EM 505

CASE STUDY GUIDELINE

PURPOSE
A case study is to get in touch with real-life systems. In performing a case study the goal is to
inquire (ask questions + discover+ doubt about the discovery + ask new questions..) and consider
alternatives. Explore, make judgements and be creative.
FORMAT AND CONTENT
The main section headings are to be numbered and written in capital letters. The subtitles
must be written in lower case letters and underlined. All pages should be given page numbers.
Figures, drawings, tables, pictures, etc. should be numbered appropriately. In the title page,
only the title of this case, date, your groups name and your team members names should be
written. Please write in Times New Roman, font 12 and with 1.5 space and do not exceed 15
pages including the appendices.
The report should consist of the following sections:

Table of contents (with corresponding page numbers)

Introduction (the problem environment such as company, products, goals, etc.)

Main body of the report (detailed explanation of the work carried out)
o Define any notation that you use and clearly explain any models that you formulate.
Explain the decision variables, constraints and objective function clearly.
o State your assumptions, if any, that you used in your approach. Ask yourself what
these assumptions means for the problems.
o Provide explanations for your calculations and supply examples if necessary.
Remember that you must convince the reader as to the quality of your solution.
o Summarize the software outputs by using tables, figures or graphs in the body of
main text.

Conclusion (You have to answer So what? type questions. Make sensible

recommendations. Do what-ifs, if possible. Do not cut toothpicks by an ax!)

References (list all the material referred to in the report text)

Appendix
o Include all data, tables, diagrams, drawings, etc. which are not immediately
relevant to the main text in the appendix.
o Include software outputs in appendices.
o Discuss all the material in the body of the text. Note that we will not look at an
appendix if you do not discuss it.
EVALUATION
This assignment is to be done in teams of two students. Working in collaboration with
other teams is not allowed. Students can discuss about the problem with their partners
only.
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