Table of Contents. Using the Setup Assistant... 12

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1 Table of Contents analystview User's Guide... 1 Welcome to analystview... 1 Understanding BPMN... 2 Simulation process overview... 4 Integrating with managerview... 5 Getting started... 6 Getting started... 6 Activating analystview... 7 Navigating analystview analystview Community... Checking for product updates Using the Setup Assistant Using the Setup Assistant Simulation tutorial Modeling and simulation tutorial Create your process Create your map Validate your business process map Set simulation general settings Define data fields Define resources a. Define participants b. Define schedules c. Define roles Define activity settings Define arrivals Run simulation Optimize scenario Modeling for business process simulation Modeling for simulation Creating a process Activities Business process activities Combined user/script and decision activities Routing work Parallel and merge activities Simulation setup... 4 Simulation overview Simulation scenarios... Sample simulation scenarios Simulation setup overview General Settings configuration Data fields configuration Using global fields and process fields Process fields configuration Global fields configuration Participants configuration Schedules configuration... 45

2 Schedules configuration Using business calendars Business calendars example Roles configuration Activities configuration Arrivals configuration Timed sequences configuration Logged Events configuration SLA configuration Building expressions Building expressions Expression builder Commands, functions, and templates JavaScript Running simulation Validating models and scenarios Running simulation Statistics display options Understanding simulation statistics Simulation statistics Status Process Activity Participant Role Timed Sequence Logged event SLA Statistics reference Optimizing simulations Process optimization Optimization example Express Optimization Custom Optimization Advanced optimization options Reporting Saving simulation settings Saving simulation results Reports Customizing report templates Importing and Exporting Simulation Setup Importing and exporting arrivals, participants, and data fields (.csv) XPDL import and export XPDL import and export Importing from XPDL Exporting to XPDL XPDL adapters Integrating with managerview managerview Server integration Analysis Engine connections managerview connections...

3 Running Simulation with output to managerview Server... Analyzing results in managerview Server... Advanced notes on managerview Server integration... Acquiring production data from managerview Acquiring production data... Acquire from managerview wizard Acquiring Arrivals from managerview Server Importing Activity durations from production data Importing decision weights from managerview Server Acquiring participants and roles from managerview Server Advanced simulations Event logging Logging Work Assignment Executing work Pending work Floating point numbers Distributions Distributions Bernoulli distribution Beta distribution Beta range distribution Binomial distribution Exponential distribution Gamma distribution Geometric distribution Log Normal distribution Normal distribution Positive Normal distribution Poisson distribution Poisson process Random distribution Triangular distribution Uniform distribution Weibull distribution BPMN attributes Moving from Insight360 Studio to analystview Glossary... Global 360 resources

4 Welcome to analystview analystview integrates with Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 to help you model and simulate your business process and optimize those processes. If your system includes Global 360 managerview, you can send simulation data for detailed analysis and comparison with production business process data. Completed processes can be exported as XPDL for execution with a BPM Suite from Global 360 or use with many other software tools that support XPDL. (See Integrating with managerview.) You can use analystview to create simulated business processes and study them. Simulations enable you to analyze your business process under both historic and simulated demand, with the ability to vary the staff and system resources available. You can specify how each activity should be simulated, providing your own rules for determining duration or using historical data. You can define arrival rates, resources, and the duration of a simulation run. Simulation statistics let you watch the progress of simulated work objects as they move through flows and review the timeliness and cycle time of completed work. Proposed changes to policies, staffing levels, and business processes can be easily fed back into trial or live production settings to achieve bottom-line improvements in cost, service levels or quality. Use simulation statistics to see how work would flow through your process with various activities and resources assigned. Why simulate your business process? Simulating your business process automation allows you to evaluate the results of your process, resource allocation, and schedules before using your configuration in a production system. Simulation supports you in developing the business case for business process management (BPM) by: Objective justification for new BPM deployments Eliminate reliance on "trust me" arguments Validates starting point or priority list for BPM projects Simulation allows you to ensure that process improvements actually deliver the expected results: Compare processes as they are ("As Is") to how they could be ("To Be") Calculate the return on investment With simulation you can reduce the risk of implementing change: Identify the effects of organizational or procedural changes before implementing them Future-proof changes by simulating a variety of business conditions, such as contingency planning Understanding BPMN Simulation process overview Simulation tutorial Creating a process Copyright Global 360, Inc. All rights reserved. Last modified: 6 June 2011 for analystview This content is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and may not reproduced in any form or by any means. All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners in the United States, other countries, or both. 1 / 148

5 Understanding BPMN analystview integrates with Microsoft Visio 2010 to simulate Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) process models. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is a graphic notation for representing business process workflows. BPMN shows the beginning-to-end flow of a business process, such as an online order entry system. The primary diagram of BPMN is a business process diagram, which is based on flowcharting techniques customized for business processes. BPMN uses a set of specialized graphical elements to depict a process and how it is performed. The main elements of a BPMN process are the following flow objects: Activities Events Gateways Sequence flow connectors When you build a process you can also add more graphical elements to explain the process structure and provide additional detail. The following sections provide an overview of the main elements of a BPMN process. For additional information and detail, see Business process activities. Activities An activity represents the work performed within a business process. Activities typically: Take some time to perform Involve one or more resources from the organization Require input and produce output Activities have a rounded-corner rectangle shape. Common types of activities include: Tasks - Activities that are at the lowest level of detail. Sub-Processes - Activities that enable you to drill down to process detail. Microsoft Visio has two types of Sub-Processes: Collapsed and Expanded. (analystview supports collapsed sub-processes.) The following figure shows a Task and a Collapsed Sub-Process. Events An event is something that happens during the course of a process. An event affects the flow of the process and usually has a trigger or a result. They can start, delay, interrupt, or end the flow of the process. In BPMN, events are represented by circles. There are three types of events: Start Event - Shows where a process begins. (Single thin line) Intermediate Event - Represents things that happen during the normal operations of the process and typically occur in between activities. (Double thin line)* End Event - Shows where a process ends (Single thick line) The following figure shows a Start Event, Task, and End Event. Gateways Gateways are elements of a process that control how the process diverges or converges. They split and merge the flow of a process (through sequence flow). For example, if "Yes," take one path, if No, take a different path. Gateways typically wait to reach a certain point before the process can continue. In BPMN, gateways are represented by a diamond shape. There are three types of core gateways: Exclusive - If splitting the flow of a process, the gateway will send work down only one outgoing path (exclusively) depending on the conditions. If merging the flow of a process, the gateway will pass through any work from any incoming paths. Event - If splitting the flow of a process, the gateway sends work down only one outgoing path (exclusively) depending on the occurrence of a specified event, such as the arrival of a message. If merging the flow of a process, the gateway will pass through any work from any incoming paths.* Parallel - If splitting the flow of a process, the gateway will send work down all outgoing paths (in parallel). If merging the flow of a process, the gateway will wait for work from all incoming paths. The following figure shows tasks and a sub-process that lead to a decision gateway (Approved/Rejected). 2 / 148

6 Sequence Flow Connectors Connectors link two objects on a process diagram. There are three different types of BPMN connectors: Sequence Flow - Defines the order of flow objects in a process (Activities, Events, and Gateways). Message Flow - Defines the flow of communication between two participants or entities, such as an organization and its suppliers.* Associations - Links data and other information with other diagram objects, including flow objects (Activities, Events, and Gateways).* The following figure shows a Sequence Flow connector that connects the Start Event to the Task. Welcome to analystview Simulation process overview Modeling for simulation Footnotes * Not simulated by analystview 3 / 148

7 Simulation process overview When you open a BPMN process or create a new process using the BPMN Diagram template, the Simulation Ribbon automatically appears. The Simulation Ribbon is not available if a BPMN document is not active. Follow this high level process to create simulations: 1. Create the process map. 2. Set up the scenario. 3. Configure the simulation setup options. 4. Run the simulation. 5. Analyze the simulation statistics. TIP: To see simulation immediately, you can open an analystview sample file, such as InsuranceClaim-AsIs. Then, run simulation and view the simulation results. Simulation statistics Simulation statistics appear in the Simulation Results pane; the statistics are updated as the simulation is running. How frequent the statistics are updated depends on the settings in the General Settings configuration. How fast the statistics are updated depends on the simulation speed, which you can control with the speed slider bar on the Execution Pane while the simulation is running. Welcome to analystview Understanding BPMN Navigating analystview 4 / 148

