Management Science

SPEA-V348 · Indiana University Bloomington · O'Neill School

The modeling cycle, not just the answer

SPEA-V348 is an introduction to management-science models and methods for policy analysis and public management: decision analysis, linear programming (with its goal, transportation, transshipment, and assignment variants), multi-criteria decision making, project scheduling, and forecasting. The emphasis is the full modeling cycle rather than “getting the answer”: building a model from a verbal description of a real system, choosing the right technique, and interpreting the result for a decision-maker who has to act.

How the course runs:

  • Two sessions a week (Mon + Wed), each opening with a puzzle and building the skills to solve it. Dotted-underlined terms open definitions from the Key Concepts index.
  • Self-checks before and after class are ungraded. Most Session 1 meetings also close with a short group practice that counts toward participation.
  • Graded work is a weekly software take-home in Excel, plus two exams that check you can do the work unaided.
  • AI tools are welcome, with disclosure. See Using AI.

Software & setup

Respondus LockDown Browser runs both exams, the first on Wed Oct 21. Install it early, learn how to use it, and bring that laptop.

Microsoft Excel + Solver is the main modeling environment; IU students get Microsoft 365 through the university’s software portal. Enable the Solver add-in now, since you need it from Week 8:

  • Windows: in Excel’s Search box (or press Alt+Q), search Excel Add-ins and open that command. Check Solver Add-in, then select OK.
  • Mac: in Excel’s Help search field, search Excel Add-ins and open that command. Check Solver, then select OK.

Once enabled, search Solver to open it. If your version cannot find the add-in command, Microsoft’s Solver setup help has instructions for your version of desktop Excel.

Two free decision-analysis tools come later, both on this site with nothing to install: the tree builder for Weeks 5 and 6, and the optional Bayes calculator for checking your Week 6 hand calculations.

Tool Use
Tree builder Decision trees in the browser (no install)
Bayes calculator Bayesian revision (optional)

Reading materials

Required textbook: Bernard W. Taylor III, Introduction to Management Science, 13th edition. Earlier editions are usually fine if the topics are covered. Per-week chapters are on each week’s lesson page, and the first three weeks’ PDFs are in Canvas Files.

Grading

Graded work is scored out of 100 points, and your point total is your percentage, so 93 points is an A:

Component Points Detail
Regular take-homes 55 Weeks 1–13 and 15. 5 pts each, best 11 of 14 count.
Exams 30 A midterm on Wed Oct 21 (10) and a cumulative final in the Dec 14–18 exam period (20).
In-class participation 15 Fifteen group practices, 1 pt each, in Weeks 1–13, 15 and 16.
Total 100  
  • The three lowest take-homes drop, so a rough week or two won’t sink your grade.
  • Nothing on either exam is new: every question comes from a self-check or a take-home you have already worked, answered unaided in Respondus LockDown Browser.
  • Group practices double as attendance: each is a participation point and half of that session’s attendance record.

The attendance deduction under Policies sits outside these 100 points. The scale:

  • A+ ≥ 97, A ≥ 93, A− ≥ 90
  • B+ ≥ 87, B ≥ 83, B− ≥ 80
  • C+ ≥ 77, C ≥ 73, C− ≥ 70
  • D+ ≥ 67, D ≥ 60, D− ≥ 50
  • F < 50

These are Indiana University’s letter grades, with GPA values here; the percentage cutoffs are this course’s.

Getting help & support

  • Office hours: at the top of this page. You don’t need a reason to come.
  • Math refresher: Weeks 1–2 review the algebra, summation, probability, and expected-value skills the course relies on; the self-checks there are a good diagnostic.
  • Student support: accommodations, counseling, and the rest of IU’s support are on the Policies page. If something is affecting your work, reach out early.

Policies

The 3-3-3 rule

3 absences free · 3 late submissions free · each within 3 days.

Three of each, no questions asked, for the ordinary things life throws at you. After that the arithmetic takes over: −1 point per absence, 0 for late work, and 9 absences is an automatic F.

It’s the same for everyone, so you never have to explain yourself for the ordinary stuff, and we can’t make an exception for one person that we wouldn’t make for the whole room.

Attendance: the “3 absences”

  • Your first three are free. No explanation, no email, no doctor’s note. After that each absence costs 1 point off your final grade, and 9 absences is an automatic F.
  • You’re present when both hold: you signed the sign-in sheet, and your name is on that session’s submitted in-class work, where there is any. The sheet comes around once, unannounced, so plan to stay the whole session. There’s no signing afterward, and signing for a friend puts you both into the academic-misconduct process.
  • In-class work is earned in the room. Miss a group practice and it scores 0, with no make-up: a free absence waives the attendance penalty only, never the points on the item. The exams are the exception, and each has a real make-up path.
  • Check your own count anytime in Canvas. We flag the totals around Week 8, around Week 13, and once before grades close. If something looks wrong, tell us within a week of that posting; after that the count stands.
  • Two arrangements are made in advance: a documented AES accommodation, and religious observance under ACA-59, by the end of Week 2 where you can. An approved session isn’t recorded as an absence and is the one case where missed in-class work can be made up. Everything else (illness, travel, work, athletics, family) is what the three free absences are for, and the forms are here.

Late work: the “3 late submissions, 3 days”

  • Three no-penalty late submissions, no explanation or notice needed. Each covers 72 hours past the deadline, weekends and holidays included, on the Canvas timestamp.
  • Past 72 hours it’s a 0, and once your three are spent any late submission is a 0. No partial credit, no per-day scale, no extension to negotiate.
  • If you submitted anything on time, your last on-time version is what we grade. A later replacement isn’t evaluated and doesn’t spend a pass. So don’t upload a placeholder first: it becomes your graded work.
  • In-class items can’t be late: you were in the room or you weren’t.
  • The best-11-of-14 drop is a separate cushion, and it forgives weak or missing take-homes, not late ones.

AI, integrity, and the university rules

  • Generative AI is permitted, with disclosure. The test is whether you can reproduce, modify, and explain your own model unaided. Using AI has the full policy.
  • All submitted work must be your own. Sharing a solved workbook is misconduct for both people; talking through a method together is not.
  • University policies (Honor Code, misconduct, course materials, withdrawal, accommodations, counseling, Title IX) are on the Policies page.