MIS3010S

With the availability of data and computing power, analytical and mathematical approaches have become increasingly important in addressing business, engineering and other problems; notably decision problems where a decision must be made subject to uncertainty or constraints such as limitations on resources. The objective of this course is to further develop your understanding of the application of quantitative analytical techniques for problem solving in business and management.

In this module we build on previous topics covered in the “Data Analysis for Decision Makers” and “Business Analytics” modules, developing the concept of Mathematical and Analytics Modelling in Decision Problems, and extending to probabilistic decision analysis and network modelling and solution techniques. You will learn how to conceptualise complex business problems in new ways and transform them into a model (mathematical programming formulation, decision tree or network) that describes the problem. For example, a decision tree model – when we are given a sequence of decisions and chance events with consequences and probabilities – may be used to understand the results of different alternatives and scenarios, and make decisions to optimise business profit or some other measure; or a network model – when we are given several distinct points (such as cities) and links connecting them (such as a road network) – may be used to determine the optimal routing of goods in a supply chain.