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SIMPROCESS User`s Manual Part C

1. System Design Activity Entity Resource T DesignName DesignID EntityName ResourceName 1 SystemID Ma DesignComment StatMon Owner OwnerD DesignID UsageCost T systemip T statMonOwnerlD ActivityName 8 owner UnitCost Replications DesignID HourlyCost Cost Periods StartDate StatOwnerName Activity by Entity FixedCost PeriodName StopDate 8 OwneriD i DesignID 8 Period StartTime 8 DesigniD m 8 owner DesignID EndTime z ActivityName ey TimeUnit SETA as entityName Resource by Activity DesignID scenarioName c owner ScenarioComment i P DesignID Attribute T systemName 5 ResourceName DesigniD AttributeName F adiviyN i 3 ivityName ae Rebate DesignID ie sic ie RunTime Statisti 8 Owner 3 SecondaryCostElement 1 See 1 Y tatistics StatType Resource by Shift Replication DS OwneriD T stad NS 8 owner CostType ScenariolD DesignID Statld P CostStatiype a Connector by Entity 8 TEONE Cost Replication co Soman 8 shiftName ScenariolD Name 7 DesigniD Sealer 8 connectorName _Time Stamp i izi EntityName TStampName Owner Type m DesignID Stat Type Min a OTypeName 8 ownerd T otype StatTypeName Max Connector J StatOwnerType SumOfSquares A DesignID StatDescription RunLength B Owner StatCalcType ConnectorName T statid SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 20 Database Queries Database Queries The predefined quer
2. Output Time Units Hours SIMPROCESS User s Manual CHAPTER 4 OptQuest for SIMPROCESS In today s highly competitive global environment people are faced with many difficult decisions such as allocating financial resources building facilities managing inventories determining product mix strategies and more Modeling a decision problem in SIMPROCESS discovers what performance measures can be expected using a certain strategy A strategy can be defined as a certain set of values for the model parameters Other words for strategy include scenario and solution Note that solution refers to the model parameter values inputs to the simulation not the resulting values of the performance measures Suppose the goal was to find the best strategy without using OptQuest Model parameter values for a strategy being considered would have to be entered into SIMPROCESS and the results analyzed Then this process would have to be repeated for every strategy under consideration Experiment Manager automates running models with various values for model parameters See Experiment Manager on page 28 Often it would not be clear how to adjust the model parameters from one simulation to the next This type of search is tedious and in problems with thousands or millions of potential alternatives impractical OptQuest enhances SIMPROCESS by automating the
3. Model NumProdAPersonnel lt Model NumProdBPersonnel Name A lt B Delete Constraint Model NumProdBPersonnel lt Model NumProdCPersonnel Name B lt C Delete Constraint J Expression constraints can be modified from the Constraints tab by clicking in the text area and changing as necessary However expression constraint validation is not available To use validation the constraint must be deleted and recreated Process Alternatives The Process Alternatives tab displays all processes in the model that have more than one alternative SIMPROCESS Users Manual 54 Optimization Setup When a process is selected on the left the alternatives for that process are displayed on the right This allows the alternative to be selected that will be active for the optimization Ifno alternative is selected for a process the alternative that was active the last time the model was saved will be active for the optimization Ifa Master Process Master Processes has multiple alternatives the copies of the Master Process will not be displayed The selected alternative for the Master Process will be applied to all copies In the Purchasing model the Purchasing process is the only process that has more than one alternative thus it is the only process listed on the left The Purchasing process three alternatives are listed on the right m
4. The Title is the title of the chart and replaces Pie Chart in the report item list This field must be populated Dimension Type sets the display of the pie chart as 2 Dimensional or 3 Dimensional Just as with a bar chart Group By determines how the selected values are grouped Statistic Type determines the type of the value to display Chart Border sets the border properties for the chart A Line Width of SIMPROCESS Users Manual 115 Defining a Custom Report 0 indicates that the chart will not have a border If a value other than 0 is selected for Line Width Line Style and Line Color can also be specified Values are added to the chart just as values are added to the report list or a custom plot see Values Buttons on page 100 The example below contains the same values to plot as the bar chart example i Pi Cr oe Hardware Sales Call Cycle Time Software Sales Call Cycle Time Hardware Service Call Cycle Time Cancel Software Service Call Cycle Time Title Entity Cycle Time Dimension Type 2 Dimensional 3 Dimensional Group By Name Statistic Remove All Statistic Type Avg Select Plot Values Stoev min Max Entity Chart Border Resource Line Width 0 Activity i Connector Line Style Solid M E Time Stamp l Line Color W Black x Model Attribute Again there are four values to display each f
5. SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 133 Comparing Scenarios semua OOOO O Scenario Report Name Hybrid Report x l Select Scenarios Scenario Results To Compare Available Scenario Results Baseline Hybrid Replication 1 A Add B 07 Purchasing Scenarios Baseline Hybrid Replication 2 Baseline Centralized Functi Baseline Hybrid Average of Replications Remove 4 Baseline Decentralized Pro PP Re Al Baseline Hybrid ID 7 AAAA Report Options Results Options Scenario Options Group By W Include Statistics W Include Run Settings Scenario v Include Charts M Include Model Parameters Replication 2 Dimensional 7 Include Process Alternatives 3 Dimensional Comparison Time Unit Hours Comment Below is a section of the report Note that the titles of the table and the chart ends with the Scenario name instead of the replication and the table is grouped by Replication instead of Scenario SIMPROCESS Users Manual 134 Comparing Scenarios Entity Cycle Time in Hours Baseline Hybrid Replication 1 Product A 12 45 2 46 0 00 17 02 Product C 42 19 12 18 0 0 67 38 Replication 2 Product A 12 84 2 14 0 00 16 95 Product C 39 78 11 69 0 00 65 69 Average of Replications Product A 12 66 0 19 1245 12 84 Product C 40 98 1 20 3978 42 19 Entity Cycle Time Baseline Hyb
6. Running Experiments Once the experiments have been defined run the experiments This section discusses starting experiments the operation of experiments how to interact with experiments and how to generate standard reports from experiments Starting Experiments There are three options for running experiments e Run All Experiments Run Selected Experiments e Run Specific Experiment Run All Experiments The menu item Run All Experiments causes SIMPROCESS to attempt to run every experiment defined This option ignores the Selected field Run Selected Experiments When this menu item is selected SIMPROCESS attempts to run the experiments in which the Selected field is checked Run Specific Experiment This menu item specifies one experiment to run When selected enter the experiment name in the dialog Input sm F Enter Experiment Name Purchasing c Ifno match occurs an error message appears stating the experiment could not be found in the database Case does matter when selecting a specific experiment The case and spelling must match SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 36 Running Experiments x Experiment purchasing not found SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 37 Experiment Operation Experiment Operation The Experiment Manager operates as follows when running experiments Once an experiment begins SIMPROCESS begins a sequence of steps Each step occurs if
7. select Scenarios Scenario Results To Compare Available Scenario Results Help A Add j Purchasing Scenarios a l B Baseline Centralized Fur J gt Remove Average of Replicatior z z Sum ofReplications gt Remove All Replication 1 Replication 2 H Baseline Decentralized F H Baseline Hybrid ad 4 m r Report Options Results Options Scenario Options Group By 7 include Statistics 7 include Run Settings Scenario E include Charts 7 Include Model Parameters Replication 2 Dimensional Include Process Alternatives 3 Dimensional Comparison Time Unit Hours NA Comment x Selecting a Scenario item causes the Add button to enable Multiple items can be selected by using the Control key when selecting Clicking Add moves the selected items from Available Scenario Results to Scenario Results To Compare SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 130 Comparing Scenarios Scenario Report Name Scenario Report Select Scenarios Scenario Results To Compare Available Scenario Results Baseline Centralized Functional Avera lt i m Report Options Results Options Scenario Options V Include Statistics W Include Run Settings _ Include Charts V Include Model Parameters A Add gt Remove P gt Remove All 2 Dimensional V Include Process Alternatives _ 3 Dimensiona
8. SIMPROCESS User s Manual 12 Why Statistical Simulation Experiments Why Statistical Simulation Experiments Mean Value Analysis Mean value analysis is a simple although often quite useful approach to modeling The basic philosophy is to model processes by their average output For example suppose there is a station that can process five parts per hour and on average four parts arrive every hour Mean value analysis shows that the station shouldbe able to handle the expected load However in the real world there might be some hours the station may process only three parts and other hours it may process seven Likewise there may not be a perfectly steady flow of four parts into the station every hour Sometimes there may be more and sometimes less This statistical nature of the real world will lead to a diminished throughput for there will be times when the station is idle and other times when it is backed up disrupting the flow to and from it in the rest of the factory This is the limitation of mean value analysis and the reason that simulation is necessary for accurate predictions The Importance of Experimental Data It is very important to have experimental data as the basis of a model This may seem like a paradox If I am modeling something that does not exist where will I get the experimental data This is not as big a problem as it sounds The individual components of a similar existing system will probably be c
9. 3 i Help 2 Response Accept Entity 3 Reneged Calls Accept Entity Balked Calls Accept Entity Documentation Resource Attributes U Resource Downtimes J Completed Calls Accept Entity Entity Attributes B TechxX Get Resource L Entity Type Attributes B Techy Get Resource Select All E TechZ Get Resource i Deselect All Add Items Control click to select or deselect multiple values Gi Resource t Has Expressions Te Connector Se l Input Pad Output Paa amp Pool A amp A Swimlane G E Model Listed below the All Expressions item are each Expression found in the model The Expression item SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 107 Defining a Custom Report consists of the name of the Expression owner followed by the name of the Expression This naming convention follows foreach type of item thatis specific toa SIMPROCESS component Local Attribute items for the categories Activity Attributes Entity Attributes Entity Type Attributes and Resource Attributes are listed with the name of the Attribute owner followed by the name of the Attribute Global Attributes are listed by name only since there are not specific owners for global Attributes The Documentation category lists the name of the documentation owner followed by the word Documentation and the Metadata category lists the name of the metadata owner followed by the word Metadata ea T E Cu
10. Entity Resource ay Connector Time Stamp Model Attribute There are four Entity values to display Since Avg is selected as the Statistic Type the average Cycle Time will be displayed Since Statistic is the Group By selection the bars are grouped by Cycle Time That is there is one category which is Cycle Time and the legend shows that there are 4 different values for that category Time in Minutes 7 5 5 0 2 5 0 0 Entity Cycle Time Cycle Time E Hardware Sales Call E Hardware Service Call Software Sales Call Software Service Call As shown below if the Group By setting is changed to Name then there are 4 categories since there are 4 different Entity names and only one value type The legend shows that there is one value for each category Thus the Group By setting to use depends upon the types of values to be displayed Using SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 113 Defining a Custom Report Name for the Group By is useful when multiple value types from the same item thus there is only one name category are displayed in a chart Entity Cycle Time Q o amp S o E Hardware Sales Call Hardware Service Call Software Sales Call Software Service Call E Cycle Time Pie Chart Properties When a Pie Chart is added to the report item list it displays as Pie Chart Once the properties have been set the report item displays as the name of the chart The exampl
11. Title Title Title SESE eas Hee __ Use Layout Background Color _ Use Layout Background Color Background Color if Background Color White mA Mercury Color Weu Needle Color White v Value Color Yelow Meter Color EN M Range Value Color T Yellow Lower Bound oo Upper Bound 100 0 an 7 Use Subranges Lower Bound oo Upper Bound 100 0 Normal V Use Subranges Color I Green Normal Lower Bound 0 0 Upper Bound Legend Label Normal o Warning Color E Green z Color Lower Bound 0 0 Upper Bound 50 0 Lower Bound Upper Bound 85 Warning Critical Legend Label Warning Color x Color E Yelow x Lower Bound 5 0 Upper Bound 100 0 Lower Bound 50 0 Upper Bound 85 0 Critical Legend Label Critical Color Reo x Lower Bound 85 0 Upper Bound 100 0 Pie Chart Properties Title and Dimension Type are additional properties for the Pie Chart These default properties can be overridden when the Dashboard is assigned to a model e Title default title for the Pie Chart e Dimension Type 2 Dimensional or 3 Dimensional Edit PieChart Properties S Name PieCharts Cancel Title Tite ase _ Use Layout Background Color Background Color White Dimension Type 2 Dimensional 3 Dimensional SIMPROCESS Users Manual 78 Defining Dashboards Text Label Properties Text Label properties include Label and Font Attributes w
12. SIMPROCESS Dashboards Dashboard1 U N _ aE i Eile Edit Layout Den s zbmx liv Moving a Graph To move a graph click on the graph panel and drag while holding down the mouse button Multiple graph panels can be moved simultaneously by selecting multiple graphs before moving The same type grid that is available for creating SIMPROCESS models is available for Dashboards on the Layout SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 74 Defining Dashboards menu However due to the size of the graph panels movement can be difficult with the grid turned on Resizing a Graph The default size ofa graph panel other than Text Label which is 250 x 100 pixels is 250 x 250 pixels A graph panel can be resized by clicking on the edge of a graph panel and dragging Also a specific size can be set by selecting Edit Resize from the menu or by right mouse clicking on the graph panel and choosing Edit Resize Multiple graph panels can be resized simultaneously by selecting multiple graphs before resizing Aligning and Distributing Graphs When two or more graph panels are selected they can be aligned using the Layout Align menu item or by right clicking on a selected graph panel and choosing the appropriate align item When three or more graph panels are selected they can be distributed horizontally vertically or circularly using the Layout Distribute menu item or by right clicking on a selected graph panel and choosing the appr
13. When Insert Newltems Above Selected Item is selected new items added to the report item list are added above the selected item instead of to the end of the report item list The Legend helps to identify the items in the report item list Comment is an optional field for entering a brief description of the report SIMPROCESS Users Manual 99 Defining a Custom Report The Remove Remove All Move Up and Move Down buttons on the right are used for managing report items already in the report item list Remove All is enabled when there is at least one item in the report item list This button empties the report item list Remove is enabled when one or more items are selected in the report item list It removes the selected items from the report item list Move Up and Move Down are enabled when only one item is selected in the report item list These buttons adjust the placement in the list of the selected item Adding Items to the Report Item List The buttons under Select Report Content are used to add items to the report item list There are two groups of buttons Values and Items The Values buttons Entity Resource Activity Connector Time Stamp and Model Attribute allow individual statistical values to be added to the report Item list The Items buttons Report Categories and Page Break allow the addition of statistical and non statistical information There are no restrictions on the report item list Items can be listed in any
14. turn on entity movement although that helps Turning on Activity Counts normally slows the simulation enough to minimize loss of messages to the Dashboard Server Running a Dashboard Server across a network can sometimes impose sufficient delay to reduce the chances of message overload as well This is the recommended way to use Dashboards These suggestions may or may not be applicable to your environment depending ona wide range of factors You should experiment in your own environment as needed The image below shows the Truck Status Dashboard during a run Note that a Dashboard window cannot be closed Closing the Dashboard Server s main window closes all associated Dashboard SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 89 Displaying Dashboards windows and shuts down the server a 4 SIMPROCESS Dashboard Truck Status a Tt Large Truck Transit Time Small Truck Transit Time E Normal Usage High Usage Critical Usage SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 90 CHAPTER 6 Model Bundles A model bundle file contains a SIMPROCESS model along with the model s directory and any associated Metamodels SIMPROCESS Metadata Manual OrgModels SIMPROCESS OrgModel Manual and Dashboards SIMPROCESS Dashboards Model bundle files facilitate sharing SIMPROCESS models since the bundle in most instances will contain all the files needed to display and run the model The Bundle menu item on the File menu contains two optio
15. 1 v Confidence Intervals None v Insert New Items Above Selected Item Legend D Model g Resource ee Activity Attribute Lo Connector 29 Entity Attribute input Paa 29 Entity Type Attribute Time Stamp 29 Resource Attribute id Bar Chart m_ gt Model Attribute Statistics Group m Input Source Pool Downtime Shift fa Function S Output Pad p Real Time Plot B All Resources Page Break All Expressions Entity Cycle Time By State Resource Percent Utilization llad Entity Cycle Time tif Bar Chart Comment Remove Remove All Move Up Move Down Select Report Content Values Report Categories Page Break Properties Editing a Bar Chart report item displays the following SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 111 Defining a Custom Report r Bar Chart Properties Title Category Axis Label Value Axis Label _ Stacked Bar Chart Dimension Type Chart Border Line Width 0 Line Style Solid Line Color J Black 2 Dimensional 3 Dimensional Bar Orientation Horizontal Vertical Group By Name Statistic Statistic Type Avg StDev Min Max Cancel Help J Remove A Select Plot Values Resource Activity Connector Time Stamp Model attribute _ a The Title is the title of the chart and replaces Bar Chart in the report item list This field must be populated Category
16. A OptQuest for SIMPROCESS OK Select Optimization Settings v SS Cancel Objective Decision Variables Constraints Process Alternatives Run Options Help Set Objective Value l Entity J Start Set Objective Value to Optimize Resource J Maximize Activity J Minimize Oa sdev min max Connector Imestamp Model Attribute E 4 If no optimizations have been created for the model Select Optimization Settings will be empty The first step in defining an optimization is to give it a name Enter a name in Select Optimization Settings If there are already other optimization settings defined entering a new name creates a new setting To switch between settings simply select the desired setting from Select Optimization Settings Select Optimization Settings Purchasing Optimization Once a name has been entered continue defining the optimization There are five tabs on the dialog Objective Decision Variables Constraints Process Alternatives and Run Options The tabs can be edited in any order Objective The Objective tab sets whether to Minimize or Maximize and the value to optimize The buttons on the right are used to select the value to optimize Entity Resource Activity Connector Time Stamp or Model Attribute values can be optimized For the Purchasing demonstration model the objective is to minimize the variable cost of all the resources So Minimize was selected then the Resource button was sele
17. All Expressions Select Report Content Legend Page Break Values D Model Bra Resource Ea Downtime Shift Line a Run Settings Resource A Activity Attribute Lo Connector fa Function active Alternatives Activity Page Break _ 29 Entity Attribute Pl input Paa output Pad Line Connector es Page Break Time Stamp et gt Entity Type Attribute Time Stamp PAA Real Time Plot Entity Cycle Time By State ara es Resource Percent Utilization i gt Resource Attribute TT Bar Chart Pie Chart llil Entity Cycle Time Items eo A R Report Categories Model Attribute Statistics Grou Distribution SS i m gt gt p IA Page Break m Input Source a Pool A Swimlane Properties Comment E ss SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 110 Defining a Custom Report The properties of the selected item can be accessed by clicking the Properties button or by double clicking the selected item Ifthe selected item is not configurable the Properties button will not enable and double clicking results in no action Bar Chart Properties When a Bar Chart is added to the report item list it displays as Bar Chart Once the properties have been set the report item displays as the name of the chart In the example below the last two items are Bar Charts The first one has its properties set and the second one doesn t Custom Report Name Final Report Report Title Customer Service Report Replication
18. Axis Label horizontal axis and Value Axis Label vertical axis are optional When selected Stacked Bar Chart creates stacked bars Dimension Type sets the display of the bars as 2 Dimensional or 3 Dimensional and Bar Orientation sets the display of the bars as Vertical from horizontal axis or Horizontal from vertical axis Group By determines how the selected values are grouped into bars Statistic Type determines the type of the value to display Values are added to the chart just as values are added to the report list or a custom plot see Values Buttons on page 100 Chart Border sets the border properties for the chart A Line Width of 0 indicates that the chart will not have a border Ifa value other than 0 is selected for Line Width Line Style and Line Color can also be specified Note the example below SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 112 Defining a Custom Report Bar Chart Properties Title Entity Cycle Time Category Axis Label Value Axis Label Time in Minutes Stacked Bar Chart Dimension Type 2Dimensional 3 Dimensional Bar Orientation Horizontal Vertical Group By Name Statistic Statistic Type avg StDev min max Chart Border Line Width 1 Line Style Solid Line Color Black Hardware Sales Call Cycle Time Software Sales Call Cycle Time Hardware Service Call Cycle Time Software Service Call Cycle Time Remove Remove All Select Plot Values
19. Categories button displays the following dialog i gt Select Report Items Documentation Entity Attributes Entity Type Attributes Control click to select or deselect multiple values a Resource Has Expressions Metamodels Model Attributes Ld Fe i s lbo Connector Real Time Plots Resource Attributes input Pad Resource Downtimes U l p HfResource Shifts tP output Pad ke Pool amp A Swimlane B Model The list on the left contains the categories of items that can be added to the report item list When a category is selected on the left the right side displays the items that can be added to the report item list All categories display a list ofitems on the right except for Activities Connectors and Resources The Activities and Connectors categories display a tree view of the model and the Resources category displays a tree view of the model Resources If there are no items for a particular category the right side remains empty Items are added to the report item list by selecting items on the right hand side and clicking Add Items The categories available are e Activities displays a tree view of the Processes and Activities e Activity Attributes displays a list of the global and local Activity Attributes e Charts displays the Bar Chart and Pie Chart items e Connectors displays a tree view of the Processes and Connectors e Distributi