8 Integrating with managerview You can configure analystview to send simulation information to Global 360 managerview so that you can study different business scenario results using managerview reports. For example, you can create a scenario in which you launch three new products and open five new offices, then view the predicted results. managerview is a product suite from Global 360 that provides the following capability: Process intelligence engine that correlates live or simulated process information with process models. Multi-dimensional data structures that combine business and process data to answer complicated questions, such as the average time to process various sizes of loans. Data visualization, reporting, and dashboard tools allowing business analysts and managers to explore data, gain insights, and share with others. Sample reports with sample data that showcase basic inventory, process, and productivity data. To learn more about managerview, see For information about analystview integration with managerview, see managerview integration. Welcome to analystview 5 / 148

9 Getting started When you complete the analystview installation and launch Visio 2010, the analystview welcome screen automatically displays. If this if the first time you have used analystview, you can use the trial version for 60 days before you Activate analystview and enter the license key. To create a new model, click New BPMN Model. When you create a new BPMN model, click the Simulation tab to view analystview simulation options. The BPMN model uses Metrics or US units depending on your regional settings. The Setup Assistant automatically displays to help you get started. To view information about analystview sample models, click List of example models. To start using Visio without creating a new model, click Close or press [Escape] or [Enter]. Navigating analystview For information on navigating analystview, including creating a new model using the Visio BPMN Diagram template and options on the Simulation Ribbon, see Navigating analystview. Using the Setup Assistant You can use the analystview Setup Assistant to quickly set up a business process for simulation. The Setup Assistant guides you through the process and provides a visual indicator to help you determine when the configuration for each area is complete. The Setup Assistant automatically displays when you create a drawing using the BPMN Diagram template. Simulation Tutorial You can use the Simulation tutorial, which provides step-by-step information on creating a process map, setting up a map for simulation, and running simulation. Once you have some practice using analystview, you can change the sample process map and simulation settings to more closely mirror your own business process, or create a new process. Ready to just dive in? See Creating a process. Activating analystview Navigating analystview 6 / 148

10 Activating analystview If this if the first time you have used analystview, you can use the trial version for 60 days before you activate analystview and enter the license key. If you use the trial version, you will be notified when you launch analystview seven (7) days prior to the trial period expiration. If you have not already obtained a license key, click the Purchase Activation Key link to open the Global 360 purchasing site in your default browser. TIP: To review how many days you have left in the trial period, on the analystview Simulation Ribbon, click Help > Welcome Screen. To activate analystview, click Help > Activate License. To activate analystview: 1. On the analystview Welcome screen, click Activate or click Help > Activate License on the Simulation Ribbon. The Activation dialog box is displayed. 2. Enter the license key. Only a 19 digit license key obtained from Global 360 is allowed. 3. Select the I agree to the License Agreement check box. To view the license agreement, click the License Agreement link. The activate button is enabled when you enter a valid license key and agree to the license agreement terms. 4. Click Activate. Getting started Navigating analystview Checking for product updates 7 / 148

11 Navigating analystview When you install analystview, you can use the BPMN template in Visio to create business process simulations. To access the BPMN template: 1. Click the File tab. 2. Click New. The Template Categories display. 3. You can find the BPMN template in the Flowchart category. Click Flowchart. The Flowchart templates display. 4. Click BPMN Diagram. 5. Click Create. When you open a process model that uses the BPMN template or create a new drawing using the BPMN template, the analystview Simulation Ribbon is displayed in addition to the Visio Ribbons. You also have options to import or export to XPDL on the Process Ribbon. 6. Click the Simulation tab to display the Simulation Ribbon. The following figure shows the blank process window. 8 / 148

12 The Simulation Ribbon includes the following options. Button Run Pause Reset Optimize General Resources Fields Activities Arrivals Statistics Reports Acquire Publish Export Data Fields Connections Panes Help Description Run a simulation. Pause a running simulation. Reset a running or completed simulation. Notice that all simulation results will be deleted. Optimize a simulation by analyzing the results, changing the resources, and running the simulation again. Configure simulation general settings. Configure resources - roles, participants, and schedules. Configure process fields and global fields. Configure activity settings. Configure arrivals. Configure timed sequences, logged events, and SLAs. Create reports. The Process Ribbon includes the following analystview options: Button Import (XPDL) Acquire Arrivals, Activity Durations, Weights, Participants, and Roles from managerview. Publish simulation statistics to a Global 360 managerview Server. Export data field definitions to managerview. (Data field definitions are needed to define custom measures and dimensions in managerview.) Define all managerview connections. Show or hide the Execution pane, Result pane, Issues pane, or Setup Assistant. Provides information about analystview. Also provides access to the Welcome screen, analystview Activation screen, and online help. (You can also click Start > Programs > Global360 > analystview > analystview User's Guide to access the online help.) Description Imports process definitions into analystview from an XPDL 2.0 file. This button is always visible on the Process Ribbon, even if a BPMN template is not open. Export (XPDL) Exports process definitions out to XPDL 2.0. Tip: As you are working in analystview, you can use the Visio Undo button to reverse changes to analystview settings. Activating analystview Checking for product updates 9 / 148

13 analystview Community You can use the analystview Community site to access a wide range of information relating to analystview, including documentation, support, and training. To access the analystview Community site 1. On the analystview Simulation Ribbon, click Community. The analystview Community site is automatically displayed in your web browser. 2. Navigate to the area where you want to go on the analystview Community site. For example, Support, Training, FAQs, and so on. Tip: You can also click Start > Programs > Global 360 > analystview > analystview Community to access the analystview Community site. 10 / 148

14 Checking for product updates analystview automatically checks for product updates when you open Microsoft Visio. If an update is available, a notification is displayed indicating that an update is available. To check for analystview updates: 1. On the analystview Simulation Ribbon, click Help > Product Update. The Update dialog box is displayed. 2. If an update is available, click the link to display the analystview download page. 3. If analystview is up-to-date and there are no product updates available, click OK. 4. Optional: If you do not want analystview to check for updates when Visio is launched, deselect the Check for updates automatically check box. 5. Optional: Click Check for Update if the "Check for updates automatically" check box is not selected. Activating analystview Navigating analystview 11 / 148

15 Using the Setup Assistant The Setup Assistant guides you through the process of setting up your process map for simulation. It automatically displays when you create a drawing using the BPMN Diagram template. The following figure shows the Setup Assistant. The Setup Assistant provides a visual indicator to help you determine when the configuration for each section is complete. Indicates that setup is ready for simulation. Indicates that one or more items is incomplete and is required to run simulation. Indicates that setup is partially ready and additional setup is available, but is also optional. You can run simulation without configuring these items. To use the Setup Assistant to guide your through the setup process: 1. Create a process. 2. Create the map. 3. Validate the model. 4. Define the simulation general settings. 5. Define data fields. 6. Define resources. (Participants, Schedules, and Roles) 7. Define activities. 8. Define arrivals. 9. Run simulation. 10. Optionally optimize the scenario. To use the Setup Assistant to create a scenario and run simulation, see the Modeling and simulation tutorial. 12 / 148

16 Modeling and simulation tutorial This tutorial will guide you through setting up a simple scenario so that you can run simulation. First, you will learn how to create a process and process map, then validate your model and configure and run simulation on your process. The story In this example, your organization processes work for different sizes of accounts, the small accounts are fairly straightforward and the large accounts require more expertise or possibly a supervisor to manage them. There are various ways to enter information for your organization's business process, such as scanning paper documents or importing electronic documents and forms. Tutorial Outline 1. Create your process 2. Create your map 3. Validate your business process map 4. Set simulation general settings 5. Define data fields 6. Define resources a. Define participants b. Define schedules c. Define roles 7. Define activity settings 8. Define arrivals 9. Run simulation 10. Optimize scenario 13 / 148

17 < Tutorial overview Create your map > 1. Create your process To create a new process: 1. Perform one of these tasks: On the analystview welcome screen, click New BPMN Model. -or- Select File to display the File Ribbon, then click New. Select the Flowchart category. Select BPMN Diagram, then click Create. 2. Click Save to save the new process. Name the file "MyProcess." The default Visio drawing name is prefixed with "Drawing," for example "Drawing1." You will have more files before you are finished, so you might want to create a new folder for this process. 3. Next, you can create a map. See Create your map. 14 / 148

