Operations Analytics

Introduction, Descriptive and Predictive Analytics

In this module you’ll be introduced to the Newsvendor problem, a fundamental operations problem of matching supply with demand in uncertain settings. You'll also cover the foundations of descriptive analytics for operations, learning how to use historical demand data to build forecasts for future demand. Over the week, you’ll be introduced to underlying analytic concepts, such as random variables, descriptive statistics, common forecasting tools, and measures for judging the quality of your forecasts.

Prescriptive Analytics, Low Uncertainty

In this module, you'll learn how to identify the best decisions in settings with low uncertainty by building optimization models and applying them to specific business challenges. During the week, you’ll use algebraic formulations to concisely express optimization problems, look at how algebraic models should be converted into a spreadsheet format, and learn how to use spreadsheet Solvers as tools for identifying the best course of action.

Predictive Analytics, Risk

How can you evaluate and compare decisions when their impact is uncertain? In this module you will learn how to build and interpret simulation models that can help you to evaluate complex business decisions in uncertain settings. During the week, you will be introduced to some common measures of risk and reward, you’ll use simulation to estimate these quantities, and you’ll learn how to interpret and visualize your simulation results.

Prescriptive Analytics, High Uncertainty

This module introduces decision trees, a useful tool for evaluating decisions made under uncertainty. Using a concrete example, you'll learn how optimization, simulation, and decision trees can be used together to solve more complex business problems with high degrees of uncertainty. You'll also discover how the Newsvendor problem introduced in Week 1 can be solved with the simulation and optimization framework introduced in Weeks 2 and 3.