University of La Verne College of Business and Public Management Master’s in data Analytics Problem Solving Approaches MDA 572 Instructor & Class Specific Information: Name: Dr. Yehia Mortagy Contact Information: o E-mail: ymortagy@laverne.edu. Some send their e-mail to the wrong address, please copy this address and use it. o Phone # and text messages: Office: 909-448-4556 o Office Location: Landis 224-C Class Sessions Time & Location: Tuesday 6:00-9:50 pm; CBPM 142 Office Hours: o Monday & Wednesday 11:05 - 11:40 am & 1:50 – 3:30 pm o By appointment in the office or using Zoom. Please schedule time with instructor. Zoom link is https://ulv-edu.zoom.us/j/4310521436 o I am available during regular day time, and on class day from 5:00 to class time. Considering that many have full time jobs, we can always meet using zoom based on our availabilities. Please send an e-mail or a text message so we can schedule a Zoom meeting. Simple questions can be answered by a text message or a phone call Course Objectives: At the end of the course students will be able to 1- Students will remember the importance of creating monitoring system including appropriate metrics to track - e.g., critical success factors, or KPI - and discover possible problems. 2- Students will identify and analyze the problems to determine causes, type of problem. 3- Students will Implement several problem identifications approaches to recognize a problem to determine the causes. 4- Students will understand the type of problems they are facing. 5- Students will determine the appropriate problem-solving approach and implement it (e.g., optimization, forecasting & predictive analytics) Course Topics: What is Problem Solving Models Definition of Problem Definition of Problem Solving Definition of Decision Making Approaches Analysis o Root Cause o Visualization o Pareto Principle Descriptive: How we make decisions o Simon’s model o Heuristics o Scripts (Schank) o Alison, Graham Prescriptive Approaches o Linear Programming o Forecasting Regression Analysis Multi-variable Non-Linear Logistic Regression o Decision Trees & CART Predictive (Data Mining) o Supervised o Unsupervised o Evolution of AI Textbook and other material Text Jaggia, Kelly, Lertwachara, Chen “Business Analytics; communications with numbers” McGraw Hill, latest edition. Hyndman, R. & Athanasopoulus, G. “Forecasting, Principles and Practice” 2nd edition, O-Text online open access textbooks, OR “Forecasting: Principles and Practice”; by Rob J Hyndman and George Athanasopoulos. Monash University, Australia Others: (not required) Allison, Graham “Essence of Decision”. A classic textbook but is difficult to find. La Verne library has a copy. I, too, have a copy that I can check out for a limited number of days. “Business Forecasting: Practical Problems and Solutions”; by Michael Gilliland, Len Tashman, Udo Sglavo “Forecasting Methods and Applications” 3rd Edition; by STEVEN C. SPYROS MAKRIDAKIS Kahneman, D. “Thinking Fast & Slow”; a PDF version is available on-line Articles: (This is a long list for those who are interested in knowing the history and evolution of the subject matter. I included classic articles and others that have been written by the founders of the field. Articles and issues that are included in examinations will be clearly defined.) Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. “Judgment Under uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases”. A copy is available on Blackboard. Grade The number grade is divided between four activities, some are individuals while others are group. Cases, Papers/Assignments - 50% Tests (including oral test) - 25% In-class Participation 25% All submissions should be written as a business report or case analysis reports. This means that it should be comprehensive, consisting of direct statements with minimum use of adjectives or adverbs. An example of the recommended paper and case reports structure is available online. The instructor reserves the right to change the student grade by a factor of 10% based on the student attendance and participation in the class and performance improvement during the course. Academic Honesty: Recent technology developments, e.g., Generative AI, have created tools that students may use to develop papers and solve class assignments. This class allows students to benefit from these tools as long as: 1- Appropriate citations are used. 2- Students fully understand and comprehend the material. The instructor reserves the right to ask students to clarify statements and concepts stated in their submissions. If a student is unable to answer questions, the grade will be negatively affected including receiving a 0 on the assignment and/or the class. Each student is responsible for performing academic tasks in such a way that honesty is not in question. Unless an exception is specifically defined by an instructor, students are expected to maintain the following standards of integrity: a. All tests, term papers, oral and written assignments, recitations, and all other academic efforts are to be the work of the student presenting the material. b. Any use of wording, ideas, or findings of other persons, writers, or researchers requires the explicit citation of the source; use of the exact wording requires a "quotation" format. c. Deliberately supplying material to a student for purposes of plagiarism is also culpable. When academic honesty is in question, the following may occur: It should be understood that the college and university policies specifies that: A faculty member who has clear evidence that academic honesty has been violated may take appropriate disciplinary action. Appropriate disciplinary action may include, but is not limited to, requiring the student to rewrite a paper or retake a test, giving the student an F on the assignment and/or in the course, and/or recommending expulsion. If the action includes giving a course grade of NCR or F and/or a recommendation for expulsion because of academic dishonesty, the faculty member must report the action to the Department Chair and/or Academic Dean (or to the Campus/Program Director for off-campus situations). Expulsion for academic dishonesty will be noted on the student's transcript by the words "Expelled for Academic Dishonesty." Your continued enrollment in this course denotes understanding of and compliance with all elements of this syllabus. Other Policies Please bring your book with you to class. Strict adherence to university policy No chewing gum. No cell phones or pagers, in the class. Furniture is to be used for its intended purpose. Scantron 882-ES. For each test please bring 2. Though most of the tests are less than 100 questions, it is better to be safe. Problems Introduction and Definition of Terms Problem Solving Decision Making Herbert Simon Model How we think and solve problems Heuristics (descriptive approaches) Scripts & Frames How we should solve problems Analysis Tools (prescriptive approaches) Tools Some Problem Solving Techniques Solution Approaches Forecasting