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Title: Sales and operations planning spreadsheet homework

Authors: Kurt Hozak; R. Samuel Sale

Addresses: Department of Management and Decision Sciences, Wall College of Business, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC 29526, USA ' Department of Management and Marketing, School of Business, University of Texas at Brownsville, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA

Abstract: This paper describes an Excel-based application that help teach students the aggregate operations planning portion of the sales and operations planning (S&OP) process. Randomly generated problems allow students as much practice as they need to master the material while reducing their ability to share their answers. The delayed feedback associated with traditional homework is eliminated because of the application's interactive nature. Under the application's guided direction, students can more easily practice calculations related to inventory, capacity, and production and explore the relationship between cost parameters and the relative attractiveness of chase and level production strategies. Instead of delving into individual calculations while grading homework done by hand, faculty can look at special verification information on the worksheets to quickly confirm that each student correctly completed his or her unique assignment. The various learning styles supported by the application are discussed.

Keywords: sales and operations planning; S&OP; SOP; aggregate planning; spreadsheets; Excel; academic integrity; cheating; Index of Learning Styles; ILS; VARK; teaching brief; operations management education; homework; higher education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIOME.2015.073144

International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education, 2015 Vol.6 No.1, pp.1 - 13

Received: 14 Jul 2014
Accepted: 04 Nov 2014

Published online: 25 Nov 2015 *

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