV Program Number of Advertisements in Optimal Solution

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 • How many actual numbers of viewers (in millions) are calculated for each Age Group in Excel Solver?

M 18-35 M 36-55 M >55 F 18-35 F 36-55 F >55

6 3 1 9 4 2
6 5 3 1 1 1
5 2 0 4 2 0
0.5 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.1 0
0.7 0.2 0 0.9 0.1 0
0.1 0.1 0 0.6 1.3 0.4
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.3
1 2 4 1 3 4
Actual Count of Viewers
in each Group (millions) –
calculated by Solver

• Overall Advertising Cost in dollars: ______________________

B) Fill up Excel Solver Layout Details:

C) Formulas Used and Explanation for Different Variables:

Variable Formulas Used & Explanation

Set Objective

Constraints Variables
& Conditions

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Q3. Abacus Software Inc. is creating a core team of 15 top performing software engineers (SE). This team will work on mission-critical
projects for high-profile clients globally. Mr. Patrick, Vice-President (VP) of Abacus has got a list of top 30 Software Engineers (SEs)
working across different projects in the company. Patrick need to evaluate these 30 profiles and short-list 15 SEs, who will work full-
time as a part of this core team. Abacus Software has set up an annual budget for the next six years (2015-2020) for this core team. The
overall cost (salaries etc.) of SEs who will be selected in a core team can't exceed the annual budget mentioned in table below (in $ '000)
for each year. The table below also highlights annual revenues, which can be generated by each SE. For example, Annual budget for
Year 1 (2015) is $4000000. SE1 generates annual revenue of $ 1140 (MN). Annual cost on SE1 is $285000 in Year 1 (2015) and so on.
Another point of consideration for Patrick is that SE22 and SE25 always work together. Either both will join the core team or none of
them will be in core team. Similarly, SE1, SE2 and SE6 always work together. Either all three SEs will be a part of core team or none
of them will be in core team. Considering all this, which Software Engineers (SEs), Patrick should select to maximize the revenue
generation? [7 Marks]

Answer 3)
A) Results (After Running Excel Solver):

• List down 15 SEs are selected for the core team (For Example SE1, SE3 etc.)

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• How much is the actual consumption of annual budget every year (in $000) after running Excel Solver?

Year 1 (2015): ___________ Year 2 (2016): ___________ Year 3 (2017): _______________

Year 4 (2018): ___________ Year 5 (2019): ___________ Year 6 (2020): _______________

• Total Revenue Contributed by selected SEs (in $ Million): ______________________

B) Fill up Excel Solver Layout Details:

C) Formulas Used and Explanation for Different Variables:

Variable Formulas Used & Explanation

Set Objective

6
 Constraints Variables
& Conditions

Q4a. You need to borrow $40,000 for buying a new car. Bank of New York has agreed to give you a loan of USD 40,000. The duration
of the loan is 48 months. The annual rate of interest being charged is 9.85%. Calculate the following:
1. How much will be the monthly EMI to pay back this loan in 48 months? [2 Marks]
2. How much will be the total interest paid over 48 months loan period? [2 Marks]

Answer 4a) Monthly EMI or Installment ($): _________________________________________

Total Interest Paid during loan duration ($): _________________________________________

Formulas Used and Variables (Names and Values):

Variable Formulas Syntax and Formula used with variables

EMI Calculation ($)

Interest Paid
Calculation ($)

Q 4b. You have opted for a Retirement scheme offered by HDFC bank. In this scheme, you have to invest Rs 25000 today. Going
further, you will have to invest Rs 5000 every year end for next 20 years. Assuming cost of capital (interest rate) as 7.5% per annum.
How much money (retiral income), you will get after 20 years. [2 Marks]

Answer 4b) Retiral Income after 20 Years (Rs.): _________________________________________

Formulas Used and Variables (Names and Values):

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 Variable Formulas Syntax and Formula used with variables

Retiral Income (Rs)

Q 5. You have been appointed as a basketball coach for the US national team. The selection committee has provided you a master-data
comprising the annual performance scores for different area-level basketball teams over the last five years (2014-2018). Using excel
functions, how will you find out the score of specific basketball team, when somebody asks you randomly. Create a logic using excel
formulas to find out the following:
[2+2+1+3 Marks]
5.1/ Performance Score of Red Sox team in Year 2018.
5.2/ Total (Overall) Performance Score of five years for Brewers team.
5.3/ Use appropriate excel formula to convert and mention the overall performance score of Rangers team to nearest multiple of 25.
5.4/ Extract the Middle Name "Black" from the “Diamond&Black&White” Team Name using appropriate excel formulas and logic.

Answers 5.1 – 5.4)

A) Results (Along with Logic and Formulas Syntax and Variables being used):

• Performance Score of Red Sox team in Year 2018:

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 • Total (Overall) Performance Score (2014-2018) for Brewers team:

• Overall Performance Score (2014-2018) for Rangers team to nearest multiple of 25: ______________

• Extract the Middle Name "Black" from the “Diamond&Black&White” Team Name

Q6. LMTSM is conducting an annual inter-college Sport Event in December 2019. There are more than 20 schools, who have confirmed
the participation in the 3 days annual sports event. The fixed cost of this event is Rs 300,000. 20 judges are invited to evaluate the
winners in different games. Each judge will be paid Rs 20000 for the participation. Boarding, Lodging and Food expenses for each judge
is budgeted at Rs 8000 per head for the whole event. Similarly, boarding, lodging, and food expenses for each student participant from
other colleges is budgeted at Rs 4,000 per head for the whole event. There will be 30 Students, who will be identified as winners in
different games and will be given a cash prize of Rs 18000 each. LMTSM has fixed an entry fees of Rs 9300 in total for each confirmed
participant (student) from other colleges in the annual sports event. How many paid participants (students) from different colleges need
to participate in the event so that LMTSM sports event reaches breakeven (no profit, no loss)?
[5 Marks]

A) Results:

• Minimum No. of Paid Student Participants Required for Break-Even Status: ________________

B) Fill up the Below Layout Details:

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C) Formulas Used and Explanation for Different Variables:

Variable Formulas Used & Explanation

Overall Profits

D) Problem Layout / List down different parameters which will be used to solve this problem:

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