Task 
The purpose of this assignment is for you to gain experience in identifying, analysing, and providing a solution to a decision support problem. You are to work in groups of up to three to identify a problem in some organization, and to design a computerized solution to support decision making for that problem. Your solution may be either model-centric, data-centric, or a combination of the two. 
There are two deliverables for the assignment: (1) aword-processed report (approximately 3,000-4,000 words equivalent), and (2) a 10 to 15 minute
Part 2: The decision-making process 
Discuss the decision-making process using Simon's four-phase framework (described in lectures, and 
in Section 2.4 to 2.8 of the Turban, Sharda and Delen text). 
Guide questions: 
• How was the problem identified? 
• Whose problem is it? 
• Can the problem be classified into a standard category? If so, what type of problem is it? 
• How could the problem be modelled (e.g., data-driven modelling, optimization, simulation, 
etc.?) 
• What are some of the alternatives? 
• What are the decision variables? 
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• What is the principal of choice? 
Part 3: Description of Solution and Sample Data 
In Part 2, you should have identified a number of alternative solutions. In this part of the report you should describe in detailthe particular solution that you have implemented,and the data that you have used to test it. 
Notes: 
1. The specific details that you include will depend on the type of solution that you have designed. For example, if your solution is more model-oriented (e.g., based on simulation), then you will need to describe the formulas and equations used to perform the calculations, simulations, etc.; if your solution is more data-oriented, then you will need to focus on the data mining techniques that you are applying. Include screen shots (e.g., of Excel, WEKA, etc. screens to assist your description). 
2. You must include a description of the data and any other information that you have used in your model. For example, for data-oriented solutions you will probably have created a .csv file to store your raw data. Describe this data (e.g., number of records, number of fields, types of fields, etc.) If you acquired this data from some existing data source, identify the source. If you created mock data, describe the criteria which guided your choices. The complete data set that you used should be included as an appendix to the report. 
3. The data should be realistic. In most cases you will probably have to invent mock data, and in such a case you should make sure that the sample data is similar to the real data that you might expect to observe in this type of problem scenario. In regards to the amount of data that you use, this need not be excessive, but should be sufficient to test your solution. 
Part 4: Evaluation 
Evaluate the success of your solution. 
Guide questions: 
• How well does it solve the problem that you have identified? 
• What are its advantages? 
• What are its shortcomings? 
• How could the solution be improved? 
Notes: 
• The problem that you select must not be trivial. It should be a problem for which 
computerized support is genuinely required. Problemsdeemed to be overly simple will not 
receive good marks. 
• The 'guide questions' included above are intended solely to provide you with ideas to help 
you generate your discussions. Do not treat these as a'checklist'. Make your discussions as 
in-depth as is appropriate for your problem/solution. 
Oral Presentation Guidelines 
The presentation should be around 10 to 15 minutes in duration. It should address each of the four 
parts covered in the report, but should focus on describing the solution that you have developed, 
and its evaluation. You might imagine that you are ateam of employees who has been asked to 
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describe your proposed solution to your CIO. How wellcan you convince the CIO of the merit of your 
solution?