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Why and How to Simulate Business Processes |
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Why and How to Simulate Business Processes |
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Why and How to Simulate Business Processes |
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Why and How to Simulate Business Processes |
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Dynamic simulation means introducing the third dimension into the process models: time. Dynamic process models are 'living' process models. They represent the real business processes more closely and in more detail than the static models. Unlike static models, dynamic process models can be executed to simulate their dynamic behavior under certain assumptions. By running a simulation, more information can be obtained than by looking and analyzing a static model. Some constraints and bottlenecks in the process become visible only by simulation.
Simulation is an applicable tool in modeling, current state analysis and new process validation phases. It can also be used as a continuous tool to test the changes in the operational environment and to understand the capacity of the process. Typical questions that can be answered are:
What kind of lead times would we have with the current process and resources, if we get 100 orders next month?
What effects does adding a new resource to the process have on lead times and resource utilization?
Dynamic simulation is not usable for all kinds of business processes. The most appropriate processes are production, service and administration processes. Usually simulations are done on the 'factory floor' level processes or subprocesses rather than on the higher, more abstract process levels. The reason for this is that a lot more information is needed for a dynamic model than for a static model.
The following table shows some of needs that can be fulfilled using dynamic simulation.
Need |
Action |
Benefit |
|---|---|---|
Model a process in detail |
Add the simulation information and properties into the model |
More precise model of the process |
Analyze the current state of the process |
Run simulation |
Finding bottlenecks and problems in the current process structure |
Validate a new process |
Run simulation
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Finding possible faults in the new process before implementing it
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Present a process model |
Run simulation with animation |
More visual presentation pinpointing the bottlenecks |
Test the effects of changing the process structure |
Make changes to the process structure and run simulation |
Understanding the effects of making changes |
Test the effects of changes in resources |
Make changes to resources and run simulation |
Understanding the effects of changed resource situation |
Test the effects of changes in process load (e.g. more/less orders) |
Make changes to process load and run simulation |
Understanding the effects of changed load |
Hints for a useful simulation:
Know the objective of simulation (i.e. what question do we want to answer)
Restrict the model scope (e.g. a certain subprocess under certain assumptions)
Test the model by running test simulation runs before utilizing the results to check whether the model is correct
Run several simulations under different scenarios to better understand the correlation between the model and the simulation results
Analyze results carefully and do not make any hasty conclusions.