Data Analytics for Financial Decisions module (BU21001)

Learn the data analytics used by management to aid financial decision-making.

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Credits

20

Module code

BU21001

Issues around logistics, supply chain management, and production scheduling are key to the success of many businesses. Decisions about these issues involving data analytics techniques are critical to the day-to-day running of a business.

In this module, students will study a range of data analytics techniques that are commonly used by management in decision-making within organisations. Students will identify important aspects of a problem, incorporate them into their analysis and obtain a solution to the problem, often using `real life' applications.

What you will learn

In this module, you will study how several quantitative techniques can be used by management to aid decision-making:

  • Linear programming
  • Critical path analysis
  • Transportation and assignment algorithms
  • Stock control models
  • Queueing theory and simulation techniques
  • Decision theory
  • Forecasting

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • understand how data can be analysed within a business to optimise operations and performance
  • apply a range of data analytic techniques to solve business problems
  • show how spreadsheets can be used to aid decision-making

Assignments / assessment

The module will be assessed as follows:

Assessed lab (20%)

  • Drawing on weekly lab material using Excel
  • Due in Week 11

Final Exam (80)%

  • The exam will be 2 hours
  • Held in the December exam diet

Teaching methods / timetable

You will learn through a mixture of lectures, labs and tutorials. Learning material is provided through lecture slides, lab examples and tutorial questions. Additional videos are available to supplement lecture materials.

Week Topic Covered
1 Linear Programming: Formulate and solve a scarce resource problem
2 Conduct sensitivity analysis on the objective function and perform linear programming for integer problems
3 Project scheduling: Networks, Critical Path Method, Programme Evaluation & Review Technique, Types of Float, Gantt Charts and resource levelling
4 Network Models: Transportation problems involving cost minimisation
5 Advanced aspects of Transportation and Assignment problems
6 Reading Week
7 Inventory Models: identifying, explaining and calculating the costs of holding inventory
8 Queues: single server and multi-server models as well as simulation of queues using random numbers
9 Decisions under uncertainty and different attitudes to risk
10 Using a decision tree to solve a multi-stage decision problem
11 Forecasting

Courses

This module is available on following courses: