An Integrated Optimization/Information System for Academic Departmental Planning

This paper describes the integration of a network optimization algorithm with a decision and information system for the Graduate School of Management at UCLA. This optimization algorithm plays an important role in the determination of the annual teaching schedule by assigning faculty to courses and other activities on the basis of their responses to course preference questionnaires. In addition, the network structure provides an ideal framework for a compact information system for the department. The system can also provide some assistance in determining faculty recruiting priorities or in studying the impacts of changes in student enrollments. Our actual experiences in implementing and using this system are described.