Course Syllabus

ISYE 6501

Introduction to Analytics Modeling

Professor: Dr. Xiaoming Huo & Dr. Joel Sokol

Course Description: An introduction to important and commonly used models in Analytics,

as well as aspects of the modeling process.

Prerequisites
 Probability and statistics
 Basic programming proficiency
 Linear algebra
 Basic calculus
 A little background in R can be useful; however, it isn’t necessary if you’re willing to
learn on the fly.

Course Goals
The most important thing you can learn from this course is not the memorization of any specific
bit of material. Instead, I would like you to learn these skills:

 Given a business (or other) question, select an appropriate analytics model to answer
it, specify the data you will need to solve it and understand what the model’s solution
will and will not provide as an answer.
 Given someone else’s use of analytics to address a specific business (or other) question,
evaluate whether they have used an appropriate model (and appropriate data) and
whether their conclusion is reasonable.

Another goal of this course is for you to learn how to think through descriptions and usage of
new models so you can continue to learn throughout your career; new techniques will certainly
be developed after you graduate, and we want you to be able to pick them up quickly.

We will not cover the mathematics and algorithms under the hood or deeper mastery of the
modeling needed to set up the use of the technique. You can acquire those deeper levels of
knowledge in elective courses. (In fact, we could spend an entire semester on many topics you’ll see
in the course.

Grading Policy
1. There will be two midterm exams and one final exam that will be graded by the
faculty. Each will be worth 25% of the course grade.
2. There will be homework assignments most weeks of the semester. Your two lowest
homework grades will be dropped, and the remaining ones will add up to 15% of the
course grade.
3. There will be one course project worth 8% of the course grade.
4. There will be one Exam on the syllabus, worth 2% of the course grade.

1
 5. For Georgia Tech degree and certificate students, exams will be scaled to letter grades
based on their difficulty and combined with the homework and project to determine
an overall letter grade scale at the end of the semester.

Homework and Exam Due Dates

All homework are due at the times listed in Canvas. The exam date are on the table at the
end of this syllabus.

Timing Policy
 The Modules (in Canvas - https://canvas.gatech.edu/) follow a logical
sequence that includes knowledge-building and experience-building.
 Assignments should be completed by their due dates for timely assessment.
 Exams must be completed during the time allotted on the schedule.
 You will have access to the course content in Canvas mentioned above.

Exam Policy
 For Midterm Exam 1 and Midterm Exam 2, you are allowed to use one sheet of
paper, either 8.5”x11” or A4, with handwritten notes (both sides of the sheet, 2
sides total).
 For the Final Exam, you are allowed to use two sheets of paper, either 8.5”x11” or A4,
with handwritten notes (both sides of each sheet, 4 sides total).
 For all exams, you are allowed blank sheets of paper for scratch work.
 Any student who misses an Exam for any reason will not be allowed to take it after
the deadline

Plagiarism Policy
 Plagiarism is considered a serious offense. You are not allowed to copy and paste or
submit materials created or published by others as if you created the materials. All
materials submitted and posted must be your own. Any background materials you use
should be cited.

Course Materials
 All content and course materials can be accessed online.
 There is no textbook for this course.

Student Honor Code

All Georgia Tech degree and certificate students are expected and required to abide by the
letter and spirit of the Georgia Tech honor code. Please feel free to contact me if there is any
way that I can help you in complying with the honor code.
 I’m very serious about this. Ethical behavior is extremely important in all facets of life.
 Review the honor code that is relevant to you: Georgia Tech degree and certificate
students should review the Georgia Tech Student Honor Code
www.honor.gatech.edu.
 You are responsible for completing your own work.
 Any Georgia Tech degree or certificate student suspected of behavior in violation of the
Georgia Tech Honor Code will be referred to Georgia Tech’s Office of Student Integrity.

Communication (the following is written for the Atlanta campus. We will experiment with it at GTSI)
2
  All Georgia Tech degree students are responsible for knowing the content of all pinned
Piazza posts. This is where instructors will be letting students know about important
announcements, changes (if any), etc., so all students are required to read and know
the content of all such posts. It is expected that students will check these posts at least
once every 24 hours (with exceptions for national and religious holidays, emergencies,
etc.).
 All learners should ask questions and answer their fellow learners’ questions on the
course discussion forums. Often, discussions with fellow learners are the sources of key
pieces of learning.

Students with Disabilities, Unexpected Medical/Personal Issues, Etc. (the following section is for
the Atlanta campus. Please follow the instructions from GTSI accordingly.)
 If you wish to request an accommodation due to a documented disability, please
contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) ([email protected] or 404-894-2563
(voice) or 404-894-1664 (TDD)) as soon as possible. ODS helps students get
accommodation prospectively (before the accommodation is needed) but not
retroactively (i.e., they will not help if you knew you might need the accommodation
beforehand but waited until after the situation arose to request it). We (professors
and others) cannot give these accommodations ourselves; they must be requested
through ODS.
 If you encounter an unexpected personal issue, medical issue, etc. you can contact the
Dean of Students’ office, or post on Piazza to all instructors. Depending on the
situation, we might be able to handle it, or we might need you to contact the Dean of
Students’ office, but you are always welcome to contact the Dean of Students’ office if
you are not comfortable revealing the details of your situation to the professor and
TAs.

Netiquette
 Netiquette refers to etiquette that is used when communicating on the Internet. When
you are communicating via email, discussion forums, or synchronously (real-time), please
use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar that are consistent with the academic
environment and scholarship.
 In Georgia Tech’s Master of Science in Analytics program, which this course is a part
of, we expect all participants (learners, faculty, teaching assistants, and staff) to
interact respectfully. Learners who do not adhere to this guideline may be removed
from the course.
Technology/Software Requirements

 Internet connection (DSL, LAN, or cable connection desirable)

 R statistical software (free download; see cran.r-project.org) and R Studio (free download; see
https://rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/)
 Arena simulation software (free student download; see www.arenasimulation.com/academic/students) for
Windows, or SimPy (free download; see https://pypi.python.org/pypi/simpy) for Windows/Mac)
 PuLP optimization software (free download; see www.coin-or.org/PuLP/ -- Windows version and (for Mac
users) a Linux version)
 Python (required for PuLP and SimPy) programming language (free download; see www.python.org/)
 Adobe Acrobat PDF reader (free download; see https://get.adobe.com/reader/

3
Course Topics and Sample Pacing Schedule
See a separate file for the tables containing a course topic outline and assessment due dates.

Schedule

Date
Week 1st Day Lect# Content
1 19-Aug 1 Introduction, Classification, Validation
2
2 26-Aug 3 Clustering, Basic Data Preparation, Change Detection
4
3 2-Sep 5 Time Series Models
6 review
4 9-Sep Midterm Exam 1
7 Basic Regression: R examples
5 16-Sep 8
9 Advanced Data Preparation, Advanced Regression, Tree- based Models
6 23-Sep 10 Variable Selection
11
7 30-Sep 12
NO CALSS (National Day)
8 7-Oct NO CLASS (National Day)
13 Design of Experiments, Probability-based Models
9 14-Oct 14 Probability-based Models, Missing Data
15 Optimization
10 21-Oct Midterm Exam 2
16 Optimization, Advanced Models
11 28-Oct 17
18 Discussion Cases – Case Format
12 4-Nov 19
20 Discussion -- Power Company Case
13 11-Nov 21
22 Discussion Cases – Retailer Case
14 18-Nov 23
24 Discussion Cases – Monetization Case
15 25-Nov 25
26
16 2-Dec 27 Course Summary

4
5