Course Content and Objectives

The course offers an overview of the key current and emerging enterprise risk analytical approaches used by corporations and governmental institutions and is focused on understanding and implementing the enterprise risk management framework on how to leverage the opportunities around a firm to increase firm value. The major risk categories of the enterprise risk management such as financial risk, strategic risk and operational risk will be discussed and risk analytics approaches for each of these risks will be covered. Students will learn how to use interlinked data-inputs, analytics models, business statistics, optimization techniques, simulation, and decision-support tools. An integrated enterprise risk analytics  approach  will  be  demonstrated  with  examples  from  different  functional  areas  of  the enterprise. [4 cr.]

Prerequisite   Students are required to complete MET AD 571 Business Analytics Foundations before taking this course.

Materials

Materials on e-Reserve:

Essentials of Business Analytics, Camm et al., 2015, Cengage Learning

.    Chapter 11: Monte-Carlo Simulation

.    Chapter 12: Decision Analysis

Business Analytics: Methods, Models, and Decisions, 2e, Evans, James, 2016, Pearson

.    Chapter 12: Monte Carlo Simulation and Risk Analysis

.    Chapter 16: Decision Analysis

Spreadsheet Modeling & Decision Analysis: A Practical Introduction to Business Analytics, 7e, Ragsdale, Cliff T., 2016, Cengage Learning

.    Chapter 12: Introduction to Simulation Using Analytic Solver Platform

.    Chapter 14: Decision Analysis

Business Analytics: Data Analysis and Decision Making, Albright, S. C. and W. L. Winston, 2015, Cengage Learning

.    Chapter 6: Decision Making Under Uncertainty

.    Chapter 15: Introduction to Simulation Modeling

Note: To access the required chapter located in the BU Library’s e-reserves, please follow these steps:

.    Go to http://www.bu.edu/library/services/reserves/

.    Select “Course Reserves” link

.    Input the course number (AD616) without spaces. The chapters will appear.

.    Click on the chapter you are trying to access.

.    Click on “view full text” .

.    This will open a PDF, which you may save or print.

.    To save the PDF, click “File” (upper left corner on the Firefox browser screen), select “Print” select “PDF” and save on your computer.

Boston University Library Link

As Boston University students you have full access to the BU Library—even if you do not live in Boston. From any computer, you can gain access to anything at the library that is available online. Use the link http://www.bu.edu/library/index.shtml. You may use the library's content whether you are connected through your online course or not, by confirming your status as a BU community member using your name and Kerberos.

Using the links on the page, you can find articles, e-Journals, and e-Books, and you can easily search the library's  content  by  subject.  In  addition,  through  the  "Reference  Shelf,"  you  will  have  access  to dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and more. If you are having difficulties gaining access, please consult the instructions below.

Connect to e-Resources

Boston University's Office of Information Technology and the Library offer an option for remote access to Boston University's online library resources through the link: http://www.bu.edu/library/index.shtml

If you are having difficulties gaining access you may want to go to

http://www.bu.edu/library/research/connecting.html. From this page you can access material directly

using the links near the top of the page, where you will see the note, "e-Resources include databases, e- Journals, and e-Books."

Grading Structure

Grading Structure and Distribution

This course will be graded in four parts, as follows:

Your final grade for the course will be based on the following elements:

I  will  follow  the  Boston  University,  Metropolitan  College,  recommendations  concerning  grading standards. As such, A and A- grades are awarded for superior class work.

Timely Presentation of Materials Due

All work requests (quizzes, assignments, etc.) have due dates. These are the LAST DATES that stated material is due. This means that it is a good idea to personally target dates before that date as your personal completion date to avoid difficulties. Please consider this a fact and not a subject for discussion. Dates are often viewed by students as the date to turn in an assignment. We view assignment due dates as the LAST DATE in which to turn in an assignment. With this warning please note that we are not inclined to accept late work and if late work should be accepted it will only be done only after considerable weighting of rationale and with penalty.

Business Analytics Shell

The business analytics shell is based on the MS Excel Add-Ins Analytic Solver Platform Frontline v2015/R2 and is preinstalled on all virtual computers within our virtual laboratories. You were introduced to this software in AD 571.