20. Experiment combo box and all appropriate items are active To add to or modify an experiment already defined select an experiment from the Experiment combo box There may be aslight delay when a predefined experimentis selected This is because the first model for the experiment must be loaded and then processed Entering Experiment Information There are five fields that require entries for each experiment Experiment Selected Display Error Alerts Turn Off Animation and Commit Results To Database This shows an example experiment called Purchasing Type the name in the Experiment combo box then press Enter If not already active entering an experiment name causes the remaining items on the Experiment Setup tab and the Model Setup tab to activate SIMPROCESS Users Manual 29 Defining Experiments r z Define Experiments z Experiment Setup Model Setup Cancel Experiment Purchasing X Hew V Selected Se Display Error Alerts V Turn Off Animation V Commit Results To Database Delete Experiment Copy Experiment L 5 Once the experiment has been named then check or uncheck Selected The default is checked Selected is used as an option for running experiments Display Error Alerts defaults to unchecked If unchecked then SIMPROCESS will run the experiment without stopping to notify of errors This means SIMPROCESS will run every combination of model design and scenar
21. Hand Side gt 0 0 Expression Constraint BestLHS CurrentLHS Operator BestRHS Current RHS Iteration Resources 10 A lt B B lt C Status Text The following status text is displayed Model Name name of the model being optimized Optimization Setting the name of the optimization setting selected when the optimization was started Objective Minimize or Maximize Objective Value the performance measure selected for optimization Optimization Status Initializing Running Iteration n Complete Stopping Optimization User Terminated or Error e Maximum Iterations number of iterations or Off e Automatic Stop On or Off Optimization Status descriptions SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 58 Running an Optimization e Initializing Optimization is in setup stage Running Iteration n Optimization is running the nth iteration e Optimal Solution Found Optimization completed normally with no errors Stopping Optimization Optimization is in the process of stopping because user selected Stop button User Terminated Optimization stopped by user Error Optimization stopped due to error Status Tables The objective value table lists the Best Value and the Current Value for the Iteration whether the best and current values are Feasible and the best and current Objective Value Iteration Feasible Objective Value Best Value 4 Yes 3
22. However since it is an HTML file the objective graph is included as well Print Graph This option sends the objective graph to the selected printer Apply Best Values to Model Apply Best Values to Model assigns the best values from the decision variables to the model parameters in the model Thus when the model is reopened in SSIMPROCESS and run is selected the run values for the model parameters reflect the best values from the optimization Also if OptQuest is selected again the starting values for the decision variables are the best values from the optimization SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 62 Tips and Suggestions Tips and Suggestions Search Methodology There are many factors that influence the performance of OptQuest For example consider two optimization methods A and B applied to a problem with the objective of maximizing expected returns When evaluating the performance of each method consider which method satisfies the following criteria e Finds a solution with a larger expected return e Jumps to the range of high quality solutions faster Below is the Performance Graph for the two hypothetical methods Expected Profit a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Time Minutes The figure above shows that although both methods find solutions with a similar expected profit after 10 minutes of searching method A jumps to the range of high quality solutions faster than B For the criteria listed abov
23. Reports cannot be defined until a new model has been saved ot M Edit Copy Remove View Undo Selecting Add displays the dialog for defining a Scenario Report m p serro reor rooe E Scenario Report Name Scenario Report1 a Select Scenarios Cancel Scenario Results To Compare Available Scenario Results A Add i a Purchasing Scenarios t Baseline Centralized Functio J gt Remove 4 Baseline Decentralized Prod 2 P gt Remove All Gd Baseline Hybrid K Report Options Results Options Scenario Options Group By vV Include Statistics W Include Run Settings Scenario l Include Charts V Include Model Parameters Replication 2 Dimensional V Include Process Alternatives 3 Dimensional Comparison Time Unit Comment SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 129 Comparing Scenarios The properties default to a Scenario Report Name This name can be changed but the name given to the report must be unique among all Scenario Reports On the right are the Available Scenario Results This displays all Scenario results that are stored in Scenarios xml Specific results from the right are added to Scenario Results To Compare Expanding a Scenario shows the specific results for the scenario m z sero reren norne M s Scenario Report Name Scenario Reportt _
24. Viewing a Custom Report Viewing a Custom Report Custom Reports are viewed from the Custom Report dialog When a custom report in the list is selected the View button enables a ry Custom Reports Close Edit Copy Remove View x a Clicking View causes SIMPROCESS to create the report then display the report in the Report Viewer Note that there will be a delay before the report displays of a few seconds up to a couple of minutes The length of the delay depends on the size of the report being generated Report Characteristics The first page of each report is the title page The title of the report is the title entered in the Report Title field of the Custom Report properties dialog In addition to the title the title page list the SIMPROCESS model which created the report and the date and time of report creation Customer Service Final Report SIMPROCESS Model Customer Service Report Created Mon Sep 29 13 15 30 EDT 2008 Each page except the first page has a header and a footer The header is the title of the report displayed at the center of each page The footer is the page number in the format Page x of y for example Page 3 of 14 SIMPROCESS Users Manual 119 Viewing a Custom Report Report Viewer The Report Viewer is a separate window within SIMPROCESS for viewing a custom report It allows navigation zooming printing and saving of the report The Repor
25. both of these constraints Or for this same example suppose the bounds for a decision variable were 3 lt saws lt 5 And a constraint was saws lt 2 This also results in an infeasible problem OptQuest will display an error message and terminate infeasible optimizations Infeasible problems can be made feasible by fixing the inconsistencies of the relationships modeled by the constraints OptQuest detects optimization models that are constraint infeasible and reports them Ifamodelisconstraint feasible OptQuest will always finda feasible solution and search for the optimal solution 1 e the best solution that satisfies all constraints Number of Replications and Simulations When OptQuest runs an optimization it runs a simulation to evaluate each set of decision variable model parameter values Therefore the quality of the optimization results depends on the number of simulations iterations and the number of replications per simulation For a set period of time the number of replications per simulation is inversely related to the number of simulations as one increases the other decreases Decreasing the number of replications can help increase the number of simulations The more simulations OptQuest can run the more sets of values it can evaluate and the more likely OptQuest is to find a solution close to the optimal solution Simulation Accuracy There are two factors that affect simulation accuracy Numbe
26. directory see Java Ex tension Mechanism for more information Administrator privileges may be required e jdbc url This property identifies a specific database and is used to connect to it via the driv er named above Details on the possible forms and values of this property will be documented with available Java JDBC drivers The example in this file shows using a MySQL database named simprocess on the local system e jdbc username This property is disabled in the example If the database configuration re quires a user name remove the to enable the property and give it an appropriate value e jdbc password This property is disabled in the example If the database configuration re quires a user password remove the to enable the property and give it an appropriate value The simprocessdb sql file is an example of Data Definition Language DDL for creating a database in MySQL that is suitable for use with SIMPROCESS The file contains necessary DDL statements to drop andcreate a databasenamed simprocess and then to create each of the tables needed for storing simulation results some of which require insertion of static data While the Access database contains some tables and or columns with spaces in their names this DDL uses underscore characters instead Other features such as foreign keys referential integrity cascading deletes etc are not supported by all databases a fact which should be considered in the mana
27. header is desired then the All item should be added to the report list If the default header is not desired then individual items of that category should be added to the report list The default header for All Entity Types is shown below Note that the default header includes the name of the model followed by the category Customer Service Entity Types The Activities and Connectors categories do not list All Activities or All Connectors options However those options do exist The top level of the tree is the All option For instance as shown below selecting Customer Service and clicking Add Items adds All Activities to the report item list SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 103 Defining a Custom Report Entity Type Attributes Entity Types Real Time Plots Resource Attributes Resource Downtimes Resource Shifts Generate Calls Altt i Generate Sales Calls Process Calls halt 8 Select Call Type Sales Process Alt1 iR Hardware Sales JF Software Sales Service Process att aia E To Be Service Process i Hardware Serice SER Software Service Need HW Expert 3 Need SW Expert SR Expert HW Advice R Expert SW Advice Merge Service Traffic Log Service Call Complete Calls Alt Sas Ship Product ES Split Accounting Pas aoe Collapse All SelectAll Deselect All Add Items Control click to select or deselect multiple values Uses Resourc
28. if subscribing to multicast groups even if all subscribe to the same one If there are multiple Dashboard assignments in the model with different server addresses and or ports a Dashboard Server must be started on each Server Address and Server Port referenced or subscribe tothe multicast group Ifthe Server Address for any assigned Dashboardsis 1 ocalhost a Dashboard Server can be started from SIMPROCESS by selecting Tools Remote Start Local Dashboard Server On Windows the server bat file can be used to start a Dashboard Server The server sh file is for Linux systems though it will also work on other Unix systems Note that these files specify a path to the JRE installed with SIMPROCESS If the system does not have a version 1 6 or later JRE the JRE installed with SIMPROCESS in the j re directory can be copied ifit has the same ora compatible operating system or a JRE can be downloaded from java sun com for most platforms or from the appropriate vendor for others The Dashboard Server must be initialized before the simulation begins When started the Dashboard Server window appears SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 87 Displaying Dashboards snc nd EE File DashboardServerThread initialization starting DashboardServerThread initialization successful Listening for requests on port 5555 When the simulation is started the Dashboards assigned to the model will initialize if there are any plot values assigne
29. localhost Cancel Help Server Port 5555 x Selecting a Graph causes the Edit button to activate Edit displays a dialog with the default properties of the Graph The Graph properties can also be accessed by double clicking the Graph These properties other than Name and Background can be customized for the model Also the values to be plotted are added to the Graph Customizing Properties Editing the Text Label brings up the dialog below The left side of the dialog contains the same properties that are editable when defining Dashboards Note that Name and Background cannot be changed Any changes made in this dialog will override the default properties in the Dashboard file when the Dashboard is displayed The properties of the other Graphs are customized in the same manner The right side of the dialog contains the value to display Since the right side is empty this Text Label is a static label Although Text Labels can display one value dynamically they are best used as static labels Important Note Ifyou are planning to have multiple models referring to the same Dashboard while it is displayed you can prevent any Graphs your model does not use from receiving an initialization message at simulation time which could change their appearance at the Dashboard Server For a Text Label make sure the Label value is empty and do not select any plot values For all other Graphs do not select any plot values Addin
30. mee a OptQuest for SIMPROCESS Delete OK Select Optimization Settings Purchasing Optimization v t Cancel Objective Decision Variables Constraints Process Alternatives Run Options Help Select Process Select Alternative E Purchasing Processes Centralized Functional ee Decentralized Product based gt Hybrid E d Run Options The Run Options tab sets the number of replications for each simulation and the optimization stopping criteria Unless the model is discrete it is recommended that each simulation be run for more than one replication The number of replications needed should be determined before setting up the optimization If no value is entered each simulation run will run with the number of replications last saved in the model If a value is entered that value will be reflected in the Number of Replications in the Run Settings of the model the next time the model is opened after the optimization Inthe Purchasing model the Number of Replications per Simulation is set to 2 This was set to a small number for demonstration purposes only Only two replications and the tight constraints cause the Purchasing optimization to run quickly Apart from user intervention the length of the optimization is controlled by two options Maximum Iterations and Automatic Stop At least one of the stopping criteria must be selected Both options can be selected If both are selected the criteria that is s
31. next scenario uses the same model that is a new model is not loaded then the Model Parameter will have the same value as the previous scenario It will not reset to its default value Entering Process Alternative Information The Process Setup tab is used to set the active alternatives for processes that have more than one alternative The panel on the left displays the processes in the selected model that have more than one alternative Since processes are displayed by name it is recommended that process names not be duplicated within a model Once a process is selected the alternatives for that process will appear in the panel on the right If an alternative has already been selected that alternative will be highlighted If no alternative is highlighted then the model will run with the alternative that was active during the last save of the model Select the alternative to be active for the current scenario If a Master Process Master Processes has multiple alternatives the copies of the Master Process will not be displayed The selected alternative for the Master Process will be applied to all copies SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 34 Defining Experiments rc gt Define Experiments esj Experiment Setup Model Setup Design Setup Scenario Setup _ n C I 7 Scenario Centralized l Delete Scenario Cancel Hep Scenario Comment Centralized Functional purchasing department Use Predef
32. search for an optimal strategy Note that OptQuest for SIMPROCESS is licensed separately from SIMPROCESS SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 42 Overview of OptQuest for SIMPROCESS Overview of OptQuest for SIMPROCESS Since OptQuest is an optimization tool it is attempting to minimize or maximize the value of a performance measure based on limits constraints upper bounds and lower bounds OptQuest automatically runs SIMPROCESS models varying the values for the model parameters searching for optimum results within the specified limits When the optimization runs OptQuest feeds a potential solution into SIMPROCESS model by setting the decision variable model parameter values SIMPROCESS runs one simulation which may include multiple replications to evaluate the solution OptQuest takes the resulting response values from SIMPROCESS OptQuest analyzes the results of the simulation and uses its intelligent search procedures to gen erate a new potential solution which it then sends to SIMPROCESS OptQuest repeats this process Its ultimate goal is to find the solution that optimizes maximizes or minimizes the value of the model s objective Elements of an OptQuest Optimization Optimizations consist of an objective minimize or maximize decision variables and constraints constraints are optional Objective An expression that represents the model s objective such as minimizing queues or maximizing profits Decisi
33. the previous completes successfully The steps to running experiments are 1 Load Experiments xml 2 Prompt to save current work if necessary 3 Enter a loop with sub loops Find Experiment Find Model Find Design Find Scenario Setup Predefined Scenario or Find Parameters and Find Process Alternatives Load Model Verify Design Run Model If selected commit results to database If Predefined Scenario save results to Scenarios xml End loop End loop End loop End loop 4 Display status message on success of experiments Experiment Trace During experiment execution the Experiment Manager displays a trace showing the steps that have been completed and the current step The trace includes the date time and a message SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 38 Experiment Operation Tue Mar 19 14 25 29 EDT 2013 Current Experiment Purchasing Tue Mar 19 14 25 29 EDT 2013 Alert dialogs inactive for Experiment Purchasing Tue Mar 19 14 25 29 EDT 2013 Current Design 5 Reps Tue Mar 19 14 25 29 EDT 2013 Current Scenario Centralized Tue Mar 19 14 25 31 EDT 2013 Alternative for Process Purchasing Processes updated to Centralized Functional for Scenario Centralized Tue Mar 19 14 25 31 EDT 2013 Attribute Model NumProdAPersonnel in Experiment Purchasing Model Purchasing Design 5 Reps and Scenario Centr alized changed to value 7 Tue Mar 19 14 25 31 EDT 2013 Attribute Model NumProdBPersonnel in Ex
34. the goal Max should be chosen for the Value to Optimize Doing that though assumes there are constraints that would limit the maximum Decision Variables The Decision Variables tab contains a table similar to the table on the Model Parameters dialog This table lists all the model parameters in the model no matter what Mode However only those model parameters whose Mode is Integer or Real are decision variables The Starting Value is the value OptQuest will use on the first iteration If new values are not entered the Starting Value is the default value of the model parameter assigned at the time the attribute was defined The last column of the table Include determines which decision variables OptQuest will modify during the optimization The remaining columns Lower Bound Upper Bound and Step Size apply only to model parameters whose Mode is Integer or Real If the model parameter is not one of those modes N A will be entered in appropriate cell Also if the Mode is Real N A will be entered in the Step Size column of that row SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 48 Optimization Setup IfLower Bound is left blank negative infinity is assumed Likewise if Upper Bound is left blank infinity is assumed The Reset and Reset All buttons work as on the Model Parameters dialog These buttons only apply to the Starting Value column A OptQuest for SIMPROCESS z Select Optimization Settings Purcha
35. 117 Defining a Custom Report S Header Properties s ok Header Text Cancel Font Attributes FontName Serif NA Size 12 v Color H black X Bold Italic E I The text entered in the Header Text field will display centered in the report using the settings in Font Attributes Font Name lists any found found on the system and the header will display in the report with the selected font However if the report is saved to PDF it is possible that some of the system unique fonts may not be compatible with PDF If so another font will be automatically substituted Note that this is not an issue when a report is saved to RTF Line Properties When a Line report item is edited the Line Properties dialog displays gt Line Properties Line Size 1 Cancel Line Color Black x The Line Style options are Solid Dashed Dotted and Double Line Size can range from 1 thinnest to 10 thickest Line Color can be any of the 65 predefined colors offered by SIMPROCESS see SIMPROCESS Color Table Lines display the full width of the report page Below is a Header and a Line from a report For the Header the Font Attribute settings were Font Name Times New Roman Size 36 and Color Blue with Bold selected The Line properties were Line Style Solid Line Size 4 and Line Color Blue Simulation Settings SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 118
36. 4375 58873 Current Value 7 No 33132 9172 The decision variables table lists the decision variables Parameters included in the optimization The Lower Bound Best Value Current Value and Upper Bound are displayed Parameter Lower Bound Best Value Current Value Upper Bound Model NumProdAPersonnel i 2 j2 J10 Model NumProdBPersonnel 1 2 3 10 Model NumProdCPersonnel 1 6 is 40 The performance measure constraints table lists the performance measures identified as constraints for the optimization The Lower Bound Best Value Current Value and Upper Bound are displayed Constraint Lower Bound Best Value Current Value Upper Bound TotalWait Value infinity 5 73741 31 50034 30 0 The expression constrainttable lists the expression constraints defined for the optimization The name not the expression itself is displayed in the Expression Constraint column The other columns are Best LHS Current LHS Operator Best RHS and Current RHS LHS stands for Left Hand Side and RHS stands for Right Hand Side These columns show the best and current values for both sides of each expression constraint The Operator column shows the comparison operator between both sides ofeach expression constraint Expression Constraint BestLHS CurrentLHS Operator BestRHS Current RHS Resources 10 10 0 10 0 i 10 0 10 0 A lt B 2 0 2 0 lt 2 0 3 0 B lt C 2 0 3 0 lt 6 0 15 0 SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 59
37. Entity Types Expressions Formatting Functions Input Sources Layouts Metadata Metamodels Model Attributes Pools Resource Attributes Resource Downtimes Resource Shifts Resources Scenarios Simulation Statistics Swimlanes Time Stamps All Real Time Plots Call Time In System Sales Calls In System Sales Calls In System Histogram Service Calls In System Service Calls In System Histogram He Expand All Colapsean Select All Deselect All Add Items Control click to select or deselect multiple values lt a e input Paa Output Pad amp Pool Swimlane D Model Real Time Plots Resource Attributes Resource Downtimes Resource Shifts Resources Scenarios Simulation The Statistics category contains statistics groups Activity Cycle Time By State Activity Cycle Time By Entity By State Attribute Connector Count Connector Count By Entity Connector Count By State Connector Count By Entity By State Connector Cycle Time By State Entity Cycle Time By State Org Node Cumulative Cost Org Node By Resource Cost Resource Units Busy By Shift Time Stamp Collapse All Select All Deselect All Add Items Control click to select or deselect multiple values input Paa output Paa SIMPROCESS User s Manual 106 Defining a Custom Report These groups represent the same statistics displayed in the Standard Report and
