Customer Reviews

INSIGHT.xla: Business Analysis Software for Microsoft Excel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a book and software package for performing Monte Carlo simulation, decision trees, optimization, and queuing simulations within Excel. Its greatest strengths are the reader-friendly writing style and the coverage of Monte Carlo simulation. Savage shows how easy it is to perform simulation and how much value it adds to models. The book does a great job in helping you visualize distributions in your head before looking at formulas. Having that context makes application of the concepts much easier.

I would especially recommend Insight.xla to MBA students or business people who want to incorporate uncertainty of estimations into forward-looking excel models. If you need to do really heavy-duty modeling you can then move on to Crystal Ball or Decision Tools but for most applications the software included is enough.

One final note: a reviewer below complained about lack of answers and ill-defined concepts. On the lack of answers point I agree: it would be useful have answers to the problems-perhaps the author could post selected answers on the website. As for ill-defined concepts I think the reviewer is missing the point-this book frames the concepts in a way that makes them understandable to the non-mathematically inclined. You still have to think when you read but it is far more accessible than normal texts. If you need to go farther there is no shortage of statistics/operations research textbooks available (for statistics I would recommend Multivariate Statistical Analysis: A Conceptual Introduction by Sam Kash Kachigan).

yes, it's true. if Koko could read, after a while with this invaluable text, she would be formulating and solving lp problems. concentrates on concepts rather than machinery. analogy: you can be a very good racecar driver without understanding how a differential works. (and if you DO want to learn about how a differential works, it's there anyway!) highly recommended for anyone who slept through operations research as part of their MBA. the book is even funny!

Good for Operation Research and Business Modelling but also for Statistics, for example you can grasp the meaning of Central Limit Theorem in real life and you can simulate it with minimum effort, probably the most important text I read in the last two years. Also some readings of the author at Stanford I saw by Stanford Online are astonishing.

If you create a lot of projects in Excel this product is a must. I do a lot of operations research work and this program has saved me many hours of creating macros just to accomplish simple tasks. The writing is also superb. All the examples are realistic and easy to understand. I wish all texts were written this well.

if you want a book with minimal explanation, confusing problems, and concepts that are never properly defined...here's the book for you! an answer guide would be helpful too.

This is a unique and valuable book for people with some background in management science. It greatly increases the intuition and ability to apply it to real situations.

INSIGHT.xla hits you right where you learn. - William Perry, Former Secretary of Defense of the United States

Rarely has such sound theory been provided in such an entertaining manner. INSIGHT is a must read for those who analyze business problems, are comfortable with Excel, and are not otherwise supplied with all the statistical, simulation and optimization tools needed for analysis. - Harry Markowitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics

Sam Savage is the perfect Zen master of spreadsheets. - Brad Osgood, Director, Science, Mathematics, Engineering Core, Stanford University

Business schools teach the theory and the math, but Sam's approach is intuitive and visual. His tools work right in the spreadsheet, so most people can hit the ground running and bosses will have no trouble reading and interpreting the results. - Matthew Raphaelson, Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo & Company