Discussion Participation and Grading Criteria

You are required to participate in the discussion sessions. You are to respond to at least 2 of your

classmate's postings. Postings to the Discussion Topics will be graded according to your contribution to the overall discussion and analysis of the course materials. To obtain an exceptional grade, you will

have to exceed expectations in your contributions, discussions, and analysis of the materials, and demonstrate a command of the concepts that underpin the course.

Discussion Topics

Discussion topics can be found in the Discussion area of blackboard course website and should be submitted there.

Group Discussions 1

Please choose one of the below discussion points for your initial post:

1.   Discuss the purpose of risk analytics. In particular, (a) discuss the goal of risk analytics for an enterprise and (b) how do you envision using it in your daily work.

2.   Discuss the risk modeling practices in your current/past work. Is modeling and analyzing risk part of the practices of your current/past company? If so, what tools are being used?

3.   Discuss topics of your choice from Lecture 1 through Lecture 4.

Group Discussions 2

Please choose one of the below discussion points for your initial post

1.   The discussion concerns your ability to do basic research to better understand the use of simulation and/or simulation optimization in several areas.  Your task is to find one article (electronically, preferably using the BU Library – www.bu.edu/library) that uses simulation to solve a problem. It should not bean article mentioned in class or referenced to by another student in the discussion board. A good journal to look at is "Interfaces". You may also find it useful to browse the Winter Simulation Conference archive. However, these are just suggestions. Do not limit yourself to these two journals. Also, make sure that you focus on application papers.

To help organize the discussion board, input the title of your article as the title of your post. This way, you can be sure than no one else has used your article beforehand. For the article that you choose, explain:

.    What course topic your article addresses,

.    How the article’s coverage differs from what was included in the course notes, and

.    Why it adds to our understanding of the course material.

.    Use between 150 and 250 words for your post. Do not just copy from the paper or its abstract. Read the paper and think about the three bullets above. Also, attach a pdf of the article. For this discussion, you should not respond to the post of another student. So, there should be one post per student, each with the title of an article as the title of the post.

2.   Discuss topics of your choice from Lecture 7 and Lecture 8.

Group Discussions 3

Please choose one of the below discussion points for your initial post

1.   The discussion concerns your ability to do basic research to better understand the use of decision analysis and decision trees in  several areas including but not limited to healthcare, revenue management,  finance,  and  supply  chain  management.  Your  task  is  to  find  one  article (electronically, preferably using the BU Library – www.bu.edu/library) that uses simulation to solve a problem. It should not bean article mentioned in class or referenced to by another student in the discussion board. A good journal to look at is "Interfaces". You may also find it useful to browse the Winter Simulation Conference archive. However, do not limit yourself to this journal.

For the article that you choose, explain:

.    What course topic your article addresses,

.    How the article’s coverage differs from what was included in the course notes, and

.    Why it adds to our understanding of the course material.

.    Use between 150 and 250 words for your post. Do not just copy from the paper or its abstract. Read the paper and think about the three bullets above. Also, attach a pdf of the article. You are required to respond to the post of only one student for this discussion.

2.   Discuss the use of decision analysis in your current/past work. How do you have learnt this week in your daily work?

3.   Discuss topics of your choice from Lecture 9 and Lecture 10.

Group Discussions 4

Choose one of the risk categories discussed this week (e.g, operational risk, strategic risk, reputational risk, financial risk etc - please refer to Figure 12.3 - Categorization of firmwide risks). Research this risk and discuss its importance and approaches to model/analyze it. Does simulation play a role in analyzing your risk of choice?

Quizzes

There are five quizzes (the dates are given in the course calendar). The quizzes will be available on

Blackboard but you must take the quiz in the class. Do not forget to bring your computer! (unless the

classroom has computers for the students) There is a 30 minutes time limit for each quiz. Each quiz will consist of a total of 10 multiple choice and true/false questions. Quizzes will cover content from the

lecture notes and readings. The quizzes are open-book.

Final Exam

The final exam will be comprehensive. It is a take-home exam.

Satisfaction of Department-Wide Goals