38. Expressions aWait bWait cWait REAL aWait GetEntityStatistic Product A tokenwaitdelay Avg Replication bWait GetEntityStatistic Product B tokenwaitdelay Avg Replication cWait GetEntityStatistic Product C tokenwaitdelay Avg Replication Model TotalWait aWait bWait cWait The local variables aWait bWait and cWait contain the average wait time for Product A Product SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 49 Optimization Setup B and Product C respectively The Model Attribute TotalWait contains the sum of all the waits Selecting the Model Attribute button brings up the list of the Model Attributes in the Purchasing model TotalWait was selected then Value was selected hi Se OOO a NumProdAPersonnel NumProdBPersonnel NumProdCPersonnel Performance measure constraints appear as the objective except an Upper Bound field a Lower Bound field and a Delete Constraint button are added Delete l OK Select Optimization Settings Purchasing Optimization v Objective Decision Variables Constraints Process Alternatives Run Options Help Upper Bound 30 i TotalWaitValue pp I Add Constraint z Lower Bound Entity l Start Avg C StDev Min Max p a Delete Constraint Resource Activi Connector Time Stamp Model Attribute Expression As with
39. File See Spreadsheet System Methods for more information on OpenSpreadsheet See Interfacing With A Database for more information on OpenDatabase If any of the above reference files are not located in the model directory copies of the files are placed in the model directory of the model bundle file and the location references of the files in the model are changed to the model directory This is done since it cannot be guaranteed that the computer where the model bundle file is extracted will have the same directory structure The original model file is not modified Only the copy of the model file that will go in the bundle file is changed Note that only files opened for Input will be copied to the model directory Files opened for Out put will only have the file references changed to the model directory What s Excluded Certain model unique items are not automatically included in the model bundle file User imported icons and background images are not included in the bundle unless the images were imported for the model Images can either be imported for SIMPROCESS which means the images are available for any model or they can be imported for a specific model The model directory will contain the file ModeliImages jar if images have been imported for the model See Importing Graphics Image Files for a detailed discussion on importing graphics External Java class files or jar files used with the ExternalCal1 express
40. Function az Activity 29 Entity Attribute Bl input Paa output Pad Connados a Time Stamp 29 Entity Type Attribute Time Stamp PAA Real Time Plot 29 Resource Attribute lil Bar Chart Q Pie Chart Items i ea j lt L eae Report Categories Model Attribute Statistics Grou Distribution mz P lA Page Break B Input Source amp Pool Swimlane Properties Comment e SS nae J Custom Report Name is the name of the report definition This name displays in the custom report list and must be unique Report Title is the title of the report This field must be populated Replication is the simulation replication results to include in the report See Number of Replications for information on setting the number of simulation replications If the model is only set to run one replication then 1 will be the only choice in the selection list If multiple replications are set then each replication will be listed along with Sum of Replications and Average of Replications Replication only applies if simulation results are included in the report Confidence Interval is only enabled when Average of Replications is selected for Replication The choices are None 90 95 and 99 As with Replication Confidence Interval only applies if simulation results are included in the report Insert Newltems Above Selected Item is enabled when an item in thereportitem list on the rightis selected
41. Global Statistics Collection Active Alternatives and Model Parameters Statistics displays a list of statistical groups Swimlanes displays a list of all swimlanes Time Stamps displays a list of Time Stamps Most categories offer an All option For example if the Entity Types category is selected the first item in the list is All Entity Types followed by each Entity Type defined in the model SIMPROCESS User s Manual 102 Defining a Custom Report S Select Report It R Hardware Sales Call R Hardware Service Call amp Invoice amp Phone Order r R Software Sales Call a R Software Service Call Collapse All Select All Deselect All Add Items Control click to select or deselect multiple values rel Resource ft Has Expressions s Lg Connector Resource Attributes Resource Downtimes input Pad output Pad amp Pool aA Swimlane D Model In the example above all ofthe Entity Types in the model can be included in the report by either adding All Entity Types to the report list or adding each Entity Type individually to the report list Since there are no restrictions as to what can be in the report list and even though it would lead to duplication ofinformation All Entity Types could be included in the report list along with individual Entity Types Each All item offers a default header for that category Thus if the default
42. Model Building e Exporting Results Part C describes the integrated tools included with SIMPROCESS Professional The chapters are e Advanced Data Analysis SIMPROCESS Database e Experiment Manager OptQuest for SIMPROCESS SIMPROCESS Dashboards e Model Bundles e Custom Reports e Scenarios The Appendices are e Importing Version 2 2 1 Models e Activity Summary Table e SIMPROCESS File Structure e Statistical Distributions e Statistical Tools Glossary SIMPROCESS System Attributes and Methods e External Event Files e Simulation Results File e UML Interfaces e Running Models Without GUI e SIMPROCESS and External Java Classes Metadata Manual The Metadata Manual describes how to build and edit SIMPROCESS metamodels assign metamodels to a SIMPROCESS model and enter metadata in a SIMPROCESS model The chapters are e SIMPROCESS Metadata e SIMPROCESS Metamodel Editor e Assigning Metamodels e Entering Metadata e BPEL Metadata OrgModel Manual The OrgModel Manual describes how to build and edit SIMPROCESS Organization and Resource Models OrgModels and assign OrgModels to a SIMPROCESS model The chapters are e SIMPROCESS Organization and Resource Models e SIMPROCESS OrgModel Editor e Assigning OrgModels e Using OrgModels with SIMPROCESS CHAPTER 1 Advanced Data Analysis SIMPROCESS comes with ModelFit a data analysis tool that extends the ability to conduct statistical data analysis ModelFit provides automat
43. Running an Optimization Objective Graph The graph of the objective value plots the best objective value for each iteration Infeasible values are plotted with dots in red and feasible values are plotted in blue with Xs In the example below from the Purchasing model the first five values were infeasible and the remaining feasible Remember once the best value is feasible the best value will not be infeasible again To zoom in on a portion of the graph click and drag over the portion of the graph to enlarge The buttons above the graph do the following e Print the plot e Reset the X and Y ranges to their original empty plot starting values e Set the plot format e Rescale the plot to fit the data Used after zooming to return to full view of plot Fa Best Objective Value BIRME 34500 Ff 1 7 H infeasible a Feasible 34000 4 5 33500 4 33000 4 32500 4 32000 4 Best Value 31500 4 31000 4 30500 4 30000 4 29500 Iteration Maximum Iterations Prompt When a maximum number ofiterations has been set for the optimization the checkbox Prompt for more iterations is enabled This checkbox defaults to selected When selected the optimization prompts for more iterations at the end of the next to the last iteration For instance if the maximum iterations is set to 100 at the end of iteration 99 the optimization will prompt for anew maximum for the iterations A new maximum mus
44. SS models Thus a Dashboard can be used with multiple models or multiple models may use a single Dashboard To use a Dashboard with a model the Dashboard must be Assigned to a model The Assign process links the Dashboard to the model indicates the location of the Dashboard Server for display host or IP address and port and sets the values that will be displayed on the graphs defined for that Dashboard During a simulation Dashboards can only be displayed by using a Dashboard Server A copy of the Dashboard file must be located with the Dashboard Server SIMPROCESS User s Manual 71 Defining Dashboards Defining Dashboards Dashboards are defined independent of SIMPROCESS models Thus no model needs to be open to define a Dashboard The Report menu contains a Dashboard item with a submenu that has two items Define and Assign Selecting Define brings up the SIMPROCESS Dashboard graphical user interface GUI m gt SIMPROCESS Dashboards Dashboard1 File Edit Layout Qen xke A liv Jee EF The Dashboard GUI is similar to the SIMPROCESS GUI The primary differences are that only one Dashboard can be open at a time and the Dashboard GUI initially opens with an empty Dashboard named Dashboard Dashboard Layout The Dashboard layoutis similar to the layout ofa SIMPROCESS model in that its size can be set Layout Size menu item and its background color can be set Layout B
45. Statistics tab displays the same statistics options as Report Define Global Statistics Collection Default Performance Measures However the buttons to clear individual stats are not available SIMPROCESS Users Manual 124 Defining Scenarios lt lt Scenario Name Baseline Hybrid Run Settings Parameter Setup Legend oe Resource Sg Connector ee Model Attribute Time Stamp Senise canei Process Setup Global Statistics Selected Statistics Help ER Product A Cycle Time Entity EA Product B Cycle Time EA Product C Cycle Time aa RERO eis B ProductAPersonnel Units Busy Activity i ProductBPersonnel Units Busy Connector Bi ProductCPersonnel Units Busy m Time Stamp Model Attribute Remove Remove All Comment L The Selected Statistics tab is used to add individual statistics to the Scenario Note that for this example no global statistics were selected only individual statistics Individual statistics are selected in the same manner as for Custom Reports see Adding Items to the Report Item List or Custom Plots see Adding Values To Custom Plots Once the scenario definition is complete select OK and the scenario will appear in the scenario list 4 E Baseline Centralized Functional Baseline Decentralized Product based Close re b Undo There ar
46. SystemName field from the System table could be restricted so only one model s results would beavailable Inthe example below the query to the demonstration model CallCenter is restricted by placing CallCenter in the Criteria row of the query under SystemName TOK az Entity Count Select Query Statistics System Entity SystemName StatMonOwnerID SystemID DesignID StatOwnerName EntityName Designcomment DesignID SystemID OwnerID Replications Replication Name StatType Max StatType Statistics Statistics Replication Statistics Ascending ScenarioName Design Scenario Entity Ascending Ascending Ascending Total entities generated SystemName EntityName System Ascending DesignName CallCenter lt The queries that generate results across replications were developed using the queries that give results by replication So if the Entity Count query is restricted to CallCenter then the Entity Count Across Replications query will also be restricted to CallCenter Looking at the Design View for Entity Count Across Replications the only data source for the query is the Entity Count query a Entity Count Across Replications Select Query Entity Count SystemName 7 Z Designname ScenarioName EntityName StatType Max Max Max Max Entity Count Entity Count Entity Count Entity C
47. User s Manual Part C Advanced Tools SIMPROCESS Release 5 CACI EVER VIGILANT Copyright 2002 2015 CACI INC FEDERAL All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without written permission from CACI The information in document is believed to be accurate in all respects However CACI cannot assume the responsibility for any consequences resulting from the use thereof The information contained herein is subject to change Revisions to this publication or new editions of it may be issued to incorporate such change SIMPROCESS is a registered trademark of CACI INC FEDERAL Table of Contents Organization of the SIMPROCESS Documentation Set ss00e 5 CHAPTER 1 Advanced Data ANGIYSIS secs cicsesvicsd coxcovesevessssevesessisbeetevssbassssseviceiessos 8 An Introduction to Data Analysis and Modeling 000 10 Why Statistical Simulation Experiments sscscssseseees 13 SIMPROCESS Statistical Distributions 0ssccccscccscssees 14 CHAPTER 2 SIMPROCESS Database cccccssccccssssccccsscsccccccsccccecccscccscsecees 16 Committing Results to the Database cscccssecscsrsescsseseees 17 System Design and Scenario cssccsssccscsscccssscccssssscseseseees 18 Database Table Relationships scsssccsccsscsssscescseseseesesees 20 Database Queries svsisssesescssciessissdendevcsscosvccsssessdoscesses
48. a at all times Background Color sets the background color of the Dashboard layout to the currently selected color on the Dashboard Color button on the System Toolbar Align is enabled only if two or more Graphs are selected as indicated by a red border Align presents a dialog with Top Bottom Left Right Center Vertical and Center Horizontal Selected Graphs will be repositioned so that they align as directed Alignment can also be set by right clicking on a selected Graph Distribute is enabled only if three or more Graphs are selected as indicated by a red border Distribute presents a dialog with Vertically Horizontally and Circular Selected Graphs will be repositioned so that they are distributed within the available space the layout size as directed much like the equivalent function in the SIMPROCESS model editor Selected Graphs can also be distributed by right clicking on a selected Graph Snap to Grid Grid Lines Grid Spacing and Grid Color work like their counterparts in the SIMPROCESS model editor They allow the optional use of grid lines to help in placement of Graphs in a Dashboard However due to the size of graph panels movement is difficult with grid lines turned on SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 8l Assigning Dashboards Assigning Dashboards To assign a Dashboard to a model select Dashboard Assign from the Report menu For the Assign menu item to be active a SIMPROCESS model must be open and the Da
49. abase Application from the Report menu the Manage Results form launches automatically If the form is blank then there are no run results in the database Es Manage Results Run 5 replications for each scenario 5 1 1 2006 Record M 4 1of1 ri i Filte Search 4 gt d Centralized 755 Centralized alternative with A 7 B 5 C 5 Decentralized 755 Decentralized alternative with A 7 B 5 C 5 3 1 ier tt boa A DDE NE on Record M 4 1of3 gt lte Search 4 gt Record M 1of1 gt i F Search The Launch Database Application menu item is only enabled on Windows systems It will be enabled even if the sProcDB properties file is configured for a non Access database IMPORTANT It is good practice to regularly compact the Access database particularly after deleting records SIMPROCESS Users Manual 19 Database Table Relationships Database Table Relationships Viewing all the tables and the relationships between them in the Access database is helpful in understanding how the queries were constructed Because other database tools may or may not support constraints and relationships in the same way as Access it will be up to the user to create comparable mechanisms there if desired
50. ackground Color menu item Selecting Layout Size brings up the following dialog SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 72 Defining Dashboards Dashboard Layout Size Width 900 300 minimum Height 600 300 minimum Cancel Snap J l Help E Each Dashboard has a size denoted by a gray line in the editor window This size measured in pixels will be used by the Dashboard Server to build a window in which to display the Dashboard and its Graphs The width and height values must be at least 300 pixels each but are otherwise unlimited in size However when determining the size consideration should be given to the size of the display on which the server will run when a Dashboard is displayed The Snap button will automatically adjust the width and height values to the smallest values required to contain all Graphs currently in the Dashboard Snap will not resize the layout to smaller than 300 x 300 pixels Selecting Layout Background Color sets the color ofthe layout to the color displayed on the color button on the System Toolbar The arrow to the right of the color button brings up a color chooser to select the desired color Dashboard Graphs The Graph Toolbar on the left contains the graph types that can be added to the layout The types of graphs that can be displayed on a Dashboard are Line Graph Bar Graph Horizontal or Vertical 2D or 3D e Meter Thermometer e Pie Chart 2D or 3D e Text Label aaa L
51. ameters and Process Alternatives Model Parameters Process Alternatives Run Parameter Value f Cancel J Help NumProdBPersonnel 5 S A NumProdCPersonnel 5 C Reseni f Reset Description Number of Product A Personnel Default 7 Mode Integer Double click Value cells to edit them d a al Resource Properties s General Cost Downtime Attributes Expressions Name ProductAPersonnel Cancel Units Model NumProdAPersonnel Help J Fractional Usage Consumable Collect Resource Statistics E Collect Resource by Activity Statistics __ Collect Resource by Shift Statistics Comment Document Metadat SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 45 Optimization Setup Since OptQuest uses the Integer and Real model parameters as decision variables when OptQuest runs the model as part of the optimization it sets the values of the model parameters for each run Another requirement for optimization is an objective Therefore there must be a performance measure inthe model to maximize or minimize This performance measure couldbe one of the standard statistics collected by SIMPROCESS or a specialized statistic which could consist of a linear or non linear combination of various standard statistics Again referring to the Purchasing demonstration model the objective is to minimize the variable cost of all the resources Since variable cost is collected automatically this statistic d
52. ata if possible if the scenario represents a time to complete some task or the number of arrivals in a certain time period The mode is the most likely value in a set of data Consider the following list of numbers SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 10 An Introduction to Data Analysis and Modeling 2 3 3 3 9 10 The mode for this set of data is 3 since it occurs most frequently The mean for this set of data is 5 If a distribution is symmetric about the mean and singly peaked then the mode and the mean will be equal In this case the distribution contains a couple of large values which shift the mean away from the mode As discussed later the mode is an important parameter for specifying a triangular distribution The standard deviation is a simple measure of the spread in the data It is calculated by finding the mean summing the squares of all the differences between the mean and the data points taking the square root of this value and then dividing by the square root of the number of data points Loosely it is the average difference from the mean Why are the square and square root are taken Because the result would be zero if just the differences were summed The standard deviation is a measure of how much spread there is in the data If the standard deviation is large there is a wide variation in the data If itis small the data are tightly clustered around the mean The standard deviation is a necessary piece of inform
53. ation for many standard distributions The variance is the standard deviation squared Most of the parameters for continuous distributions can be classified on the basis of their physical or geometric interpretation as being one of three basic types location scale or shape parameters The following discussion is taken from the book Simulation Modeling and Analysis Third Edition by Law and Kelton 2000 A location parameter specifies an abscissa x axis location point of a distribution s range of values usually is the midpoint e g the mean of a normal distribution or lower endpoint e g location for a Pearson type V distribution of the distribution s range As changes the associated distribution merely shifts left or right without otherwise changing Also if the distribution of the random variable X has a location parameter of 0 then the distribution of the random variable Y X lhas a location parameter of l A scale parameter b determines the scale or unit of measurement of the values in the range of the distribution The standard deviation is a scale parameter forthe normal distribution A change in b compresses or expands the associated distribution without altering its basic form Also if the random variable X has a scale parameter of 1 the distribution of the random variable Y bX has a scale parameter of b A shape parameter a determines distinct from location and scale the basic form or shape of a distribut
54. atisfied first will stop the optimization Maximum Iterations is the maximum number ofiterations OptQuest will attempt before stopping the optimization The value must be an integer greater than zero When Automatic Stop is selected the optimization stops when the value of the objective stops improving Precision determines when two objective values are considered equal The default is 0 0001 SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 55 Optimization Setup Os SE _ Select Optimization Settings Purchasing Optimization hd Undo Delete Objective Decision Variables Constraints Process Alternatives Run Options 2 Number of Replications per Simulation Optimization Stopping Criteria v Maximum Iterations 100 0 0001 Precision v Automatic Stop Saving Optimization Settings Selecting OK will close the dialog and add the defined optimization settings to the model The model must be saved for the optimization settings to persist Selecting Start will close the dialog add the defined optimization settings to the model and save the model Thus performing another save is not necessary Cancel closes the dialog and discards any changes 56 SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual Running an Optimization Running an Optimization To run an optimization if the optimization settings dialog is not already displayed select OptQuest from the Tools menu Once the optimization settings dial
55. atives 54 Run Options 55 Running an Optimization 57 Tips and Suggestions 63 P Probability distributions 10 R Running an Optimization 57 S scenario 19 Selected Field 30 StatFit 8 statistical distributions 14 Statistical Simulation Experiment 13 Experimental Data 13 Mean Value Analysis 13
56. base for Scenario Decentralized save Clear Cancel It is important to examine the Experiment Manager trace since it will give the complete status of the experiments The above example shows the experiment alert dialog status see below model design and scenario Also it shows the Process Alternatives that were active and the values of the Model Parameters for the scenario Experiment Errors As explained in the instructions for defining experiments when the Display Error Alerts field is not selected interactive error messages are suppressed However error messages will appear in the Experiment Manager trace The Experiment Manager trace shows which experiments completed successfully and which encountered errors Especially important are the messages that show errors with the Model Parameters Tue Mar 19 14 26 49 EDT 2013 Current Experiment Purchasing Tue Mar 19 14 26 49 EDT 2013 Alert dialogs inactive for Experiment Purchasing Tue Mar 19 14 26 49 EDT 2013 Current Design 5 Reps Tue Mar 19 14 26 49 EDT 2013 Current Scenario Centralized E Tue Mar 19 14 26 50 EDT 2013 Scenario Centralized for Design 5 Reps and Model Purchasing is already in the database Anew Scenario name is requi red a7 Tue Mar 19 14 26 50 EDT 2013 Scenario Centralized not completed successfully due to error in Design or Scenario setup Tue Mar 19 14 26 50 EDT 2013 Experiment Purchasing not comp
57. boatds sscccssccssscccsseccsscescsscesceesssssosees 87 CHAPTER 6 Model BundleS ssssisiicsisesinicijeisoscoisenriiotaosssksetasski so iaoiroiie kei iikaoieossei 91 Bundle File Contents seessooesoessoessseessocssoossoossssesssesssosssoosssossos 92 Creating Bundle Files sseosseosseossocssooesoossssssssesssocssoossoosssesssose 94 Extracting Bundle Files ooosooosooessesssoossoossoossssesssesssosssosssoossos 96 CHAPTER 7 CUSLOM REPOTIS sc cvssisiscvissscussivaceseaviesseesoncgasssuduansdedcusasscevssusacesentes 97 Defining a Custom Report sssesssesssesssoossoossoossssessoesssosssoossosssos 98 Viewing a Custom Report ccccsccccsscccssccsccssescsssescesseseees 119 CHAPTER 8 YAU AIEI RA EEE E EE EEN EA 121 Defining ScOnarios cssisscscssiicsiscissecsdavesdscddsceusedsaedsteaecanscsccoansees 122 Running Scenarios seessoessoessoesssesssocssoossoosssosessesssooesoossossssese 127 Comparing Scenarios eesssessecssooesoosssoesssesssoossoossoossosssssesssoseo 129 SIMPROCESS User s Manual 4 Organization of the SIMPROCESS Documentation Set The SIMPROCESS documentation set consists of four manuals gt Getting Started With SIMPROCESS SIMPROCESS User s Manual e SIMPROCESS Metadata Manual SIMPROCESS OrgModel Manual All of the manuals can be opened directly from the Help SIMPROCESS Manuals menu Also each manual includes this section which provides links to the chapters in e
