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Every professional strives to make quality decisions. Quality decisions result from a careful and thorough evaluation of relevant information. Often such information is generated through statistical manipulation of data, but few professionals possess quantitative reasoning skills to meaningfully and validly interpret such statistical findings themselves or question the interpretations given by others. The lack of quantitative analytical skills can potentially limit a professional effectiveness to make quality decisions. This course aims to develop an appreciation of the role of quantitative methods in management decision making and thereby empower professionals with an additional decision making skill.

By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

· Support strategic initiatives and inform on policy formulation

· Direct operational decision making

· Appreciate the role of Data Analysis as a Decision Support tool

· Explain the scope and structure of the discipline of Statistics

· Understand the importance of data quality in data analysis

· Select an appropriate Data Analysis methodology to apply to specific management situations

· Apply a cross-section of Data Analysis tools and techniques

· Interpret statistical output to inform decision making

· Assess statistical findings with confidence

· Interact meaningfully and with confidence with Data Analysts

· Initiate with confidence their own Data Analysis projects

· Upgrade your quantitative reasoning skills in decision making

· Build confidence in your decision making abilities using quantitative findings

· Perform computer-based statistical analyses in practice to add value to decisions

· Learn to meaningfully interpret management reports of a statistical nature

· Develop critical assessment skills to test the validity of statistical findings

· Be competent to initiate statistically-oriented projects

· Develop interaction skills with statistical analysts

Network system administrators network engineers, IT personnel, IT security and IT security auditing, technical IT management, financial controllers, directors & managers, company advisors, corporate finance officers & strategic planners, accounting personnel & corporate officers, securities analysts

Setting the Scene and Observational Decision Making

· Setting the Quantitative Scene

· The Decision Support Role of Quantitative Methods in Management

· Thinking Statistically about Applications in Business Practice

· The Elements and Scope of Quantitative Management

· Data and the importance of Data Quality

Using Excel to Paint a Picture of your Data

· Summary Methods Using Tables and Graphs to Profile Data

· One-way, Two-way and Multi-way Pivot Tables

· Graphic Displays and Breakdown Analysis

· Numeric Descriptors

· Central (and non-central) locations

· Dispersion

· Distribution Shapes

· Graphical summary using Box plots

· Statistical Inferential Decision Making - by harnessing Uncertainty

· Using sample evidence to address management issues through statistical inference

· How to measure and quantify Uncertainty

· Probability Distributions

· The importance of Sampling, Statistical Decision Making methods

· Approaches: Confidence Intervals and Hypothesis Testing

· Techniques: z- and t-statistics

· Analysis of Variance

· Chi-Square

· Addressing Practical Management Issues

· Estimation

· Testing for Differences

· Multiple Sample Comparisons

Predictive Decision Making: Using Models to Build Relationships

· Statistical models exploit statistical relationships between measures to prepare forecasts and make predictions

· The Value of Statistical Modelling

· Modelling Approaches

· Regression Models

· Time Series Analysis

· Autoregressive Models

Data Mining: A Brief Overview

· An Overview of Data Mining

· Definition; the Data Mining process; data preparation

· Data Mining Functions

· Prediction / Estimation / Classification / Descriptive

· Overview of Selected Data Mining Techniques (analysis by NCSS)

· Purpose

· Methodology

· Interpretation

· Likely Applications

· Descriptive Modelling Segmentation Strategies

· Cluster Analysis

· Discriminant Analysis

· Predictive Modelling

· Classification

· Estimation

· Prediction Strategies

· Logistic Regression

· Classification Trees

· Neural Networks

· Typical Applications

· Market Basket Analysis

· Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Decision Analysis for Management Judgement

Using Decision Models to Structure / Evaluate Complex Decision Scenarios

· Multi-Criteria Decision Modelling (Illustrations of Two Practical Tools)

· SMART: Simple Multi Attribute Rating Technique

· AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process)

Workshop Review Session

· Presentation

· Review further analyses and insights gained on delegates databases

· Review further analyses and insights gained on delegates databases

Discussion, Evaluation and Closure

· How to integrate statistical thinking into the work domain

· Focus on an action plan for each delegate to take back to their organization