• Apia 2.4.0.6

Next, a series of definitions necessary to understand "Apia's processes simulator" and a scenario's configuration, will be presented.

• Group: is composed by a series of resources which work on tasks. A group represents people or systems, where the resources can be limited or illimited. A resource in a group:
  • Can only work on a task at the same time.
  • Devotes a certain period of time to a task until finishing it. 
  • Once the resource acquires a task, s/he finishes it.
• Task: must be worked on by a group's resource. The characteristics of a task are:
  • They are neither delayed nor autocompleted (to simulate a task which is autocompleted, it is recommended to add a group which represents a system with an illimited number of resources).
  • Once it is acquired, it can't be released, but it is worked on until being completed. 
  • A task always has an associated group or role. 
  • It can have more than one possible executing group, if so be the case, a probability must be given to each group.
  • During the simulation, it is assigned to any group  of the possible groups executing the task, taking into account the entered probability, if that group hasn't got available resources, the task will remain waiting until a resource is released.
• Role: automatic assignment (during the simulation's execution) of a group to a task. The task which has a role associated, and doesn't have groups, is executed by any resource of the group associated to the role. The group is associated to the role during the simulation's execution. If a task has a set of groups which can execute it, and at the same time, an associated role, during the simulation's execution, such task is assigned to one of the groups (according to the defined probabilities), and that group is associated to the task's role. In this way, if later a process' task has that role assigned, and no group, the task is assigned to the group associated to the role. In order to avoid that a task with a role associated during the simulation's execution, and which doesn't have assigned groups, remains with no associated group, every role must have at least one group (several groups with different assignment probabilities can be associated) which is automatically assigned in the event that the role's group hasn't been especified (group by default of the role).
• Scenario: is where the different entrance parameters are configured to carry out the simulation.

Simulation scenarios are defined in the functionality Design - Scenarios. A user launches a simulation manually, selecting a scenario, and it is stopped automatically when the conditions for the end of the simulation are fulfilled.

The following data are defined for a simulation scenario:

• Name of the scenario.
• Scenario's description.
• Start of the simulation:
  • Week day and start time (the calendar day nearest to the selected day). 
  • Start date and time.
• End of the simulation:
  • Simulation's end date and time.
  • Number of days.
  • Number of completed transactions (instances of all the completed processes).
  • Number of completed transactions of a particular process.
• Calendar: identifies the calendar by default which is used for all those elements which require a calendar, and do not have a configured calendar.
• Processes which must be simulated: it is a list of the processes which will be involved in the simulation (from this list it is possible to accede directly to the map of each one of those processes). In the list, the subprocesses of the processes already added  are automatically included, so that their required information can be specified.
• Utilization of the historic: it allows specifying the time period which will be used to determine the different time values.

Process' information
For each process and subprocess, the information concerning the generators must be specified, in the event that the instances of the process are to be automatically loaded.

The generator's information is composed of:

• Number of transactions. It introduces one or more transactions as the previous transactions are finished, maintaining in execution the entered amount.
• Upon request. It introduces transactions as long as there is an available resource to enter it.
• Frequency. It introduces transactions according to a frequence (among others):
  • Time constant.
  • Distribuited.
  • Mathematic expression.
• Calendar. It specifies if the previously defined generator, must be executed or not only during valid working hours defined by a calendar or during the simulation time. The calendar establishes the days and times in which the generator works and generates new instances.

This information is directly loaded from the functionality simulation scenarios, when the processes are added to the processes' list.

Tasks' information
The following information must be specified for each one of the tasks which compose the process so that the simulation can be carried out.

• Task's completeness time. It completes one task at a time:
  • Time constant.
  • Distributed frequency.
  • Mathematic expression.
• Probability of groups' activation. For the case of tasks with several groups, a list with all the groups in which the group's activation probability must be specified, is shown. When carrying out the simulation, the probability is cumulative.
• Type of queue for working on tasks: FIFO or LIFO.

This information is directly loaded in the process' map from the functionality of scenarios' simulation.

Dependencies' information
For each one of the outgoing dependencies, in special for the operators, its probability of activation must be specified. This information is directly loaded in the process' map from the functionality of simulation scenarios.