58. cenarios Scenario Name Baseline Hybrid Run Settings Parameter Setup Process Setup Global Statistics Selected Statistics Select Process Select Alternative ll Purchasing Processes Centralized Functional Decentralized Product based The Process Setup tab lists all the hierarchical processes in the model that have more than one alternative See Alternative Sub Processes formore information on Process alternatives Selecting aprocess on the left displays the available alternatives on the right Notethat ifno alternative is selected when run the Scenario will use the last active alternative for a process If a Master Process Master Processes has multiplealternatives the copies ofthe Master Process will notbe displayed The selected alternative for the Master Process will be applied to all copies See Scenario Name Baseline Hybrid Run Settings Parameter Setup Process Setup Global Statistics _ Collect Activity Statistics Collect Entity Statistics Collect Resource Statistics Collect Connector Statistics _ Collect Resource by Activity Statistics _ Collect Resource by Shift Statistics _ Collect Activity by Entity Statistics Collect Connector by Entity Statistics Output Time Units Hours Comment The Global
59. cenarios Scenario Name Baseline Hybrid Run Settings Parameter Setup Process Setup Global Statistics Selected Statistics Simulation Period mmiddiyyyy hh mm ss msec Start 01 01 2013 00 00 00 o00 4 000 End 02101 20136 usec nsec ZE 00 00 00 ooo ooo ooo _ Warmup Every Replication Number of Replications 2 Warmup Length 0 Warmup Time Unit Reset Random Number Streams vV Reset System Verify Model on Run Simulation Time Unit RWIHost localhost RMI Port Comment The Run Settings tab Parameter Setup tab and Global Statistics tab default to the last saved values in the model for each After specifying Run Settings set the Model Parameter values Scenario Name Baseline Hybrid Run Settings Parameter Setup Process Setup Global Statistics Selected Statistics Parameter Value NumProdAPersonnel z NumProdBPersonnel 5 NumProdCPersonnel 5 Double click Value cells to editthem The Parameter Setup tab is used to set the value for each Model Parameter defined in the model See Running a Simulation with Model Parameters for more information on Model Parameters SIMPROCESS Users Manual 123 Defining S
60. cted to choose the appropriate value to minimize SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 47 Optimization Setup F al Select Resource Value OK op Purchasing Variable Cost lt lt lt R Buyers Cancel R Contracts Administrators R ProductAPersonnel Help IA ProductBPersonnel I ProductCPersonnel Expand All Collapse All i jel Resource b d On the left are all the resources defined in the model plus an additional item named All Resources When an item is selected on the left the possible values are displayed on the right In this example All Resources is selected on the left and Variable Cost on the right When OK is selected AH Resources Variable Cost appears in Value to Optimize In the Inventory model the Value to Optimize is Model InventoryPlusOrderTime Value Set Objective Value to Optimize Maximize All Resources Variable Cost Minimize Avg StDev Min Max There are four options for the Value to Optimize Avg Average StDev Standard Deviation Min Minimum and Max Maximum For this example the average variable cost for all the resources is needed Since stochastic random simulation models should be run for more than one replication the variable cost of all resources for each replication is averaged Note about Min and Max Min or Max should only be used when the constraints should bring convergence For instance ifminimizing the maximum wait time was
61. ctive is twofold minimize inventory FinProduct resource and minimize the amount of time ittakes to filla customer order See Preparing for Optimization beginning on page 45 fora discussion on how these dual objectives are combined into one objective The performance measure for the amount of inventory and the performance measure for the amount of time it takes to fill a customer order are used as performance measure constraints These values are obtained using the GetResourceStatistic and GetEntityStatistic expression statements in the End Simulation expression for the model Define Model Expressions These values are assigned to Model Attributes which are used as constraints The number of replications per simulation is set to 1 the maximum number of iterations is 150 and the automatic stop feature is turned on with a precision of 0 1 Note that the number of replications is setto 1 to reduce the time required to run the optimization Innormal usage the number of replications would be greater than one This optimization takes from 20 minutes to a few hours to run depending on system memory and processor speed SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 70 CHAPTER 5 SIMPROCESS Dashboards SIMPROCESS Dashboards are collections of dynamic graphs that can be displayed locally orremotely by a Dashboard Server The graphs contained by Dashboards can be of the same type or of differing types Dashboards are defined independent of SIMPROCE
62. d Run is selected the Model Parameters dialog appears sd ae des ae a Ve NumProdAPersonnel 7 NumProdBPersonnel 5 NumProdCPersonnel 5 Description Default Mode Double click Value cells to editthem This dialog allows the value of the Model Parameters to be changed before the simulation begins Scenarios cannot be used in conjunction with this dialog since the values of Model Parameters are set in the Scenario Thus to use Scenarios Activate Scenarios must be selected on the Simulate menu Report Experiment Tools Run Settings Animation Settings Scenarios Verify Model vV Activate Scenarios F3 Run F4 Change Model Parameters F5 Pause Resume F6 Animation On F8 Stop F9 When Activate Scenarios is checkedandthere are Scenarios defined the Scenarios dialog appears when Run is selected Note that if the model is a new model that has never been saved an error message will display when attempting to run a Scenario The model must first be saved Select Scenario SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 127 Running Scenarios The original default selection is None That is if None is the selected Scenario no changes are made to the model and no results are stored in Scenarios xml However once a Scenario is selected from the list it remains the default Scenario until the Scenario is deleted from the model or anoth
63. d default value are displayed in the text fields below the table Once selected the value can be changed by typing into the field on the table Values entered that do not match the mode will not be accepted The Reset button will reset the selected Model Parameter to its default value The Reset All button resets all Model Parameters to their default values In this example there are three Model attributes that can be changed for a scenario When changing selected scenarios there may be a slight lag for the Model Parameter values to update This is due to the processing required to update the values SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 33 Defining Experiments r a J Define Experiments zs Experiment Setup Model Setup Design Setup Scenario Setup EEEren Cancel Scenario Centralized v Delete Scenario ___Cance__ Help Scenario Comment Centralized Functional purchasing department Use Predefined Scenario Baseline Centralized Functional hf TE Parameter Setup Process Setup Parameter Value Reset All NumProdBPersonnel 5 E NumProdCPersonnel 5 Double click Value cells to edit them Description Number of Product A Personnel Default 7 Mode Integer If no Model Parameter information is entered for a scenario then the model will run with the last saved values for the Model Parameters If a parameter has been changed for a scenario and the
64. d to any Graphs for a Text Label it must also have a Label value as noted above Note that the Dashboard Server window may need to be the active 1 e frontmost window for the Dashboard windows to appear if running on the same Windows system as SIMPROCESS If the Dashboard files referenced by the model are not located in the dashboards directory on the server no Dashboard window will appear and error messages will be displayed in the Dashboard Server window SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 88 Displaying Dashboards f T smoes oae Sere I oo File DashboardServerThread initialization starting DashboardServerThread initialization successful Listening for requests on port 5555 Request discarded for Truck Status without definition discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truc
65. described in Chapter 8 of Part A see Statistical Output Reports For example the statistics group Entity Count displays Total Generated Remaining In System and Total Disposed for all Entity Types which had statistics collected Thus individual statistical values cannot be added by selecting the Report Categories button on the Custom Report dialog Individual statistical values can only be added to the report item list by one of the buttons in the Values group see Values Buttons on page 100 The Scenarios category lists the scenarios that have saved statistical results A Scenario displayed in a Custom Report will show the Run Settings Model Parameters selections and Process alternative selections along with all the statistical results for the selected Replication Note that a Scenario may or may not have the requested Replication since a Custom Report s available replication values are based on the model s current Number of Replications value in the Run Settings The selected Scenario may have been run with a different number of replications See Scenarios for more information on Scenarios and Scenario Reports Non Statistical Categories All ofthe non statistical categories with the exception of Formatting offer report items dealing with model simulation defintion or documentation For example the Expressions category lists all expressions in the model n Select Report Items Check Queue Accept Entity
66. e method A performs better than method B OptQuest will obtain performance profiles similar to method A OptQuest s search methodology is very aggressive and attempts to immediately find high quality solutions causing large improvements with respect to the initial solution early in the search This is critical when OptQuest can perform only a limited number of simulations However several factors affect OptQuest s performance and the importance of these factors varies from one situation to another This section reviews these factors and offers tips and suggestions on how to achieve maximum performance Factors that affect search performance Any heuristic method for solving problems cannot guarantee that it will find the optimal solution It SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 63 Tips and Suggestions might only find a solution that is close to the optimal solution usually referred to as the best solution this is why maximizing performance is critical The following is a list of relevant factors that directly affect search performance Each factor is explained in sections after the list Number of decision variables e Initial values e Decision variable bounds e Complexity of the objective e Constraints e Feasibility Number of replications and simulations e Simulation accuracy Simulation speed Number of Decision Variables The number of decision variables greatly affects OptQuest s performance OptQuest ha
67. e By State Across Replications Peak Entity Level Entity Level Across Replications Average Entity Level Across Replications Peak Entity Level By State Entity Level By State Across Repiications Average Entity Level By State Across Replications Peak All of the queries were created in Access Design View rather than SQL Shown below is the Design View of the Entity Count query a Entity Count Select Query Design DesignName DesignComment StatMon Owner StatMonOwnerID DesignID StatOwnerName Scenario ScenarioName ScenarioComment Replications Entity EntityName DesignID OwnerlD Replication Name SumofSquares RunLength DesignName ScenarioName EntityName StatType Replication Max p Field SystemName Table System Design Scenario Entity Statistics Statistics Statistics Sort Ascending Ascending Ascending Ascending Show M 3 Ascending lt 2 Criteria or e iul Total entities generated Even though the whole criteria cannot be seen note that the StatType field from the Statistics table is restricted by Total Entities generated or Entities remaining in system or Total Entities disposed SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 21 Database Queries These are the statistics types that make up Entity Count Other fields could be restricted as well For instance the
68. e Number of Reps setting on the Design Setup tab When the simulation completes the results from the scenario are saved into an external file Scenarios xml1 for later use Scenario Reports can be created to compare results from different scenarios or within the same scenario see Comparing Scenarios on page 129 In order to set Model Parameter values and Process Alternatives directly leave Use Predefined Scenarios SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 32 Defining Experiments deselected Model Parameters are set on the Parameter Setup tab and Process Alternatives are set on the Process Setup tab r g Define Experiments ez Experiment Setup Model Setup Design Setup Scenario Setup a Cancel Scenario Centralized v Delete Scenario C i J Help Use Predefined Scenario Baseline Centralized Functional x Parameter Setup Process Setup Parameter Value Reset All NumProdAPersonnel 7 Reset NumProdBPersonnel 45 NumProdCPersonnel 5 Double click Value cells to edit them Description Default Mode y Entering Model Parameter Information The Parameter Setup tab is used to enter Model Parameter values The attributes for the selected model that have been designated as Model Parameters appear in the table When a Model Parameter is selected its description comment from the attribute definition mode Integer Real or String an
69. e below repeats the Bar Chart example except the last two items are Pie Charts The first one has its properties set and the second one doesn t SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 114 Defining a Custom Report Custom Report Name Final Report ReportTite customer Serie Report eport Title Customer Service Repo Page Break 9 All Entity Attributes Page Break a he LY 2 All Entity Type Attributes Remove All None z a E Move Up Replication fa E2 Remove Confidence Intervals Insert New Items Above Selected Item Move Down Select Report Content Legend Values D Model ae Resource Ea Downtime Shift Se Activity Attribute Lo Connector fa Function 2o Entity Attribute input Paa output Paa s9 Entity Type Attribute Time Stamp ey Real Time Plot Entity Cycle Time By State es Resource Percent Utilization eo Resource Attribute ud Bar Chart Pie Chart llil Entity Cycle Time Items ea Pie Chart Report Categories m_ gt Model Attribute z Statistics Group vay Distribution 7 Input Source Pool a Swimlane Properties Editing a Pie Chart report item displays the following Dimension Type 2 Dimensional 3 Dimensional Group By Remove Name Statistic Remove All Statistic Type Select Plot Values ag stoe min Max Chart Border Line Width 0 Line Style Solid a Line Color I lack
70. e three scenarios defined that are based on the three alternatives found in the Purchasing model The Edit button allows changes to be made to the Scenario Note that other than the Scenario name these changes only apply to the Scenario definition not the Scenario results Thus a change in the Scenario name is reflected in Scenarios xm1 but if there are other changes the model must be run again with the changed Scenario selected for the results in Scenarios xml to be updated SIMPROCESS Users Manual 125 Defining Scenarios The Copy button copies the selected Scenario into a new Scenario If there are results in Scenarios xml forthe Scenario that is being copied those results are not copied The model must be run with the new Scenario selected to place results in Scenarios xml The Remove button removes a Scenario definition from the model and if there are associated results in Scenarios xml those results are removed as well When a Scenario definition has been removed the Undo button enables When selected the last removed Scenario definition is restored However any associated results are not restored The model must be run again with the restored Scenario selected to restore Scenario resultsin Scenarios xml SIMPROCESS User s Manual 126 Running Scenarios Running Scenarios Once a Scenario has been defined it can be run and the results stored for future analysis When a model has Model Parameters an
71. ect reference Note that Add does not complete the assignment of a Dashboard to a model The Graphs must be edited as described below to customize the way they appear and plot values to them SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 82 Assigning Dashboards rc New Assigned Dashboard eee trek Sake Cancel Server Address localhost Hep _ Server Port 5555 Dashboard File OCESS models Truck Status spd Browse E A Editing and Removing a Dashboard Assignment Selecting a Dashboard assignment in the list causes the Edit and Remove buttons to activate Remove removes the Dashboard assignment from the model A Dashboard assignment that has been removed can be restored with the Undo button Edit displays a Dashboard Edit dialog that allows customizing of the Dashboard for the model and assignment of plot values to any of the graphs on the Dashboard The File button presents a dialog that allows selecting the Dashboard file for the selected Dashboard assignment and should normally only be needed if its location has changed The properties dialog contains three fields that can be edited Dashboard Name Server Address and Server Port Below those fields is a view of the Dashboard that was assigned to the model The example below contains a Text Label Line Graph and Meter SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 83 Assigning Dashboards n S Truck Status Properties Dashboard Name Truck Status Server Address
72. ed fitting of distributions from sample data It is used with the SIMPROCESS Auto Fits feature see Auto Fits Distributions The ModelFit tool Increases the accuracy of experiments Decreases the time to find the solution to the problem Provides a statistical software tool tailored to the statistical simulation environment Performs data analysis Models random processes SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 8 ModelFit is used to analyze data and construct a data model of the random process that generated the data An introduction to the statistical background for data analysis and data modeling is provided in the following section An Introduction to Data Analysis and Modeling SIMPROCESS Users Manual 9 An Introduction to Data Analysis and Modeling An Introduction to Data Analysis and Modeling Introduction Probability distributions are a way of describing the random variations that occur in the real world Although the variations are called random there are different degrees of randomness and the different distributions correspond to how the variations occur Consequently different distributions are used for different purposes Probability distributions are represented by probability density functions Probability density functions show how likely acertain value is The more likely the value the larger the probability density function at that point The total probability at all points should sum to 100 so the a
73. eferences in the original model If Locate is selected and the file is found the copy of the model included in the bundle will have the correct file reference Thus one way of correcting the original model would be to delete SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 94 Creating Bundle Files the original model and its directory and extract the bundle to the original model s location e File C Program Files x86 SIMPROCESS models Call Status spd not found Select option Skip Cancel A notification appears when the bundling process completes successfully ti Creation of model bundle for Network is complete SIMPROCESS Users Manual 95 Extracting Bundle Files Extracting Bundle Files Select File Bundle Extract to extract a model bundle file The extraction process begins once a bundle file has been selected If there is a model open from the same location as the bundle file and with the same name as the bundled model the extraction process will stop Also before any files are extracted from the bundle file the version of the included model is checked to make sure that the model is compatible with the version of SIMPROCESS that is extracting the bundle The extraction process stops if the bundled model is not compatible The bundled model and its directory are extracted in the same location as the bundle file If same named files are found in the location the extraction process requests permi
74. efining a Custom Report Select Custom Reports from the Report menu to define a new custom report or edit an existing custom report This displays a dialog that lists the reports that have been defined gt Custom Reports x The Custom Report dialog is used to define new reports modify existing report definitions copy report definitions delete reports and view reports The Add function creates a new report definition The Edit Copy Remove and View functions are only active if there are existing report definitions These functions operate on the report selected in the list Edit modifies an existing report definition Copy creates a new report based on the definition of an existing one Remove deletes a report definition View displays a report in the report viewer Undo restores a report that has been removed Selecting Add displays the Custom Report Properties dialog The dialog displays with a default name and with the list of items to report empty SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 98 Defining a Custom Report GG pi Custom Report Properties E N Oo oN Custom Report Name Custom Reportt Lx Cancel Report Title Help Replication 1 E Remove A Confidence Intervals None Move Up Insert New Items Above Selected Item Move Down Select Report Content Legend Values C ao Enti D Model Resource Era Downtime Shift i A Resource oe Activity Attribute Lo Connector Ses
75. el is saved and the OptQuest interface appears From this interface the user can monitor the optimization stop the optimization and create reports once complete Also if selected OptQuest will prompt for more iterations when approaching the maximum iteration Interpret the results SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 44 Optimization Setup Optimization Setup Preparing for Optimization In order to use OptQuest with a model the model must have model parameters of type Integer and or Real Model parameters are user controlled values that typically set some of the initial conditions of a simulation For instance if Truck is a resource in the model a model parameter could be used to set the number of the resource Truck available In the Inventory demonstration model see SIMPROCESS Getting Started Manual reorder levels are controlled by model parameters When a model is run that has model parameters a dialog appears that allows values of the model parameters to be changed before the run begins The image below shows the model parameter dialog from the Purchasing demonstration model There are three model parameters NumProdAPersonnel NumProdBPersonnel andNumProdCPersonnel All three of these are Model Attributes and their Mode is Integer These model parameters set the number of units of the resources ProductAPersonnel ProductBPersonnel and ProductCPersonnel fe J Model Par
76. ent Manager sets up model runs that SIMPROCESS will run automatically and optionally after each run place the results in the database This is accomplished by defining exper iments in SIMPROCESS which are stored in Experiments xml in the SIMPROCESS working directory see SIMPROCESS Working Directory SIMPROCESS reads the information from the re Experiments xml loads the appropriate model runs the model then optionally commits sults to the database The four items on the Experiment menu control the operation of the Experiment Manager Define Experiments Run All Experiments Run Selected Experiments Run Specific Experiment SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 28 Defining Experiments Defining Experiments An experiment can have multiple models a model can have multiple designs a design can have multiple scenarios and a scenario can optionally have multiple Model Parameters Creating a User Defined Attribute and Process Alternatives Processes Selecting Define Experiments Using SIM PROCESS brings up a dialog experiment information is entered la gt Define Experiments Experiment Seul acan Experiment X sl Hep splay Error Alerts Turn Off Animation Commit Results To Database E P Ifno experiments have been defined everything is disabled except the Experiment combo box If there are already experiments defined the first experiment appears in the
