Lahore University of Management Sciences DISC 112 Computers and Problem Solving

Spring Semester2014
Instructors Room No. Office Hours Email Telephone Secretary/TA TA Office Hours Course URL (if any) Muhammad Naiman Jalil/Zehra Waheed 426 (SDSB Building) Naiman, 436 (SDSB Building) Zehra By appointment muhammad.jalil@lums.edu.pk/zehra.waheed@lums.edu.pk 8038 Naiman/8426 Zehra TBA TBA Suraj.lums.edu.pk

COURSE BASICS
Credit Hours Lecture(s) Recitation/Lab (per week) Tutorial (per week) 3 Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week 2 Duration Duration Duration 75 minutes

COURSE DISTRIBUTION
Core Elective Open for Student Category Close for Student Category Yes NA SDSB Freshman/Sophomores & ACF Seniors & Juniors NA

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Problem solving is an essential skill that managers use in their daily task of decision-making on behalf of their departments, divisions and organizations. The contemporary manager must be aware of the computer-based tools and techniques that can make his/her work more efficient and effective. Computers support problem solving in two essential ways: (1) handling heavy data-driven decisions; and (2) problems where the number of component issues are too many for the human mind to handle mathematically. Built around the popular office tool, Microsoft Excel, this course is an introduction to problem-solving using computers.

COURSE PREREQUISITE(S)
None

COURSE OBJECTIVES
After completing this course student will potentially be able to: Use computer-based tools to model business problems more effectively. This includes scenarios such as: o Extracting essential analysis from a spreadsheet of data, or even external data; o Represent data using charts; o Build spreadsheets that can model profit and loss accounts and basic financial analysis o Automate very basic repetitive tasks of analysis and user input/output Understand basic concept of modeling and how this approach can help in using computers to solve problems. Understand, in general terms, key elements of IT infrastructure (e.g. databases and network protocols) and how they support distributed problem-solving. Page 1 of 4

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
As above

GRADING BREAKUP AND POLICY

Quizzes/In-lab Assignments: .................................................................................. 40% (12 each, best 5+5 will be counted) Midterm Examination: ........................................................................................... 30% Final Examination:.................................................................................................. 30% (Post-mid only) There will also be an ungraded final project, non-completion of which will attract a penalty (deduction) from the overall grade.

EXAMINATION DETAIL
Yes/No: Yes Combine Separate: Combine Duration:3 hours nd Preferred Date:Saturday, February 22 Exam Specifications: Pre Mid Syllabus, Calculator and Formula Help sheet Allowed. Close Book and Notes Yes/No: Yes Combine Separate: Duration: 3 hours Exam Specifications: Post Mid Syllabus, Calculator and Formula Help sheet Allowed. Close Book and Notes

Midterm Exam

Final Exam

TEXTBOOK(S)/SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS
Frye, Curtis D. (2010) Step-by-Step: Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft Press. Powell, S. G. and Baker, K. R. (2009) Management Science: the Art of Modeling with Spreadsheets, 3/e, Wiley. Fairhurst, D.S. (2012) Using Excel for business analysis a guide to financial modeling fundamentals. Wiley. Harvey, G. (2010) Excel 2010 for dummies. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley Pub.

ATTENDANCE, QUIZZES AND CLASS POLICY

Your class presence is required. Therefore by missing a class you forfeit an opportunity to participate in class activities. Maximum four (4) absences are tolerated. Any further absences shall count towards deduction from your overall grade.Petitions should be submitted along with proper documentation (e.g. a medical certificate certifying illnesses or OSA certifying participation in OSA activity) and shall be approved on case by case basis. You are also expected to arrive in class exactly at the prescribed time. There will be no grace for late arrivals and you will be marked absent. Once all four absences have been used up, 1% deduction from the grade will made for every extra absence. Cell phone usage will not be tolerated. Therefore make sure they are switched off when you arrive in class. You are required to attend with your designated section. Neither quiz nor attendance can be transferred to any other section.

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A total of twelve (12) announced quizzes shall be given throughout the course, usually at the beginning of the class. The best five (5) pre-mid and best five (5) post-mid (for each student) shall count towards quiz component of overall grade. A missed (without petition approval) quiz will automatically be graded zero (0).

Course Outline*
Session No. 1 2 3, 4 Topics Course Introduction, File Management, Assignment submission @ LUMS, Basic framework of model building Problem Solving by Computer Modeling Introduction to Spreadsheets: Cells, Ranges, Worksheets & Workbooks, Formatting and Entering Data, Performing Calculations of Data Filtering Specific Data, Sorting Data, Creating Charts Fairhurst- - Chapter 1 & 2 Curtis Frye: Chapter 1 & 2; Curtis Frye: Chapter 3 & 4 Text to Read Auditorium/ Lab Auditorium Auditorium Lab Objectives To introduce the students to model building As above To familiarize the students with the basic skills required for using MS Excel To develop MS Excel skills Ch as limiting data, manipulating worksheet data, sorting worksheet data, organizing data into levels and creating charts To present some advanced functions in excel To introduce students to Influence Diagrams To understand the use of Influence Diagrams in a real context To learn model building using a case To define an alternative data set; to vary data to get a desired result by using Goal Seek and Scenario Manager; and to Analyze data by using descriptive statistics To learn What-If Analysis using a case

5,6,7

Curtis Frye: Chapter 5, 6, 10

Lab

8 9 10 11

Advance Excel Functions (logical, statistical and lookup functions) Influence Diagram Introduction Influence Diagrams Exercise Iceberg for Kuwait Modeling Icebergs for Kuwait Powell & Baker Chapter 2 Powell & Baker Chapter 2, Case: Ice Berg for Kuwait Powell and Baker Chapter 5, Case: Ice Berg for Kuwait

Lab Auditorium Lab Lab

12

Analysing Alternative Data (Goal Seek, Scenario Manager and Descriptive Statistics)

Curtis Frye: Chapter 8

Lab

13 14

Iceberg for Kuwait (What if Analysis) Mid Term Exam

Case: Ice Berg for Kuwait

Lab

15

Combining Data from Multiple Sources

Curtis Frye: Chapter 7

Lab

To link to data in other worksheets and workbooks and consolidate multiple sets of data into a single workbook

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16 Databases, DBMS & Networks Auditorium / Lab Chapter 12 Curtis Frye; Chapters 4,5,7,8,9 HarveyG Solver Part from Chapter 8Curtis Frye Array Functions, Chapters7 Harvey G Powell and Baker Chapter 5, Case: Reid Rasin Powell and Baker Chapter 6Case: Reid Rasin Curtis Frye: Chapter 9

To introduce the use of databases To develop an understanding of further concepts including the use of a developer ribbon, Macros and Visual Basic To introduce Solver and Advanced Array Functions To explain the use of spreadsheet engineering using a case To build upon the previous knowledge of What-If Analysis and Solver using a case To teach the effective use of Pivot tables To integrate all the concepts and skills learnt during the course to create an MS Excel-based application

17,18, 19,20

Developer Ribbon, Automating Repetitive Task by using Macros and VBA

Lab

21

Solver, Advance Array Functions

Lab

22

Reid Rasin (Spreadsheet Engineering)

Lab

23 24, 25

Reid Rasin (What if Analysis and Solver) Creating Dynamic Worksheets by using Pivot Tables Case Study on Spread Application Design

Lab Lab

26,27

To be announced

Lab

28

Review

Lab

*NOTE
The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the grading system and the syllabus as appropriate during the semester.

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