15.871  Introduction to System Dynamics (H1)

15.871 and 15.872 grades

Dear Class,

I want to thank you for a very enjoyable semester of system dynamics. I appreciate the hard work that you put into the course. We are well aware that the workload for the course is high and hope that you find the benefits proportional.

I am also writing to lay out in detail how your final grade in the course is determined. The course is very competitive and some of you, I expect, will be unhappy with the grade you received.

Your grade is based entirely on your homework assignment and quiz scores. The homework scores in H1 are adjusted depending on the TA that graded the assignment so that the average score for each TA is the same (this is to account for the fact that one TA may grade more strictly than another, in H2 each assignment is graded by a single TA so adjustment is not necessary). These adjusted homework scores are then averaged to form a final homework average. Your lowest quiz score is dropped and the remaining two quizzes are averaged (based on the percent correct on each quiz, not the total points on each quiz, so each quiz receives equal weight) to form a final quiz average. The resulting homework average and quiz average are then combined with 85% of the weight on the homework and 15% of the weight on the quizzes, as stated in the syllabus. This results in a single final score for each student, which determines your grade in the course.

As you probably know, Sloan has a strict policy against grade inflation that requires the average grade point in the class to be no higher than 4.6 (A=5, B=4,..., +'s and -'s do not contribute to the average). This means that if all of the grades in the course are As and Bs, only 60% of the students will receive As.

The official description of grades (http://web.mit.edu/academic-guide/section_06.html) is as follows:
A - Exceptionally good performance, demonstrating a superior understanding of the subject matter, a foundation of extensive knowledge, and a skillful use of concepts and/or materials. 
B - Good performance, demonstrating capacity to use the appropriate concepts, a good understanding of the subject matter, and an ability to handle problems and materials encountered in the subject.
C - Adequate performance, demonstrating an adequate understanding of the subject matter, an ability to handle relatively simple problems, and adequate preparation for moving on to more advanced work in the field.

This semester, in both H1 and H2, any student whose final score was more than two standard deviations below the mean received a C. Students with higher scores were given either an A or a B, with the cutoff essentially being the lowest possible score that still met the Sloan requirements.

If you have any questions regarding your grade specifically, you can feel free to email me; however, these grades are absolutely final.

I hope you all have a great summer. For those of you that are graduating, congratulations and best of luck in your future endeavors. For the rest of you, I hope to see you around MIT next year.

Best,

PJ

Announced on 19 May 2010  4:52  p.m. by Peter John Lamberson

SD Job Opportunity

Job Title: Business Analyst/Sr. Business Analyst
 
Summary: Builds modeling capabilities in the Business Intelligence department with a focus on System Dynamics.  Provides analytical thought leadership in the Company.
 
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
 
1.      Builds modeling capabilities, with a focus on System Dynamics, to understand and manage complex business issues in the Consumer Goods industry, e.g. product out-of-stock, retail capacity, consumer demand shift, and etc
2.      Leads Systems thinking in the Company and contributes to CROSSMARK’s industry thought leadership
3.      Has working knowledge of a broad range of analytical concepts and techniques
4.      Develops consultative insights and communicates effectively with management and clients.
5.      Understands CROSSMARK capabilities & processes and able to recommend insights-based actions that drive business growth
 
Education/Experience: Bachelor’s degree required, and advanced degrees preferred.  Consumer Goods industry experience helpful but not required.
 
Contact: sheng.liu@crossmark.com
 
Best Regards,
 
Sheng Liu
CROSSMARK® | Vice President | Business Intelligence | 5100 Legacy Drive | Plano, TX  75024 |sheng.liu@crossmark.com | O (469) 814-1881 | C (513) 680-8807
 
This message, including any attachments, is confidential and/or proprietary to CROSSMARK® and its affiliated companies and should be read or retained only by the intended recipient. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the original message.

Announced on 06 April 2010  2:37  p.m. by Peter John Lamberson

SD Job opportunity

Please see the message below from Carlos Ariza, Director, International Markets, BlueCross BlueShield of Florida

Hello,

I hope this note finds you in good health… We’re looking to fill a position for a Business Modeling Analyst, with the responsibility to manage and grow our System Dynamics capability for strategic marketing and planning.

Since 2005, we’ve been developing a System Dynamics capability to support our strategic planning process, and for marketing decision-making. We have built a market simulation model that captures the drivers of market share and market growth for the health insurance industry in Florida. Unfortunately, our resource in charge of managing the model and associated databases has recently left the company.

The ideal candidate would have the following profile:
- Technical undergraduate degree (Engineering, Science, Economics preferred)
- MBA preferred, or at least advanced coursework in business
- Experience with System Dynamics modeling
- Experience with database management (SQL coding experience preferred)
- Expertise with office productivity tools (MS Office), in particular MS Excel.
- Great communication skills
- Ability to work unsupervised
- Ability to deliver results on short notice, and with unstructured requirements.
- Work experience in the health industry.

This position would be based in Jacksonville, FL.

If you have any candidates that you think would fit this position, please share this note with them so they can submit their resumes. Let me know if there is a way to post this more broadly to the SD community (I’m not sure what replaced the old listserv)

Thank you,

Carlos


Carlos Ariza
Director, International Markets
BlueCross BlueShield of Florida
8400 NW 33rd Street, Suite 100
Miami, FL 33122
Office: +1.305.921.7524
carlos.ariza@bcbsfl.com

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Inc., and its subsidiary and affiliate companies are not responsible for errors or omissions in this e-mail message. Any personal comments made in this e-mail do not reflect the views of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. The information contained in this document may be confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. This document may contain material that is privileged or protected from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or the individual responsible for delivering to the intended recipient, please (1) be advised that any use, dissemination, forwarding, or copying of this document IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED; and (2) notify sender immediately by telephone and destroy the document. THANK YOU.

Announced on 25 March 2010  9:25  p.m. by Peter John Lamberson

People Express Download Info

For assignment 5 you will need to download the People Express Management Flight Simulator. You can do this at www.gsdoffice.co.uk/mit/
Using:
Name MIT
Code 021J234818042600000
This program will only run under windows.

Announced on 04 March 2010  9:40  a.m. by Peter John Lamberson

Some advice for assignment 4

KEEP THE STOCK AND FLOW STRUCTURE SIMPLE!!

Every time you build a model, you have many choices — what variables to aggregate, what time scale to use, where to make the stock and flow structure explicit etc... The choices you make should be guided by the intended purpose of the model. In this case the purpose is to analyze strategy, and, as we have been learning in class, feedback loops are the key system features when it comes to strategy. So, your model should be focused more on the loops than the stock and flow structure. Chapter 10 provides many examples, in nearly every one there is only one or two stocks. Also, look over the walkman and VCR example I posted on the STELLAR site — one or two stocks. By keeping the stock/flow structure, your model will be more simple, and the key feedbacks and the logic of your competitive analysis will be more clear. Some stocks are important, such as the stock of content in the VCR example, but every time you add a stock, ask yourself, "Do I really need to model this as a stock for the purpose of my competitive analysis?" Good luck!

Announced on 03 March 2010  12:18  p.m. by Peter John Lamberson