18 < Create your process Validate your business process map> 2. Create your map When you create a new process, a new blank map is automatically created. You should create one map per drawing page (tab). By default, the empty map is named "Page-1." Tip: To change the name of the map, double-click the tab name and enter a new name. In this section, you will learn how to create a map similar to the example below and place activities and connectors on the map. You will also learn how to modify the tasks. Example map This model shows a generic "Account Processing" process. Big accounts, as determined by an Amount field, are handled by more expert workers. Small accounts are handled by less experienced workers. In case of a problem, a small account can be routed to an expert. To create your map: 1. In your new drawing that you created, "MyProcess.vsd," double-click the Page-1 tab at the bottom of the Visio window to rename the map. 2. Enter the map name: Main. Then, press [Enter]. 3. Now you are ready to design your model. To design your model: 1. In the Shapes pane, select BPMN Basic Shapes. 2. Drag a Start Event to the empty drawing area. Tip: For this tutorial, you can find the shapes you need in the BPMN Basic Shapes category. You can also find the Start Event shape in the BPMN Events category, as well as additional Events shapes. For information on the BPMN categories, and the shapes available, see you Microsoft Visio documentation. 15 / 148

19 3. Double-click the new Start Event and enter the text: Start. 4. In the BPMN Basic Shapes, drag a Gateway shape to the right of your Start Event. Then, right-click the shape and select Gateway Type > Exclusive data (with marker). The text on connections from the Gateway (Decision activity) to the downstream activities are used as route labels, it makes it easier for you to set up the Decision activity if there is text that describes what causes a given route. 5. Double-click the Gateway shape and enter the text: Decide Account Size. 6. Drag the Sequence Flow connector to link the Start Event to Decide Account Size. 7. In the BPMN Basic Shapes, drag a Task shape to the right of Decide Account Size. 8. Double-click and enter the text: Expert. Tip: Tasks are activities included within a process. 9. Drag another Task shape under Expert and enter the text: Regular. Next you will modify the task to be a user activity. 10. Right-click the Expert task and select Task Type > User. 11. Make the Regular task a User task also. 12. Drag the Sequence Flow connector to link the activities as shown in the following figure. Then add the text "Big accounts" and "Small accounts." 13. Add another Gateway (Decision) activity to determine whether the work is done or if there are problems it should go back for review. Then, right-click the shape and select Gateway Type > Exclusive data (with marker). Connect both the Expert and Regular activities to this decision activity, and from the decision activity, connect to the End Event (with the label "Done") or back to Expert for problems (label the connection line "Problems"). 14. Save your map and continue to Validate your business process map. 16 / 148

20 < Create your map Set simulation general settings > 3. Validate your business process map Before you begin simulation setup, you should validate your business process map. To validate your business process map: 1. Make sure all objects are properly connected. 2. In the Setup Assistant, review the text in Complete Model, then click Validate Model. If there are problems with your model, the Issues pane is displayed. Each rule validation is shown as a row in the Issues pane. For example, if an object is not properly connected, you might see an error similar to the one shown in the following figure. When you select an issue, the object is automatically selected in the model. 4. To help you easily identify where the problem is in the map, select the issue in the Issues pane. Notice the object in the map is automatically selected. 5. If any issues are displayed, resolve all issues, then click Validate Model again. If the validation is successful, Check Diagram is displayed in the Issues pane and you can close the Issues pane. After successful validation, the Complete Model section icon turns green and the Setup General Settings section is automatically displayed. 6. You begin the simulation setup process by defining general settings. 17 / 148

21 < Validate your business process map Define data fields > 4. Set simulation general settings The General Settings control when the simulation is run and how statistics are made available. In this section, you will set: the scenario name, when to begin simulation, control how long simulation runs, and the frequency in which it updates. To set simulation options: 1. In the Setup Assistant, scroll down to review the text in Setup General Settings. 2. Click Open General Settings. 3. On the General tab, enter the scenario name: My 1st Scenario. 4. Optional: Enter a description for the scenario. 5. Select the Simulation Time tab and select a start date of January 18th, 2010: 01/18/ :00 AM. (The simulation start time is always midnight.) 6. Also on the Simulation Time tab, select Relative to Start (relative to the simulation start date) and enter the Duration: 10 and select Week Days. The simulation will run for 10 week days starting on January 18 at midnight. Next, you will set the update frequency. 7. Select Simulation Statistics. By default this option is set to Custom with a frequency of Every 1 Hours, which will cause the statistics display to update every 1 simulated hour. 8. Select Show time in business time. 9. Make sure that Produce unique results in every run is not selected. Deselecting this option ensures that each time you run this simulation the randomness of the simulation will be the same, so if you run it with the same settings, the results would be the same. Later, you can try selecting this option to see different simulation results. 10. Click Apply, then OK. The Setup General Settings section icon turns green and the Setup Data Fields section is automatically displayed. 11. Click the Save button to save MyProcess.vsd. TIP: You can press Ctrl+S to save the process. 12. Continue to define data fields. General Settings configuration 18 / 148

22 < Set simulation general settings Define participants > 5. Define data fields Data fields are name and type pairs of information that simulation can use, for example, to determine the kind of work. There are two types of data fields: process fields and global fields. In this section you will create an "Amount" process field. To define data fields: 1. In the Setup Assistant, review the text in Setup Data Fields, then click Open Data Fields Settings. 2. On the Process Fields tab, in the Process field name, type: Amount, then click Add. The new data field appears in the list. 3. Change the Type for "Amount" to Currency and leave the default Merge Behavior as Ignore Children. 4. Click OK. The Setup Data Fields section icon turns green and the Setup Resources section is automatically displayed. 5. Continue to Define participants. Data fields configuration 19 / 148

23 Define resources The next step in the simulation setup is to define resources. In this section, you will define: Participants - Participants are the virtual people, software components or machinery that is required to execute an activity. The purpose of a simulation is often to study whether participants are over-worked or if there is an excess of resources. Schedules - Schedules control when people and systems are available. Roles - Roles control what work a user works on. You can also use roles to control in what sequence a participant looks for work. A role has a list of the participants that perform the role. 20 / 148

24 < Define data fields Define schedules > a. Define participants In this section, you will add two participants, Ron Regular and Eileen Expert. To define participants: 1. In the Setup Assistant, review the text in the Add Participants section. 2. Click Open Participant Settings. 3. Add these participants: 1. Add Ron Regular and keep the Type as Human. 2. Set Ron's hourly rate to 15 ($15), and his performance to 1. The performance factor affects the duration when Ron is working. 3. On the Schedules tab, select WorkShift and LunchBreak in the Unassigned schedules list. 4. Move both to Assigned schedules. 5. Next, add Eileen Expert with these settings: Quantity = 1 Rate = 25 Performance = 1 6. Assign both schedules to the Assigned schedules list. 4. Click OK. Continue to Define schedules. Participants configuration 21 / 148

25 < Define participants Define roles > b. Define schedules Schedules control when people and systems are available. There are two default schedules automatically available in new BPMN documents: WorkShift - A work schedule that defines the work hours each day and repeats every week day. LunchBreak - A break schedule that defines the lunch break and repeats every week day. For this scenario you will modify the LunchBreak schedule and assign the participants to the schedule. To modify a schedule: 1. In the Setup Assistant, click Define Schedules. Review the text. Then, click Open Schedules Settings. 2. Select the LunchBreak schedule. TIP: A Break schedule always overrides a Work schedule. In this example, the Work schedule starts at 8 AM, then the Lunch Break begins for 1 hour at 12 PM. The Work schedule reactivates at 1 PM and continues to 5 PM. 3. Click Apply. 4. Click OK. Then, continue to Define roles. Schedules configuration Business calendar 22 / 148

26 < Define schedules Define activity settings > c. Define roles For this scenario you will create two roles, Regular and Expert. To define roles: 1. In the Setup Assistant, click Add Roles. Review the text. Then, click Open Roles Settings. 2. In the Role name field, type Regular, and then click Add. 3. In the Role name field, type Expert, and then click Add. The list displays both roles. 4. Select Expert. Then, assign Eileen Expert to the role. 5. Select Regular. Then, assign Ron Regular to the role. 6. Click OK. Continue to Define activity settings. The Setup Resources section icon turns green and the Setup Activities section is automatically displayed. Roles configuration 23 / 148

