Business Process Modeler provides the Simulation project, which supports all simulation functions, and allows for easier integration of additional functionalities in future releases.
To create a Simulation project in Business Process Modeler:
1. From the File menu, select New > Simulation Project to launch the New Simulation Project wizard.
2. In the first page of the New Simulation Project wizard, enter the name of the simulation project in the Project Name box. The name can contain only alphanumeric characters, and must not contain any blank space or special character except underscores (“_”). Ensure that the project name starts with an alphabetic character. Optionally, enter a label and description in the respective boxes.
3. Click Next to open the second page of the New Simulation Project wizard, in which you can define the simulation properties for this project.
a. In the Start Simulation section, select either of the following options to define when to start the simulation:
At current system time option to activate the simulation at the current time of the system.
At time option to activate the simulation at a specified time other than system time. After clicking this option, you need to specify a date and time. To do so, click the ellipsis button beside the At time option. For details, see Specifying adate.
b. From the Stop Simulation section, select any of the following options to define when to stop the simulation:
On completion of process instances option to stop the simulation when all the instances of the processes in the simulation project are completed.
At time option to stop the simulation at a specified time. You can use this option only if you have selected the At time option in the Start Simulation section. You need to specify a stop time later than the simulation start time. To specify date and time, click the ellipsis button beside the At time option. For details, see Specifying adate.
After duration option to specify a relative end time for simulation, in terms of duration. You can specify the duration in terms of hours, minutes, and seconds by entering values in the respective boxes. In this case, the simulation continues even after all the instances are completed, for the specified duration.
4. Click Next to open the third page of the New Simulation Project wizard, in which you can define the project calendar settings for this simulation project.
You can use the Project Calendar page to define the default calendar settings for your simulation project.
a. From the Work Days section, select (or clear) the appropriate checkboxes for the work days.
b. The Sessions section table displays the default time segments. The default workhours are 9:00 - 13:00 and 14:00 - 18:00.
To add a session, click Add to open the Session dialog box. Specify the start time (hours:minutes) and the end time (hours:minutes) of the session in the respective boxes. Click OK to add the session to the Sessions section table.
To edit any of the listed sessions, select the session, then click Modify to open the Session dialog box, in which you can modify the start and end time.
To remove any of the listed sessions, select the session, then click Delete. Business Process Modeler prompts you for confirmation. Click OK to remove the session.
c. Click Next to continue.
The settings defined here are applied to the default scenario in your simulation project. You can modify these settings for the default scenario, as well as for any added scenarios in the Simulation perspective, after creating the simulation project. For details, see Modifying simulation settings for a scenario.
5. In the fourth page of the New Simulation Project wizard, you can add the processes, which you want to include in this simulation. You can also configure the simulation settings for each added process.
a. To add a process to the simulation project, click the Add () icon in the Select section to open the Required Project Selection dialog box. From the list of current processes, select the process to be added, then click OK.
The added process is displayed in the Select section. You can add as many processes as required.
To remove a process from the simulation project, select the process, then click the Remove (
) icon.
For each added process, you can configure the simulation start settings (available only for multiple processes), the instance count, and the type of randomization.
b. From the Start section, select the At time option to set an absolute time and date, as described in Step 3a. The start time for a process must be later than the absolute start time (if specified) for the simulation project. Alternatively, select the After duration option to specify a relative start time for the process simulation, as described in Step 3b.
You cannot set an absolute time and date for the process if you have specified the simulation start time as current system time.
c. Use the Count section to specify the number of process instances. You can either keep the instance count unlimited or specify a maximum value in the Limited To box. You cannot specify an unlimited instance count if you have selected the On completion of process instances option in the previous wizard page.
d. From the Type drop-down list in the Distribution section, choose a method of randomizing the duration of each interval between process instances in the simulation. For information regarding randomizing methods, see Configuring and running simulation.
6. Click Finish to complete the creation of the Simulation project.
7. If you are currently not in the Progress OpenEdge BPM Simulation perspective, then Process Modeler prompts you to switch to this perspective. Click Yes to open the simulation project in the Progress OpenEdge BPM Simulation perspective. Alternatively, click No to open the simulation project in your current perspective. If you select the Remember my decision checkbox, then Business Process Modeler does not display any prompt and executes your selected command the next time you create or open a simulation project file (SST). For further details regarding configuring and running a simulation, see Configuring and running simulation.
Note: You can modify the above selected configuration for opening the simulation configuration perspective using the Simulation > UI page in the Preferences dialog box. For information, see Usingthe Simulation page.
At current system time option to activate the simulation at the current time of the system.
) icon in the Select section to open the Required Project Selection dialog box. From the list of current processes, select the process to be added, then click OK.
) icon.