ORPA-1 tutorial - OR with spreadsheets

Operational Research Practice in Africa (ORPA) series First ORPA conference, 7-8 April 2005 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Tutorial OR with Spreadsheets Alistair Clark, University of the West of England, Bristol. Aims: Awareness of what can be achieved in OR with spreadsheets in order to benefit from the ubiquitous presence of spreadsheets on almost all computers. Target audience: OR practitioners and academics in poorer countries with very limited financial resources to perform OR. Pre-requisite: Basic knowledge of at least one spreadsheet, such as Microsoft Excel. Learning outcomes: Awareness of what can be achieved in OR with spreadsheets, including their strengths and limitations, without using commercial add-ons. Developing countries differ very much • From the technologically advanced (e.g., Brazil, Chile, India, China). • To the relatively deprived (e.g., West Africa). Brazil & Chile: • High availability of IT. • Strong OR presence and university researchers. • Sophisticated OR projects, eg, Agro-business and industry (Miguel Taube, Andrés Weintraub). • State-of-the-Art tools, e.g., AIMMS, Cplex. Resource-Poor Developing Countries • Less apparent demand for OR. • Less OR presence and fewer university researchers. • Fewer resources for IT. Specialist OR software • is too expensive and maybe diff. • has little or no local technical support. Ł Can OR make good use of spreadsheets?Strengths of spreadsheets for OR ...