27 < Define roles Define arrivals > 7. Define activity settings An activity is a step within a process. For process modeling, an activity on a map may represent a set of activities at the execution task level. In this section, you will define activity settings for the following activities that you have in your model: Regular Expert Decide Account Size Are we done? To define activity settings: 1. In the Setup Assistant, review the text in Setup Activities, then click Open Activities Settings. 2. Configure the Regular activity. 1. Select Regular. 2. Select the Duration tab. Set the duration to posnormal(10,5) and the unit to Minutes. 3. Select the Performers tab. Under Roles, select Regular. This setting links the participants that can play this role to the activity. You could assign participants directly to the activity, but that approach is like saying that you want to explicitly put something in someone's personal Inbox. 4. Click Apply. The configuration is complete for the Regular activity. Next, you will configure the Expert activity. 3. Configure the Expert activity. 1. Select Expert. 2. Select the Duration tab. Set the duration to posnormal(15,5) and select Minutes as the unit. 3. Select the Performers tab. Under Roles, select Expert. 4. Configure the Decide Account Size activity. 1. Select Decide Account Size. 2. Select the Routes tab. 3. Select Conditionally. 4. Select Big Accounts, and specify $100K: in the Condition box, type Amount >= Select Small Accounts and select Default. The weight numbers are ignored when Conditionally is selected. If you specify Conditionally for a decision activity, you must set a default decision route. (If all decision options are weight, not condition, then the default check box does not appear.) 6. Click Apply. 5. Configure the Are we done? activity. 1. Select Are we done?. 2. Select the Routes tab. 3. Keep By Weight selected. 4. Select Problems and type 10 for the weight. 5. Select Done and type 90 for the weight. TIP: The total value of weight does not have to add up to 100. Now, 10% of all work will have problems and be routed to the Expert. 6. Click Apply. This completes the Activity setup. 6. Click OK and continue to Define arrivals. The Setup Activities section icon turns green and the Setup Arrivals section is automatically displayed. NOTE: Start and End activities do not have simulation settings. However, you can double-click the Start or End activity in the map to change the name/description. Activities configuration 24 / 148

28 < Define activity settings Run tutorial simulation > 8. Define arrivals Arrivals determine what, where, and when work is created. In this section you will learn how to create and configure arrivals. To define arrivals: 1. In the Setup Assistant, review the text in Setup Arrivals, then click Open Arrivals Settings. 2. In the Arrival name field, enter: Small Accounts, and then click Add. The new arrival appears in the list. 3. From the Start Activity drop down list, select MyProcess.Main.Start. 4. Specify basic information about the arrival batch: 1. To define when the batch should start, accept the default "Relative" as in "Relative to Simulation Start Time." The default simulation start time is midnight, so "Relative" with the setting 8 Hours will make the work arrive at 8 in the morning. (The simulation start date is specified in General Settings configuration.) 2. For size, type posnormal(10,5) for the normal distribution with mean 10 and variance 5. It is necessary to use "posnormal" not normal because posnormal is a special version of the normal distribution that is guaranteed to not produce negative numbers. (For advanced details about distributions, see Distributions.) 3. Select the Field Values tab. Select Amount and for value type: triangular(10000, , 50000) This will generate items between and , with a mode of 50000, that is, most items will have a value around Select the Pattern tab. In a typical use case, the Pattern describes how work is created during the day and Pattern Repeat describes how this happens over several days. In this tutorial you will repeat the batch every hour for 8 hours, then repeat that pattern for 10 week days: 5. On the Pattern tab, select Repeat. Set to Every 1, choose Hours as the unit, and 8 as the maximum number of batches in the pattern. 25 / 148

29 6. On the Pattern Repeat tab, select Repeat. Set Every to 1, choose Week Days as the unit and 10 as the maximum number of patterns. This completes the first Arrival definition. 5. Click Apply to save. 6. Create a similar Arrival definition for Large Accounts, with amounts between $100,000 and $1 million by entering triangular(100000, , ) in the Value field. TIP: You can duplicate the Small Accounts arrival. Change the Arrival name to: Large Accounts, then click Duplicate. Then change the Amount value for the duplicated arrival. 26 / 148

30 7. When finished, click OK. All icons in the Setup Assistant are green and the Ready for Simulation section is displayed. 8. Now, you are ready for simulation! Continue to Run tutorial simulation. Arrivals configuration 27 / 148

31 < Define arrivals Optimize scenario > 9. Run simulation Once you have created a simulation scenario and saved the process, you can run the simulation. Simulation statistics appear in a docked pane in the lower portion of the Visio window. To run simulation: 1. In the Setup Assistant, review the text in the Ready for Simulation area. (It is optional to open the statistics settings.) 2. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Run. 2. Watch the numbers update on the screen. TIP: To slow down the simulation time, slide the speed slider all the way to the left. You can also pause the simulation during the run to better study the statistics. 3. Now look at statistics and try to answer these questions: How did Ron & Eileen's utilization compare? (A participant's utilization is the percentage of their work schedule that they are actually working on something) How did the completion time for small and large accounts compare? What is the reason for the difference? (Look at wait versus work time.) 4. Continue to optimize your scenario. 28 / 148

32 < Run simulation 10. Optimize scenario analystview provides a tool to optimize your process to make the best use of your participants for improved overall productivity. To optimize the scenario: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Optimize. The Optimizer wizard is displayed. 2. Select Express Optimization and click Next. 3. Review the Optimization Report, which indicates that it changed the quantity for the participant Eileen Expert from 1 to Click Finish. Simulation runs with the optimized settings. 5. In the Status section, General tab, compare the Current run column to the Previous run column. Look for the improved ratio or utilization values. 6. In the Status section, Optimization tab, see the details of the optimization. The Custom Optimization option suggests improvements and lets you select what elements of your scenario to change. 7. The tutorial is complete. Save and close MyProcess.vsd. 29 / 148

33 Modeling for simulation analystview is specifically designed for business process simulation. In analystview, work is created at various points in time, then routed through a set of activities and finally completed, or "terminated." At each activity something happens: the process instance may be routed based on a decision, for example, based on values of the data fields or by random distributions. If you are familiar with modeling for business process automation, you will find many familiar concepts in modeling for simulation. The way work is represented and routed in analystview is very similar to a business process production system; on a low level, many aspects of the two approaches are virtually the same. You need to plan details such as data fields, field assignment, and route conditions. In addition to the business process model, for simulation you must also specify: Participants and the roles they play and schedules they follow. The duration of each activity. How routing decisions are made, typically using distribution functions to simulate a realistic scenario. Arrivals of work into the model. For simulation you need to specify the details of scenarios that would happen in the real world. Creating, modifying, and routing work The most significant difference between analystview and an automated business process system is how work is created, worked on, and routed: Work creation is referred to as Arrivals in analystview. Business process designers set up Arrivals with absolute values or specified randomness to simulate the irregularities of reality. Process instances (sometimes called work items) are worked on by virtual people or systems. The people, called participants, are declared in the scenario and the business process designer specifies who does what and when. See Participants. Work can be routed based on conditions exactly as it happens in a production BPM system ( if amount < $100K, go this way, otherwise go that way or it can happen based on random draws between weighted routes.) When a scenario is run, the simulation uses virtual time, starting an internal clock at midnight of the date specified by the business process designer. The simulation spans a period of time, how long depends on settings in the scenario options. Creating a process Process activities Pending work 30 / 148

34 Creating a process and building a model When you create a BPMN diagram in Visio, each page tab is a map. Each can potentially be used in multiple processes. A process contains a single scenario definition. The scenario definition cannot be re-used across processes. TIP: Create the map and then configure the activities in the General Settings configuration. To create a new process and map: 1. Select File to display the File Ribbon, then click New. 2. Select the Flowchart category. 3. Select BPMN Diagram, then click Create. 4. Click Save to save the process. 5. In the Shapes pane, select Quick Shapes or BPMN Basic Shapes. 6. Add activities and connect them to create a map that reflects your business process. Example This model shows a generic "Account Processing" process. Big accounts, as determined by an Amount field, are handled by more expert workers. Small accounts are handled by less experienced workers. In case of a problem a small account can be routed to an expert. For additional information about this example, see the Modeling and simulation tutorial. This example is explored in detail in the Modeling and simulation tutorial. To configure the simulation scenario, setup: General Settings Data Fields Arrivals Roles Schedules Participants Activities Simulation scenarios 31 / 148

