Back to Business Courses

The Back to Business short courses expose participants to the following topics:

Module 1: The Analytical Manager: Business Analytics in Excel
Module 2: Data Modeling and Database Design
Module 3: Financial Statements and Decision Making
Module 4: Pathways to Process Improvement
Module 5: Human Interpretations
Module 6: Marketing Matters
Module 7: Global Competitiveness: Building a Culture of Productivity

Module 1: The Analytical Manager: Business Analytics in Excel
Jeffrey Camm, Instructor

Spreadsheet Engineering
- Building world-class spreadsheets for business decision making
•   Principles of Building Good Spreadsheet Models
•   Powerful Mathematical and Financial Functions in Excel
•   Auditing an Existing Excel Model
•   Applications: Retirement Planning Model; Lease versus Buy; etc.

Analyzing Data in Excel
- Data Management
- Descriptive Statistics
- Simple Approaches to Forecasting
- Applications: Sales Forecasting; stock variance and covariance; predictive modeling

Hyper What-If
- Assessing risk through Monte Carlo simulation in Excel
•   Probabilistic Inputs
•   Monte Carlo simulation
•   Assessing Monte Carlo output
•   Applications: Imbedding risk in models built in Day 1 session

From What-If to What's Best
- Building optimization models using Excel Solver
•   Linear Models
•   Nonlinear Models
•   Discrete Models
•   Applications: product mix; logistics; portfolio selection; scheduling; etc.

Module 2: Data Modeling and Database Design
Uma Umanath, Instructor

Data Modeling
- Development of conceptual data model using the Entity-Relationship (ER) Modeling grammar
[Tool used: MS/Visio]

Database Design
- Development of logical data model using the Relational modeling grammar
Relational schema and normalization

Database Development
- Relational Algebra and SQL (Structured Query Language)
[Tool Used: Oracle 11g]

Module 3: Financial Statements and Decision Making
Jens Stephan, Instructor

Financial Statements: the Language of Business
Chemco: discovering financial statements
- Real financial statements: content
•   Health Management Associates (HMA)
•   Universal Health Services (UHS)
- Measuring performance with the DuPont model of financial analysis
•   The case of the savings bank
•   Reformulated financial statements: a simple example
•   Reformulated financial statements: HMA vs UHS
•   Financial statement ratios: a coherent picture

Financial Decision Making
- An MD: Is It Worth It?
- Valuation basics: a one-period example
- Compound interest mathematics
- IRR and NPV
- Discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis: Multiple Examples

Module 4: Pathways to Process Improvement
Amit Raturi, Instructor

Process Definition
- Process thinking – what is it?
- Process knowledge – characterizing the levels
- Process mapping and reference models: tasks, connections, pathways
- Application: Deaconness (A)

Process Control – The Middle Step
- Quincunx experiments and results
- Alternate philosophies
- Alternative process control methodologies
- Applications: Kathy (A) and (B): what is process control?

Process Knowledge and Learning
- Defining improvement projects: metrics and the balanced scorecard
- Six sigma methodology
- Lean thinking and implications
- Applications: Procter and Gamble (A)

Implementing Projects
- Project definition
- Project schedules and plans
- Delivering value through improvement projects
- Applications: Microsoft project lab

Module 5: Human Interpretations
Suzanne Masterson, Instructor

Module 6: Marketing Matters
Robert Dwyer, Instructor

Customers Count
Customer Value

Creating Value
Finding the Sweet Spot

Crafting the Marketing Program
Honing the Program

Market Breakdowns
Frontiers of Marketing

Module 7: Global Competitiveness: Building a Culture of Productivity
Rajan Kamath, Instructor

Global Competitive Advantage
- The Competitive Advantage of Nations
- Margin Enhancement and Strategy
- Case: Ryanair
- Case: Cartier

Managing Alignment
- Problem Definition
- Language Processing
- Affinity Diagrams

The 5 Evils of the Workplace
- Scientific Problem Solving
- PDCA and Teamwork
- Case: Stanford Hospital

The Strategic Implications of Lean
- Change Management
- Building and Maintaining a Culture of Productivity
- Case: Virginia Mason Hospital