GEB 4522 -Data Driven Decision Making

 

Course Description

Students will learn to use public and private data to make informed business decisions using a structured critical thinking process. Topics include issue identification, feasible solution generation, optimal decision selection, performance tracking, and persuasive writing. The course is structured around a series of case analyses.

 

Goals and Objectives

A student who successfully completes this course should be able to:

• Develop a problem statement
• Develop a balanced scorecard
• Identify and analyze key performance indicators
• Develop a fishbone (cause-and-effect) diagram
• Engage in root cause analysis
• Analyze external data sources and data quality
• Use Excel to visualize data
• Use Excel to create tables and pivot tables
• Use Excel to engage in basic statistical analysis including descriptive statistics, percentiles, correlation, and regression
• Develop solutions to problems and analyze potential consequences
• Write persuasively about the optimal solution identified

 

Module Topics

1. Critical thinking process.
2. Balanced scorecard and key performance indicators (KPIs).
3. Data types. Storing and manipulating data in Excel. Data visualization.
4. Root cause analysis using a fishbone diagram.
5. External data and data quality.
6. Descriptive statistics.
7. Correlation and regression.
8. Persuasive writing.