35 Business process activities When creating a business process for simulation, you create different activities. The following table describes the different types of activities. To configure Activities, see Activities configuration. TIP: Give activities meaningful names to distinguish them from each other while configuring your scenario and when analyzing results. Activity Start Event End Event User Task Script Task Exclusive Gateway Parallel Gateway Merge Gateway Subprocess Task Description The first step in a process, representing how work gets into the system, such as scanning in forms or processing input. (No activity setup.) You can have any number of start activities in your process, on any number of maps. Start activities appear in Arrival setup. You select a start activity from where the process execution should start for the arrival. Start activities also appear in the configuration of the Subprocess task where you specify which start activity to jump to. Double-click or press [F2] on the map shape to enter the name of the Start activity. The last step in a process or on a map, representing disposing of or archiving work. (No activity setup.) You are not required to use End activities; if work reaches an activity with no outgoing connections, then the work will return to the calling map or terminate if on a top level map. The exception to this rule is if the work arrives at the current map from a Jump activity. See Subprocess task for more details. Double-click the map icon to set the name and description for the End activity. An activity or set of tasks performed by a person, such as data entry. TIP: The distinction between user and script tasks is to facilitate your process modeling, but during simulation there are no restrictions on whether the resource processing work for this activity is a user or system resource. To create user tasks: Right-click a Task activity on the map, then select Task Type. To make the activity a user task, select "User." The Simulation tab settings also appear in Activities configuration. See Combined user/script and gateway activities for more information. An activity or set of tasks performed by a computer, such as matching an ID number in new work to a database for forwarding work to another system. Right-click a Task activity on the map, then select Task Type. To make the activity a script task, select either "None" or "Script." The Simulation tab settings also appear in Activities configuration. See Combined user/script and decision activities for more information. Directing a certain kind of work to continue down one path, while other work goes through different steps in the process. For example, address change requests could be processed automatically, while account name or ID changes would need to be handled by a person. Perform one of these tasks to create decision activities: Drag an Exclusive Data Gateway (with marker) shape from the BPMN Gateways category Right-click a Gateway activity on the map. Then, select Gateway Type, and then Exclusive Data. See Routing work for details about the Decision activity settings. The Simulation tab settings also appear in Activities configuration for decision activities. See Combined user/script and decision activities for more information. Unconditional AND split. Splits a process route, sending copies of process instances to each output transition (activity connected from the Parallel activity). If your map includes this activity, it must also include a Merge activity. Each Parallel activity should have a matching Merge activity. Perform one of these tasks to create parallel activities: Drag a Parallel Gateway shape from the BPMN Gateways category. Right-click the Gateway activity on the map. Then, select Gateway Type, and then Parallel. See Parallel and Merge activities. Joins two or more processes or copies of process instances into one, to continue on a single route. If your map includes this activity, it must also include a Parallel activity. Each Merge activity must have a matching Parallel activity. See Parallel and Merge activities. Allows you to run simulation on multiple maps. To define a Subprocess task, perform one of these actions: Select the Process tab. In the Subprocess group, click Create New. Visio adds a new page for the subprocess and creates a hyperlink from the selected shape to that page. TIP: If you want to link to an existing subprocess, on the Process tab, in the Subprocess group, click Link to Existing. Drag a Collapsed Sub-Process shape from the BPMN Activities category to the page. Then, right-click the task and select Hyperlink. Enter the hyperlink sub-address as the map/start event. (You can also click Browse to select the sub-address.) When finished, click OK. TIP: analystview automatically creates links to all Start activities within the process model. For example, you may have multiple maps within your process model, each represented on a different tab in Visio. Each time you create a map with a Start event, analystview automatically creates a link. To change a link for a subprocess, right-click the subprocess and select Simulation Settings. In the Sub-Process Properties dialog box, click the Link drop-down list to modify the link for the subprocess. NOTE: analystview does not interpret data objects, associations, and swimlanes. When you validate your model, an analystview warning will appear in the Issues pane for all objects, except for swimlanes. When you select the issue in the Issues page, the object with the issue is automatically selected in the model. Activities configuration Combined user/script and gateway activities Parallel and merge activities 32 / 148

36 Combined user/script and decision activities You can use a task activity as a combined user/decision or script/decision activity. For example, if you connect multiple activities to a user task on your map, it will automatically function like an exclusive gateway, without adding a separate exclusive gateway. NOTE: Fields updated anywhere in the activity can affect routing if they are used in weights or conditions because the decision part is the last executed in the activity during simulation. The Routes tab in the Activities dialog box contains the decision control so that you can configure decision weights and conditions for the combined activity exactly as you would for an exclusive gateway. If you delete all but one outbound connection, the Routes tab in the Activities dialog box becomes unavailable. Activities configuration Importing decision weights from managerview 33 / 148

37 Routing work There are two fundamental ways of controlling how work is routed during simulation: by condition or by weight. Condition-based routing This type of routing depends on the evaluation of Boolean expressions. For each route, expressions are evaluated in the order specified by the user, and the work is routed on the first path where an expression evaluates to true. This does not mean that the routing has to be deterministic; it is possible to use distribution functions in the expressions as long as the expressions evaluate to true or false. Typically, conditions in simulations are used to test on the values of data fields as in "if Amount < $100K go this way otherwise go that way." TIP: If using conditions, make sure that the conditions are mutually exclusive when you want them to be. Weight-based routing By using weights, you can leave the decision making to the analystview, with some direction. Using a classic probability example of beads in a bag as illustration, weights work as follows: 1. Prior to routing a process instance, analystview evaluates each weight expression and adds up the results. 2. The sum of weights denotes the total number of beads in the bag, s. 3. If we assign a color to each route, a given route's weight w (the result of the weight expression evaluation) denotes the number of beads of that color. 4. Simulator picks a bead out of the bag at random and based on the color chooses the corresponding route. 5. The probability of the route is thus w/s. You may set the weights as percentages (and have them all add up to 100) or probabilities (and have them all add up to 1.0) but analystview does not put such constraints on the use of weights, because that would make it impractical to use distribution function in the weights. TIP: If using weights, make sure you understand that weights are not necessarily percentages or probabilities. Be careful about the use of weight expressions (in particular distribution functions) so you have a reasonably good idea about what to expect of the routing in your scenario. Otherwise it can be difficult to distinguish between valid and invalid simulation results. NOTE: If the total weight of all branches for weight-based routing evaluates to zero or less, process instances are immediately terminated and calculated as completed work. NOTE: Unless you use the Produce unique results option, you will get the same result of the simulation in every run and in particular, if you run a single instance through the process it will take the exact same route every time. For information about results settings, see General Settings configuration. Activities configuration Importing decision weights from managerview Business process activities Simulation overview Simulation scenarios Modeling and simulation tutorial 34 / 148

38 Parallel and merge activities A parallel gateway makes multiple instances of process instances and sends them all out, simultaneously, one instance per output route. A merge gateway activity is a parallel gateway with only one input and multiple outputs. Processes can contain a parent process and one or more child processes. For example, a form may need three signatures from three different and independent departments. Three instances of the form may be sent to the departments to be signed in parallel. When all three signed versions are received back, they become a single process instance again and the form may be processed further. Merge waits until a process instance is completed on all parallel branches before letting it continue down the flow. Using parallel and merge (split and join) gateway activities analystview has strict requirements for using parallel/merge gateway activities: You must always use them in pairs. Every route split out of a parallel activity should reunite in one corresponding merge activity. However, if you have a sub-process task without a return, workitems still merge at the merge activity. Nothing should arrive at a merge activity other than work originating at the corresponding parallel activity. If there is a loop back to a parallel activity, it must occur after the corresponding merge activity and cannot enter the route between parallel and merge activities, nor can it branch off before the merge activity. Each parallel process instance gets its own set of data values. Any changes to values are not reflected back in the work that entered the parallel activity. The data are merged into a single item at the merge activity. Merging data fields You can control how data fields are merged into a parent process in a merge activity using the simulation engine merge behavior attribute support on data fields. The merge behavior can be Ignore, Add or Replace: Ignore children indicates that the child field values are lost on a merge Add to parent indicates that the child field values are added to the parent field value at each merge. For string fields each child field is post-fixed to the parent field value for each merge. For Boolean fields the parent field is set to a logical OR with the child field for each merge. Replace in parent means the parent field is replaced with the value of the child field for each merge. The attribute controls the merge behavior globally to all parallel-merge structures for each field. If there are two parallel-merge structures in the process, the merge setting for each field will apply to both structures. Merge behavior does not apply: To global fields. All process instances share global fields. When child instances are created, in Parallel activities. Child instances always inherit the field values of their parents. Example 1 - Add to parent A string field is set to merge behavior Add. Two children are merged to the parent. The parent originally has value x, the first child merged has value y the second z. As each merge happens the parent field value changes as follows: x - original value xy - after first merge xyz - after second merge Order The order in which the post merge string will be appended depends on the order in which each child arrives at the merge activity. In this example 1, if the child z arrives at the merge activity prior to the child y then the post merge string will be 'xzy'. Example 2 - Replace in parent An integer field is set to merge behavior Replace. Two children are merged; the children have values 1 and 2 respectively. The parent changes values: 0 - original value 1 - after first merge 2 - after second merge Boolean OR truth table Boolean data fields merge according to the Boolean OR logic: Argument A Argument B Function value false false false false true true true false true true true true Conditional parallel You can include conditions on parallel paths. All, some, or none of the parallel paths may be executed, depending on the conditions. Apart from the conditions, the conditional Parallel activity works exactly the same as the unconditional Parallel, with the same restrictions and features: After the Parallel the "parent" instance moves to wait at the corresponding Merge activity. Each time a "child" instance reaches the Merge (or terminates, whichever comes first), the child s fields are merged to the parent as specified in each fields' merge behavior settings. When no more child instances are executing in the Parallel-Merge the parent instance continues execution from the Merge. NOTE: Activity statistics for the parallel paths will vary as determined by the conditions. Items may or may not travel a given path. Process activities Activities configuration 35 / 148

