J.E.

Cairnes School of Business & Economics

Decision Modelling & Analytics

MS222
Module Outline 2021-2022
In today’s complex environment, people across many disciplines need to
solve a wide variety of business problems in auditing, accounting and
finance, marketing, operations, engineering, and IS/IT. This is true of
both research and industry. Decision makers are very often faced with an
abundance of unstructured and inherently complex data from a variety of
sources.

This course will enable students to become power users of decision

Aims & supporting systems, such as MS Excel, to build models of unstructured
Objective problems so they can make better decisions and gain insight into the
impact various factors have on those decisions. Students will also learn
how to apply techniques from probability theory to analyse and critique
information and facts they are provided with.

In class and in the assignments, students will apply the skills learned to
real problems in their own discipline area e.g, auditing, accounting and
finance, marketing, operations, engineering, and IS/IT

Name Office Contact E-mail

Lecturer
Dr. Anastasia Griva 345 anastasia.griva@nuigalway.ie
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
• Explain the complexities of decision making in contemporary
environments
• Explain and apply the principles of good decision model design
Overall • Apply decision support technologies to assist problem-solving and
Module decision making
Learning • Critique the reliability of information and facts provided in the
Outcomes decision-making process
• Develop simulation models to assist decision-making
• Assess the role of technology in the decision-making process

Programme 2BF1, 3BC1, 4BC6

Lectures: Day: Venue:
Times Time: 3 – 5pm
Sem I Wednesday ENGG047
Bell and Zaric, “Analytics for Managers with Excel”, Routledge.
Core Text

Credit weighting: 5 ECTS

Workload
Lecture hours: 24

Page 1 of 4
J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics

Independent & Directed

Learning 92
Associated hours 25
Total Student Effort: 191 hours

Units Readings
Week 1: Introduction to Analytics
(Decision strategies and types, approaches to
decision making; decision making under
Course materials; articles;
uncertainty; working with unstructured
Core textbook
data, incomplete or inaccurate data,
unqualified data, qualitative and quantitative
data, vague and incoherent data;)

Week 2: Models and Model Building

(Types of models; the model building
Course materials; articles;
process; management issues surrounding
Core textbook
model building, decision making with spread
sheets communicating the results)

Week 3: Analysing Sequential Decisions

(Decision Trees, coping with uncertainty, Course materials; articles;
sources of probability estimates, incorporating Core textbook
expected values, contingency analysis,
risk management)

Week 4 and Week 5: Data-Driven Decision

Module Making
Content & (Populations and samples; sampling bias, Course materials; articles;
Learning distributions, measures of centralness, Core textbook; Case
Material variation, random behaviour of time series, studies
estimation and prediction; data driven
innovation in retail)

Week 6: Critical Thinking for Decision

Making
(Applying probability theory to assess Course materials; articles;
information and facts, recognising logical Core textbook
fallacies, test the veracity of information
received through mass media)

Week 7: Predictive Analytics

(Regression; causality; goodness of fit; Course materials; articles;
scatter plots) Core textbook; Exercises;

Week 8: Simulating the Future Course materials; articles;

(Stochastic or Monte Carlo; event simulation; Core textbook;
process or discreet event simulation;
developing a simulation model; variance
reduction methods; large scale simulation
models)

Week 9: Advanced Excel Analytics & Course materials; articles;

Simultaneous Decisions Core textbook; Exercises;

Page 2 of 4
J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics

(Using Solver and Goal seek to solve various

business problems)

Week 10: Unintended consequences of Course materials; articles;

Data Analytics Core textbook;
(Strategic advantages, technology bias, data
quality, ethical
issues)

Week 11: Analytics-driven start-ups Guest lecture

examples from a VC fund

Week 12: Emerging issues and additional

Course materials; articles
topics

End of Year Examination: 60%

Continuous Assignment: 40%

Details on the continuous assignments will be provided during the term.

To avail of the associated marks each student must submit the
Assessment
assignment by the date indicated on assessment material (to be
announced).

Late submissions will not be accepted.

Plagiarism is the use of another person’s ideas or work without

appropriate acknowledgement or credit. Plagiarism may be intentional
or unintentional.

Intentional plagiarism is the clear intent to pass off another person’s

work or ideas as your own for your own gain.
Unintentional plagiarism may occur if you do not understand the
appropriate way to acknowledge the source of your ideas and
information.
Plagiarism
If you are unsure of the acceptable methods of acknowledgment you
should refer to the NUIG Code of Practice for Dealing with Plagiarism,
consult with your lecturer or the library staff. Proven plagiarism is a very
serious matter which may result in severe disciplinary action and/or
exclusion from the University.

Ensure all assignment submissions include a signed plagiarism

statement.

Correct referencing and citation avoids plagiarism. There are varying

referencing styles available but the most popular is the Harvard
Referencing Style. Details on how to reference journal articles, books,
Referencing
electronic information and various other supports is available from the
& Citation
NUI, Galway Library at the following link:
http://libguides.library.nuigalway.ie/c.php?g=543943&p=4591416

Blackboard Blackboard Ally helps students to access more user-friendly file formats.
Ally It is extremely easy to use and can be really helpful. Below is a link to a

Page 3 of 4
J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics

very short introductory video - you can try out the different formats
available and see what works for you. For example, you can get an
audio version of a document, or you can download materials in html
format which is much easier to read on a phone or mobile device. You
can also change a PowerPoint presentation to pdf, or get a version of a
document that is suitable for a screen reader, among other things. Here
is a quick video on how to use Blackboard
Ally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOORcSEjtJU#action=share

This module outline is available on blackboard in pdf format. Should you have a visual disability
and require the document in another format, please contact us and we will oblige.

Page 4 of 4