Tag: Excel OM

Guest Post: Using Software in Your Operations Management Course

 

Prof. Howard Weiss’s suggestions may help you teach your OM course this semester.

As the developer of POM for Windows and Excel OM for the Heizer/Render/Munson text, I am naturally biased about the use of software in an OM class. In my opinion, students in an OM course, as opposed to an Operations Research course, should not be bogged down in the mechanics of computation but rather should understand the model concepts, inputs and outputs. There are four categories of problems that are strong candidates for assigning students to use POM, Excel OM or Excel.

Problems with a large data set There is no reason to ask students to solve PERT/CPM models with a large number of activities by hand. It makes much more sense to have the students enter the data and solve the problem using software, and then stress the concepts such as slack or crashing. In forecasting, students should understand the meaning and use of the trend and the error measures rather than spending time computing the intercept and slope. For control charts, if a student has computed results for 5 samples by hand does it really make sense to ask the student to compute the results by hand for 30 samples rather than using software to perform the computations and instead ask the student about his or her conclusions. There are many more examples of topics that include numerous computations – factor rating, center of gravity, assembly line balancing, ABC analysis, MRP, Lot-sizing and one machine sequencing come to mind. (Also, for models with much data, students should not spend a great deal of time entering data. It is very easy to copy and paste the data tables from MyOMLab to the software).

Iterative Models The discussion of LP, transportation, assignment and 2 machine scheduling, should focus on the formulation of the problems, the inputs, the goals and the interpretation of the results.

Models with multiple methods Some models have more than one approach. It is useful for the students to compare the results of these different methods without having to try every method by hand themselves. Obvious models are time- series analysis, assembly line balancing, aggregate planning and one-machine scheduling.

Models for which the software goes a step further than the text. In a few cases the software presents methods or results that are not part of the textbook. In one machine scheduling, Moore’s method is available to minimize the number of late jobs. Wagner-Whitin is included in the software for lot-sizing. Pairwise comparison is available to determine the layout with the minimum amount of movement.

Guest Post: Aggregate Planning with Excel OM

Today’s Guest Post comes from Dr. Albena Ivanova, who is Professor of OM at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania.

Excel OM software, which comes free with your Heizer/Render/Munson text, is an excellent tool for students to learn the various concepts of Operations Management. I have been using this software in conjunction with MyOMLab ever since I started teaching. I have found that using this software has not only made the homework completion process smoother but also helped students gain a better understanding of the course concepts.

 

The first thing that I do is show students how to arrange their tabs so they can have the two screens open at the same time next to each other. I usually pick algorithmic problems for class practice, where we are all working on the same problem, but with different numbers. I use the Study Plan for class practice and then give similar questions (but with different numbers) for homework and for the exam. My homework is not time limited, however, the students have only one (1) attempt. If they need to practice, they can do that in the Study Plan before completing the homework.

 

In the attached video I explain the process of using the Excel OM software to complete an Aggregate Problem homework in MyOMLab. The software has been slightly modified, and I have explained these modifications in detail in the video. I think that these small edits provide additional learning experience for the students, as they can see how to create or edit their own templates.

 

Overall, using Excel OM software has been a game-changer in my classroom. It has helped students better understand the course concepts. I hope my experience and the attached video will be helpful to fellow operations management professors in their efforts to enhance the learning of their students.

Guest Post: New Software Feature for POM and Excel OM

Prof. Howard Weiss, recently retired from Temple U., developed both of these software packages for our texts.

To continuously improve the Heizer/Render/Munson free software packages that accompany their texts, I have added a feature to POM and Excel OM that lets students load files for over 160 examples and Solved Problems.

For either software package, on a PC, the examples can be accessed directly by using the Examples tool on the toolbar and are organized by chapter as displayed in the two figures below. On a Mac, the student will have to open the specific Chapter using Excel’s File, Open command.

In POM a window will appear showing the available examples and Solved Problems for that particular chapter. The window for the Short-Term Scheduling chapter is shown here. (Examples may use more than one POM module as is the case in Ch.15). In POM, there is one example per file. The list here represents 8 different POM files.

 

 

 

In Excel, the examples for a single chapter all appear in one Excel file (see below for Ch. 1) where you can see 3 spreadsheet tabs for 3 different problems.

For many examples an explanation is given. This appears above the data in both packages and can be seen in the figure for Excel OM.

The name of the module (and submodel) are given for all files so that the student can readily understand which model was used to solve the problem. In Excel, the name is in row 3 and in POM the name is in the left of the status bar at the bottom of the window.

By easily accessing the examples the student can gain a better understanding and more easily identify the model for all problems.

Guest Post: Using Excel OM on a Tablet

HowardWeiss2Howard Weiss is Professor of Operations Management at Temple University. He has developed both POM for Windows and Excel OM for our text.

It is now very easy to run Excel OM on an iPad or Nexus. This is not due to changes in Excel OM but rather due to a free app that is available for tablets. The app is OnLive Desktop and can be found at the iTunes App Store or the Google Play Store. The app runs Windows 7 on your tablet and includes Microsoft Office 2010. Unfortunately, the internet is not available with the free version.  OnLive interfaces with your files through an account on the OnLive cloud.

To setup OnLive you simply need to : (1) Install OnLive Desktop on your tablet; (2) Create a free account at desktop.onlive.com; and (3) Upload ExcelOM (3 files) to your OnLive cloud account as shown below.