39 Simulation scenarios A scenario refers to the process model maps and the simulation settings that are the foundation of a simulation run. A scenario always belongs to a process and a process has only one scenario so the two concepts are similar but there are some subtle differences: The process name determines the name of the process model The scenario name is independent of the process name This difference is most obvious in a situation where you use the same process model, unchanged, in two scenarios. The scenarios differ only in the way work is distributed across participants. The Scenario name (which you can change in General Settings configuration) is only used in managerview Server in the "Scenario" dimension. If you do not use managerview Server, the scenario name is irrelevant. If you use managerview Server, you could potentially have two Visio documents for the same process model. For example, you may have a folder "AsIs" with the ClaimProcess.vsd and another "ToBe" folder with ClaimProcess.vsd. If you open either process, the process name is "ClaimProcess" and the models are identical. But the scenarios are different: in ToBe, work is assigned to people differently. In this case you would call the Scenarios "AsIs" and "ToBe" respectively, and then compare the Scenarios in managerview Server. Best practices All participants should have a schedule assigned to them otherwise they will be working 24 hours 7 days a week. Your scenario should have at least one role or participant assigned to each activity to get meaningful results. You should always save your document before doing a simulation run as it may take a long time to run. Give activities meaningful names to distinguish activities both while configuring your scenario and when analyzing results. TIP: A schedule assigned via role assignment only works if the participant does not have any other schedule assigned. Sample simulation scenarios 36 / 148

40 Sample simulation scenarios Two Schedules: Morning and Evening In this example, there are two participants: Dan and Pam. Both Dan and Pam are assigned to the 'morning' schedule in the Participants configuration. There are two corresponding roles: 'MorningRole' and 'NightRole'. Dan is assigned to 'MorningRole' and there is no role schedule for Dan. Pam is assigned to the 'NightRole' and there is a 'Night' schedule associated with Pam's role assignment. Pam now has two different schedules: the 'morning' schedule, which is her regular schedule, plus the 'Night' schedule via her role assignment. This sample process has two activities: 'Night' and 'Morning'. The 'Night' activity has the 'NightRole' as the performer and the 'Morning' Activity has the 'MorningRole' as the performer. However, this configuration does not work: the work in the 'Night' activity never gets completed by the 'NightRole'. What happens in this scenario is this: With Pam assigned the morning schedule, she is not working nights. It does not matter that her role assignment is limited to nights. With no schedules assigned to Pam, she works 24/7 and her role assignment restriction is irrelevant. To address this problem, you can try to assign Pam a work schedule that overlaps with her night schedule. Verify that her role assignment is actually restricted to the Night schedule. Modify participant Pam's configuration and unassign her regular 'Morning' schedule, then she will get the 'NightRole' work and can complete it. 37 / 148

41 Simulation setup To configure simulation scenarios, on the Simulation Ribbon, click the appropriate setup button. NOTE: You should save your process before you can configure simulation. To create a new scenario: 1. Define the scenario's General Settings. 2. Define Process fields and Global fields. 3. Define Participants. 4. Define Schedules. 5. Define Roles. 6. Define Activities. 7. Define Arrivals. 8. Define Timed Sequences. 9. Define Logged Events. 10. Define SLAs. Simulation scenarios Building expressions Acquiring production data 38 / 148

42 General Settings configuration The General Settings control when the simulation is run and how statistics are made available. You can define most options initially, but for the Simulation Statistics tab "Breakdown" and managerview tab "Expose fields" settings you must first configure data fields. To configure options: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click General. 2. Modify the settings as necessary. 3. Click Apply, and then OK. Options setup Tab Field Description General Scenario name This is the name of the scenario and is used in managerview as a member of the Scenario OLAP dimension. The scenario name is only used if the scenario is configured for managerview. In that case, the scenario name will appear as a member in the Scenario dimension in managerview. Scenario names should be as descriptive as possible. Scenario description More lengthy description of the scenario. Simulation Time Simulation should start Controls how the virtual clock is initialized in the simulation run. The simulation always starts at midnight. Specify the date the simulation should begin. You can select the date from the calendar. Simulation Statistics Simulation should stop When all work is done Relative to start Date/Time Conditionally Controls when the simulation run stops. The simulation run will stop when there is nothing left to do in the system. So if the arrivals are limited, you could choose to let the simulation run until empty and study how long it would take to get all the work done. TIP: If the Arrivals patterns are unlimited or if there is a loop in the system you may not be aware of, this is a risky setting; worst case you could exhaust system resources trying to run the simulation. Relative to simulation start time. This is a very common setting. Specify Duration and Units of time. For example, you can choose to stop the simulation run after 20 week days. Use this option to stop at a specific simulated date. Select the date from the calendar drop-down list. The simulation always ends at midnight. TIP: The simulation time should be longer than any Pattern Repeat iterations you define in Arrivals configuration, to allow the planned arrival pattern repetitions to complete. NOTE: If you use a distribution function in conjunction with a unit of time, the result may be a fraction. For example, if you specify simulation duration of "uniform(1,3)" and units "Week Days" the simulation should stop at various days and time, because the expression could return 1.39 week days, which would stop simulation at a different time the following day. Stop when a specific number of items have met a specified condition for the selected activity. Enter a number of items. Select the measure: When x items have arrived at the activity When x items are in progress (currently active) at the activity, or When x items have completed the activity Select the activity from the drop-down list of activities in your process. These settings control how frequently statistics are updated in analystview. Update frequency Breakdown Produce unique results in every run Show time in business time Hours in a business day Simulation stop. Select to only update at the end of the simulation. This setting is useful if you only want to produce data for managerview. Each step. This will make the simulation very slow. However, it can be useful for debugging. Custom. This is the most common setting. It will cause simulator to update the statistics display at the specified frequency, such as every 4 hours or every day. NOTE: While this setting can affect the actual, perceived speed of the simulation, the slider in the Execution pane enables you to control in real-time the speed at which the simulation runs. The simulation run speed slider lets you speed simulation up during boring phases (such as over a weekend) and slow down when something interesting is happening. The update frequency set here is fixed for the simulation run. Allows a string field to be selected for breakdown of Simulation Statistics. Only select fields that will obtain a small number of different values. A typical example is the work type. You must define a data field to select for the Breakdown before completing this setting. See Process fields configuration. Advanced option. Check this option to simulate the scenario with random results, using a random seed so results vary each time. Leave unchecked when using the scenario in a presentation and you want familiar results. NOTE: Even if you check this option, any change in the simulation setup between two simulations, however seemingly unimportant, can potentially change the results between the first and the second simulation. This is because the simulation is based on a series of pseudo-random numbers, all generated from the same "seed." A change in simulation setup can change the sequence in which these numbers are used and the results will be different even if the seed was kept the same (as it will be, if you deselect Produce unique results in every run.) Advanced users may refer to Distributions for detailed simulation distribution information. Checked by default. Select the hours and minutes of the length of your business day. Week days and hours only are shown when it is 1 or greater. Business calendar. Specify how many hours are in a work day. This is for computing Business Day durations during simulation; it does not affect how the business calendar is defined. managerview System name Controls what system the scenario belongs to in managerview. Simulation scenarios Creating a process Selected data fields Publish simulation results to managerview Select exposed fields to transmit to managerview when simulation results are published. You must define process data fields before you can select them to expose. See Data fields configuration. Controls whether the results are transmitted to managerview. If selected, the process definition XPDL is automatically exported to managerview together with the log events when the simulation is run. 39 / 148

