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Management Science I: Optimization & Multicriteria Methods

90-722

Units: 6

Description

This course, along with its companions (90-760 Management Science II: Decision and Risk Modeling, 94-833 Decision Analysis and Multi-Criteria Decision Making, and 95-760 Decision Making Under Uncertainty) are introductory courses in analytics and management science that survey a variety of hands-on quantitative and modeling methods useful to decision makers and analysts. 90-722 focuses on optimization models and methods.

Normally Heinz PPM, HCPM, MBTM, and MEIM students take 90-722 & 90-760, whereas MISM students take 95-760 which pulls examples from the information systems context. Both tracks feed into 94-833, although students with a strong quantitative background can take 94-833 in the first year; none of the other courses are actually a prerequisite for 94-833.

Learning Outcomes

This course and its companion (90-760) have four learning objectives:

  1. Excel proficiency: you should become as comfortable working with spreadsheets as you already should be with word processors. By the end of the course, firing up Excel to model and solve a quantitative problem should be second nature. This skill will be a significant asset on the job market and in your career.
  2. Familiarity with management science techniques: you should learn a variety of management science techniques, what they are capable of, and what their limitations are so that you can intelligently call upon specialists and consultants when the occasion arises.
  3. Technical skills in management science: you should acquire sufficient proficiency with some of those techniques so that you can use them as an “end user modeler”.
  4. Problem solving approach: you should learn how to approach, abstract, and analyze problems from a quantitative, analytical perspective. In short, you should be able to use the language of mathematical modeling. In the course, we will work through small “cases” to help you connect the methods to a problem that is richer than the typical end of chapter problem.

Prerequisites Description

No formal pre-requisite courses.

Syllabus