Spring 2027

Business Process Improvement

Business Process Improvement covers terminology, concepts, principles, and techniques for managing and improving business processes.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 David Dwight3.8/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · David Dwight

There are no exams, but the course includes homework assignments and three big projects. Professor Dwight is strict about participation, requiring students to talk several times every class for full credit.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain how to use root cause analysis to deconstruct a complex problem.

  • Identify and apply continuous improvement tools and techniques to production, administrative, distribution, and service-related functions.

  • Demonstrate strategic thinking and project management methodologies to establish and measure multi-year improvement strategies to reach a desired future state.

  • Create improvement loops to maximize value, eliminate waste and reach an ideal future state for cross-functional organizational activities.

  • Analyze large and complex data sets to find patterns, identify key improvements, and substantiate improvement choices in process improvement projects.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

OTM 300

OTM 351

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.17/5 from 6 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · David Dwight

David Dwight taught without exams, using heavy readings, homework, and three group projects. Students described the material as dull and the project instructions as vague. Opinions split on grading: some felt he was lenient, while others found him tough. Participation was a significant factor, requiring frequent speaking for full credit.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.71 GPA, 87.9% A/AB (n=33 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.59 GPA, 78.1% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.48 GPA, 78.3% A/AB (n=23 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Steve Boeder

Steve Boeder taught this course with mandatory attendance, long lectures, and weekly group projects. Students described the content as outdated and the projects as confusing, with little guidance provided. While one reviewer found Boeder accessible and the ideas relevant, others felt the class was frustrating and unhelpful.

DAVID DWIGHT is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STEVEN BOEDER is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 400

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · David Dwight

Professor Dwight teaches a discussion-heavy course that students found caring and engaging, though the participation-focused style can take time to adjust to.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.71 GPA, 87.9% A/AB (n=33 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.59 GPA, 78.1% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.48 GPA, 78.3% A/AB (n=23 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · David Dwight

There are no exams, but the course includes homework assignments and three big projects. Professor Dwight is strict about participation, requiring students to talk several times every class for full credit.

Past student reviews · David Dwight

Students found the readings dull and the group project instructions vague, with mixed opinions on whether grading was lenient or tough.

Topics

  • Terminology, concepts, principles, and techniques for managing and improving business processes
  • Root cause analysis for deconstructing complex problems
  • Continuous improvement tools applied to production, administrative, distribution, and service functions
  • Strategic thinking and project management for multi-year improvement strategies
  • Improvement loops for maximizing value and eliminating waste in cross-functional activities
  • Data set analysis for pattern recognition and substantiating improvement choices

Skills

  • Use root cause analysis to deconstruct complex problems
  • Apply continuous improvement tools to production, administrative, distribution, and service functions
  • Establish and measure multi-year improvement strategies using strategic thinking and project management methodologies
  • Create improvement loops to maximize value and eliminate waste in cross-functional activities
  • Analyze large and complex data sets to identify key improvements and substantiate choices

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
OTM 351 · Spring 2027

Business Process Improvement

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:238:003199",
    "course_id": "OTM 351",
    "course_uid": "course_5048414eb96ed25e4799d618",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003199",
    "source_subject_id": "238",
    "title": "Business Process Improvement",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "66980715c48f82ca17ae0d82ae3221aff880f59d33b59d7a40d7fcadd99f2b6a",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}