IEOR 180
Senior Project
Fall 2008
Instructor:
Professor Phil Kaminsky
Office: 4179 Etcheverry Hall
Phone: 642-4927
Email: kaminsky@ieor.berkeley.edu
Office Hours:
Tuesday 1:00-2:00
Thursday 3:30-4:30
or by appointment.
GSI
Ankit Gupta
Office Hours: TBD
Email: ankitgupta@berkeley.edu
Course Meeting:
Tuesday 4:00-6:00 Room 3107 Etcheverry
Objectives:
By the end of this course, you will have identified and investigated a real problem in a
manufacturing, service, or governmental organization, and formulated, analyzed, solved,
and implemented (or planned the implementation of) a proposed solution to the problem. In
recent years, students have studied retail, wholesale, manufacturing, distribution,
transportation, marketing, and financial planning problems, among others. Organizations
have ranged from small local companies and organizations within the university, to large
international companies.
In addition, you will have developed and enhanced your oral and written communication
skills. Good organization, clarity, precision, persuasiveness, and correct usage and grammar
will be expected. Projects will be undertaken in teams of three to five students, and each
team will be required to (among other things) turn in a final report and give a final oral
presentation (25-30 minutes) at the end of the semester. You are also strongly encouraged
to give a presentation at your client's site.
Finally, we will take some time during the class to explore issues relating to business and
engineering ethics. This will be done through the discussion of cases and articles in the
course reader.
Text:
IEOR180 Course Reader (Available at Copy Central, 2483 Hearst at Euclid)
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Pocket Guide to Technical Writing (4th Edition) by William Pfeiffer (2007: Prentice-Hall).
(This edition may be called Pocket Guide to Technical Communication)
This is a small useful book that covers various aspects of technical writing.
Although not required, this book will probably be helpful to you as you write the
various required reports discussed below.
Grading:
Grades will be based on class participation (individual grades), the quality of your written
reports (team grade), and the quality of your final presentation (team grade).
Course Meetings:
Course meetings will consist primarily of discussions of project progress. Each group
should be prepared to informally discuss project progress at each class meeting. In addition,
on some weeks, groups will be required to give formal (typically PowerPoint) presentations.
All other groups will be expected to provide comments and suggestions. Later in the
semester, individual groups may be assigned certain class times for “workshops”, to explore
individual projects in more depth.
In addition several course meetings (or portions of course meetings) will be devoted to
discussions of the cases in the reader. Readings will be assigned one week ahead of time.
Assignments and Due Dates:
Various reports are required to be turned in throughout the semester. Reports should be turned
in at the start of class on the dates listed. On each report, list the names of the team members,
your contact person, client organization, and phone number. Submit one copy of each report,
and please keep copies of your reports.
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Progress Reports-- due September 9th, September 23rd, October 7th, October 21st, November
4th
The purpose of the progress reports is to keep the instructor and TAs informed of the status
of your project. This will allow us to provide appropriate guidance, intervention, etc., as
needed. The reports should be as succinct as possible (one paragraph up to one page). All
team members should sign the report. Indicate who the author(s) is (are).
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Identification of Client Organization (1 page)--due September 16th
Provide the following information:
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Contact person(s)
Department, Division, etc.
Name of Client Organization
Phone number
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e-mail address (if available)
List of potential projects
Company Background Report and Preliminary Problem Statement (2 - 3 pages)--due
September 30th
The Company Background Report and Preliminary Problem Statement should be a draft of
the Introduction section of your (final) report. The Company Background Report should
provide the name of the client organization, the department or division (if applicable), a
description of the nature of the organization (type of business, nature of products or
services, etc.), and a brief history of the organization if relevant. The report should include
pertinent data on size, geographic location of headquarters, number of facilities and
approximate geographical locations (e.g., Bay Area, Southwestern U.S., international with
concentration in Europe), revenues, profits, etc. You will find it helpful to secure a copy of
the organization's annual report (if available), copies of sales brochures, and other generally
available information, and to review the organization's web site if available.
The Preliminary Problem Statement should provide an overview of the problem that you are
likely to address. In particular, it should explain the problem context, what can be decided
or changed, and the various economic, organizational, political, or other factors or
constraints that are relevant.
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Problem Statement Report (2 to 4 pages)—due October 14th
This report should contain a detailed description of your problem, including:
1. A description of the context in which the problem arises.
2. A statement and justification of assumptions and constraints.
3. A description of any uncertainties, and an explanation of how you intend to deal
with them.
4. An explanation of decision variables.
5. A description of the performance measures or goals. (Be precise.)
6. A detailed explanation of how the decision variables affect the performance
measures.
