ALOHA, Gandhinagar: Location Decision Support System

ALOHA, Gandhinagar: Location Decision Support System (Abridged)

(Advanced decision support systems using Excel modelling with VBA)
Nimbus academy runs a center of “whole brain development” for children aged from
4 to 13 years in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Launched in July 2004, it was the 4th center of
its kind in Gujarat, and in 2.5 years since then, the number of centers in Gujarat has
risen to more than 140.
ALOHA (Advanced Learning of Higher Arithmetic) is a rapidly growing Chinese
concept of teaching children to perform complex mathematical calculations faster than
calculators, initially with the help of abacus and finally mentally. It is known to
develop children’s brains through exercising, both, the left and right halves of the
brain. The system has become a regular part of the school academic curriculum in
more than 24 countries already (http://www.alohaindia.com/), though India is very
late and slow to follow.
Six students of the Gandhinagar center won awards among more than 6000 students in
a national competition held in November 2006, and similar performance has been
repeated year after year. In 2.5 years of growing, the center is now operating at about
91% of its capacity of two classrooms working two class-sessions each day and needs
to open/start an extension in Gandhinagar.
The current center is located in the central market of Gandhinagar city (in Sector 21),
where additional space is, both, scarce and expensive. Besides, being too far away
from some parts of the city, many students or their parents, do not find it convenient to
enroll due to distance limitations. Thus, there is a need to start a new center in
Gandhinagar choosing a suitable location based on factors such as – population
(density) of the sector and neighboring sectors, average age of population, population
intensity of children aged 4-13 years, family incomes, per capita income in families,
education awareness, demand for such training and potential for marketing, number of
previous queries from that area in current center, passed dropped out students, cost of
hiring/purchasing real estate, and any other considered important.
What factors would affect such decision making? (All groups to bring a 1 page list
of influencing factors and come to class prepared for any discussion individually.)
A semi-structured decision making support system (DSS) is required to be built for
the described situation. The suggested platform for use for the system is Excel-VBA.

Copyright © Prof. Madhukar Dayal, IIM Indore Page 1 of 1