ISM 270: Service Engineering and Management

ISM/UNEX 270 is a graduate level course in the emerging field of Service Engineering. We cover both traditional service enterprise management issues, such as process quality control and facility location optimization, as well as recent technological developments such as web programming that are reshaping the landscape of service industries. Executives must design service delivery strategies that maximize performance in both the physical marketplace and the virtual marketplace. This class will provide students with the quantitative tools needed to succeed in this competitive arena.

Students will gain experience with cutting-edge tools through lab projects and homework sets.

· Each student will create a dynamic web page using XHTML, PHP, JavaScript, and MySQL tools.

· To explore XML-based web programming, we will use new tools such as StrikeIron and the Google Maps API to aggregate, process, and display business data.

· We will review principles of statistical optimization and apply them to process control, demand forecasting, and capacity planning problems.

· We will develop management acumen through project planning exercises.

· The final project is a competitive, team-based Littlefield simulation of the management of a service enterprise.

Details

6pm – 9pm, Tuesday evenings

Winter Quarter 2007, January 9 – March 13

UCSC/Silicon Valley Center, Mountain View, CA

(Building 19 of NASA Ames campus, Moffett Field)

Course Fee through University Extension: $950

Enrollment through University Extension

Enrollment as UCSC graduate student

Format: Ten weeks, meeting once per week for three hours. A typical class will involve one hour of lecture, an hour of lecture and discussion led by an industry practitioner, and an hour of lab exercises.

Prerequisites: Analytical undergraduate degree (engineering, science, mathematics, economics)

Course Materials:

The required textbook is Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology, by James and Mona Fitzsimmons. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, fifth edition, 2006.
Students need access to a PC running Windows XP and Microsoft Excel. Some PCs will also be available for use on-site.

Instructor

Kevin Ross

Assistant Professor

Graduate Director of the Technology and Information Management Program

Baskin School of Engineering, UCSC

Phone: (831) 459-1878

Email: kross@soe.ucsc.edu

Web Page: http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~kross/

Teaching Assistant: Geoffrey Ryder gryder@gmail.com

Videos of class (password protected)

Note: Powerpoint slides for past lecture linked to class number.

Course Outline (subject to change)

Class	Date	Corresponding Text Chapters	Topic	Lab Activity	Guest Speaker	Reading	Assessment	Files
1	Jan 9	1, 2	The nature of service enterprises	Data envelopment analysis of service productivity using StrikeIron and linear programming; web tools setup			Homework 1 assigned	Excel File Homework 1 Homework 1 Excel File Intro to LP Notes
2	Jan 16	3, 4	Strategy for new service development	Web programming: access the Google Maps API using JavaScript to display data for a service facility location problem	Paul Maglio IBM Research	Tien, J.M., & Berg, D. (2003)	Homework 2 assigned	PHPIndex Biodiesel.xq BiodieselCA.xml
3	Jan 23	5	Technology in services	Web programming: aggregate and process business data using XML and MySQL. Web project assignment.	Alan Karp HP Labs PDF PPT		Homework 1 due Project 1 assigned	Project 1 Starter files
4	Jan 30	6,7, 8, 9	Quality in service encounters	Statistical service process control problem.	Michael (Max) Maximilien, IBM Almaden Research Center	Vargo, S. L. & Lusch, R. F (2004).	Homework 2 due
5	Feb 6	10	Project Management	Statistics review homework as preparation for forecasting demand section. Project management exercise.	Michael (Max) Maximilien, IBM Almaden Research Center (part 2)		Homework 3 assigned	Sample Ruby Code Homework 3 data
6	Feb 13	11	Forecasting demand	Analyze real call center arrival data to predict future traffic levels.	Vijay Mehrotra San Francisco State Univesity		Project 1 due Final Project assigned	Homework 3 hints
7	Feb 20	12, 13, 14	Managing service capacity	Apply principles from queueing theory to service capacity planning problems.	Dave Nielson StrikeIron.com	Bring Laptop	Homework 3 due Homework 4 assigned
8	Feb 27	Littlefield Technologies	Service Management Game Challenge	Competitive team-based service management simulation challenge	Littlefield Technologies	Bring Laptop	Littlefield Challenge Game Page
9	Mar 6	15, 16	Supply chains in services	Continue Littlefield management challenge	Venki Rajah		Homework 4 due
10	Mar 13	17	Globalization and outsourcing	Project presentations			Final Project Report due