Excel OM1

To run Excel OM on your tablet you: (1) Open OnLive Desktop on your tablet and sign in; (2) Open Excel; and (3) Go to File and Open ExcelOMQMv4.xla

You can save your Excel OM problem files to your account at OnLive desktop and then access them from your computer.

Please note the following:

  • OnLive desktop’s Excel does not include Excel’s Solver so you cannot run linear programs, transportation models or the project management crashing model.
  • Some of Excel OM’s tools, such as visiting the Pearson web site are not available since the internet is not available.
  • Your current version and build of Excel OM will work but Excel OM has been updated to better interface with OnLive so you should download the latest build from the Excel OM support page at prenhall.com/weiss.

Below is a picture of Inventory Example 3 from Heizer/Render OM 11e, using Excel OM on an iPad

excelom2

Guest Post: Great Homework Problems for Software

Today’s guest post is by Prof. Howard Weiss at the Fox School of Business, Temple University. Howard is also Director of the Fox EMBA program. You can view Howard’s syllabus by clicking here.

As the developer of POM for Windows and Excel OM, I am naturally biased about the use of software in an OM class. I believe that students should not be bogged down in the mechanics of computations but rather should understand concepts, inputs and outputs. While 90% of the homework problems in the Heizer/Render text can be solved with my two programs, I see four types of categories of problems that are strong candidates for assigning students using the software.

(1) Large problems, such as project management are good example of models with simple but tedious computations. There is no reason to ask students to solve CPM models with more than 8 activities by hand.  In forecasting, I want students to understand the meaning and use of the trend and the error measures rather than spending time computing the intercept and slope. For control charts, if a student has computed results for 5 samples by hand or with Excel does it really make sense to ask the student to calculate the results by hand for 30 samples?

(2) Iterative Models, such as LP, assignment, and transportation, should focus on the formulation of the problems and the interpretation of the results.

(3) Models with multiple methods, where it is useful for students to compare the results of these different methods without having to try every method by hand themselves. Models that come to mind are time-series analysis, assembly line balancing and one-machine scheduling. In addition, it is much easier to change the number of servers in a waiting line model in POM or Excel OM than by hand.

(4) Models for which the software goes a step further than the text, such as: machine scheduling, where Moore’s method is available to minimize the number of late jobs; Wagner-Whitin for lot-sizing; LP for a ranging analysis.

Guest Post: Why Our Students Love MyOMLab at Temple University

Today’s Guest Blog is from Professor Howard Weiss at Temple University’s Fox School of Business and Management. Dr. Weiss is the developer of both POM for Windows and Excel OM, the two problem-solving software packages available free to adopters of our OM texts.

I started using myomlab when it first came out in Fall of 2009. In spite of a few difficulties that occurred with the automated grading that first semester, my students loved myomlab. This past semester has gone even better for my students due to the Copy feature that has been added to myomlab and the Paste from myomlab feature that has been added to POM for Windows and Excel OM. These features enable students  to copy data from problems where the data is expressed in table form. The table of data can be copied from myomlab and then pasted into Excel and then manipulated or pasted directly into either a model created in POM for Windows or a model generated by Excel OM.

The advantages are obvious. Students do not waste their time entering data but rather use the time obtaining and interpreting results. Essentially, my students this year spent less time on homework assignments than my students from last year and also had more time to think about the problems during the exams since they spent less time entering data. In addition, the automated copy of data from myomlab eliminates the possibility that the student will get a problem wrong due to a data entry error. Sadly, students still get problems wrong in other ways, such as by using the wrong model, selecting the wrong method or choosing the wrong output value as their answer but they won’t get a problem wrong by mistyping a number.

I always give my own course evaluation at the end of each semester where I ask students for feedback about the specifics of the course rather than the general feedback that is asked of students by Temple University. Once again, each and every student indicated that I should continue to use myomlab. The best comment was, “That is amazing! I was able to copy the data set right into POM and I solved the problem.”


Guest Post: How We Use Software at Temple U.

Here is our 1st Guest Post. It comes from Prof. Howard Weiss at Temple U. As I mentioned in my Teaching Tip blog on 9/21, Howard has developed  and maintains the software that accompanies our texts. He has been on the cutting edge of using computers to teach OM for over 2 decades.

Howard Weiss writes:

When I began using software in my OM class it was Lotus 123…remember that?! I would display the spreadsheets from the front of the classroom. But on their teaching evaluations, several students requested hands-on use of software rather than just watching me. I experimented by running half of each course in the classroom and half in the public computer lab. Recall that this was at the time when few students had PCs at home. The experiment was a success, and  my departmental colleagues followed the half-time lab model. At the same time, in addition to public labs, teaching labs were being configured. Since then, roughly at the time when Windows and Excel began to become popular, all of our sections have been scheduled for half- time in the classroom and half-time in the teaching lab. We are a large school, so to make scheduling easier we have two sections of OM taught simultaneously. One section is in the classroom while the other is in the lab and vice-versa for the other lecture that week.

Changing to the alternating classroom/lab format meant a restructuring of the lectures. I try to lecture on qualitative material on the first day and then use the lab on the second day for the quantitative material rather than mixing the qualitative and quantitative material. My labs include exercises in Excel in order to build the students’ Excel skills, use of both POM for Windows and Excel OM so that the students can decide which they prefer, and use of the Active Models that accompany the Heizer/Render textbook.

Having developed POM for Windows and Excel OM, I spend a significant amount of my personal time continuously maintaining and improving these packages. I am always available to respond to any requests for help of any sort from you or your students. You can reach me at dsSoftware@prenhall.com.

 If you would like to share your teaching experiences, please just email us and we will post your Guest Blog.