Fundamentals of Decision Support – Cheap Research Essays

For this assignment you will need to adapt a suitable method, as a decision support tool, to a
given managerial decision problem. This decision method must be one that has been taught
on the module e.g. LP. Firstly, you must investigate the problem given in the section
‘Problem Description’ in a wider perspective before starting to model or formulate the
problem. For example, you may need to indicate the objective or the criteria for the
managerial decision making and suggest an appropriate modelling technique to solve this.
You will also need to justify your choice of method. Secondly, by modelling the decision
problem you must then solve the problem with an appropriate approach such as LP using
appropriate software such as Excel or DecisionPro introduced during the course. However,
you can use any other available software which is suitable for modelling/solving the problem.
You can even solve the problem manually, if possible. Finally, you need to analyse the
solution and explain how sensitive the solution to changes in key parameters.
The assignment consists of working on a selected part of the module contents, including
linear programming (LP), for modelling, solving and analysing a real managerial decision
problem.
General Guideline for writing the assignment:
1) You must undertake the coursework individually.
2) The assignment should not exceed 1,000 words.
3) The total mark for the written assignment is 30% of the overall mark.
4) The written coursework must include the following sections:
a) Assignment topic: indication of the problem topic.
b) Introduction: investigation of the decision problem through a literature review.
c) Problem description: details of the objective and criteria.
d) Justification: choose an appropriate decision support tool for modelling the
problem and justify your chosen decision support method for modelling the
problem.
e) Problem formulation using an appropriate technique.
f) Problem solution: using an appropriate technique or available computer software.
g) Analysis and discussion of the results: preferably including a sensitivity analysis of
the solution.
h) Conclusions: A clear statements of your findings.
i) References
5) You must cite all the sources that you have used e.g. books, articles and website
sources using the Harvard Referencing System. You are expected to cite at least 5
references. You must also show clearly where you have used someone else’s work in
your assignments e.g. when you quote or paraphrase someone else’s work. The
Harvard Referencing System is designed to help you do this and a quick guide with
examples can be found in the following table (Harvard System of Referencing: Basic
Concepts, 2013)
MAN0502M FDS Main Assignment – Student Copy 2015/16
MAN0502M Fundamentals of Decision Support _UG_2015-16_ main assignment
Page 3 of 6
Table 1- Format of referencing (Harvard System of Referencing, 2013)
MAN0502M FDS Main Assignment – Student Copy 2015/16
MAN0502M Fundamentals of Decision Support _UG_2015-16_ main assignment
Page 4 of 6
Problem Description
A breakfast diet is defined as follows:
Breakfast must include at least 420 calories, 5 milligrams (mg) of iron, 400 milligrams (mg) of
calcium, 20 grams (g) of protein, 12 grams (g) of fibre, and must have no more than 20
grams (g) of fat and 30 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol.
Table below presents available foods with the corresponding nutritional requirements and
cost.
a) Describe the problem from the breakfast provider’s viewpoint and clarify the important
criteria and resources for decision-making.
b) Find an appropriate decision support model to formulate the problem and justify your
chosen approach.
c) Formulate the problem using your proposed modelling tool.
d) Solve the problem using an appropriate manual approach or suitable software of your
choice.
e) Which of the food components are not used at all? Assume that the supplier of orange
offers a discount to the breakfast provider, and, accordingly, the cost of an orange and a
cup of orange juice are reduced to $0.30 and $0.40 respectively. Find and discuss how
this discount will affect the solution.
The answers to the sub-questions must be properly located within the sections outlined in the
General Guidelines – Section 4 presented on page 2. The assignment will be marked based
on how accurate the answers to the questions (a, b, c, and d,) are, and how the answers are
presented through section 4.a to 4.i as highlighted in the guideline, page 2.
Breakfast Food
components Cal Fat (g) Cholesterol (mg) (mg) Iron Calcium (mg) Protein (g) Fib (g) re Cost ($)
1. Bran cereal (cup)
2. Dry cereal (cup)
3. Oatmeal (cup)
4. Oat bran (cup)
5. Egg
6. Bacon (slice)
7. Orange
8. Milk-2% (cup)
9. Orange juice (cup)
10. Wheat toast (slice)
90
110
100
90
75
35
65
100
120
65
0 2 2 2 5 3 0 4 0 1

270
8

12

6 4 2 3 1 0 1 0 0 1
20
48
12
8
30

52
250
3
26
3 4 5 6 7 2 1 9 1 3
5 2 3 4 0 0 1 0 0 3
0.18
0.22
0.10
0.12
0.10
0.09
0.40
0.16
0.50
0.07
MAN0502M FDS Main Assignment – Student Copy 2015/16
MAN0502M Fundamentals of Decision Support _UG_2015-16_ main assignment
Page 5 of 6
Assessment Criteria
The standard Bradford University School of Management marking criteria will be used in
grading your work. The criteria to mark your assignment will be mainly based on how you will
address the following criteria in different sections of the problem description (sections ‘a’ to
‘e’):
 Is the problem properly investigated through literature review?
 Is the selected decision model appropriate for modelling the problem?
 Are the model assumptions appropriate for the decision model?
 Does the proposed model reflect the problem properly?
 In the case of using software, is the proposed computer based model built with
correct decision variables and input data?
 How is the solution outcome discussed, analysed and interpreted?
The quality of writing and the presentation of tables, figures including screen dumps, and
references of each sub-question (a-e) will also be assessed.
MAN0502M FDS Main Assignment – Student Copy 2015/16
MAN0502M Fundamentals of Decision Support _UG_2015-16_ main assignment
Page 6 of 6
Further notes:
1) Use only relevant references and provide a list of these at the end of the assignment,
in Harvard referencing style.
2) The wordage is 1,000 words for the assignment. A penalty will apply if you go over
this word limit so please consult the latest edition of the Student Handbook. The
references, appendices, figures and tables are not counted towards the word limit.
3) The answers to the sub-questions must be properly located within the General
Guidelines outlined on page 2.
4) Use the following layout guidelines for the whole assignment:
Font: Times New Roman
Text size: 11
Margins left and right: 3 cm
Margins top and bottom: 3 cm
Number the pages
Left and right margins fully justified
Use Harvard referencing style
5) Keep an electronic copy of your assignment should your tutor request it in order to
forward to examiners.
6) Please type and backup your work on several drives, regularly, as the extension is
unlikely to be granted to anyone claiming to have lost their work through disk failure,
etc.
7) Finally make an early start on your assignment and make a shared use of books.
Therefore please return borrowed books back to the library as soon as possible.
Reference:
i) Harvard System of Referencing: Basic Concepts, 2013, Anglia Ruskin University
Library, available at:
http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/files/QuickHarvardGuide2013Aug.pdf
[Accessed 15th December, 2015]