Roles' information
For the different roles which are used in a process, the groups' assignment probability must be specified. This information is loaded in the process' map, and allows specifying the groups which could be assigned to a role through a business class.

Groups' information
The groups' information required for the simulation, will be obtained directly from their definition. For them, when designing a group, or the process where the group is used.

Groups' administration

When designing a group the following items can be specified:

• Type of resource: it indicates that the group's resources are people or correspond to a system (automatic).
• Work calendar: it defines the work calendar of the group's resources.
• Work cost per hour: it defines the work cost per hour of each group's resource.
• Work fixed cost: it defines the work fixed cost of assignment of each resource to the group.

Exit report
The end of the simulation generates a report containing information in tabular and graphic format. Next, some definitions necessary to understand the meaning of some of the measures included in the report, will be given. As a way to clarify the meaning of the defined measures, the following scenario is considered:

• The resource R1 works from Mondays to Fridays from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.
• The task T1 requires 7 hs. of work to be completed.
• The task T1 is available to be worked on, on Friday at 10.00 a.m.
• The first available resource to work on T1 is R1, who is quien released on Friday at 11 p.m.

Measures' definition:

• Working hours. Time during which the resource was working (7 hs.: 6 hs. on Friday and 1 h on Monday). 
• Available time. Time during which the resource didn't work during the working hours (0 hs.). 
• Waiting time. Waiting time to obtain a resource (1 h: on Friday, form 10.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.) 
• Time of inactivity. Time during which the resource isn't available (66 hs.: 1h on Friday at mid-day, 8 hs. on Friday night, 48 hs. from Saturday to Sunday and 9 hours on Monday early morning). 
• Cycle's time. It is defined as the addition of working hours, waiting time and inactivity time (74 hs.). 
• Service time. It is defined as the addition of waiting time and working hours (8 hs.). 

The following information is included in the report:

• Simulation scenario. It contains the parameters of the scenario used to launch the simulation, it includes:
  • Name of the simulation scenario.
  • Simulation's execution date and time.
  • Required time in minutes to execute the simulation.
  • User who executed the simulation.
  • Simulation's start date and time.
  • Simulation's end date and time.
  • Simulation's length in days.
  • Used generators.
• Processes' information (in the event of including subprocesos the total information of the main process and of each one of the subprocesses is provided):
  • Number of instanced processes.
  • Number of completed processes.
  • Work time required to complete the process. 
  • Time of average cycle to complete the process. 
  • Average cost of process' work.
• Tasks' information:
  • Number of completed tasks.
  • Number of pending tasks when the simulation has ended. 
  • Task's work time. 
  • Average waiting time of a task for a resource.
  • Maximum waiting time of the task for a resource.
  • Average number of tasks waiting for resources.
  • Maximum number of tasks waiting for resources.
  • Total of the tasks which had to wait for resources. 
  • Percentaje of the tasks which had to wait for resources. 
  • Task's average service time. 
  • Task's average cycle time. 
  • Task's average inactivity time. 
  • Task's work average time.
• Groups: they correspond to the parameters related to the groups' work and their behaviour within the simulation. The amounts correspond to the group's total times, discriminated by process and task:
  • Number of group's resources. 
  • Number of tasks worked on by the group. 
  • Work time percentage (that the resources were used during the working hours). 
  • Average working hours.
  • Average available time. 
  • Average inactivity time. 
  • Average time out of service (it was in the work timetable but not available). 
  • Total cost of resources' work.
  • Total cost of resources' availability.
  • Total cost of resources' working hours.

** This content has been developed together with ANII (Acronym in Spanish which stands for National Agency of Research and Innovation)

[ ANF00178 ]

Processes' simulator

[ ANF00180 ]		Apia Debugger
[ AFC00550 ]		Adjustment in scenarios running report
[ ANF01773 ]		The BPM Game
[ AFC00552 ]		Scenarios report with titles in graphs
[ ADF01554 ]		Design - Apia user's handbook 2.4
[ ATI01610 ]		Datasheet "Queries - Analytical queries"
[ AFC00224 ]		Schedulers which load in memory Apia's cubes
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[ ATI00051 ]		Operators AND, OR and flows with loopback.
[ ABR00045 ]		Error in the cancellation/ending of processes