77. eplication of the simulation Standard or specialized statistics can also beused as constraints in OptQuest Therefore if performance measures need to be used as constraints make sure the appropriate statistics are being collected For example the values being assigned to OrderTime and FinishedProduct are also constraints in the Inventory demonstration model The final steps in preparing a model for optimization apply whether or not OptQuest is intended to be used Make sure the model is complete That is all required fields in properties dialogs have been defined especially if portions of the model have come from other models and all activities and processes are connected Runthe model for several replications to ensure there are no errors Determine the appropriate number of replications needed to achieve statistical significance Finally and most importantly make sure the model accurately reflects the system being modeled SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 46 Optimization Setup Defining An Optimization Optimizations can only be defined for the currently active model in SIMPROCESS Thus ifthe model to optimize is not loaded load it or if already loaded make sure the model to optimize is the active model Select Tools OptQuest If OptQuest is not enabled contact the SIMPROCESS Sales Manager to purchase a license for OptQuest for SIMPROCESS This brings up the OptQuest for SIMPROCESS setup dialog r
78. er Scenario is selected Scenarios Select Scenario Baseline Centralized Functional Baseline Decentralized Product based Baseline Hybrid When Run is selected the model is updated with the information stored in the Scenario Thus after the simulation if Simulate Run Settings is selected the properties there will match the Run Settings of the Scenario that just completed All Model Parameters keep the values set from the Scenario If Report Define Global Statistics Collection is selected the properties there will match the Global Statistics selections of the Scenario Also any Process alternative selections from the Scenario will be in the model However individual statistics selections onthe Selected Statistics tab are not saved in the model When the simulation is complete the statistical results of the simulation are stored in the file Scenarios xml which is located in the model s directory The results are stored based on the Scenario name The results are only removed from Scenarios xml1 ifthe scenario is removed from the model see Defining Scenarios on page 122 SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 128 Comparing Scenarios Comparing Scenarios Scenario Reports are used to compare Scenario results Selecting Report Scenario Reports displays the dialog for creating managing and viewing Scenario Reports Note thatifthe model is anew model that has never been saved an error message will display Scenario
79. ercury Color option Title default title for the Meter or Thermometer Mercury Color default color for the mercury in the Thermometer Needle Color default color for the needle on the Meter Meter Color default color for the Meter Value Color default color for the current value of the Meter or Thermometer Lower Bound default lower bound for the Meter or Thermometer Upper Bound default upper bound for the Meter or Thermometer Use Subranges if selected lower bounds upper bounds and colors for three subranges Normal Warning and Critical can be set If subranges are used for the Thermometer the colors selected for the subranges override the Mercury Color setting Normal Lower Bound default lower bound for the Normal subrange Normal Upper Bound default upper bound for the Normal subrange Normal Color default color for the Normal subrange Warning Lower Bound default lower bound for the Warning subrange Warning Upper Bound default upper bound for the Warning subrange Warning Color default color for the Warning subrange Critical Lower Bound default lower bound for the Critical subrange Critical Upper Bound default upper bound for the Critical subrange Critical Color default color for the Critical subrange SIMPROCESS Users Manual 77 Defining Dashboards E Thermometert Name Meter2 Cancel Tite
80. ered for each design If creating a new scenario a name for the scenario must be entered in the Scenario combo box The Scenario Comment field is optional At this point no more information is required to run a scenario There are two ways to further define a scenario and both are optional e Selecting Use Predefined Scenario Setting Model Parameter values and Process Alternatives Ifeither of these are not done then the last saved value for each Model Parameter and Process Alternative are used Using a Predefined Scenario When Use Predefined Scenario is selected the Parameter Setup and the Process Setup tabs are disabled and the list of predefined scenarios is enabled F ni Define Experiments Experiment Setup Model Setup Design Setup Scenario Setup Scenario Centralized M Delete Scenario _ Cancel Hep Scenario Comment Centratized Functional purchasing department V Use Predefined Scenario Baseline Centralized Functional nA Parameter Value R NumProdaPersonnel z NumProdBPersonnel_ _ 5 a NumProdCPersonnel 5 Double click Value cells to edit them Description Number of Product A Personnel 7 Mode Integer x The predefined scenarios list contains scenarios defined using Scenarios on the Simulate menu see Scenarios on page 121 These scenarios define more than just Model Parameter values and Process Alternatives and they override th
81. es it Has Expressions Lo Connector input Pad Note that when a tree is displayed the Expand All and Collapse All buttons are enabled The tree displays the TopProcess and each process alternative These items can be selected but they will not be added to the report Item list when Add Items is selected When the Connector tree is displayed the top item represents All Connectors Also Processes and alternatives display in the tree but only selected Connectors will be added to the report item list when Add Items is clicked SIMPROCESS Users Manual 104 Defining a Custom Report a 7 S Custom Report Properties O N ooN es Custom Report Name Custom Reportt Report Title l Help Replication 1 Ran Confidence Intervals None W Move Up Insert New Items Abovi ed item Move Down Select Report Content poe 2 c gi i BY model BB Resource Ea Downtime Shift a Resource 3 a c 5 a gt Activity Attribute Lg Connector Seo Function Activity 29 Entity Attribute input Paa output Paa Connects ee T Time Stamp et gt Entity Type Attribute PAA Real Time Plot aS Pte Resource Attribute Pie Chart Items ea iA Report Categories Model Attribute Statistics Group Distribution qaqa mz n i Page Break Input Source amp Pool AA Swimlane Properties Comment For some of the categories the All option should be used
82. eters must equal 10 Since these decision variables set the number of units of each resource type the name Resources 10 was assigned The dialog has a Validate button This button allows validation of the syntax of the expression constraint before selecting OK SIMPROCESS User s Manual 53 Optimization Setup n e jame Resources 10 Model NumProdAPersonnel MINOF Model NumProdBPersonnel MAXOF _ Help Model NumProdCPersonnel ABS FLOOR RAND TAN TANH ATAN ATAN2 v 88188 lels lelt lt Model NumProdAPersonnel Model NumProdBPersonnel Model NumProdCPersonnel There are two other expression constraints in the Purchasing model A lt B and B lt C These constraints state thatthe number ofunits of theresource ProductA Personnel mustbe less than or equal to thenumber ofunits ofthe resource ProductBPersonnel and the number of units of the resource ProductBPersonnel must be less than or equal to the number of units of ProductCPersonnel Scrolling down on the Constraints tab brings all three expression constraints into view Undo Delete Objective Decision Variables Constraints Process Alternatives Run Options Model NumProdAPersonnel Model NumProdBPersonnel add Constraint Model NumProdCPersonnel 10 z Name Resources 10 Delete Constraint
83. ficient stock to fill the order or the Reorder Point has been reached There are 10 Model Attributes in the model that have been designated as model parameters Comp1ReOrderPt Component Vendor 1 Comp resource Reorder Point Comp1ReOrderQty Component Vendor 1 Comp resource Reorder Quantity Comp2ReOrderPt Component Vendor 2 Comp2 resource Reorder Point Comp2ReOrderQty Component Vendor 2 Comp2 resource Reorder Quantity FinProdReOrderPt Finished Product FinProduct resource Reorder Point FinProdReOrderQty Finished Product FinProduct resource Reorder Quantity Raw1ReOrderPt Raw Material Vendor 1 Raw1 resource Reorder Point Raw1ReOrderQty Raw Material Vendor 1 Raw1 resource Reorder Quantity Raw2ReOrderPt Raw Material Vendor 2 Raw2 resource Reorder Point Raw2ReOrderQty Raw Material Vendor 2 Raw2 resource Reorder Quantity The goal is to minimize the amount of inventory held without impacting the customer negatively SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 69 OptQuest Demonstration Models increase order cycle time This can be done by finding the optimal Reorder Points and Quantities for each node in the supply chain Using OptQuest the optimal Reorder Points and Reorder Quantities can be found Thus the decision variables for the optimization are the model parameters and the default values for the attributes are the Starting Values for the decision variables See Decision Variables on page 48 The obje
84. file will be the name of the selected model plus the extension bundle If a bundle file with the same name already exists in the same location permission must be given to overwrite the existing bundle file If permission is not granted the bundling process ends 7 z Confirm Overwrite s Network bundle already exists Overwrite 3 No E Files not already in the model directory for example Metamodels OrgModels Dashboards and files witha specific path are copied toa temporary location before creating the bundle file Ifthere is already a file with the same name in the temporary location a dialog will appear asking permission to overwrite the file Referencing the same file more than once in the model can cause this to happen Confirm Overwrite File AnsweringTime txt exists Overwrite L_Yes__ vesto Al No Noto An Cancel Select Yes to All if file overwrite should always happen or Noto Allif file overwrite should never happen Cancel causes the bundling process to stop If a file that should be copied is not found at the location specified in the model a dialog will appear that offers the option to Locate the file Skip the file or Cancel the bundling process IfLocate is selected a dialog is displayed for finding the file Note that this scenario indicates a problem with the model being bundled that should be fixed Model bundling does not correct invalid file r
85. g values to Graphs is discussed below SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 84 Assigning Dashboards Edit TextLabel Properties Name TextLabel6 Label Truck Status Background Use Layout Background Color i Background Color White Font Attributes FontName Arial Size 36 Color HB Bue v Bold Italic Cancel _ Remove Remove All Select Plot Values Entity I Resource oe Connector Time Stamp l Model Attributes E Adding Values to a Graph Values are added to a graph using the buttons under the Select Plot Values heading Entity Resource Activity Connector Time Stamp and Model Attribute The procedure for adding values is the same as for Custom Plots See Adding Values To Custom Plots for detailed instructions on adding values The Line Graph Bar Graph and Pie Chart can plot multiple values The Meter Thermometer and Text Label can only plot one value The Line Graph Bar Graph and Pie Chart also allow the text and color ofthe legend to be set The Thermometer allows the text of the legend to be set but not the color This is because the color is set in the Thermometer properties The procedure for setting legends is the same as for Custom Plots See Setting Legends for detailed instructions on setting legends The images below show the properties of the Line Graph with the legend setting below that SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 85 Assigning Dashb
86. gement of any selected SQL database The DDL statements in this example name the database tables and columns using the same case that SIMPROCESS uses in its internal SQL statements though not all databases will require or respect SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 26 SIMPROCESS and Other Databases case For instance testing showed that MySQL server 3 23 52 insisted that table names in SQL statements match the case used in the DDL while MySQL server 4 0 14 standard allowed the use of all lower case names irrespective of the DDL used The included MySQL examples were tested with SIMPROCESS in the following environments e SIMPROCESS on Linux MySQL server 3 23 52 on the same Linux host SIMPROCESS on Windows MySQL server 3 23 52 on a Linux host via LAN SIMPROCESS on Windows MySQL server 4 0 14 standard on a Mac OS X host via LAN SIMPROCESS users are encouraged to send information to the SIMPROCESS Technical Support team about their own experiences with other non Access SQL databases Reports of good or bad JDBC drivers for various databases are welcomed Please send compressed example files similar to theseto simprocess caci com When sending such reports and or examples please be sure and provide as much detail as possible about any special circumstances platforms involved etc and indicate whether it s all right to share any samples with others SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 27 CHAPTER 3 Experiment Manager The Experim
87. hich include Font Name Size Color Bold and Italic Label default text that is displayed Font Name default font for label e Size default font size for label Color default font color for label Bold default selection for bold Italic default selection for italic la gt Edit TextLabel Properties Name TextLabel7 Background Hep Use Layout Background Color Background Color White v Font Attributes FontName Serif Size 10 hd Color H Black X Bold Italic Dashboard Menus File Menu New places a new Dashboard in the work area displayed in the window If the current Dashboard has been changed SIMPROCESS will prompt to save its contents to a file before clearing it in favor of a new Dashboard in the work area Open prompts for the selection of a Dashboard file having the extension spd which will be read and displayed in the work area If the current Dashboard has been changed SIMPROCESS will prompt to save its contents to a file before clearing it in favor of a new Dashboard created from the selected file Save saves the current work area into its Dashboard file If no file has yet been associated with it this behaves the same as Save As Save As saves the current Dashboard to a new file Ifan existing file is selected SIMPROCESS will SIMPROCESS Users Manual 79 Defining Dashboards question whether to overwrite that file Preview will be enab
88. ies in the SIMPROCESS Access database are designed to offer the same information provided in the Standard Report See Standard Report The queries can be used as is or copied and modified The queries are not restricted by system design or scenario So when the Entity Cycle Time query is run all entity cycle times without restriction will be displayed Copying a query and restricting its search is one example of tailoring a query for analysis i SimProcDB Database Access 2000 file format GS open Be Design P New X i Objects Tables E Forms Reports f Pages Macros gt Modules Groups Favorites Queries fs Saha G Ep TD DDD a Connector Entity Level Connector Entity Level Across Replications Average Connector Entity Level Across Replications Peak Connector Entity Level by Entity Connector Entity Level by Entity Across Replications Designs Entity Absorption Costs Across Periods Entity Absorption Costs Across Replications Entity Absorption Costs By Period Entity Capacity Costs Across Periods Entity Capacity Costs Across Replications Entity Capacity Costs By Period Entity Count 2h By By By By By By By By By By By Gy Entity Count Across Replications Entity Cycle Time Entity Cycle Time Across Replications Average Entity Cycle Time Across Replications Peak Entity Cycle Time By State Entity Cycle Time By State Across Replications Average Entity Cycle Tim
89. iications Connector Cycle Time Connector Cycle Time Across Replications Average Connector Entity Count Across Replications Connector Entity Level Connector Entity Level Across Replications Average Connector Entity Level Across Replications Peak Design Setup Subform Design Subform Entity Absorption Costs Across Periods amp Entity Count Across Replications Form BHO AA AAAA Entity Count Across Replications 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Type TypeB Record 14 4 1 pel of 1 COX Entity Absorption Costs Across Replications Entity Capacity Costs Across Periods Entity Capacity Costs Across Replications Entity Cycle Time Average Entity Cycle Time Peak Entity Cycle Time Across Replications Average Entity Cycle Time Across Replications Peak Entity Cycle Time By State Across Replications Average Entity Cycle Time By State Across Repiications Peak Entity Level Average Entity Level Peak Entity Level Across Replications Average lolx The Reports tab contains the predefined reports Like the graphs the reports are based on the predefined queries Therefore the Entity Count report is based on the Entity Count query In order to restrict the report to only certain records go to the original query in this case Entity Count and restrict it SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 23 Forms Graphs and Reports i SimProcDB Database Access 2000 f
90. ile format A Preview BZ Design New X Objects Tables Queries Forms Reports Pages Macros Modules Entity Absorption Costs Across Replications Entity Absorption Costs By Period Entity Capacity Costs Across Periods Entity Capacity Costs Across Repiications Entity Capacity Costs By Period Entity Count Across Replications Entity Cycle Time Entity Cycle Time Across Replications Peak Groups Entity Cycle Time By State Favorites a Entity Cyde Time Across Replications Average Entity Cyde Time By State Across Replications Average Entity Cyde Time By State Across Replications Peak Entity Level Entity Level Across Replications Average Entity Level Across Replications Peak Entity Level By State Entity Level By State Across Replications Average Entity Level By State Across Replications Peak Resource Absorption Costs Across Periods Resource Absorption Costs Across Replications Resource Absorption Costs By Period Resource Capacity Resource Capacity Costs Across Periods Resource Capacity Costs Across Replications Resource Capacity Costs By Period When using a non Access SQL database the predefined queries graphs and reports described in this chapter may serve as a basis for developing SQL statements for retrieving and analyzing database contents Those using SIMPROCESS on non Windows systems where the SimProcDB mdb file is not installed may obtain a copy for reference at
91. in the model bundle file The model directory is automatically created when anew SIMPROCESS model is saved for the first time or when a model is opened and the model directory does not exist The purpose of the directory is to store files needed by the model and provide a default location for the model to create files as necessary for example plots and the Standard Report Although placing files required by the model in the model directory is strongly encouraged it is not required Thus during the bundling process the model is examined to determine if files are referenced that are not in the model directory The following items are examined for external non model directory file references e File schedule event files See Defining Specific Entity Generation Events in a File for more information on event files Spreadsheet schedule files See Adding a Spreadsheet Schedule for more information on Spreadsheet schedules e File entries URL File field on the Documentation tab of Activity properties dialog See Common Activity Input Fields for more information SIMPROCESS Users Manual 92 Bundle File Contents External expression files See Expression Editor for more information on external expres sion files e Files referenced in the OpenFile OpenSpreadsheet and OpenDatabase expres sion statements See Methods OpenFile CloseFile ReadFromFile and WriteToFile for more information on Open
92. ine Graph lil Bar Graph The Line Graph displays one or more X Y series where the X axis represents simulation time The Bar Graph displays one or more values The 4 Thermometer Thermometer and Meter display one value each The Pie Chart displays two Meter or more values The Text Label can be static or it can display one value dynamically Pie Chart T Text Label Note that the values to be displayed are not assigned while defining Dashboards The properties that can be set while defining are appearance and SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 73 Defining Dashboards location related properties The properties set while defining a Dashboard are considered to be the default properties of the Dashboard Most appearance properties not location can be changed when using a Dashboard with a model Adding a Graph Selecting a graph on the Graph Toolbar causes a new panel that represents a graph of that type to appear in the center of the layout The graph itself does not appear on the layout Once on the layout the graph panel can be moved and resized Also actual properties of the graph represented by the graph panel can be set The new graph panel is automatically selected A graph that is selected has a red border around it Multiple graphs can be selected by holding down the Control key when clicking on graph panels Multiple graph panels can also be selected by clicking and dragging a selection rectangle around the desired panels 4
93. ined Scenario Baseline Centralized Functional T Parameter Setup Process Setup Select Process Select Alternative Purchasing Processes Centralized Functional Decentralized Product based Hybrid In this example the Centralized Functional alternative for the Purchasing process will be active for the current scenario NOTE If no process alternative information is entered for a scenario then the model will run with the last saved active alternative for each process If an alternative has been changed for a scenario and the next scenario uses the same model that is a new model is not loaded then the active alternative for a process will be the same as the previous scenario unless a different alternative is specified in the Experiment Manager Undo Delete Button The Undo Delete button is active whenever an experiment model design or scenario has been deleted The button remains active until used or until the scope ofthe deleted item has been lost An experiment can berestored any time before another delete occurs A model canbe restored as long as the experiment to which it belongs remains the selected experiment A design can be restored as long as the experiment and model to which it belongs remain selected Finally a scenario can be restored as long as the experiment model and design to which it belongs remain selected SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 35 Running Experiments
94. ints are included in the optimization model for two reasons e Performance measure constraints are very time consuming to evaluate since OptQuest must run an entire simulation before determining whether the results are constraint infea sible e To avoid running constraint infeasible simulations OptQuest must identify the character istics of solutions likely to be constraint feasible this makes the search more complex and requires more time Even though performance measure constraints can greatly decrease the number of feasible simulations performed during an optimization performance measure constraints can focus the search to effectively rule out undesirable solutions If there are lots of performance measure constraints that OptQuest can t easily satisfy consider combining the output constraints into one multi objective function Feasibility OptQuest makes finding a feasible solution its highest priority Once it finds a feasible solution it then SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 66 Tips and Suggestions concentrates on finding better solutions The fact that a particular solution may be infeasible does not imply that the problem itself is infeasible However infeasible problems do exist For example suppose that in a Job Shop problem a foreman insists on finding an optimal configuration with the following constraints drills grinders lt 4 drills grinders gt 5 Clearly there is no combination that will satisfy
