Smart Decisions

Dr. Richard Edgar Hodgett is the MBA director and an associate professor in business analytics and decision science at Leeds University Business School. He previously was the director of student education for the Management Department and the program director of the MSc in Business Analytics and Decision Sciences. Richard specialises in creating decision support systems and working with industry to solve analytical problems. Prior to his academic career, Richard was an Innovation Specialist who developed software now used by some of the world?s leading companies in the pharmaceutical and speciality chemical sectors. Dr. Sajid Siraj is an associate professor in business analytics and the program director for a postgraduate program in business analytics and decision sciences. He is an active researcher in the field of decision support systems. He started his career as an electrical engineer working on microchip designing and developing device drivers. He also worked in the telecom sector for many years working on machine learning tools to identify potential frauds. Dr Siraj has developed open-source decision support tools which have been downloaded around the globe and has been used in numerous organisations. Dr Siraj has published in quality journals in the fields of operational research and decision support. His main research interests are in the field of explainability and fairness in decision support systems, primarily focusing on the machine learning algorithms. Dr. Ellen Louise Hogg is a lecturer in business analytics who specialises in teaching data analytics, interactive visualisations and statistics. Louise gained her PhD at the University of Bristol investigating the mechanisms of memory that are affected during Alzheimer?s disease. She then moved on to become a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bradford where she further investigated how inflammatory factors effect mechanisms of memory and specifically the role that these could be playing in associated diseases. It is the statistical and analytical skills that she learnt here that lead her to becoming interested in data analytics.

• Preface viiAcknowledgements ixChapter 1 – Introduction 11.1 How to Structure Your Decisions? 31.2 Different Stages in Decision-making 4Chapter 2 – Get Started with Excel and R 92.1 Get Started with R 92.1.1 Types of Data in R 112.1.2 Work with Data in R 142.2 Get Started with Excel 162.2.1 Freeze Panes 182.2.2 Excel Formulas 182.2.3 Formatting Cells 192.2.4 Conditional Formatting 202.2.5 IF Statements 222.2.6 Charts 222.2.7 Searching and Sorting 262.2.8 Pivot Tables 282.2.9 Excel Solver 29Chapter 3 – Direct Rating Methods 333.1 Select a House Using a Direct Rating Method in Excel 353.2 Select a House Using a Direct Rating Method in R 443.3 Further Problems to Test Your Direct Rating Method Skills 453.3.1 Purchase a New Laptop Using a Direct Rating Method 453.3.2 Select Manufacturing Equipment Using a Direct Rating Method 46Chapter 4 – Pairwise Comparison Methods 474.1 Select a Candidate to Hire Using AHP in Excel 524.2 Select a Candidate to Hire Using AHP in R 604.3 Further Problems to Test Your AHP Skills 614.3.1 Select Equipment to Build Using AHP 624.3.2 Select a Server to Buy Using AHP 62Chapter 5 – Ideal Point Methods 655.1 Select a Car to Purchase Using TOPSIS in Excel 685.2 Select a Car to Purchase Using TOPSIS in R 765.3 Further Problems to Test Your TOPSIS Skills 775.3.1 Select Office Space Using TOPSIS 775.3.2 Select Venue for Lunch Using TOPSIS 78Chapter 6 – Outranking Methods 796.1 Introduction to ELECTRE 806.1.1 Concordance and Discordance 826.1.2 Credibility 856.1.3 Distillation 866.2 ELECTRE in Microsoft Excel 876.3 ELECTRE in R 926.4 Further Problems to Test Your ELECTRE Skills 94Chapter 7 – Promethee 977.1 Theme Park 997.2 PROMETHEE in Excel 1037.3 PROMETHEE in R 1067.4 Further Problems to Test Your PROMETHEE Skills 107Chapter 8 – Goal Programming 1098.1 Select How Many Products to Manufacture Using Goal Programming in Excel 1108.2 Select How Many Products to Manufacture Using Goal Programming in R 1218.3 Further Problems to Test Your Goal Programming Skills 122Chapter 9 – Evolutionary Optimisation 1259.1 European Road Trip 1259.2 Model the European Road Trip in Excel 1269.3 Model the European Road Trip in R 1329.4 Further Problems to Test Your Evolutionary Optimisation Skills 134Chapter 10 – Dealing with Uncertainty 13710.1 Select the Best Way to Cut Down a Tree in Excel 14010.2 Select the Best Way to Cut Down a Tree in R 14810.3 Further Problems to Test Your SURE Skills 14910.3.1 Project Planning 14910.3.2 Taking a Job 150Index 151