Spreadsheet Modeling & Decision Analysis: A Practical Introduction to Business Analytics

Written by the innovator of the spreadsheet teaching revolution and highly regarded leader in business analytics, Cliff Ragsdale’s new edition of Spreadsheet Modeling & Decision Analysis: A Practical Introduction to Business Analytics retains the elements and philosophy of past success while now helping your students transition to business analytics. Spreadsheet Modeling & Decision Analysis, 8E’s updates work seamlessly with Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016. Succinct instruction highlights the most commonly used business analytics techniques and clearly demonstrates how to implement these tools with the most current version of Excel® for Windows. This text focuses on developing both algebraic and spreadsheet modeling skills. This edition now features Analytic Solver and XLMiner Platforms with powerful tools for performing optimization, simulation and decision analysis in Excel, as well as complete tools for performing data mining in Excel and techniques for predictive analytics.

New to this Edition

• NEW MINDTAP® DIGITAL LEARNING SOLUTION HELPS YOU ENGAGE TODAY’S STUDENTS. This all-digital version of the book enhances student learning in each chapter with an engagement video and discussion, a quiz with rich feedback, videos by the author that explain chapter concepts, and end-of-chapter assignments that are tailored to work well digitally.


• THE LATEST VERSION OF MICROSOFT EXCEL 2016 IS FEATURED THROUGHOUT. All screen shots and instructions throughout this edition reflect the latest version of Excel to prepare your students with the contemporary skills they will need.


• EXPANDED DISCUSSION EMPHASIZES GOOD DECISION MAKING. This key discussion in Chapter 1 clearly defines good decision making while updated examples highlight successful applications of business analytics in large organizations.


• NEW COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTS THE LINE BALANCING PROBLEM. New, key material in Chapter 6 (Integer Linear Programming) provides a new example of integer programming that is interesting, challenging, and practical.


• MAJOR UPDATES REFLECT CHANGES IN THE XLMINER PLATFORM SOFTWARE. Coverage in Chapter 10 (Data Mining) now also covers ROC and AUC graphs as well as the concepts of precision, recall, specificity, and the F1 score.


• NEW AND REVISED END-OF-CHAPTER QUESTIONS CHECK READER UNDERSTANDING. New question and application opportunities throughout the book ensure students understand key principles.

About the Author

A recognized innovator in spreadsheet instruction and highly regarded pioneer in business analytics, Dr. Cliff Ragsdale is the Bank of America Professor of Business Information Technology and Academic Director of the Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, where he has taught since 1990. Dr. Ragsdale received his Ph.D. in Management Science and Information Technology from the University of Georgia. He also holds an M.B.A. in Finance and B.A. in Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Before pursuing his Ph.D., he was supervisor of Benefit Finance & Qualified Plans at the international headquarters of Red Lobster, Inc. He has served as an information systems and statistical consultant for a variety of companies and as an expert witness in the area of spreadsheet forensics. Dr. Ragsdale's primary areas of research interest include applications of artificial intelligence, mathematical programming, and applying statistics to business problems. His research has appeared in Decision Sciences, Naval Research Logistics, Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, Computers & Operations Research, Operations Research Letters, Personal Financial Planning, and other publications. He has received both the Pamplin award for excellence in teaching and the Outstanding Doctoral Educator Award from the Pamplin College of Business Administration at Virginia Tech. Dr. Ragsdale is a Fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute and active member of DSI and INFORMS.