For some problems, points 3 through 5 above can be explained using precise mathematical
notation (including a formulation). In other cases, this may not be possible. In either
situation, however, you should try to be as clear and as precise as possible.
This report should be written so that a typical non-technical manager who is not necessarily
familiar with the details of the organization can understand it. Any material of a technical
nature should be included in an Appendix.
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Analysis and Data Collection (1 to 2 pages)—due October 28th
This report should provide an explanation of your data collection efforts and any
preliminary analysis of the problem. It should also provide a work plan for the remainder of
the project. Shortly after this report has been submitted, each group should schedule a
meeting with the instructor to discuss the status of the project and the work plan in detail.
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Summary and Results Report (1 to 2 pages)—due November 18th
This report should summarize findings, results, quantifiable and non-quantifiable benefits
of, and any recommendation from your project. It should provide insights about the reasons
for your recommendations, including examples, models, analysis techniques, etc.
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Draft of Final Report--due November 25th
This is an opportunity to obtain feedback without prejudice on the final version. Feedback
will be available no later than May 1st
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Final Report--due December 9th, 5 p.m. (tentative)
You should submit one copy of your report to your client, and one copy to the instructor.
Final Reports will not be returned.
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Presentations--to be arranged
Each group will have 30 minutes for a final project presentation.
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For the second class, read the case entitled Martha McCaskey in the reader, and prepare
(written) answers to the following questions:
1. What exactly are the problems that Martha McCaskey is facing? Do you agree with
her assessment of the situation?
2. How did McCaskey end up in this situation? What are some the personal,
organizational, and environmental forces that helped lead to this predicament?
3. How would you handle this situation as McCaskey? As Ty Richardson? As a
member of the executive committee in the Chicago head office?
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Additional ethics readings will be assigned.
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Guidelines and Caveats:
1. You should organize yourselves into teams of four or five. Past experience suggests that
large teams have problems with logistics (inability to meet regularly, difficulties in
coordinating the work, etc.), while small teams have difficulties managing the workload.
You should try to organize teams with an adequate portfolio of skills. You will find it
helpful to have at least one team member with substantive work experience and/or very
strong interpersonal skills, one with good computer skills, one with very strong technical
skills, and one with excellent writing skills.
2. You should find a faculty advisor whose interests and expertise are appropriate for your
project. The faculty advisor is there to provide you with feedback regarding your approach
to solving the problems faced by your client. The faculty advisor is not there to solve the
clients' problems for you.
3. Try to gather as much information as possible during your first and second visits to your
client's site. For a manufacturing or service organization, you should request a tour of the
facilities related to your problem area and brief (or longer) meetings with supervisory or
management personnel in that area. For other types of organizations, you should request a
meeting with the decision-maker(s) and others who have relevant background information.
Very early in the semester, you should ask your faculty advisor accompany you to the client
site. This will allow us to provide better guidance as you pursue your project.
4. It is critical that you identify a contact person at your client organization who is in a
position (with respect to both time availability and authority) to provide you access to
relevant facilities, individuals and data.
5. You should try to choose a problem that interests you, that does not need a solution
instantaneously, and that can be handled within one semester. Clearly, you are likely to get
more support and assistance from your client's organization if the problem is something of
interest to them, also. On the other hand, a problem suggested by your client may be too
focused, or it may be inconsistent with your skills and background. Thus, a little
negotiation may be necessary. The instructor or your faculty advisor can assist you with
this.
6. You should expect to spend about six hours per week at your client's site. Initially, a
substantial portion of your time may be spent observing and asking questions. Later in the
semester, you may need to collect data, etc.
7. The members of your team should meet frequently and regularly. Although it may be wise
to divide the work among members of the team, close coordination is essential for a
successful project. Teamwork will help your project proceed more smoothly.
8. Try to be considerate of the personnel at your client's site. Be punctual and prepared for
meetings, and make every attempt to use their time efficiently.
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9. Your work on these projects will require you to draw upon your past and current courses,
and in many cases, to learn new material in dependently. You are encouraged to use
libraries, computers, common sense, friends, classmates, faculty and any other resources
you need to solve the problem. Although most project groups use computers in the course
of their work, you should view the computer as a tool to help you analyze and solve the
problem, and should be careful not to lose sight of the problem as you perform data
analysis, computation, optimization, etc. Also, you should avoid delivering complicated
software which your client will not be able to support.
Format, Organization and Contents of Final Reports:
See the text for details.
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Letter of Transmittal (Cover letter)
Title Page (including title of project, names of authors)
Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction (adapted from Company Background Report and Preliminary Problem
Statement)
3. Problem Statement (adapted from Problem Statement Report)
4. Problem Analysis and Solution (expanded from Preliminary Analysis and Data
Collection Report)
5. Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations
Bibliography or References
Appendices (if needed)
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