Dr. John Butler
Visiting Assistant Professor of Information Management
Office: GWH 550
Phone: 504-865-5442
e-mail: jbutler5@tulane.edu

Office Hours:
Monday and Wednesday from 2:15 – 3:00 pm &  4:15 - 5:00 pm and by appointment (please e-mail your appointment requests by email and provide a few alternative time suggestions).

Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to provide you with solid intermediate computer modeling skills.  These skills are expected in today’s job market and will also be very useful in many elective courses that you will take here at the Freeman School.  To accomplish the goal of acquiring these skills, the course focuses primarily on hands-on work in two areas: (1) modeling to solve domain-specific problems using Excel, (2) advanced skill sets in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming and database applications. An introduction to contemporary issues in information systems will be lightly covered in this course.  Also, we will refresh some basic calculus, graphs, and most importantly, random variables and probability distributions from you introductory statistics class.

Course Materials:

1. Practical Management Science, Winston & Albright, 3rd edition: ISBN:0-324-36497-0 (no CD) or ISBN:0-534-46512-9 (with optional CD)
2. Familiarity with Excel.  If you need any basic Excel help any introductory book will be fine; there are several available for free download at www.wowio.com

Your grade will be based on two in-class exams, several homework assignments, and class participation. The relative weighting of these components is given below.  To assure fairness to all students, there will be no individual extra credit assignments or make-up examinations.
 

Category	Points
Assignments (no more than one per week)	50
2 Exams	2 • 22.5 = 45
Class Participation (individual)	5

Exam:  There will be two in-class exams that will essentially require you to build and submit some relatively simple Excel-based models.  These models will be similar to the exercises that will be done in class or your homework assignments over the course of the semester.  The exams will be closed book, closed notes ( no prepared Excel files), but you will have the lab computer and Excel at your disposal.

Assignments:  Assignments are an opportunity to practice the computing skills taught in the class.  As mentioned above, you are encouraged to help each other learn as you work together to complete assignments. Do not violate the Freeman School's Honor Code by copying or submitting another student's work for a grade.  Grading of assignments will be based on completeness of work as assigned.  Assignments will be assigned at least 5 days before they are due.

Assignments are due on the date specified unless written authorization is received from the instructor by the time the assignment is due. This authorization should accompany the late work when it is turned in. Assignments may be submitted at any time on the day they are due unless otherwise noted.  Any assignments that are submitted late without written authorization will not be accepted. Assignments that are submitted late with authorization will be assessed a late penalty.

Class participation:  Regular participation in classroom discussion and hands-on exercises will be expected.  Such participation will count toward the class participation element of the grade.

Important Additional Ground Rules:

• The Freeman Honor Code will be strictly enforced.  If you have any questions about the boundaries of what is acceptable for either your individual or team work, please ask.
• Please do not pass on course materials, notes, or computer (Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) files to future students or students in other sections. Such behavior will be considered a violation of the Tulane and Freeman Honor Code, and will only hurt the learning of others that follow you.
• On-time arrival to class and departure only after the class has ended will be expected.  If you feel that you will have to step out during the class, please sit close to the door and make your way to the exit and return as quietly and discreetly as possible.
• Please make sure that your cell phones are turned off prior to class and do not turn them on until the class has ended.

Accommodation of Special Needs:   Any student with a disability and in need of special arrangements or accommodations for the exam or other course activities should contact the university’s Office of Disability Services (Educational Resources and Counseling), which can be reached at 865-5113 or through their web site, www.erc.tulane.edu/disability.   I am committed to working with the Office of Disability Services to ensure that you receive all approved accommodations.  I will follow the policies outlined in the Freeman School of Business handbook.  Any work completed outside of the classroom at the scheduled time must be completed in the Office of Undergraduate Education, Suite 200 Goldring-Woldenberg Hall One.  All extra-time accomodations must be scheduled with that office at least one week in advance.
 

Disability Management:
Any student with a disability in need of course or examination accommodations should request accommodations through the University’s Office of Disability Services located in the Mechanical Engineering Building. Please do this as soon as possible. Please provide a copy of your approved accommodation form from ODS to the course instructor. The course instructor is committed to working with the Office of Disability Services to ensure that all approved accommodations are provided. In return students are expected to commit to the policies outlined in the Freeman School of Business handbook.  Any work completed outside of the classroom at the scheduled time must be completed in the Office of Undergraduate Education, Suite 200 Goldring-Woldenberg Hall One.  All extra-time accomodations must be scheduled at least one week in advance.

Tentative Schedule:
 

Class	Date	Day	Chapter (focus pages)	Topic
1	Aug 29	Wed	Chap 1	Course Introduction
	Sep 03	Mon		Labor Day Holiday
2	Sep 05	Wed	Chap 2	Introduction to Modeling
3	Sep 10	Mon	Chap 3	Optimization
4	Sep 12	Wed	Chap 4 (131-166)	Linear Programming
5	Sep 17	Mon	Chap 4 (131-166)	Linear Programming
6	Sep 19	Wed	Chap 5 (221-253)	Transportation & AssignmentProblems
7	Sep 24	Mon	Chap 6 (285-306)	Integer Programming
8	Sep 26	Wed	Chap 7 (345-362; 387-395)	Non-Linear Programming
9	Oct 01	Mon	Chap 10 (501-522)	Probability & Expected Value
10	Oct 03	Wed	Chap 10 (501-522)	Decision Trees
11	Oct 08	Mon	Chap 10 (542-543)	Decision Trees
12	Oct 10	Wed		Review
13	Oct 15	Mon		Exam
14	Oct 17	Wed	Class Notes	Visual Basic for Applications
15	Oct 22	Mon	Class Notes	Visual Basic for Applications
16	Oct 24	Wed	Class Notes	Visual Basic for Applications
17	Oct 29	Mon	Class Notes	Visual Basic for Applications
18	Oct 31	Wed	Chap 11 (579-592)	Simulation
19	Nov 05	Mon		No Class
20	Nov 07	Wed	Chap 11 (603-614)	Simulation
21	Nov 12	Mon	Chap 11 (603-614)	Simulation
22	Nov 14	Wed	Class Notes	Data Analysis / Modeling
23	Nov 19	Mon	Class Notes	Pivot Tables
	Nov 21	Wed		Thanksgiving Holiday
24	Nov 26	Mon	Class Notes	Introductory Database
25	Nov 28	Wed	Class Notes	Queries from One Table / Multiple Tables
26	Dec 03	Mon	Class Notes	Queries from Multiple Tables
27	Dec 05	Wed		Exam