43 Using global fields and process fields You can define both global fields and process fields in your simulation scenario. In some cases, you may want a field to hold a constant across the scenario, while other times you might want a process field just for a specific activity duration. Process fields analystview supports process fields of type: integer, float, currency, Boolean, string, date/time. See Process fields for information about defining process fields for a simulation scenario. Process fields declared in the scenario automatically become variables that can be used in any expression script in the Activity settings. As script variables, process field values can be directly used and updated. For example, it is possible to assign to an integer process field in an activity pre-script with this script: a = 87; The same effect can be achieved with a pre-assignment on the activity with a as the target field and 87 as the expression. Another example pre-or post-script is a = b where a and b are process fields of the same type. A single string process field per scenario can be chosen for breakdown of simulator statistics. Typically this is a field denoting the work type or something similar. Internally, analystview handles currency as float. In expressions, assume that currency variables are float variables. All process fields can be selected for analysis in managerview Server. See JavaScript and Floating point numbers. Global fields In addition to process fields, analystview allows a set of global fields. Global fields are not local to process instances. They can be used in expressions in: Activity settings (just as local process fields can) Arrival settings (unlike process fields) Schedule settings (unlike process fields) Participant settings (unlike process fields) Logged event settings Global variables cannot be used for simulation statistics or with managerview Server, they are useful for advanced scripting. For example, you may use a global field for counting the number of items that have completed a given activity and use that information for routing purposes. Default values Global fields get default values like local process fields. Global Date/Time fields get simulation start time as the default value. Example uses of global and process fields These examples are sensible depending on the scenario. A global integer field "myint" can be assigned a new value with a line of JavaScript: myint = 87 A Schedule/General/Duration expression can use a global field. For example, simply: myint. A process field can be set in an Arrival/Process Fields/Value expression based on a global field: myint + 87 An Activity pre- or post script can use both global and local fields. Assume myglobalint is global and mylocalint is local, these are example, legal script lines: myglobalint = myglobalint + mylocalint; // This would add up mylocalint values for all process instances mylocalint = mylocalint + myglobalint; // this would add the value of a global field to each process instance Process fields configuration Global fields configuration Building expressions 40 / 148

44 Process Fields configuration Process fields are name and type pairs of information that simulation can use, for example, to determine the kind of work. Process fields can be part of arrival and activity definitions. Process fields are local to each process instance, while global fields are shared across the scenario. See Using Global Fields and Process Fields for examples, and Building expressions for more details about process fields in script and simulation variables. To add process fields: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Fields. 2. Enter the process field name, then click Add. Process field names must follow the rules described in the table below and cannot be the same as global field names. 3. Select the type for the process field. 4. Select the merge behavior. 5. Click Apply. 6. Repeat steps 1-5 to add any additional process fields. 7. Next, optionally configure Global fields or continue to define Participants configuration. Process Fields Field Process field name Type Merge Behavior Add Remove Rename Duplicate Import... Export... Description The process field name. This is how you will refer to the field in expressions. The process field name must: Be unique from other process field or global field names. For example, you cannot have a Global and Process field named "Counter." Start with an alpha character. Not include spaces. Not start with the combination "SIM_". This prefix is reserved for use by analystview. Not be a word reserved for use by analystview. For a list of distribution, local, and global functions, see the list in the Expression Builder when opened on an Activity expression. Select a field type from the list: Boolean Currency Date/Time Float Integer String For more details about each type, see JavaScript. Select how to merge process after Decision, Parallel and User/Script Task (with more than 1 route only) activities. Options include: Ignore children, Add to parent, or Replace in parent. See Parallel and Merge activities for descriptions of how each option works. Adds the new field. Click to delete the selected Process Field. A warning dialog box appears for you to confirm or cancel deletion if the process field is referenced. If more than one Process Field was selected for removal, you can click All to remove all the selected Process Fields at once. Otherwise, you will be prompted for each used Process Field, one by one with details. References are discovered in arrival field values, in activity performer, pre-, and post-assignments, in options statistics breakdown, or in options selected process fields. But references are not discovered in expressions or scripts, for example, in activity pre- and post-script code. If an item is referenced, those references will be removed if you delete the Process Field. Click Show Details in the warning dialog box for a list of all the references to this Process Field in your system. You can copy the list in case you want to first make changes prior to removing the Process Field. Click to rename the selected Process Field. Renames the Process Field in all instances in the scenario. Rename is enabled when a single Process Field is selected and the name field contains text that is not already a Process Field name. If you click Rename the selected Process Field will be renamed. If you rename a Process Field, references are automatically updated throughout the system, but not when used in expressions or scripts, for example in activity pre- and post-script code. Duplicates the current Process Field to make it easy for you to create a similar process field. 1. Select the Process Field you want to duplicate from the list of existing fields. 2. Edit the name in the Process field name. 3. Click Duplicate. The new Process Field appears on the list with its unique name and the same type as the original Process Field. Click to import process fields from a CSV file, then select a file from which to import and click Open. Click to export process fields to a CSV file, then specify a file name for the exported process fields and click Save. NOTE: To export process fields to managerview, use Export Data Fields button on the Simulation Ribbon. OK Cancel Apply Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. TIP: When you add or rename local and global process field names, analystview verifies that the names are valid. Global Fields configuration Using global fields and process fields 41 / 148

45 Global Fields configuration Global fields are name and type pairs of information that simulation can use. Global fields are typically used to count the availability of a shared resource or to hold a scenario-wide constant. For example, the global field may be a number that is used in duration expressions in all activity durations. You can also use a global field to set thresholds. For example: Assume there are multiple decision activities in the model that are used to sample work for quality control. Assume that work is sampled with the same sample rate in all those decision activities. Define a global field "SampleRate," then set the rate in the global field initial value, and use this in all the decision activities. This allows you to control the sample rate in one place, by changing the global field initial value. Like data fields, global fields can be use in expressions and scripts, however data fields are local to each process instance, while global fields are shared across all active work. You can change the initial value for a global field, but all global field names must follow the rules described in Process fields configuration and must not overlap data field names. You can assign values to global fields in: The Data Fields dialog box - Global Fields tab. This initial value is set when simulation starts. Activity pre- and post scripts. You cannot use global fields in simulation General Settings. See Using Global Fields and Data Fields for examples. For additional information about global fields in script and simulation variables, see Building expressions. Configuring global fields To add fields: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Fields, then select the Global Fields tab. 2. In Global field name, enter the name, then click Add. Global field names must follow the rules described in Data Fields configuration and cannot be the same as data field names. 3. Select the type for the global field. 4. Enter the initial value. 5. Click Apply to save changes. 6. Repeat steps 1-5 to add any additional global fields. 7. Next, configure Participants. Global Fields Field Global field name Type Initial Value Value Add Remove Rename Duplicate Import... Export... OK Cancel Apply Description The global field name. This is how you will refer to the field in expressions. The field type: Boolean Currency Date/Time Float Integer String The initial value for the specified type. Each type has a default that you can modify the value in the Value field below the list of Global fields in the setup dialog box. Enter an initial value for each data field. Click... to use the Expression Builder. See Building expressions. Adds the new field. Click to delete the selected Global Field. There are no warnings before deletion. Click to rename the selected Global Field. Renames the Global Field in all instances in the scenario. Rename is enabled when a single Global Field is selected and the Global Field name contains new text. Duplicates the current Global Field to make it easy for you to create a similar global field. 1. Select the Global Field you want to duplicate from the list of existing fields. 2. Edit the name. 3. Click Duplicate. The new Global Field appears on the list with its unique name and the same type and initial value as the original Global Field. Click to import global fields from a CSV file, then select a file from which to import and click Open. Click to export global fields to a CSV file, then specify a file name for the exported global fields and click Save. Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. NOTE: When you add or rename local and global data field names, analystview verifies that the names are valid. Using global fields and process fields Process fields configuration 42 / 148

