BA in Management Program
Fall 2013
OPIM 405 – Management Decision Support Systems
Instructor:
Office:
Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Nihat Kasap
SOM 1010
(216) 483-9684
(216) 483-9699
nihatk@sabanciuniv.edu
by appointment
Lecture Times & Location:
Type
Time
Days
Where
Lecture
8:40 – 11:30
Monday
SOM G060
Course Objective:
Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a specific class of computerized information system
that supports business and organizational decision-making activities. DSS are tools
decision makers use to gain a better understanding of their business and customers. A
properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision
makers compile useful information from raw data, documents, personal knowledge,
and/or business models to identify and solve problems, to make decisions and also to help
decision makers see avenues through which to gain competitive advantage.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of the course, you are expected to be able to:
•
To review and clarify the fundamental terms, concepts and theories associated
with Decision Support Systems.
•
To discuss and develop skills in the analysis, design and implementation of
Decision Support Systems.
•
To examine user interface design issues and evaluate the user interfaces and
capabilities of Decision Support Systems.
•
To improve hands-on skills using HTML, Microsoft Access, Excel and VBA for
building state-of-the-art Decision Support Systems
•
To understand that most Decision Support Systems are designed to support rather
than replace decision makers and the consequences of this perspective for
designing DSS.
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Course Material:
VBA for Modelers, 4th Edition, by S. Christian Albright, 2012, Cengage Learning.
Course Web:
A Website in SUCourse will be maintained for the course. All course related materials
will be available at this site. In addition, course related announcements will be made at
this site as well. Therefore, you are expected and encouraged to visit the site frequently.
Instructional Design:
The course will be taught using a blend of lectures, in-class exercises. The PowerPoint
and Excel documents prepared for each topic will be available to the students at the
OPIM 405 SUCourse site before each topic is completely covered in the class. These
slides form a basis for presentation of the materials in that session. The course is designed
to be an interactive one, where students come to the classes with their laptops, work on
the examples together with the professors and work on in-class exercises.
Grading & Requirements:
2 midterms
50 %
Final Exam
25 %
Homeworks
10 %
In Class Exercises
15 %
Midterm Exams & Final Exam:
The exams will be open book. There will be short coding questions about VBA Excel
modeling and DSS. The midterm dates will be announced after add drop period.
Homeworks (HWs):
There will be approximately 10 HWs. You suppose to do them by yourself, however you
can discuss it with other classmates in order to get some idea and insight. Since all the
assignment solutions will be Excel files, it is of utmost importance that you do not share
your files with your classmates. Since, if you do so, your files may reach to any number
of your classmates and some might plagiarize or copy from your file. In that case you will
be held equally accountable for the academic dishonesty. Late submissions will be
considered as zero points. For each HWs, students will receive a grade of 0, 1 or 2.
Generally, HWs with properly running code and with even some minor mistakes will
receive 2 points. Exercises with major mistakes, incomplete HWs will receive 1 point.
In-Class Exercises:
They are designed to make the class more interactive for the purpose of maximizing
learning in the classroom. The students will be allowed to help each other in these
exercises. For each in-class exercise students will receive a grade of 0, 1 or 2. Generally,
exercises with even some minor mistakes will receive 2 points. Exercises with major
mistakes, incomplete exercises will receive 1 point. If you are late for the lecture and
complete exercise later on, you may receive 1 point as well.
OPIM 405 Fall2013
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Attendance:
Formal attendance will not be taken. It is your responsibility to attend lectures. You also
are responsible for all information provided in class. This includes schedule changes as
well as lecture materials.
Academic Honesty:
Learning is enhanced through cooperation and as such you are encouraged to work in
groups, ask for and give help freely in all appropriate settings. At the same time, as a
matter of personal integrity, you should only represent your own work as yours. Any
work that is submitted to be evaluated in this class should be an original piece of writing,
presenting your ideas in your own words. Everything you borrow from books, articles, or
web sites (including those in the syllabus) should be properly cited. Although you are
encouraged to discuss your ideas with others (including your friends in the class), it is
important that you do not share your writing (slides, MS Excel files, etc.) with anyone.
Using ideas, text and other intellectual property developed by someone else while
claiming it is your original work is plagiarism. Copying from others or providing answers
or information, written or oral, to others is cheating. Unauthorized help from another
person or having someone else write one’s paper or assignment is collusion. Cheating,
plagiarism and collusion are serious offenses that could result in an F grade and
disciplinary action. Please pay utmost attention to avoid such accusations. I will follow
the university guidelines on academic dishonesty. It is your responsibility to read the
university guidelines on this matter.
Classroom policies and conduct
Sabancı BA in Management Undergraduate Program values participatory learning.
Establishing the necessary social order for a participatory learning environment requires
that we all:
•
Come prepared to make helpful comments and ask questions that facilitate your
own understanding and that of your classmates. This requires that you complete the
assigned readings for each session before class starts.
•
Make every effort to be at class on time.
•
Listen to the person who has the floor. During class hours avoid unnecessary
conversations.
•
Except emergency and health related excuses do not leave and reenter the class
during each fifty minute long lecture.
•
Except for health related incoming call expectations cellular phones should be
turned off.
•
You should not read anything in print or on the computer other than the class
material currently being discussed.
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Tentative Schedule:
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
OPIM 405 Fall2013
Dates
September 23
September 30
October 7
October 14
October 21
October 28
November 4
November 11
November 18
November 25
December 2
December 9
December 16
December 23
January 30
Topics
Introduction, Chapters 1-4
Chapters 5
Chapters 6
SEMESTER BREAK
Chapters 7
NO CLASS TODAY
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapters 12-13
Chapter 14
Chapters 17-18
Some Chapters in Part 2
Some Chapters in Part 2
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