95. ints within the same optimization setting must be unique The expression can be typed directly into the Expression text area or by clicking on the decision variable or mathematical operator or function The syntax is the same as used in the SIMPROCESS Expression language Some mathematical functions allowed by OptQuest are not allowed in the SIMPROCESS Expression language therefore all of the functions allowed by OptQuest are listed in the following table along with descriptions Expression Constraint Functions Function Description ABS x Returns the absolute value of x ACOS x Returns the arccosine of x in the range 0 to n radians x is between 1 and 1 ASIN x Returns the arcsine of x in the range n 2 to n 2 radians x is between 1 and 1 ATAN x Returns the arctangent of x in the range of p 2 to p 2 radians If x is 0 atan returns 0 SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 51 Optimization Setup Expression Constraint Functions Function Description ATAN2 x y Returns the arctangent of y x in the range pi to pi radians If both parame ters of ATAN2 are 0 the function returns 0 CEIL x Returns the smallest whole number greater than or equal to x COS x Returns the cosine of x where x is an angle in radians COSH x Returns the hyperbolic cosine of x where x is an angle in radians DtoR x Converts degrees to radians e Mathematical cons
96. io that it can Those with errors will be skipped over If Display Error Alerts is checked when SIMPROCESS encounters an error when running the experiment an error dialog will display that will stop the experiment until the error has been acknowledged by the user Turn Off Animation defaults to checked If checked all models in the experiment will run with animation turned off Commit Results To Data base defaults to checked as well When selected the results from each run will be placed in the SIMPROCESS database Multiple experiments can be entered Although not necessary it is recom mended that model design and scenario information be entered before adding another experiment Entering Model Information The next tab is Model Setup This tab is active when an experiment name is entered or selected on the Experiment Setup tab To select a model click the Add Model button This brings up a file chooser dialog The complete path and the name of the model selected is added to the Model combo box All models added are part of the experiment that was selected on the Experiment Setup tab Although multiple models can be entered before entering design and scenario information it is recommended that all the design and scenario information along with parameter and process information if needed be entered before entering the next model If the selected model is moved after being added to an experiment the model and all associated experiment informatio
97. ion Hex mean1 mean2 probabilityl stream Inverse Gaussian Distribution InG location scale shape stream Inverted Weibull Distribution InWilocation scale shape stream Uniform Integer Distribution Int minimum maximum stream Johnson Sg Distribution JSB minimum maximum shapel shape2 stream Johnson Sy Distribution JSU location scale shapel shape2 stream Log Logistic Distribution LLg location scale shape stream Log Laplace Distribution LLp location scale shape stream Lognormal Distribution Log mean standard deviation stream LogACM mean standard deviation stream SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 14 SIMPROCESS Statistical Distributions Negative Binomial Distribution NgB s probability stream Normal Distribution non negative Nor mean standard deviation stream NorACM mean standard deviation stream Normal Distribution unbounded Nrm mean standard deviation stream Pareto Distribution Par location shape stream Pearson Type V Distribution PTS location scale shape stream Pearson Type VI Distribution PT6 location scale shapel shape2 stream PertBeta Distribution Per minimum mode maximum lambda stream Poisson Distribution Poi mean stream PoiACM mean stream Random Walk Distribution RnWi location scale shape stream Triangu
98. ion statement see Method ExternalCall should be located in the classes directory which is in the model directory see Model Specific Java Additions If so these files will be automatically bundled Files of this type located in the ext directory will not be bundled see ext Directory The OpenDatabase expression statement creates a connection to a database see Interfacing With A Database The first and usually only parameter for OpenDatabase is a properties file that contains the database connection information Even though the properties file will be contained in the model bundle file no other database files will be included in the model bundle file unless these files are located inthe model directory Notethatif JDBC driver jar files are required for database connection they must be in the j re 1ib ext directory Thus they will be excluded since they are not in the model directory and the names of these files are unknown to the model SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 93 Creating Bundle Files Creating Bundle Files Selecting File Bundle Create displays a dialog for selecting the model to bundle The selected model must not be open If it is an error message will display and the bundling process will stop Create Model Bundle x x Network is open Close before bundling E The bundle file will be created in the same location as the model selected for bundling The name of the bundle
99. ion with the general family of distributions of interest A change in a generally alters a distribution s properties e g skewness more fundamentally than a change in location or scale Some distributions e g exponential and normal do not have a shape parameter while others e g beta and Pearson type VI may have two A probability density function is a representation of a statistical distribution The probability density SIMPROCESS User s Manual Il An Introduction to Data Analysis and Modeling function is large for likely values sampled from a distribution and is small for unlikely values The maximum value for the probability density function is equal to the mode for that distribution The area under the probability density function curve within a certain range of values gives the probability of sampling from that distribution and getting a number within that range Of course the total area under the curve must be equal to one since a number from the distribution must be less than or equal to one A confidence interval is the range of values a certain percentage of the population would be expected to fall into if the sample were drawn from a normal distribution Plus or minus one standard deviation corresponds to about a 68 confidence interval plus or minus two standard deviations corresponds to about a 95 confidence interval and plus or minus three standard deviations corresponds to about a 99 7 confidence interval
100. judiciously For example for a large model including all Activities would create a very long report with much information that has limited usefulness Statistical Categories Charts Real Time Plots Scenarios and Statistics are the only categories that offer statistical results If items from Charts Real Time Plots or Statistics are added to the report Item list the simulation must be run before the report is viewed Scenarios provides statistical results from previously run Scenarios thus the model does not need to be run before the report is viewed All the other categories provide properties or other information For example selecting the Resources category displays on the right a tree of the Resources defined in the model If one of those Resources is added to the report Item list the properties of that Resource are included in the report not any statistical results from that Resource The Charts category offers two items Bar Chart and Pie Chart The values that populate a chart are added after the chart has been added to the report item list See Configuring Report Items on page 110 The Real Time Plots category lists an All Real Time Plots item and all real time and custom plots that are defined in the model SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 105 Defining a Custom Report gt Select Activities Activity Attributes Charts Connectors Distributions Documentation Entity Attributes Entity Type Attributes
101. k Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Request discarded for Truck Status without definition Note that it is possible for messages to not be received by the Dashboard Server or to be received out of order To minimize this risk and improve performance it is suggested that Dashboards not display a large more than 10 number of values on a large number of Graphs more than 4 For example one Line Graph can plot multiple values no limit as far as the Line Graph is concerned However this means that messages for 10 different values must be received by the Dashboard Server Alternatively there could be 10 Meters which each take one value Again 10 different values must be received by the Dashboard and the Dashboard must update 10 different Graphs If possible keep the number of values to 10 or less on 4 or less Graphs Also it is suggested that the simulation be run with the animation turned on This slows down the simulation Simulations that are run with the animation off run extremely fast so that messages sent to Dashboards could very well arrive faster than the Dashboard Server can handle them resulting in packet losses It s usually not necessary to
102. l Comparison Time Unit Hours Z J Purchasing Scenarios Ji Baseline Centralized Functio Sum ofReplications Replication 1 Replication 2 H Baseline Decentralized Prod Baseline Hybrid Group By Scenario Replication Comment Comparison Time Unit Hours Comment Scenario Repo Properties Scenario Report Name Scenario Reportt Select Scenarios Scenario Results To Compare Available Scenario Results Baseline Centralized Functional Avera d Add E E Baseline Decentralized F a Baseline Decentralized Product based gt kal Sum of Replications Baseline Hybrid Average of Replication Remove Replication 1 Replication 2 S J Baseline Hybrid E Sum ofReplications 7 Replication 1 Replication 2 m 4 WW r 4 I r Report Options Results Options Scenario Options Group By VV Include Statistics V Include Run Settings Scenario L include Charts W Include Model Parameters Replication 2Dimensional W Include Process Alternatives _ 3 Dimensional SIMPROCESS User s Manual 131 Comparing Scenarios There must be at least two items under Scenario Results To Compare If not an error will display when OK is selected Once the Scenario items to compare have been determined Report Options can be selected There are four categorie
103. lar Distribution Tri minimum mode maximum TriACM minimum mode maxi mum Uniform Distribution Uni minimum maximum stream UniACM ninimum maximum stream Weibull Distribution Wei shape scale stream WeiACM shape scale stream SIMPROCESS User s Manual 15 CHAPTER 2 SIMPROCESS Database The Windows version of SIMPROCESS includes a Microsoft Access 2000 database SimProcDB mdb designed to hold simulation results from simulation runs This database includes predefined queries graphs forms and reports each of which can be modified to tailor the database for output analysis The database can be updated to later versions of Access as SIMPROCESS will still be able to write to the database The Access images in this chapter are from Access 2000 through Access 2007 SIMPROCESS can use other non Access SQL databases by making appropriate entries in the sProcDB properties file provided by the installer This file is installed on both Windows and non Windows systems and is pre configured for use with the Access database described above Additional information is included in this chapter to aid in using anon Access SQL database patterned after the Access database SimProcDB mdb to hold simulation results Note that the discussion in this chapter is only concerned with storing simulation results in SimProcDB mdb or in a user created SQL database patterned after SimProcDB mdb There are expre
104. led only if one or more Graphs are selected as indicated by a red border Clear removes the selected Graphs from the layout and does not place them onto the clipboard Select All is enabled only if one or more Graphs appear on the layout Select All selects all Graphs on the layout and displays red borders to indicate their selected status Resize is enabled only if one or more Graphs are selected as indicated by a red border Resize presents a Resize dialog where the width and height of the selected Graphs are specified in pixels If more than one Graph is selected the size entered will be applied to all of them Individual Graphs may also be resized by selecting them and moving the mouse cursor over a portion of the border then dragging when the cursor changes to indicate the direction of the resizing operation Properties is enabled only if one or more Graphs are selected as indicated by a red border Properties presents a Graph Properties dialog for each selected Graph in turn Properties can also be edited by double clicking any Graph clicking the properties button on the System Toolbar or right clicking and choosing Properties SIMPROCESS User s Manual 50 Defining Dashboards Layout Menu Size is always enabled since a Dashboard is considered to be open in the work area at all times Size displays the Dashboard Layout Size dialog Background Color is always enabled since a Dashboard is considered to be open in the work are
105. led when the Dashboard in the work area contains one or more Graphs It will open a separate window with the specified layout size Layout Size containing actual sample graphs configured with the properties set in each graph panel This is how the actual Dashboard will look when shown by a Dashboard Server Close closes the SIMPROCESS Dashboards window If the current Dashboard has been changed SIMPROCESS will prompt to save those changes Edit Menu Cut is enabled only if one or more Graphs are selected as indicated by a red border Cut removes the selected Graphs from the layout and places them onto the clipboard where they may later be pasted back into the current or a different Dashboard Copy is enabled only if one or more Graphs are selected as indicated by a red border Copy places a copy of the selected Graphs onto the clipboard where they may later be pasted back into the current or a different Dashboard Paste is enabled only if one or more Graphs has been placed via Cut or Copy onto the clipboard Paste places Graphs from the clipboard onto the layout The clipboard s contents remain intact until changed by a subsequent Cut or Copy action Duplicate is enabled only if one or more Graphs are selected as indicated by a red border Duplicate acts as though Copy was selected followed by Paste That is it copies all selected Graphs onto the clipboard and then immediately pastes them back into the current layout Clear is enab
106. leted successfully Tue Mar 19 14 26 50 EDT 2013 Experiments terminated When the Display Error Alerts field is selected error dialogs will appear that pause the Experiment until the error is acknowledged SIMPROCESS Users Manual 39 Experiment Operation Alert x Scenario Centralized for Design 5 Reps and Model Purchasing is already in the database A new Scenario name is required SSS U Also after the error displays if there are more experiments to be run a dialog appears with the option to stop all experiment runs la gt Experiment Manager Stop Experiment runs c 4 If experiments are to be run overnight it is recommended that the Display Error Alerts field not be selected for every experiment that is to be run That way SIMPROCESS will run every combination of Experiment Model Design and Scenario that it can Otherwise ifan error occurs processing stops until the error is acknowledged Interacting With Experiments A model run by the Experiment Manager can be interacted with in the same manner as a model that was user initiated This means the animation can be turned on or off the animation settings can be changed the model can be navigated etc Experiments can be stopped early by stopping a model run An experiment cannot be stopped while loading experiment information loading a model or committing results t
107. lose enough to ones in the proposed system to be useful in the model The data do not have to be exhaustive any data is much better than no data In fact a good test of the model building process is to build a model of an existing system and check how closely the model and the system match up This can often be a key to convincing others of the validity of the simulation modeling approach SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 13 SIMPROCESS Statistical Distributions SIMPROCESS Statistical Distributions The following table contains the statistical distributions available in SIMPROCESS Eleven of the distributions also have an implementation from Apache Commons Math These distributions have ACM included in the designation Other distributions can be created from these by selecting Distributions onthe Define menu see User Defined Distributions See Statistical Distributions for descriptions of each distribution Beta Distribution Bet shapel shape2 minimum max imum stream BetACM shapel shape2 minimum maximum stream Binomial Distribution Bin trials probability stream BinACM trials probability stream Erlang Distribution Erl mean shape stream Exponential Distribution Exp mean stream ExpACM mean stream Gamma Distribution Gam mean shape stream GamACM mean shape stream Geometric Distribution Geo probability stream Hyper Exponential Distribut
108. n design scenario etc will be deleted from the experiment the next time Define Experiments Using SIMPROCESS is selected SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 30 Defining Experiments a a Experiment Setup Model Setup Design Setup enario Setuy OK Model C Program Files x86 SIMPROCESS models Demos Purchasing spm x canci P i Help ee Entering Design Information The Design Setup tab is active when a model is selected in the Model combo box on the Model Setup tab At least one design name is required for each model The Design Comment and Number of Reps fields are optional If no value integer only is entered for Number of Reps the last saved model value will be used for each scenario in this design unless there was a previous design for the same model One design called 5 Reps is entered for the model C Program Files SIMPRO CESS models Demos Purchasing spm i a Experiment Setup Model Setup Design Setup Scenario Setup _ Deck SReps Design Comment Run 5 replications for each scenario Undo Delete Number of Reps 5 Delete Design SIMPROCESS Users Manual 31 Defining Experiments Entering Scenario Information The Scenario Setup tab is active when a design is selected in the Design combo box on the Design Setup tab At least one scenario must be ent
109. n Office Office14 MSACCESS EXE Browse SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 25 SIMPROCESS and Other Databases SIMPROCESS and Other Databases Most of this chapter assumes the use of the Microsoft Access database with SIMPROCESS Those not using Windows will be compelled to use another database and Windows users may wish to have the flexibility to do so This section will provide information which those users must know to employ another database for analyzing results To store results in any database SIMPROCESS must have the file sProcDB properties inthe SPUser directory The one provided by the installer is configured for use with the Access database Also included there are two example files which can aid in using another SQL database e mysql sProcDB properties e simprocessdb sql The mysql sProcDB properties file is an example of what needs to be put into the sProcDB properties file in order to use MySQL a popular open source database with SIMPROCESS It contains two required properties and others that are commented e jdbc drivers This property must provide the fully qualified name of a Java class which is a JDBC driver compatible with the database to be used The one in this example is from the MySQL Connector J driver available with MySQL at www mysql com The driver must be in the SIMPROCESS classpath at runtime so the JAR file containing it should be placed into the jre 1lib ext directory under the SIMPROCESS installation
110. ns Create and Extract Create builds a model bundle file and Extract extracts a model bundle file and opens the enclosed model SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 9 Bundle File Contents Bundle File Contents What s Included A model bundle file contains a SIMPROCESS model along with its directory The bundled model directory will contain the complete contents of the original model directory In addition the model bundle file may contain the following e Assigned Metamodels e Assigned OrgModels e Assigned Dashboards e Files referenced by the model that were not in the original model directory Metamodels are required to be in the met amode1 directory Therefore since Metamodels cannot be in the model directory a copy of any Metamodel assigned to the SIMPROCESS model being bundled will be included in the model bundle file OrgModels are required to be in the orgmodel directory Therefore since OrgModels cannot be in the model directory a copy of any OrgModel assigned to the SIMPROCESS model being bundled will be included in the model bundle file Dashboard files are not required to be in a particular location However a copy of each Dashboard file must be inthe Dashboard Server s dashboards directory whenitruns Typically Dashboard files are located in the same directory as the model and not the model directory Again if not already in the model directory a copy of each Dashboard file referenced by the model will be included
111. o hold results from more than one model Ifa record is deleted from the System table all records related to that model are deleted fromthe Access database In order for this to be true in another SQL database the appropriate relationships and or constraints must be established when the database is created The Design table holds data from different versions of the same model A model design consists of the following e Number of entity types e Entity type names Number of resources e Resource names Resource costs e Number of Activities Processes and Process alternatives e Names of Activities Processes and Process alternatives e Activity Process structure Start and End date e Start and End time e Number of replications e Output time units Ifany of the above change then a new design name is required For instance assume results have been committed to the database with a design name of Design 1 After that a Process alternative is added to the model and the model is run again If the same design name as before is used SIMPROCESS will prompt for anew design name because the number and names of Process alternatives have changed Error x x Number of Activities has changed or Process Alternatives have been added or deleted A new Design name is required Note that there will be no prompt for anew design name ifa different alternative is run that was already in the model If another alternative is
112. o the database If the Display Error Alerts field is selected there will be an option to stop completely Otherwise every run must be stopped to stop all experiment model design and scenario combinations Generating Standard Reports From Experiments Ifselected the Experiment Manager automatically commits the run results to the database Ifan ASCII version of the Standard Report is needed go to Define Global Statistics Collection on the Report menu Select Generate Standard Report after run This will create a file in the model s directory that will contain the report for every replication the sum of the replications and the average of the replications SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 40 Experiment Operation _ Collect Activity Statistics Clear Individual Activity Statistics Requests Collect Entity Statistics Clear Individual Entity Statistics Requests v Collect Resource Statistics Clear Individual Resource Statistics Requests _ Collect Connector Statistics Clear Individual Connector Statistics Requests Collect Resource by Activity Statistics Clear Individual Resource by Activity Statistics Requests Collect Resource by Shift Statistics Clear Individual Resource by Shift Statistics Requests Collect Activity by Entity Statistics Clear Individual Activity by Entity Statistics Requests Collect Connector by Entity Statistics Clear Individual Connector by Entity Statistics Requests
