BUS 440 2007-Spring
Prof.. George Z. Zhang
WMX 5357, 291-5559
gzhang@sfu.ca or george.zhang@wwu.edu
website: www.bus.sfu.ca/homes/gzhang/BUS440.htm
Detailed Course Outline of BUS 440
Our class meets on Tuesday from 9:30 am – 1:20 pm in RC Brown 6125.
Note: This course outline is subject to changes. However, we will try to follow the
schedule as closely as possible.
Course Coverage
Week 1.
Jan 9 – Introduction to the course/Introduction to Simulation Models (Ch. 1/Ch.2)
Using Excel basic functions.
Comparison between SM and AM. (Ch.2/Ch.3) An Overview on SMs. Major
Components of an SM. Types of SMs. Building and running a Fixed Time Increment
Models (FTIM). (Ch.3)
PowerPoint Lecture Notes: B440LN1.ppt, B440LN2.ppt, B440LN2a.ppt
No Excel exercises.
Week 2.
Jan 16 – Comparison between SM and AM. (Ch.2/Ch.3) An Overview on SMs. Major
Components of an SM. Types of SMs. Building and running a Fixed Time Increment
Models (FTIM). (Ch.3)
PowerPoint Lecture Notes: B440LN1.ppt, B440LN2.ppt, B440LN2a.ppt
Excel Exercises Assignment: Generating Random values with a specific distribution.
EXCEL functions for modeling.
Week 3.
Jan. 23 -- Building a spreadsheet based model, Summarizing output data (statistical
analysis), Using EXCEL’s Data/Table to repeat simulations. “What-if” analysis in
simulation models.
B440LN2.ppt and B440LN2a.
1st Hand-in Assignment is given this week.
Excel Exercises Assignment: EXCEL functions for simulation models.
Ch.2 Page 11, Group B: 2.2.
Ch.3 Page 30, Group A: 3.2.
Week 4.
Jan. 30. FTIM applications: SM in Finance – Financial models: Capital Budgeting
models, Stock Market Models. B440LN3.ppt (Ch.6/Ch.7) Spreadsheet SM in Finance.
1st Assignment is due today.
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Excel Exercises: Ch 6. Page 63: 6.2.
Week 5.
Feb. 6. FTIM applications SMs in Finance: B440LN3.ppt. Option Pricing Models.
(Ch.16/Ch.17) 2nd Assignment is given.
Excel Exercises: Ch 16. Page 153, 16.1.
Week 6.
Feb. 13. Simulation Models with random number of occurrences of events. Market
Share models. B440LN4.ppt (Ch.20)
2nd Assignment is due today.
Operations SMs – Maintenance/Replacement Models (Ch.14).
Excel Exercises: Ch 20. Page 189, 20.1, 20.2.
Week 7.
Feb. 20 Midterm Exam – Class Time
Excel Exercises: TBA
Week 8.
Mar. 2. Market Share Models continue..
Excel Exercises: TBA
Week 9.
Feb. 27. Operations SMs – Maintenance/Replacement Models (Ch.14).
B440LN4.ppt.
Inventory Models (Ch.23)
3rd Assignment is given today.
Excel Exercises: Ch 23. Page 214. 23.2.
Week 10.
Mar. 6. Maintenance/Replacement Models (Ch.14).
B440LN4.ppt.
Inventory Models (Ch.23)
3rd Assignment is due today.
Excel Exercises: Practice using SimView. SimView Lab-note 1, 2.
Week 11.
Mar. 13. Inventory Models/Queueing Models
Excel Exercises: TBA
Week 12.
Mar. 20. Queueing Models (Lecture Notes and Ch.24).
Excel Exercises: TBA
Week 13.
March 27. Modeling input processes. Data collection, Finding a distribution for a data
set, Estimating the parameters of the distributions, Testing the fit of a distribution to a
real data set using Chi-square test. (Lecture Notes).
Excel Exercises – TBA
Week 14.
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April 3 - Final Exam Date and Place : Check the University Website.
Final Exam: TBA
Administration of BUS 440
Course Materials Available on course website:
 Detailed course outline (this one).
 Some PowerPoint Lecture Notes files are posted on the web or LAN only before
the lectures: Filename: B404LN#.ppt
 Other course materials.
To get to the course website, you do the followings:
(1) go to www.bus.sfu.ca/homes/gzhang/gzhang.htm
(2) click on the “teaching – course notes”
(3) follow the link to BUS440. Or you can get there directly by accessing
www.bus.sfu.ca/homes/gzhang/BUS440.htm
Course Description:
After taking this course, students are expected to be able to (1) build two classes of
simulation models for solving a variety of business problems, (2) design a simulation
run, (3) summarize and interpret the simulation outputs, and (4) evaluate and validate a
simulation model. In addition, students will also learn how to use EXCEL and SimView
to implement the simulation analysis cycle. Applications of simulation models in
several business functional area such as finance, marketing, and production will be
presented in this course.
Course Organization:
Students will formulate models and solve problems with computer aids.
Prerequisite: BUS336, BUEC333; 60 credit hours.
Evaluation:
Assignments
15%
Midterm Exam
35%
Final Exam (or term project)
50%
Total
100%
These weights apply to ALL students with NO exception.
Required textbook : Simulation Modeling Using @RISK, Winston, 2001. Duxbury.
Reference: Your BUEC232 and BUS336 textbooks.
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Study materials: (1) Handouts – readings on SimView or Extend for Discrete-event
SMs;
(2) Guided Excel exercises ;
(3) PowerPoint Lecture Notes;
Assignments:
We will have hand-in problems or case studies. You can do them either by yourself
or in a group of no more than 4 people. Only one report is needed for each group and all
group members will be given the same grade. No late assignment is accepted.
Examinations:
There will be one midterm and one final exam. All of the material dealt with in
lectures and tutorials is examinable.
Final Exam: It is a three hour comprehensive exam.
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