One month to go...

Now that we're half way through summer, it's time to start warming up those academic brains and think about the coming school year.

As many of you return from what was hopefully a relaxing summer break, you'll find that we've been busy here at Crystal Ball software. In the interest of helping you and your students get the most from our program, we've created a couple of new resources including an easy-to-use troubleshooting tool.

So go ahead and soak up what remaining sun the summer has to offer. We'll be here when you get back to help you get ready for fall semester.

Enjoy,

Dan Mitzner
Marketing Manager, Crystal Ball Education Alliance
+1-303-626-0130 /education@crystalball.com

Oracle Corporation acquires Decisioneering

As a result of its acquisition of Hyperion, Oracle has also acquired Decisioneering, makers of Crystal Ball software. Crystal Ball will add complementary products to Oracle's business intelligence offerings, including a leading spreadsheet-based software suite for predictive modeling, forecasting, simulation and optimization. All three editions of Crystal Ball software continue to be sold through the usual Crystal Ball sales channel.

In the coming months, look for more announcements concerning Crystal Ball software and Oracle.

> Read the announcement hosted on the Oracle Web site

Visit Our New Alliance Web Pages

With the recent growth in our Education Alliance program, it quickly became evident that we needed to update our Web pages to provide our partners with greater use and value. The new pages are filled with helpful tools and resources for teaching and learning Crystal Ball software, while delivering them in a user-friendly format with plenty of room to grow. Go to Web site.

New!! Self - Help FAQ's for Crystal Ball Software

We have designed this troubleshooting resource to help you to quickly find answers to the most commonly reported problems. This valuable tool includes helpful information on installation, licensing, and other frequently asked questions.

If the problem you're experiencing is not listed in this resource, we also show you the proper way to submit your request to our IT helpdesk to ensure a quick and effective response.

Coming Soon - Online Syllabus Library

For professors looking for the best way to incorporate Crystal Ball software into their course curriculum, we're creating the first Online Syllabus Library.
We're trolling the online university systems and putting together a comprehensive list of course syllabi for everything from Finance to Engineering classes.

So if you've ever wondered how Crystal Ball would fit into your class, we'll soon have the answer.

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Each month we like to take the opportunity to recognize one of our Partners in Education. In doing this, we hope to shed some light on the various ways in which Crystal Ball software is being taught and incorporated into university classrooms, textbooks, and continuing education programs.

Bob White
Ph.D., P.E.- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Western Michigan University

Over the past ten years, Bob has not only implemented Crystal Ball software in his course curriculum, he has also employed it in his own research. Bob is an award-winning classroom and research professor who continues to innovate the way Crystal Ball software is used in the academic arena.

Education

• Ph.D. in Engineering Valuation from Iowa State University
• M.S. in Operations Research from Western Michigan University
• B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Western Michigan University

Courses Taught

• IME 310 Engineering Economy
• IME 416 Operations Control
• IME 606 Capital Budgeting
• IME 626 Advanced Engineering Economics

Recent Research

• Integration of Cost Accounting and Project Justification Methods
• Analysis of Salvage Methods for Public Utilities

Awards

• University Alumni Teaching Excellence Award
• Tau Beta Pi College Teaching Excellence Award
• ASEF Delos National Award for Excellence in Engineering Laboratory Instruction

From the Desk of Bob White

"I have been teaching engineering for over 30 years and using Crystal Ball software for over 10 years.  I use Crystal Ball software at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in engineering and engineering management courses. It has been an invaluable resource that enables engineering students to observe the impact that variability has on their designs from both a performance and financial perspective.  The software allows me, in real time in the classroom, to 'bring to life' the concept of variability in a way that students can visually see and easily understand."

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As part of our mission, the Education Alliance is continuously looking for ways to make Crystal Ball software fit into your existing curricula. To help make that possible, we offer a robust collection of resources through the Alliance Web pages.

Invite Us for our New Half Day on Campus!!

Invite us to your campus for a half day of training and informational seminars designed to enhance your understanding of simulation and Crystal Ball software. As participants enjoy free training and insight into how Crystal Ball software is being used on all levels. The Alliance team hopes to illustrate the connection between the classroom and corporate America, so participants understand the full value of simulation and optimization techniques.

For more information, download our information sheet or contact our Academic Marketing Manager.

Contribute to the Program

As the Education Alliance continues to flourish, one of our primary goals is to expand the resources and
tools available through our program. With that in mind we turn to you, our experts in the field, to help
provide content and insight that will help us deliver relevant and useful resources. There are many ways
our partners can help us provide the most comprehensive set of resources in the industry, we hope you
find one that works for you.

Professor Kits

To ease the implementation process for Crystal Ball software, we have put together these unique Professor Kits. Each kit is a free set of tools designed to equip professors with everything they need to teach Crystal Ball in their classroom. For more information on available kits or additional academic resources for your course, contact the Crystal Ball Education Alliance .

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The Education Alliance is continuously engaging authors on the forefront of their field to include Crystal Ball software as part of their textbook content. Beyond the content inclusion, you will also find that many of our Textbook Partners include free short-term Textbook Editions of the software to be used in conjunction with the text.

"I wrote Financial Modeling with Crystal Ball and Excel® to help financial analysts and other interested parties learn how to build and interpret the results of Crystal Ball models for decision support... It is intended for those who wish to construct stochastic financial models, and anyone else interested in learning how to use Crystal Ball."

-John Charnes, Financial Modeling with Crystal Ball and Excel, Wiley Finance, ©2007

~ Recently Released ~

For a full list of titles visit www.crystalball.com/books.html

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Using Crystal Ball
Sherwood Frey, Darden Business Publishing, University of Virginia

In this paper, the author provides a three-step process for using Crystal Ball software to convert a traditional "best-estimate" spreadsheet into a "risk analysis" model. Professor Frey offers his version of a simplified tutorial for using Crystal Ball software at its basic level. This is an informative paper that will soon be part of our revised Professor Kits, coming out later this summer.

Download Article

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As one of our many resources, Web seminars are a fantastic means for learning more about Crystal Ball software, simulation, risk assessment, and predictability. They also serve as a sounding board for those of you looking to distribute information on related topics.

It's important to us to attend all education related conferences throughout the year. Not only does it provide an outlet for meeting new customers, but it gives us a chance to meet in person with many of our existing partners for some quality discussions. Please let us know if you are going to be in attendance at any of the following events. We'd love to meet with you.

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The Crystal Ball User Group (CBUG) is a Yahoo!® online forum where Crystal Ball users can discuss issues and methods related to Crystal Ball software. You can visit CBUG and register to become a member through the Crystal Ball Web site.

Latest topics: N samples from a distribution Monitoring a variable with more than 1 value per iteration Looking at individual trials Generating random Lognormal-Distributed numbers with VBA > Click here to visit CBUG and register to become a member

PLEASE NOTE: You have several message delivery options when you join, including whether or not to receive single or digest e-mails. You can also opt not to receive any e-mails and simply log onto the site every so often to view discussion.

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Mike Franden
Senior Account Manager- Education Alliance
800.289.2550 (toll free in US) / 303-626-0118
mike.franden@oracle.com

Newsletter Archive

All previous issues of Tomorrow's Forecast and the Education Alliance Newsletter are available in our newsletter archive.

> Click here to visit the archive