Process Simulation in Excel for a Quantitative Management Course

Abstract

A nagging limitation of teaching spreadsheet-based quantitative decision-making courses is the sometimes stilted view of simulation presented, a view that overly emphasizes sampling simulation at the expense of process simulation. Without a viable spreadsheet-based process simulation package, the best efforts aimed at overcoming this emphasis on sampling simulation have provided passing references to special purpose simulation packages focused on process simulation. We introduce and discuss SimQuick as an alternative approach for teaching process simulation within the context of a spreadsheet-based approach to teaching simulation. Although an early tool, and somewhat limited when compared to special purpose simulation packages, SimQuick provides a viable means for teaching the process of simulation modeling and reinforcing the salient features of process modeling as a quantitative technique.