A decision support system is an intelligent information system
that uses data, models it, processes or analyzes it using problem-specific
methodologies, and assists the user in the decision-making process through
a graphical user interface.
Developing Spreadsheet-Based Decision
Support Systems is a comprehensive book that describes how to build
decision support systems using the Excel spreadsheet framework and the VBA
programming language. This book illustrates complete decision support
development applications through several case studies arising in Operations
Research, Industrial Engineering, Management, and Business Administration.
The main contribution of the book is to present all the techniques needed
to build complete Excel-based decision support systems in a highly
accessible manner through numerous hands-on examples and case studies. This
book is ideally suited as a textbook for teaching undergraduate- and
graduate-level courses in any branch of science, engineering, and
management and can also be used as a supplementary reference book or a
self-study manual. The book contains three parts:
Part I - Excel Essentials:This part presents an overview of Excel
basic and extended functionalities. The basic functionality topics include
referencing and names, functions and formulas, charts, and pivot tables.
The extended functionality topics include statistical analysis, the Solver
and modeling, simulation, and working with large datasets.
Part II - VBA for Excel: This part presents an overview of
programming in VBA and manipulating Excel objects. Covered topics include
macros, programming structures, building user interfaces, and using VBA for
optimization and simulation.
Part III - Case Studies: This part presents several case studies of
decision support systems arising in different application settings. These
case studies include inventory management, retirement planning, reliability
analysis, warehouse layout, facility location, forecasting, and portfolio
management.
Michelle M.H. Şeref is a researcher at the
Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida, Gainesville.
Her research focus is in the area of Operations Management with special
interests in operations/marketing interface and new product
development.
Ravindra K. Ahuja is a Professor in the Industrial and Systems
Engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is also the
President of Innovative Scheduling, Inc., which specializes in building
decision support systems for planning and scheduling problems arising in
the field of transportation.
Wayne L. Winston is a Professor in the Kelly School of Business at
Indiana University, Bloomington. He has written several widely-used
textbooks on spreadsheet modeling, financial models, and operations
research.
