1.Problem Identification: Identify a management problem that will require the use of quantitative and statistical analysis. Some broad examples:

Market Research - identify the needs of consumers, e.g., study the preferences of specific customers of an industry or business; or forecast the demand of a product or service, etc.

Human Resource - survey the needs of employees, study effects of certain policies, review or compare training programs, etc.

Finance - track the risk of certain investments, study the volatility of certain stocks or of the stock market, determine investment allocations, etc.

Academic - study the preferences and behavior of students so as to improve teaching and university policies and programs, evaluate the effectiveness of teaching or learning methods, etc.

Manufacturing Operations - review safety policies, forecast demand, apply queuing theory to production or operations processes, improve the distribution of resources, improve schedules, etc.

Service Operations - reduce variation in service, improve customer satisfaction, reduce waiting time, etc.