Operations, Information and Decisions 0001

Operations, Information and Decisions 0001 (Prescriptive Analytics) is one of the Wharton online for-credit courses offered within the Pre-baccalaureate Program.

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Overview

Course Description

OIDD 0001: Prescriptive Analytics: Making Business Decisions using Optimization and Simulation

In this course, we will explore the subject of quantitative business decision-making. Specifically, we will study optimization and simulation tools and provide you with a set of key skills in the area of prescriptive analytics. We will illustrate the use of these tools in a variety of business applications, including manufacturing, logistics, inventory management, capital budgeting, insurance, and revenue management.

The course assumes no specific mathematical background beyond basic algebra and probability concepts. Familiarity with the basic functioning of Excel is helpful, but not required as we will introduce and review the Excel skills as needed. No prior experience with programming or statistics is expected.

Learning Objectives

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

  • Utilize simulations to quickly assess outcomes
  • Harness data for the purpose of making the best decisions
  • Exercise various modeling concepts

About the Wharton Pre-baccalaureate Program

The Wharton Pre-baccalaureate Program is an academically-intensive opportunity for exceptional high school juniors and seniors to enroll in Wharton online courses. Participants will learn from Wharton instructors, earn a Wharton transcript, and accrue college credit for each course completed. With six sessions to choose from and built-in academic support, students are encouraged to explore the depth and breadth of Wharton’s business education curriculum with maximum flexibility and the guidance and resources to succeed.

Details

 

Course Details

This course is delivered via video lectures, synchronous class sessions, recitations, and exercises. To be successful, you must actively engage with ideas presented in the course, and with those posed by your classmates.  

Assessment is based upon active course participation, graded assignments, recitation exercises, and a final course exam.   

Course Content

Course Topics: 

  • Optimization 
  • Linear network models 
  • Linear Optimization 
  • Structured Decision Making 
  • Intro to Simulation 
  • Comparison via simulation 
  • Discrete-event simulation 

Video Content and Readings:  

Video content includes lectures recorded by Wharton Professor Sergei Savin. Weekly lectures will guide course participants through various modeling concepts and examples of their use. We encourage you to take careful notes and review transcripts. 

Synchronous Classes: 

Synchronous classes offer the opportunity to reinforce the concepts introduced in the week’s lecture and explore questions about the course and materials beyond the lectures. Synchronous classes will also incorporate additional modeling examples and graded recitation exercises. Live class sessions will meet once weekly.  

Course Materials Fee

$76

See full tuition details here.

Requirements

Attendance: 

Course attendance and participation are expected on a regular basis.  

Technical Requirements:

In order to fully participate in this course, you will need a computer that meets minimum system requirements for both Canvas LMS and Zoom Videoconferencing. Refer to the following links:

All programming originates from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (Eastern Daylight Time).

Instructional Team

Instructor: Borja Apaolaza 

Borja Apaolaza is a PhD candidate in Operations Management and a course instructor at The Wharton School. His main research focus is Revenue Management for the retail industry. His most recent work is on store layout optimization and optimal pricing under left-digit biased consumers. 

In the classroom, Borja encourages his students to proactively discuss, hypothesize, and ask questions, in order to foster an engaging and dynamic learning environment. This not only makes the lectures more fun for students, but also helps them better remember the main insights of the courses Borja teaches.  

Before joining Wharton, Borja graduated in Engineering from the University of Navarra (Spain) and was a research fellow at the MIT Media Lab and IESE Business School.  

When he is not on campus, Borja enjoys discovering hidden gems in Philadelphia, watching his favorite soccer team and improvising jazz on his clarinet.   

 

Location

Online

For more information, please contact wgyp-prebacc@wharton.upenn.edu or call +1.516.414.5555.
Please note that participation in Wharton Global Youth Programs does not guarantee admission to Penn.

Program Information:

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INCLUDED IN ALL SUMMER ONLINE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS

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The Wharton Youth Network (WYN) is an active online community open to all Wharton Global Youth summer students as a way to connect to one another — and Wharton business learning — before, during, and after their programs. Featuring both live and independent programming, the Wharton Youth Network connects ambitious business students worldwide during 10 full weeks of Wharton-powered learning, collaboration, and discovery.

*The Wharton Youth Network is included in all online summer programs.

*In-person students have the chance to join the Wharton Youth Network for $199.

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