AGENDA Basic Simulation Process BASIC SIMULATION PROCESS Problem Definition Project Planning System Definition / Model Formulation Input Data Collection and Analysis Model Translation Verification Validation Experimentation Analysis Conclusions and Recommendations PROBLEM DEFINITION Basic understanding of what are we trying to find out and/or solve Orientation Objectives PROJECT PLANNING Work Breakdown Structure... Linear Responsibility Chart... Gantt chart ... WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE Division of work into individual work packages for who responsibility can be assigned LINEAR RESPONSIBILITY CHART Who is responsible for what and to what degree GANTT CHART Duration Sequencing SYSTEM DEFINITION MODEL FORMULATION Flow chart of the system Identification of system components to be modeled Input data requirements Output measures of performance How much detail How much flexibility Variables Interactions INPUT DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Collection Existing data New data Analysis Fitting theoretical distributions to the raw data MODEL TRANSLATION Programming the model into a computer programming language Programming language choices General purpose language Simulation package VERIFICATION Ensuring that the model behaves in the way it was intended Debugging VALIDATION Ensuring that the model behaves the same as reality Face validity Statistical validity EXPERIMENTION Provide answers to project objectives Design alternative system configurations ANALYSIS Determine how many simulation runs to make Execute simulation runs Statistical comparison of alternative system performance CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Experimental results Identification / recommendation of the best course of action Justification as to why is it the best Report and/or presentation