113. oards iv Large Truck Cycle Time Small Truck Cycle Time Truck Transit Time Simulation Time Transit Time in Hours Use Date Axis for X Axis Background v Use Layout Background Color Background Color Plot Legends Set Legends Reset Legends Select All Deselect All Large Truck Cycle Time Large Truck Transit Time Small Truck Cycle Time Small Truck Transit Time SIMPROCESS User s Manual 86 Displaying Dashboards Displaying Dashboards Dashboards are displayed by a Dashboard Server A directory named dashboardserveris located inthe SIMPROCESS directory A copy of the contents of this directory must be located on each system that is to run a Dashboard Server Within the dashboardserver directory is a directory named dashboards A copy of the Dashboard files spd files assigned to the model must be placed in the dashboards directory used by a Dashboard Server for it to be displayed To use a directory other than dashboards modify the server properties file to reference the alternate directory The port for the Dashboard Server can also be changed in this file Multiple Dashboard Servers on the same system can use the same dashboards directory but they must have different ports Note There is one exception to this last item Multiple Dashboard Servers on one system may listen on the same port
114. odCPersonnel__ 1 6 10 Best Value w Nn S o Constraint Lower Bound BestValue CurrentValue Upper Bound TotalWait Value infinity 9 30416 30 0 LHS Left Hand Side RHS Right Hand Side Expression Constraint Best LHS CurrentLHS Operator BestRHS Current RHS Resources 10 10 0 10 0 A lt B 1 0 lt 3 0 B lt C 3 0 lt 6 0 Iteration The File menu contains other options for examining solutions and it has an option for applying the best solution to the model Help is also accessed from the File menu SIMPROCESS Users Manual 61 Running an Optimization View Report Create HTML Report Print Graph Apply Best Values to Model Help F1 Close View Report View Report brings up a dialog similar to the Standard Report dialog With this dialog the report can be displayed in a text editor a spreadsheet or the Report Viewer see Report Viewer on page 120 Optimization Results Help Display Report Display In EELT Set Text Editor Application C Windows notepad exe _ Spreadsheet Report Viewer The report lists the name of the model the start date time and end date time of the optimization the optimization settings and the best values for the objective decision variables and constraints Create HTML Report This option creates the same report as View Report
115. oes not have to be created However in the Inventory demonstration model the objective is to minimize inventory and minimize the cycle time of an order Since only one value can be optimized these performance measures must be combined into one In the Inventory demonstration model there is a linear combination of the two performance measures This combination is in the End Simulation expression of the Model Expressions Define Model Expressions Model OrderTime GetEntityStatistic Order tokendelay Avg Replication Model FinishedProduct GetResourceStatistic FinProduct resrcidle Avg Replication Model InventoryPlusOrderTime Model FinishedProduct 5 0 Model OrderTime When combining performance measures the Expression language will be needed to retrieve statistics collected during the simulation See Accessing Statistics During Simulation The example above shows values being assigned to three Model Attributes OrderTime FinishedProduct and InventoryPlusOrderTime OrderTime is assigned the average cycle time for the entity Order FinishedProduct isassigned the average number ofunits idle ofthe resource FinProduct InventoryPlusOrderTime isa linear combination of the two and statistics are collected for that attribute Thus the Model Attribute InventoryPlusOrderTime is the value to minimize Note that the System Attribute Replication is used to get the value from the appropriate r
116. og has appeared either define an optimization or select a previously defined optimization Select the Start button At that point a dialog will appear asking for confimation before saving the model and starting the optimization If No is selected the operation is canceled If Yes is selected the dialog closes the model is saved and closed and the optimization starts OptQuest for SIMPROCESS e Save and close Purchasing and start optimization OptQuest for SIMPROCESS Interface An OptQuest for SIMPROCESS optimization runs in a separate Java Virtual Machine JVM and uses a separate interface from SIMPROCESS Therefore once an optimization has started SIMPROCESS can continue to be used without affecting the optimization This means multiple optimizations can run simultaneously However that may not be practical since running an optimization is very CPU intensive since it is running a simulation which monopolizes the CPU and depending on the size of the model memory intensive Also it may not be practical to run a simulation with SIMPROCESS while an optimization is running for the same reasons Running multiple optimizations and or simulations will often perform better on non Windows systems The OptQuest for SIMPROCESS interface primarily consists of text tables and a graph to monitor the optimization There is a button to stop the optimization and there are reporting options on the File menu once the optimization i
117. on Variables Variables that can be meaningfully manipulated to affect the performance of a simulated system The model parameters in SIMPROCESS are called decision variables in OptQuest Constraints Relationships among decision variables and output variables For example a constraint might ensure that the total amount of money allocated among various investments cannot exceed a specified amount or the processing time of a system cannot be greater than a certain value There can be bounds upper and lower on the decision variables and performance measure constraints statistics Using OptQuest An Overview Follow these steps to use OptQuest SIMPROCESS User s Manual 43 Overview of OptQuest for SIMPROCESS Create a simulation model or open a simulation model Prepare the model for optimization This includes creating and assigning model parameters establishing a performance measure to optimize making sure the model is complete verifying and validating the model and making sure the model runs with no errors Set up the optimization or select previous optimization settings Tools OptQuest menu The following steps apply to creating a new optimization Previously defined optimization settings can be modified or deleted a Define the objective b Select the decision variables c Define constraints d Set process alternatives e Select optimization options Run the optimization When Start is selected the mod
118. ons displays the user defined Standard Tabular and Auto Fit distributions e Documentation displays a list of model components that have Documentation e Entity Attributes displays a list of global and local Entity Attributes e Entity Type Attributes displays a list global and local Entity Type Attributes SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 101 Defining a Custom Report Entity Types displays a list of Entity Types Expressions displays a list of model components that have Expressions Formatting displays the items Page Break Header Line and Standard Report Header Functions displays a list of user defined Functions Input Sources displays a list of File Spreadsheet and Database Input Sources Layouts displays a list of all model layouts Metadata displays a list of all model components that have Metadata assigned Metamodels displays a list of all Metamodels in the metamodel directory Model Attributes displays a list of all Model Attributes Pools displays a list of all pools Real Time Plots displays a list of all Real Time Plots and Custom Plots Resource Attributes displays a list of all global and local Resource Attributes Resource Downtimes displays a list of all global Resource Downtimes Resource Shifts displays a list of all Resource Shifts Resources displays a tree view of all Resources Scenarios displays a list of all saved Scenario results Simulation displays the items Run Settings Cost Periods
119. opriate distribute item The image below shows a Dashboard with a Line Graph and a Bar Graph that have been moved from the center resized to 350 x 350 pixels and aligned SIMPROCESS Dashboards Dashboard1 SoA Eile Edit Layout LJ A A x i Nv lil 3 O T Editing Graph Properties The default properties for graphs can be edited by double clicking a graph panel selecting a panel and choosing Edit Properties from the menu selecting a panel and clicking the properties button on the SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 75 Defining Dashboards System Toolbar or by right clicking and choosing Properties Properties common to all graphs are Name and Background The Name is used to identify the graph to the Dashboard and must be unique Background sets the color of the background of the graph A specific color can be selected from the Background Color list or Use Layout Background Color can be selected Use Layout Background Color sets the background color of the graph to background color of the layout Note that Name and Background cannot be changed when a Dashboard is assigned to a model Line Graph Properties Title X Axis Y Axis and Use Date Axis for X Axis are additional properties for the Line Graph These default properties can be overridden when the Dashboard is assigned to a model e Title default title for the Line Graph X Axis label for the x axis e Y Axis label f
120. or the y axis Use Date Axis for X Axis if selected the x axis displays times and dates instead of a number m Edit LineGraph Properties x Name LineGraph1 Cancel Title Title l Help X Axis Label X Axis Y Axis Label Y axis Use Date Axis for X Axis Background _ Use Layout Background Color Background Color White x y E Bar Graph Properties Title X Axis Y Axis Dimension Type and Bar Orientation are additional properties for the Bar Graph These default properties can be overridden when the Dashboard is assigned to a model e Title default title for the Bar Graph X Axis label for the x axis e Y Axis label for the y axis e Dimension Type 2 Dimensional or 3 Dimensional Bar Orientation Horizontal or Vertical SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 76 Defining Dashboards Edit BarGraph Properties Name BarGraph2 Cancel Title Title lt lt lt Hep X Axis Label X Axis Y Axis Label Value Background Use Layout Background Color Background Color White v Dimension Type 2 Dimensional 3 Dimensional Bar Orientation Horizontal Vertical Meter and Thermometer Properties The Meterand Thermometer have similarproperties Both havea Title aRange with optional subranges and a Value Color The differences are in the other color options The Meter has a Needle Color and a Meter Color option The Thermometer has a M
121. order and items can be duplicated Values Buttons The buttons in the Values group offer the same values as the same named buttons on the Custom Plot Properties dialog See Adding Values To Custom Plots for a listing of these values Also values are added to the report item list in the same way as values are added to the plot list If Entity is selected the following displays i J Number Created 0K Hardware Service Call Number Disposed amp Invoice Number In System Help a Phone Order Number Processing R Software Sales Call Number Waiting Ro Software Service Call Number On Hold Selecta Number Traveling l Deselect All Cycle Time r Processing Time Add Values ina Control click to select or deselect multiple values Travel Time gt i Once an Entity is selected on the left statistical values for that entity can be selected on the right However the values are notadded to the report Item list unless Add Values is clicked This allows values from multiple Entities to be added before the dialog is closed Items Buttons As the name suggests the Page Break button simply adds a page break to the report Item list Page SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 100 Defining a Custom Report breaks can also be added through the Report Categories button Note that page breaks are not required but are useful for separating different categories of information The Report
122. ount Entity Count Entity Count Entity Count Entity Count Min Entity Count Group By Group By Group By Group By Avg StDev Max Group By Z z E 7 E The average standard deviation minimum and maximum were determined by selecting the appropriate statistic in the Total row for the field from the Entity Count query that was to be summarized across replications This was accomplished by not including the Replication field from the Entity Count query SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 22 Forms Graphs and Reports Forms Graphs and Reports The Forms tab contains the predefined graphs plus the Manage Results form These graphs are based on the predefined queries Therefore the Entity Count Across Replications form or graph is based on the Entity Count Across Replications query In order to restrict the graph to only certain records go to the original query in this case Entity Count since Entity Count Across Replications is based on it and restrict it i SimProcDB Database Access 2000 file format Open Be Design E Objects Tables Queries E Forms Reports Pages Macros Modules Groups Favorites SHBG 9998 a New X 20 Attribute Level Statistics Attribute Level Statistics Across Replications Attribute Observation Statistics Attribute Observation Statistics Across Rep
123. periment Purchasing Model Purchasing Design 5 Reps and Scenario Centr alized changed to value 5 Tue Mar 19 14 25 31 EDT 2013 Attribute Model NumProdCPersonnel in Experiment Purchasing Model Purchasing Design 5 Reps and Scenario Centr alized changed to value 5 Tue Mar 19 14 25 31 EDT 2013 Running Scenario Centralized Tue Mar 19 14 25 32 EDT 2013 Committing results to database for Scenario Centralized Tue Mar 19 14 25 33 EDT 2013 Scenario Centralized completed successfully Tue Mar 19 14 25 33 EDT 2013 Current Scenario Decentralized Tue Mar 19 14 25 33 EDT 2013 Alternative for Process Purchasing Processes updated to Decentralized Product based for Scenario Decentralized Tue Mar 19 14 25 33 EDT 2013 Attribute Model NumProdAPersonnel in Experiment Purchasing Model Purchasing Design 5 Reps and Scenario Dece ntralized changed to value 7 Tue Mar 19 14 25 33 EDT 2013 Attribute Model NumProdBPersonnel in Experiment Purchasing Model Purchasing Design 5 Reps and Scenario Dece ntralized changed to value 5 Tue Mar 19 14 25 33 EDT 2013 Attribute Model NumProdCPersonnel in Experiment Purchasing Model Purchasing Design 5 Reps and Scenario Dece ntralized changed to value 5 Tue Mar 19 14 25 33 EDT 2013 Running Scenario Decentralized Tue Mar 19 14 25 34 EDT 2013 Committing results to data
124. played by scenario at the beginning of the report The Comparison Time Unit sets the time unit to use for time related statistics Thus if one Scenario s results are stored in Minutes and another Scenario s results are stored in Hours the Comparison Time Unit ensures the Scenario Report uses a common time unit Below is an example of a table of statistics followed by a bar chart SIMPROCESS User s Manual 132 Comparing Scenarios Entity Cycle Time in Hours Average of Replications Baseline Centralized Functional Product A 347 26 10 25 338431 354 81 Product C 344 56 7 59 337 20 352 38 Baseline Decentralized Product based Product A 59 27 0 03 5924 59 30 Product C 339 19 0 66 33853 339 84 Baseline Hybrid Product A 12 66 0 19 1245 1284 Product C 40 98 1 20 39 78 42 19 Entity Cycle Time Average of Replications 350 300 250 200 Time in Hours 150 100 50 a aay I Product A Product B Product C Cyde Time E Baseline Centralized Functional W Baseline Decentralized Product based E Baseline Hybrid Note that the table is grouped by Scenario This is because the Group By selection for this report was Scenario This is the Group By option that should be used when comparing results across Scenarios Replication should be selected when comparing results within a Scenario In the following report definition the items being compared are only from the Baseline Hybrid scenario
125. r of replications per simulation SIMPROCESS User s Manual 67 Tips and Suggestions e Noisiness of the objective Number of replications per simulation For sufficient accuracy the number of replications per simulation must be set to the minimum number necessary to obtain areliable estimate of the objective function being optimized this minimum number is typically found with empirical testing Objective noisiness Noisiness can also affect the accuracy of OptQuest results Noisy Objective Smooth Objective The objective on the left has significant amounts of noise caused by the probability distributions used to model the problem s uncertainty For these types of objectives OptQuest might have trouble discerning the minimum or maximum value Noisy functions can be detected by watching for best solutions that seem to bounce around from one set of values to completely different sets of values To help solve this problem increase the number of replications per simulation On the right the objective appears smooth due to the relative certainty in the model assumptions In these cases OptQuest should quickly converge to the best solution Simulation Speed Some suggestions for increasing speed include Reduce the size of the model or the time horizon of the simulation e Increase the system s RAM memory e Reduce the number of uncertain elements in the simulation Close other applications SIMPROCESS User 5 Man
126. rea under a probability density function is equal to one Cumulative density functions give the probability of selecting a number at or below that value For example ifthe cumulative density function value at 1 7 was equal to 75 then 75 of the time selecting from that distribution would give a number less than 1 7 The value of a cumulative density function at a point is the area under the corresponding probability density curve to the left of that value Since the total area under the probability density function curve is equal to one amove towards more positive values in a cumulative density function approaches one Knowledge of all these details is not needed to effectively model a situation Knowing which distribution best fits the data is most important The curve fitting capabilities of ModelFit makes it easy to find the correct distribution for data In addition standard distributions can be examined visually for different combinations of input parameters Standard Statistical Indicators There are several statistical indicators that can tell a lot about the distribution ofrandom values Consult anintroductory statistics textbook for detailed discussions of these indicators This section simply gives their meanings and some of their implications More definitions can be found in Statistical Tools Glossary The mean is the most important characteristic of a data sample Always try to get a good value for the mean from actual d
127. rid 40 35 30 25 20 15 080 880 Produ A Product B Product C Time in Hours a o Cycle Time E Replication 1 W Replication 2 E Average of Replications Scenario Reports display in the Report Viewer see Report Viewer Thus reports can be saved in any format supported by the Report Viewer The complete results of a Scenario can be viewed in Custom Reports see Statistical Categories SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 135 C Commit to Database 17 D database graphs 23 Database Queries 21 database reports 23 Display Error Alerts 39 Display Error Alerts Field 30 E Experiment Manager 28 Database Tables 29 Experiment Errors 39 Experiment Operation 38 Experiment Setup Form 29 Experiment Trace 38 Generating Standard Reports 40 Interacting With Experiments 40 Run All Experiments 36 Run Selected Experiments 36 Run Specific Experiment 36 Experiments Defining Experiments 29 Entering Design Information 3 1 Entering Experiment Information 29 Entering Model Information 30 Entering Model Parameter Information 33 Entering Process Alternative Information 34 Entering Scenario Information 32 Running Experiments 36 Starting Experiments 36 L Launch Database Application 19 25 M Manage Results form 19 25 model design 18 O OptQuest for SIMPROCESS 42 71 91 97 121 Constraints 49 Decision Variables 48 Defining An Optimization 47 Objective 47 Preparing for Optimization 45 Process Altern
128. rom a different Entity Since Avg is selected as the Statistic Type the average Cycle Time will be displayed Since Statistic is the Group By selection the pie chart shows 4 values for the one group Cycle Time That is there is one statistic which is Cycle Time and the legend shows that there are 4 different values for that statistic Entity Cycle Time Software Service Call Software Sales Hardware Call Sales Call Hardware Service Call e Hardware Sales Call Hardware Service Call Software Sales Call Software Service Call As shown below if the Group By setting is changed to Name then there are 4 groups since there are 4 different Entity names and only one value type The legend shows that there is one value for each category However this chartis notuseful since there is only one value for each group thus each group has the same color SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 116 Defining a Custom Report Entity Cycle Time gt Cycle Time Cycle Time The next chart uses Name for the Group By but displays different value types for the same Entity thus there is only one name Hardware Sales Call Cycle Time Wait Time Processing Time Processing Time Wait Time Header Properties When a Header report item is edited the Header Properties dialog displays SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual
129. run the design name or scenario name can be changed When a design is deleted from the Design table all records associated with that design are removed from the Access database In order for this to be true in another SQL database appropriate relationships and or constraints must be established when the database is created Therefore to reuse a design name for the same model name and there has been a design change first delete the design SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 18 System Design and Scenario A scenario is used to track various runs of the same system model and design For example one run might have a certain resource level at 3 while another run has the same resource level at 4 Differentiating those runs in the database is done through the scenario name The scenario comment fieldis a good place to document the important settings for that scenario Again ifa scenario is deleted all records associated with that scenario will be deleted from the Access database As before in order for this to be true in another SQL database appropriate relationships and or constraints must be established when the database is created In the Access database the Manage Results form should be used to delete results for a Model System Design or Scenario DO NOT modify the tables directly Using the Manage Results form ensures the tables do not become corrupted This form can be run from the Forms tab in Access Also when using Launch Dat
130. s complete When the interface appears all status objects are empty except for the Optimization Status field which displays Initializing The tables show the status of the objective value the decision variables the performance measure constraints and the expression constraints The objective value table and the decision variables table will always appear The performance measure constraints table and the expression constraints table will only appear if those types of constraints exist The graph plots the best objective value based on whether or not the best is feasible The example below is from the Purchasing model SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 57 Running an Optimization e c a Eile Model Name Purchasing Optimization Setting Purchasing Optimization JAE Objective Minimize Objective Value All Resources Capacity Cost Optimization Status Running Iteration 1 Maximum Iterations 100 v Prompt for more iterations Automatic Stop On Best Objective Value BRE Infeasible Feasible x Iteration Feasible Objective Value Best Value Current Value Parameter Lower Bound Best Value Current Value Upper Bound Model NumProdAPersonnel 1 10 Model NumProdBPersonnel__ 1 10 Model NumProdCPersonnel 1 10 Best Value Constraint LowerBound Best Value Current Value Upper Bound TotalWait Value infinity 30 0 LHS Left Hand Side RHS Right
131. s no physical limit on the number of decision variables that can be used in any given problem However the performance might deteriorate if more than 100 decision variables are used Also as the number of decision variables increases more simulations are needed to find high quality solutions General guidelines for the minimum number of simulations required for a given number of decision variables in a problem are Decision Variables Minimum number of simulations Less than 10 100 Between 10 and 20 500 Between 20 and 50 2 000 Between 50 and 100 5 000 For very large numbers of decision variables try this procedure e Decrease the number of replication per simulation at least initially e Run the optimization to get an approximate solution e Set the suggested values to the approximate solution Further restrict the bounds on the decision variables SIMPROCESS User s Manual 64 Tips and Suggestions Increase the number of replications to increase accuracy e Rerun the optimization One option is to de select certain decision variables and optimize the rest Ifan optimization has already been run there might be information available about which decision variables have the least effect on the objective function When one or more decision variables is de selected and the optimization is rerun the search focuses on the remaining more important decision variables Initial Values The initial values are the values listed a
