ITAO7104 Data-Driven Decision-Making

ITAO7104 Assignment Brief

Instructions

Task 1 (MILP Model + R Implementation) This Section Must Include: Problem Explanation Briefly explain the GI endoscopy capacity planning problem. Identify the goal: minimize total cost while meeting weekly diagnostic

The report must contain two sections only: Section A (Task 1) and Section B (Task 2) in the same report file.

General Requirements

– MSc Business Analytics

Module: Data-Driven Decision-Making (D3M – ITAO7104) Report must contain ONLY TWO SECTIONS:

○ Section A – Task 1

○ Section B – Task 2

NO appendix allowed in the report.
Use 12pt font for body text and 14pt bold for section headings.
Leave the cover page for me.
Include page numbers at bottom of pages.
Word count must be within ±10% of the limit.
Overall Turnitin similarity must stay below 25%.
Follow the rubric/marking criteria carefully for scoring.
Write clearly and professionally with logical explanations and structure.
Use Harvard referencing style for all citations.
Visualizations and screenshots must be clear and readable (not too big or too small).

SECTION A – Task 1 (MILP Model + R Implementation) This section must include:

Problem Explanation
- Briefly explain the GI endoscopy capacity planning problem.
- Identify the goal: minimize total cost while meeting weekly diagnostic and therapeutic demand.
Mathematical Model (MILP) Clearly define:

Indices

Rooms (r) Weeks (w)

Parameters

Diagnostic demand per week
Therapeutic demand per week
Clinician hours available
Room capacities
Setup costs Allocation costs

Decision Variables

Whether room r is:
- unavailable

○ diagnostic configuration ○ therapeutic configuration Constraints Include:

Demand satisfaction for diagnostic procedures
Demand satisfaction for therapeutic procedures
Room capacity limits
Clinician hour limits
Only one configuration per room per week
Therapeutic procedures only allowed in therapeutic rooms

Objective Function

Minimize total cost (setup + allocation cost).

Explain why each constraint exists and which part of the problem it represents.

Hii

Solve using R
- Use R with the ompr package and a solver (GLPK / HiGHS / Symphony etc.).
- Include screenshots of R code and solver output in the report.
- Code must have short comments explaining key steps.

Also submit the functional R code file separately.

Results Explanation

Explain in plain English:

Which rooms are used each week
Which configuration each room has
How diagnostic and therapeutic hours are allocated State clearly:
Minimum total cost
MILP optimality gap

Visualizations

Include charts such as:

Chart 1 ● Stacked chart showing each room’s configuration over the 26 weeks.

Chart 2

Weekly aggregated capacity showing:
- diagnostic hours

○ therapeutic hours

Charts must be clear and properly labeled.

Section B – Task 2 (Essay – max 1250 words)

Choose one healthcare journal article from the QUB library that uses MILP with an exact solution method.

Structure the essay using these headings:

Healthcare Problem
- Explain the healthcare operational problem.
- Why it matters in practice.
MILP Model Outline

Explain in simple terms:

Decision variables
Constraints
Objective

Use bullet points instead of equations.

Exact Method Used

Explain the optimization method used in the article (for example branch-and-bound, branchand-price, etc.).

Describe how the method works in the study.

Method–Problem Fit

Explain why the chosen method works well for the model.

Discuss aspects like:

scalability
structure of the MILP
computational efficiency

Limitations and Practical InsightDiscuss:

limitations of the model
real-world challenges
implementation issues in healthcare

Additional requirements

Use Harvard references.
The main article must be bold in the bibliography.
The article must be recent if possible (preferably after 2023).
You may include up to 5 additional references.
Include at least one figure from the article with caption and citation.
Provide the journal hyperlink in the reference list.

Final Deliverables

1. Assignment Report (Word or PDF) Contains:

Section A
Section B

2. R Code File (.R): Must run without errors and produce the same results shown in the report.

3. All screenshots must be clear and readable.

Please ensure the work is clear, well-structured, and written professionally according to the rubric.

Structured Expert Breakdown

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