Spreadsheets for Business Analytics

2 credits · Owen Graduate School of Management

Uses Microsoft Excel (Office 365) for Windows and Mac to demonstrate the power of efficient analytics for business intelligence. Advanced features of Excel are covered, including named ranges, formal tables, structured references for tables, pivot tables, form controls, conditional formatting, and advanced worksheet functions, including the new dynamic-array worksheet functions. Applications include optimization modeling (linear programming) and simulation of financial and operations problems. Financial applications include portfolio optimization, short-term cash flow planning, and arbitrage models. Operations applications include supply chain optimization, aggregate production and inventory planning, and personnel scheduling. Illustrations from actual company projects demonstrate the power and versatility of course concepts. At the end of this course, students should become Excel power users. Prerequisite: A knowledge of Excel's SUM, MIN, MAX, and AVERAGE functions, copying and pasting formulas with relative and absolute cell references (such as $A$1), and formatting the number of decimal places in data cells. A test is available from the instructor to determine whether students will need to come to review sessions in order to stay in the class. [2]