132. s of Report Options Results Options Scenario Options Group By and Comparison Time Unit At least one of the options within Results Options or Scenario Options must be selected If not an error will display when OK is clicked since the report would be empty Results Options are Include Statistics and Include Charts When Include Statistics is selected the report will display a table of the statistics selected in the Scenarios When Include Charts is selected the report will include bar charts displaying the statistics selected in the Scenarios If both are selected each section of statistics is displayed in a table followed by the accompanying bar chart The bar charts can be 2 Dimensional or 3 Dimensional These options are enabled when Include Charts is checked Note that charts are most useful when the number of statistics being compared is small A large number of statistics will cause the X axis labels to be unreadable The Scenario Options relate to the scenario definition Include Run Settings adds the Run Settings specified for the Scenario Include Model Parameters adds the Model Parameter settings and Include Process Alternatives lists the active alternatives for each Process with multiple alternatives even if not specified in the Scenario definition Any selected Scenario Options are displayed in the report before statistics or charts Thus the Scenario information from each scenario represented under Scenario Results To Compare are dis
133. s outside the specified bounds SIMPROCESS User s Manual 65 Tips and Suggestions Complexity of the Objective A complex objective has a highly nonlinear surface with many local minimum and maximum points OptQuest is designed to find global solutions for all types of objectives especially complex objectives However for more complex objectives generally it is required to run more simulations to find high quality global solutions Since only one value can be optimized complex objectives must be defined within the model expressions See Customizing a Model with Attributes and Expressions Constraints Constraints can be used to restrict the values of decision variables model parameters by defining relationships among the decision variables constraints can also restrict the value of output variables performance measures Ifaconstraintis defined using only decision variables OptQuestcan eliminate sets of decision variables values that are constraint infeasible before it runs the simulation Limiting the optimization by defining constraints on decision variables is extremely time effective If a constraint contains a performance measure a simulation must be run to determine whether the suggested solution satisfies the constraint The search process benefits from the use of constraints on decision variables and tight bounds on decision variables However performance generally suffers when performance measure constra
134. s the Starting Values of the Decision Variables tab Initial values are important because the closer they are to the optimal value the faster OptQuest can find the optimal solution If the initial values are constraint infeasible they are ignored For potentially large models with many decision variables it might be helpful to first run a simplified version of the optimization to find initial values forthe full blown model For example expected values could be used for some of the random variables in the model Decision Variable Bounds OptQuest s performancecan be significantly improved by selecting meaningful bounds forthe decision variables Suppose for example that the bounds for three decision variables X Y and Z are 0 lt X lt 100 0 lt Y lt 100 0 lt Z lt 100 And in addition to the bounds there is the following constraint 10 X 12 Y 20 Z lt 200 Although the optimization model is correct the decision variables bounds are not meaningful A better set of bounds for these decision variables would be 0 lt X lt 20 0 lt Y lt 16 667 0 lt Z lt 10 These bounds take into consideration the values of the coefficients and the constraint limit to determine the maximum value for each decision variable The new tighter bounds result in a more efficient search for the optimal values of the decision variables However this efficiency comes at the expense of missing the optimal solution if it lie
135. sdensencseeesecsess 21 Forms Graphs and Reports ccsccccsssccssscccsssccscssesssssenes 23 Launch Database Application csccsssccsscsscscsscescesssseesesees 25 SIMPROCESS and Other Databases ccccccssssssssscsccecceeees 26 CHAPTER 3 Experiment MANAGER sssssississsssssrssssssssssrsosssossssosesssssvsssssscosssssssss s 28 Defining Experiments seesseoesoesssesssesssocssoossoossssssssesssocssoossoossos 29 Running Experiments sseessoesssesssesssecssoossoossoossssesssossoosssosssse 36 Experiment Operation sseessoesssesssesssocssoossoossosssssesssosesoossosssse 38 CHAPTER 4 OptQuest for SIMPROCESS ssssccccsssssssscccsscscssccecsssecsssoseees 42 Overview of OptQuest for SIMPROCESS sssseessooesooesoossssssseee 43 Optimization Setup es sooessesssesssesssocssoosssosssossssesssoessoossoosssssssose 45 Running an Optimization sesssessseossocssoosssossssssssesssosssoossoossos 57 Tips and Suggestions eesssesssesssesssocesoosssosesossssesssoessoosssssssesssose 63 SIMPROCESS User s Manual 3 Table of Contents OptQuest Demonstration Models scccscscsscccssscscssseseees 69 CHAPTER 5 STMPROCESS Dasnbodrds cssscssccssscsrssccccsssccscecsccsscccsseeeees 71 Defining Dashboards sisssccssscssccscsassccessovenccvsnneccetessveacsesesesersuaeesss 72 Assigning Dashboards sesseossooesooessoesssesssesssooesoossoossssssssesesoseo 82 Displaying Dash
136. shboard GUI must be closed Assign brings up a list of the Dashboards assigned to the model Use the File button to update the Dashboard file s location if the Dashboard was developed on a different system or moved to a location other than where it was located when originally assigned r gt Dashboards x Close add File Adding a Dashboard Assignment Dashboards are assigned to a model by using the Add button on the Dashboard list dialog The New Assigned Dashboard Dialog has four fields Dashboard Name Server Address Server Port and Dashboard File The Dashboard Name defaults to Dashboard plus an internally assigned number This name can be changed to something more meaningful The Server Address defaults to localhost which refers to the same machine on which SIMPROCESS is running and Server Port defaults to 5555 If not using localhost for the Server Address the Server Address must be a fully qualified server name or an Internet Protocol IP address Use the Browse button to locate the Dashboard File that is to be displayed TIP Whenever practical the file should be in the same directory with the SIMPROCESS model or ina directory below the one where the SIMPROCESS model resides This allows the stored reference to be relative so that moving both the SIMPROCESS model and the Dashboard file to a new location where their relative positions are unchanged will still maintain a corr
137. simulation settings Run Settings Cost Periods Global Statistics Collection Active Alternatives and Model Parameters The Run Settings item adds the settings of the Run Settings dialog Run Settings to a report The Cost Periods item lists the cost periods Setting Up Cost Periods defined on the Run Settings dialog Global Statistics Collection lists the settings defined for global statistics collection Default Performance Measures Active Alternatives adds to the report a list of which Process Alternatives are active in the model This only lists Alternatives from Processes that have more than one Alternative Alternative Sub Processes Model Parameters list all the global Attributes designated as Model Parameters Running a Simulation with Model Parameters Configuring Report Items The following report items are configurable Bar Chart Pie Chart Header and Line When one of these items are selected in the Custom Report dialog the Properties button enables s gt Custom Report Properties LN _ Custom Report Name Final Report Barker _ Page Break _ SSS i All Entity Types e ___ Report Title Customer Service Report Page Break Help y All Entity Attributes SSS Replication 1 mi Lali et Remove 2 All Entity Type Attributes Remove All gi Confidence Intervals None v Page Break ove LI a B All Resources E Insert New Items Above Selected Item Page Break Move Down
138. sing Optimization X Undo Delete Cancel Objective Decision Variables Constraints Process Alternatives Run Options Help Parameter Starting Value Lower Bound Upper Bound Step Size Include NumProd Personnel 7 1 10 1 v Start NumProdBPersonnel _ 5 1 10 1 EAI NumProdCPersonnel _ 5 1 10 1 v Description Number of Product A Personnel Default 7 Mode Integer Resetall Reset E A Constraints The Constraints tab is where constraints are defined Constraints are not required for an optimization but are usually used in an optimization Two types of constraints can be defined The first type is a constraint ona performance measure of the model The Entity Resource Activity Connector Time Stamp and Model Attribute buttons work as on the Objective tab These buttons allow performance measures to be selected as constraints Unlike the Objective though which can only be one performance measure more than one performance measure constraint can be added to the optimization Also on performance measure constraints there is an Upper Bound and or a Lower Bound Note If there are no bounds for a performance measure do not include it as a constraint In the Purchasing model there is a Model Attribute named TotalWait This attribute represents the total amount of time all entity types Product A Product B and Product C wait for resources The code below is from the End Simulation expression of the Model Expressions Define Model
139. ssion statements that allow SIMPROCESS to read from or write to any SQL database See Interfacing With A Database for more information SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 16 Committing Results to the Database Committing Results to the Database To commit simulation results to the database select Commit to Database from the Report menu The menu item will not be enabled until a simulation run is complete either terminating normally or user terminated If the database is not found an error dialog will appear If this occurs recheck the values inthe sProcDB properties file Normally the Commit To Database dialog will appear A design name and scenario name must be entered The design and scenario comments are optional What constitutes a design will be discussed in the next section Commit to Database Design Commit Design Comment Cancel Scenario Help Scenario Comment Once the information has been entered click on Commit At this point SIMPROCESS verifies that the design name and scenario name are allowable If so the results are stored in the database When finished the status bar shows Commit Complete SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 17 System Design and Scenario System Design and Scenario Three tables in the database control the results placed there System Design and Scenario The System table is the highest level table and contains the model name Therefore the database is designed t
140. ssion to overwrite The same options are offered as with the bundle creation process Yes Yes to All No No to All Cancel Cancel will stop the extraction process Metamodel files are placed in the met amode1 directory OrgModel files are placed in the orgmode 1 directory and Dashboard files are placed in the same directory as the bundle file The model is opened in SIMPROCESS when the extraction process successfully completes Note that the model opening is not a guarantee that the model will run If there are items required by the model that were not included in the bundle file the model will not run correctly Typically these items would be database related A sample model bundle Input Source bundle is in the Demos directory The bundle contains an Input Sources demonstration model and supporting files See Input Sources for more information SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 96 CHAPTER 7 Custom Reports Custom reports are user defined reports They are defined for specific purposes and can contain statistical and non statistical information JasperReports is used to view custom reports Custom reports are typically defined and viewed once all modeling simulation and analysis is complete Multiple custom reports can be defined for a single model Each report displays in a report viewer From that viewer reports can be printed or saved in various file formats SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 97 Defining a Custom Report D
141. stomer Service Documentation i gt Out Documentation Process Calls Documentation R Hardware Sales Call Documentation Expand All B Hardware Sales Rep Documentation Collapse All Deselect All Add Items Control click to select or deselect multiple values og Resource t Has Expressions s lto Connector Resource Attributes Resource Downtimes input Pad gt Output Pad amp Pool a4 Swimlane D Model SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 108 Defining a Custom Report All Metadata S Customer Service Metadata Service Metadata I SW Sales Metadata eeen amp Hardware Service Metadata Collapse All G Invoice Metadata E Expert Metadata Expand All Add Items Control click to select or deselect multiple values Standard Report Header Expand All Collapse All Select All Deselect All Add Items Control click to select or deselect multiple values SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 109 Defining a Custom Report The Page Break item adds a page break to the report item list as does the Page Break button on the Custom Report dialog Header allows for user defined headers and Line is simply a horizontal line The properties for Header and Line are set from the report item list The Standard Report Header displays the same simulation information as the Standard Report It is not configurable The Simulation category lists items related to
142. t Copy or Remove a Scenario There is also an option to Undo the removal ofa Scenario Some of these buttons also either directly or indirectly manage Scenario results which are stored in a file separate from the model Selecting Add brings up a dialog similar to the one below S Scenario Properties bs Scenario Name Scenario1 OK Cancel Run Settings Parameter Setup Process Setup Global Statistics Selected Statistics n LEarameser p ARES 3 meres seas Simulation Period Help mmiddiyyyy hh mm ss msec usec nsec Start 01 01 2013 2 00 00 00 4 ooo o00 s 0004 a End 02 01 2013 4 00 00 00 0004 o004 o00 4 Warmup Every Replication Number of Replications 2 Reset Random Number Streams Warmup Length 0 IV Reset System Warmup Time Unit Hours Nf Verify Model on Run Simulation Time Unit Hours Z RMI Host localhost RMI Port 1099 Comment L A default name is given for the Scenario Name The Scenario Name specified must be unique among all defined Scenarios A Scenario consists of model run settings Run Settings tab Model Parameter settings Parameter Setup tab process alternative selections Process Setup tab global statistics selections Global Statistics tab and selected individual statistics Selected Statistics tab Below is a Scenario defined for the Purchasing spm demonstration model SIMPROCESS Users Manual 122 Defining S
143. t Viewer functions are located on the Report Viewer toolbar which is shown below First Next Go To Fit Ti Print Page Page Page Page Zoom Ratio So Ae OIG ao Save Reload Previous Last Actual Fit Zoom Page Page Size Width Out The Save button defaults to saving the report to the model s directory Reports can be saved in various formats JasperReports jrprint Portable Document Format pdf Rich Text Format rtf Open Document Format odt Microsoft Word Open XML docx Hypertext Markup Language html Single Sheet XLS xls Multiple Sheet XLS xls Comma Separated Values csv Extensible Markup Language jrpxml xml Embedded Images XML jrpxml xml SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 120 CHAPTER 8 Scenarios Scenariosare used to save simulation results for comparison purposes and are specific toa model Thus Scenario results from different models cannot be compared directly in SIMPROCESS A Scenario is defined and then the model is run with the Scenario selected When the simulation completes the results from the Scenario are saved into an external file Scenarios xm1 for later use Scenario Reports can be created to compare results from different Scenarios or within the same Scenario SIMPROCESS User s Manual 121 Defining Scenarios Defining Scenarios To define a scenario select Scenarios from the Simulate menu This displays a dialog that has the options to Add Edi
144. t be entered not the number of additional iterations So for this example the number entered must be 101 or larger 150 entered If Prompt for more iterations remains selected the optimization will prompt again when the iteration is one less than the maximum 149 in this example Deselect this option to have the optimization complete without interruption SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 60 Running an Optimization Current maximum iterations 100 Enter new value if more than 100 desired E Maximum Iterations 150 Optimization Solution Options The OptQuest for SIMPROCESS interface shows the current status of the optimization while it is running Once the optimization is complete the interface only shows the best values The example below is from the Purchasing model optquest for SIMPROCESS NN e Eile Model Name Purchasing Optimization Setting Purchasing Optimization Stop Restat Objective Minimize Objective Value All Resources Capacity Cost Optimization Status All solutions have been generated f Maximum Iterations 100 W Prompt for more iterations Automatic Stop On Best Objective Value BRAE Infeasible Feasible x Iteration Feasible Objective Value Best Value 8 Yes 34347 31675 Current Value Parameter Lower Bound Best Value Current Value Upper Bound Model NumProdAPersonnel 1 1 10 Model NumProdBPersonnel 1 3 10 Model NumPr
145. tant e approximately equal to 2 718 EXP x Returns e raised to the x power FLOOR x Returns the largest whole number less than or equal to x FMOD x y Returns the remainder of x y LN x Returns the base e logarithm of x LOG10 x Returns the base 10 logarithm of x MAXOF x y Returns the larger of two numbers Note Unlike the SIMPROCESS MAXOF only two parameters are allowed SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 52 Optimization Setup Expression Constraint Functions Function Description MINOF x y Returns the smaller of two numbers Note Unlike the SIMPROCESS MINOF only two parameters are allowed PI Mathematical constant pi approximately equal to 3 14159 POWER x y Returns x raised to the y power RAND Returns a random number between 0 and 1 inclusive RtoD x Converts radians to degrees SIN x Returns the sine of x where x is an angle in radians SINH x Returns the hyperbolic sine of x where x is an angle in radians SQRT x Returns the square root of x TAN x Returns the tangent of x where x is an angle in radians TANH x Returns the hyperbolic tangent of x an angle in radians The optimization setup for the Purchasing model is highly constrained This is because of the three expression constraints The first constraint is named Resources 10 This constraint requires that the sum of the decision variables model param
146. the SIMPROCESS web site or contact SIMPROCESS Technical Support for assistance SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 24 Launch Database Application Launch Database Application This menu item on the Report menu only enabled on Windows systems brings up a dialog that selects the database and database application to use SimProcDB mdb and Microsoft Access are the defaults The remaining portion of these instructions assume MS Access is the database application If the database field is blank then Access will start and prompt to open a database If only a database is in the field with no path SIMPROCESS assumes the database is in the SPUser directory If this is not the case Access will start and prompt for a database When the database desired is notin SPUser enter the full path and Access will open with that database If SimProcDB mdb is entered in the database name field the Manage Results form will launch automatically when the database opens Ifother actions are desired simply close the form and continue Always use the Manage Results form to delete records from SimProcDB Ifthe tables are edited directly they could become corrupted and run results placed in the database would be lost The Manage Results form canbe launched from the Forms tab Copies of SimProcDB mdb may beused for results However the Manage Results form will not launch automatically Select Database Database name SimProcDB mdb Cancel Applicatio
147. the decision variables a blank Lower Bound assumes negative infinity and a blank Upper Bound assumes infinity Once a performance measure constraint has been added only the Upper Bound Lower Bound and type of statistic can be edited If the type of value chosen needs to be changed the constraint must be deleted and recreated The second type of constraint is an expression constraint An expression constraint defines mathematical relationships between decision variables The Expression button is used to create expression constraints This button displays a dialog that lists the decision variables on the left and the allowed mathematical operators and functions on the right The example below shows the Purchasing model Note that the decision variable names must be the fully qualified SIMPROCESS SIMPROCESS User 5 Manual 50 Optimization Setup attribute name That is the type of the attribute Model Entity etc must be included r pi Constraint Expression ame Model NumProdAPersonnel z P MINOF Cancel Model NumProdBPersonnel el Model NumProdCPersonnel I MASOE Help SQRT LN LOG10 POWER EXP ABS PI CEIL FLOOR e FMOD RAND i SIN cos TAN SINH COSH TANH ASIN ACOS ATAN DtoR RtoD ATAN2 lt gt ression Validate SSS a A name must be entered for the constraint in the Name field Names for expression constra
148. ual 68 OptQuest Demonstration Models OptQuest Demonstration Models Two of the demonstration models that come with SIMPROCESS have been set up for optimization the Purchasing model Purchasing spm and the Inventory model Inventory spm Purchasing Model This model was used throughout this chapter to describe how to set up and run an OptQuest optimization Thus an extended description will not be given here The model is described in Chapter 5 of the SIMPROCESS Getting Started Manual Demonstration and Reference Models The optimization set up for this model should notbe considered a true optimization scenario The constraints are very tight and the number of replications per simulation is only two This was done so the example would run within a minute or two The value of this model is in learning how to create decision variables and constraints Inventory Model This model was developed for the purpose of finding optimal values The model is described in Chapter 5 of the SIMPROCESS Getting Started Manual Demonstration and Reference Models Briefly the Inventory model demonstrates an Inventory Pull and Manufacturing system The pro cess is characterized by the Reorder Points and Reorder Quantities defined for each resource in the supply chain There are four steps in the supply chain Warehouse Assembly Component Vendor and Component2 Vendor and the Raw Material Vendors Inventory is pulled only when it is needed there is insuf
149. very manual Press the Control key when clicking any link to open the linked file in anew window For Windows systems in order for links between manuals to work properly Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader must be used to view the manuals Getting Started The Getting Started With SIMPROCESS manual is a must for first time SIMPROCESS users This manual can also be used for evaluation purposes The chapters are e Business Process Modeling With SIMPROCESS e Installation Building Your First Model With SIMPROCESS e Evaluating Alternatives With SIMPROCESS e Demonstration and Reference Models User s Manual The User 5 Manual is divided into four parts with each part being a separate file Part A is an excellent reference for beginners and casual users This part contains detailed documentation of the basic and intermediate functions of SIMPROCESS The chapters are e Process Modeling and Analysis with SIMPROCESS e SIMPROCESS Basics e Statistical Modeling Constructs e Activity Modeling Constructs e Resource Modeling Constructs e Graphical Modeling Constructs e Activity Based Costing e Statistical Output Reports Part B is a reference intended for advanced users of SIMPROCESS This part contains detailed documentation of the programming and library management functions in SIMPROCESS Professional Edition The chapters are e Reusable Templates and Libraries e Customizing a Model with Attributes and Expressions e More Advanced

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