Welcome to BUS300: Operations Management

Specific information about this course and its requirements can be found below. For more general information about taking Saylor Academy courses, including information about Community and Academic Codes of Conduct, please read the Student Handbook.

Course Description

Learn how to manage business processes to produce the products and services your customers need. Topics include product design, supply chain management, quality, inventory, and planning.

Course Introduction

We are all familiar with the science of operations management in some way, since we all have scarce resources and have to allocate those resources properly. Think about preparing a meal: you have to gather all the proper ingredients and prepare them for cooking. Certain ingredients go in at certain times. Occasionally, you fall behind or get too far ahead, jeopardizing the entire meal. And, of course, if you do not have enough ingredients, even more problems arise. All of these elements of meal preparation – purchasing ingredients, prepping the ingredients by dicing them up, mixing ingredients, boiling or baking the dish, serving, and cleaning – can be seen as parts of operations management.

In business, operations management is more complicated than preparing a family meal. There may be hundreds or thousands of participants rather than just you and your brother, wife, or grandfather cooking in the kitchen. Each participant has a specific role in the operations process; if any step is disrupted, the whole process can stall or fall apart. Smart operations managers will have contingency plans if stoppages occur. In this course, you will learn the fundamentals of operations management as they apply to production and service-based operations. Completing this course will empower you to implement the concepts you have learned in your place of business. Even if you do not plan to work in operations, every department of every company has processes that must be completed; someone savvy in operations management will be able to improve just about any process.

This course includes the following units:

  • Unit 1: Overview of Operations Management
  • Unit 2: Operations Strategy
  • Unit 3: Product Design and Process Selection
  • Unit 4: Supply Chain Management (SCM)
  • Unit 5: Just-In-Time and Lean Systems
  • Unit 6: Capacity Planning and Facility Layout
  • Unit 7: Work Systems Design
  • Unit 8: Inventory
  • Unit 9: Quality Management

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Explain the role of operations management and the use of the transformational model in the success of manufacturing and service organizations;
  • Evaluate the importance of market needs and operational capabilities (such as productivity, workflow, and quality) in formulating a business strategy that creates a sustainable competitive advantage;
  • Analyze operation processes from a variety of perspectives, such as productivity, workflow, and quality;
  • Discuss the goal of Supply Chain Management and its application in a variety of organizational settings;
  • Apply basic design principles to determine appropriate facility location and layout;
  • Explain techniques and methods for creating and evaluating work systems design;
  • Identify the critical factors involved in inventory control systems; and
  • Explain quality management and apply continuous quality improvement principles to operations management.

Throughout this course, you will also see learning outcomes in each unit. You can use those learning outcomes to help organize your studies and gauge your progress.

Course Materials

This course's primary learning materials are articles, lectures, and videos.

All course materials are free to access and can be found in each unit of the course. Pay close attention to the notes that accompany these course materials, as they will tell you what to focus on in each resource and will help you understand how the learning materials fit into the course as a whole. You can also see a list of all the learning materials in this course at this link.

Some parts of this course may have been created or reviewed with the support of artificial intelligence (AI). To make sure you receive accurate, high-quality, and academically sound learning materials, all AI-assisted content is carefully checked and approved by Saylor Academy's faculty and subject matter experts.

Evaluation and Minimum Passing Score

Only the final exams are considered when awarding you a grade for this course. To pass this course, you will need to earn a grade of 70% or higher on either the Certificate Final Exam or the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam.

Your score on each exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. There is a 7-day waiting period between each attempt of the Certificate Final Exam, and a 14-day waiting period between each attempt of the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam. Be sure to study between each attempt!

If you wish to receive an ACE transcript to earn transfer credit toward degree programs at our Degree Completion Partners, you may choose to take the optional Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam. This exam will be password-protected and requires a proctor. The proctoring fee is $5. You may only attempt the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam a maximum of three times. If you do not pass the exam after three attempts, you will not be able to receive an ACE transcript.

There are end-of-unit assessments in this course that are designed to help you study and do not factor into your final course grade. You can take them as many times as you want until you understand the concepts they cover.

You can see all of these assessments at this link.

Earning College Credit

This course is eligible for college credit via Saylor Academy's Direct Credit Program. If you are seeking to earn college credit, you must take and pass the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam. That exam will be password protected and require the presence of a proctor. Upon passing the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam, you will receive a Proctor-Verified Course Certificate, and will be eligible to earn an Official Transcript. For more information about applying for college credit, review the Guide to College Credit Opportunities. Be sure to check the section on proctoring for details on fees and other technical requirements.

Note: There is a 14-day waiting period between attempts of the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam. There is no imposed wait period between attempting the certificate-bearing final exam and the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam. Some Saylor Direct Credit Final Exams have a maximum number of attempts allowed, which will be detailed on the exam's instructions page.

Continuing Education Credits

The certificate earned by passing this self-paced course displays the program hours you completed and continuing education credits (CEUs). CEUs document successful completion of courses that are designed to improve the knowledge and skills of working adults. Many industries value CEUs, and now your certificate reflects them clearly, and they may be used to support career advancement or to meet professional licensing standards. This course contains 3.8 CEUs.

Tips for Success

BUS300: Operations Management is a self-paced course, meaning you can decide when to start and complete the course. We estimate the "average" student will take hours to complete. We recommend studying at a comfortable pace and scheduling your study time in advance.

Learning new material can be challenging, so here are a few study strategies to help you succeed:

  • Take notes on terms, practices, and theories. This helps you understand each concept in context and provides a refresher for later study.
  • Test yourself on what you remember and how well you understand the concepts. Reflecting on what you've learned improves long-term memory retention.

Technical Requirements

This course is delivered entirely online. You will need access to a computer or web-capable mobile device and consistent internet access to view or download resources and complete auto-graded assessments and the final exam.

To access the full course, including assessments and the final exam, log into your Saylor Academy account and enroll in the course. If you don't have an account, you can create one for free here. Note that tracking progress and taking assessments require you to log in.

For more details and guidance, please review our complete Technical Requirements and our student Help Center.

Optional Saylor Academy Mobile App

You can access all course features directly from your mobile browser, but if you have limited internet connectivity, the Saylor Academy mobile app provides an option to download course content for offline use. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.

Download on Google Play Download on the App Store

Fees

This course is entirely free to enroll in and access. All course materials, including textbooks, videos, webpages, and activities, are available at no charge. This course also contains a free final exam and a free course completion certificate.

The Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam requires a proctoring service for identity verification. The cost of proctoring this optional exam is $5 per session.

American Council on Education (ACE)® Learning Evaluations

This course is available for transfer credit through the American Council on Education (ACE)®. For more information on taking this course for credit, please visit our ACE® web page.


Last modified: Thursday, October 2, 2025, 4:50 PM