Problem Solving Cases In Microsoft Access and Excel

Book Preface

For two decades, we have taught MIS courses at the University of Delaware. From the start, we wanted to use good computer-based case studies for the database and decision-support portions of our courses.

At first, we could not find a casebook that met our needs! This surprised us because we thought our requirements were not unreasonable. First, we wanted cases that asked students to think about real-world business situations. Second, we wanted cases that provided students with hands-on experience, using the kind of software that they had learned to use in their computer literacy courses—and that they would later use in business. Third, we wanted cases that would strengthen students’ ability to analyze a problem, examine alternative solutions, and implement a solution using software. Undeterred by the lack of casebooks, we wrote our own, and Course Technology, part of Cengage Learning, published it.

This is the ninth casebook we have written for Course Technology. The cases are all new, and the tutorials are updated.

As with our prior casebooks, we include tutorials that prepare students for the cases, which are challenging but doable. Most of the cases are organized to help students think about the logic of each case’s business problem and then about how to use the software to solve the business problem. The cases fit well in an undergraduate MIS course, an MBA Information Systems course, or a Computer Science course devoted to business-oriented programming.

B O O K O R G A N I Z A T I O N

The book is organized into seven parts:

CONTENTS:

• Part 1: Database Cases Using Access
• Part 2: Decision Support Cases Using Excel Scenario Manager
• Part 3: Decision Support Cases Using the Excel Solver
• Part 4: Decision Support Case Using Basic Excel Functionality
• Part 5: Integration Cases Using Access and Excel
• Part 6: Advanced Skills Using Excel
• Part 7: Presentation Skills