46 Participants configuration Participants are the virtual people, software components or machinery that is required to execute an activity. The purpose of a simulation is often to study whether participants are over-worked or if there is an excess of resources. Participants are usually people who can work on activities, but a participant can also be declared as "System," for example to model some type of required equipment or a service. A non-human participant is only relevant in simulation. You can create participant definitions in analystview, or import a list of participants from your production business process. To add participants: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Resources, then click Participants. 2. Enter a name and click Add. The new name appears on the list. 3. Specify the participant Type. 4. Modify the settings for the participant using the General, Schedules, and Roles tabs. See the Participants setup table for details about each option. 5. Add additional participants as needed. 6. Click Apply. 7. Next, continue to Schedules configuration. Participants setup Field/tab Participant name Type Add Remove Rename Duplicate Description The participant name. Select Human or System as the participant type, depending whether this participant is a person or a machine. Click to add a new participant to the list. Click to delete the selected participant. A warning dialog box appears for you to confirm or cancel deletion if the participant is referenced. If more than one participant was selected for removal, you can click All to remove all the selected participants at once. Otherwise, you will be prompted for each used participant, one by one with details. References are discovered in activity performer assignments. References are not discovered expressions or scripts, such as in activity pre- and post-script code. If an item is referenced, such as a participant in a Role definition, those references will be removed if you delete the participant. Click Show Details in the warning dialog box for a list of all the references to this participant in your system. You can select the list and press Ctrl+C to copy it if you want to make changes prior to removing the participant. Click to rename the selected participant. Renames the participant in all instances in the scenario. Rename is enabled when a single participant is selected and a unique name is entered in the Participant name field. If you click Rename the selected participant will be renamed. If you rename a participant, references to it are updated throughout the system. Duplicates the current participant to make it easy for you to create a similar one. 1. Select the participant you want to duplicate from the list of existing participants. 2. Edit the name in the Participant name. 3. Click Duplicate. The new participant appears on the list with its unique name and the same settings as the original participant, including role and schedule assignments. General Quantity Specify how many people or machines for this participant. Typically this is 1, but you can specify a group of anonymous participants to be modeled by entering a number larger than 1. For example, you might have a generic participant "Data Entry Specialist" of quantity 50. It is also a useful tool when you want to experiment with different work loads and resource allocations such as: "what if I bought 2 extra scanners?" or "what happens if I clone Lisa Simpson? " You would change Lisa's quantity to 00 and see the impact on the simulation run. The quantity must be a number between 1 and Schedules Hourly rate Performance Enter the hourly rate of expense for the resource. The hourly rate is an expression that is evaluated every time the participant finishes work. That is, the hourly rate does not have to be fixed for a participant throughout the simulation though in most cases the hourly rate will be a fixed number. At simulation time the hourly rate expression must evaluate to a number. The rate is used in cost statistics computation. Every time the participant works on something, the simulator uses the duration (the time it took to work on the item) together with the hourly rate to compute the cost of performing the work. This is the only way cost is used. For example, if the participant is available for 8 hours a day at $20/hour and not working on anything, the cost statistics impact is zero; cost is only computed for work done. Enter a numerical expression that simulation uses together with an activity's duration expression to compute how long it takes the participant to complete a piece of work. The performance expression is evaluated and the result multiplied onto the result of the duration expression. A performance factor of 2 means that it takes twice the time to perform the work and a performance factor of.5 means that it takes 1 half the time to perform the work. See Executing work for information on how the performance is used. NOTE: If the participant is assigned to a role and you define that Performance factor for that role in the Roles tab (see below), the role Performance setting will override the participant Performance setting that you set here in the General tab. Select one or more of the schedules you defined for this scenario. TIP: All participants should have a schedule assigned to them otherwise they will be working 24 hours 7 days a week. Schedules determine when the participant is available for work. A participant can have any number of work and break schedules assigned. Assigned schedules are allowed to overlap. A break schedule always overrides a work schedule. Example: Liza has a Work schedule "Work Day" from 8 AM 5 PM She also has a Break schedule "Lunch Break" from 12 PM 1 PM. The break schedule overrides the work schedule, so Liza is unavailable during lunch. TIP: Schedules used to restrict role assignments work independently of schedules assigned directly to the participant. A participant can have both a regular work schedule and a role-assignment schedule. You may only assign a schedule using a role assignment if the primary schedule assigned to the participant includes the hours of the role schedule. TIP: To assign multiple participants to a schedule, use the Schedules configuration Participants tab. Roles Select one or more of the roles you defined for this scenario and arrange them in order of role assignment priority using the Move Up and Move Down buttons. The order of the roles affects the priority order this participant will perform work. The use of roles as Participant attributes is also sometimes referred to as "role assignments." The order of the roles in the participants' role list is important because during simulation, the participant looks for work according to that order. The participant first looks for work assigned directly to it, next it looks for work playing the roles in the assigned order. A role assignment can optionally have a work schedule attached. This means that the participant will only fill that role during the time designated by the schedule. A role assignment is a tool to help control what a user works on, when and in what order. Without role assignment, you can still make participants do work by assigning them directly to activities in the Performers settings when you define an activity; but you need to have the role defined to easily control in what order a given participant performs work. 43 / 148

47 OK Cancel Apply Schedule Performance Optionally select a specific schedule during which the participant fills this role. For example, you might want this participant to be assigned a supervisor role only during the time of the regular supervisor's lunch break. TIP: This Role Schedule must be a subset of the participant's regular schedule to be triggered in the simulation. If this scheduled time is outside the participant's schedule, the participant is not working during the role schedule, and no work will be done because the participant only works the participant's schedule. If you want to manage the participant's schedule exclusively using Role Schedule, then do not assign a schedule for the participant. Based on this optional Role Schedule, the Participant will be restricted to this Schedule when he or she works this particular Role. Example Using these three schedules: Work1: 8:00AM- 5:00 PM Work2: 2:00PM - 4:00 PM (Note that work2 is a sub-set of work1) Work3: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (Note that work1 and work3 are mutually exclusive) Participant 'Pam' has the regular schedule 'Work1' and her Role is 'Manager'. If we assign the schedule 'Work2' to the Role 'Manager,' then the 'Work2' schedule triggers Pam to work the Manager Role between 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. However, if we assign the schedule 'Work3' to the Role 'Manager,' then Pam will never work the Manager Role. This is because Pam's Regular schedule does not permit her to work after 5:00 P.M. Enter a number expression that simulation uses together with an activity's duration expression to compute how long it takes the participant to complete a piece of work. The performance expression is evaluated and the result multiplied onto the result of the duration expression. A performance factor of 2 means that it takes twice the time to perform the work and a performance factor of.5 means that it takes 1 half the time to perform the work. See Executing work for information on how the performance is used. Click... to use the Expression Builder. See Building expressions. NOTE: If you assign Performance factor here, it will override the participant Performance setting you defined for the individual participant in the General tab. If you leave this field empty, participants will use their individual performance factors for simulation. Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. The only way to prioritize how participants work is using roles, in the Roles tab for a given participant in the Participants section. If you assign performers to activities directly, expect the prioritizing to be arbitrary. Always use roles if the order is important. Modeling for simulation Creating a process Modeling and simulation tutorial Assigning work 44 / 148

48 Schedules configuration Schedules control when people and systems are available. Schedules are used to control when participants are available for work and what they are doing and when (the roles a participant plays at a given time). For more information on Schedule usage, see Participants. Only human participants require schedules. There are two default schedules automatically available in new BPMN documents: WorkShift - A work schedule that defines the work hours each day and repeats every week day. LunchBreak - A break schedule that defines the lunch break and repeats every week day. NOTE: These schedules are automatically created in existing BPMN documents if in the Simulation General Settings dialog box, the "Show time in business time" check box is selected and no schedules have been defined. To configure schedules, on the Simulation Ribbon, click Resources. Then select the Schedules tab. To add a work schedule: 1. Enter the schedule name, and then click Add. 2. Select the schedule type - Work. 3. Modify the settings for this schedule in the General, Start, and Repeat tabs. See details in the Schedules setup table. 4. Click Apply to save. To add a break schedule: 1. Enter the schedule name, and then click Add. 2. Set the schedule type to Break, Holiday, or Vacation. 3. Modify the settings for this schedule in the General, Start, and Repeat tabs. See details in the Schedules setup table. 4. Click Apply to save. NOTE: A Break schedule always overrides a Work schedule. Breaks Scheduled breaks When the break time starts, the participant stops working. If another participant becomes available while the work is suspended, the working participant continues the work, the same as for the end-of-work schedule. For example, if Jonathon goes on break at noon and leaves some work pending, Celeste (assigned to the same Role) returns from lunch at 12:30, Celeste will pick up and continue the pending work. Unscheduled breaks Participants are assumed to be 100% available while they are at work. If it is important to account for unscheduled breaks, you would need to do so manually by building some slack time into activity durations or in regular work and break schedules. Alternatively, you could introduce a couple of special break schedules such as "morning slack" and "afternoon slack" with some randomness to duration and start time. Business calendar You can define a business calendar to specify business hours for a company or department and use in your simulation scenario. To define a business calendar: Check the Business Calendar check box when you configure work hours, lunch breaks, and other schedules you want to include in your business calendar. Together, all the schedules with Business Calendar selected compose your business calendar. Schedules for roles and participants You can associate a schedule with a role, but schedules are not rigidly assigned to roles. If you want to specify a schedule for a participant, do so directly. If you want to restrict what the participant can work on to a specific time-frame, you can assign a schedule to a role, and the role to the participant. Whether the participant is at work or on break is controlled by the Schedules tab settings for the participant setup, which is what the simulator uses to calculate utilization. Schedules setup Field Schedule name Description Enter a new schedule name, and then click Add. The schedule name appears in the Schedule tab when you set up Participants. Type Work The participant is available for work during the time designated by the schedule. Business calendar Add Remove Rename Duplicate Break Holiday Vacation The participant is unavailable during the time designated by the schedule. Refer to these as "break schedules." Check to include this schedule item in your business calendar. analystview will compose a business calendar using all the schedules with Business Calendar selected, so you can create a working hours schedule, a business holidays schedule, regular lunch breaks, etc. which together make up your business calendar. Business calendar. Click to add a new schedule to the list. Click to delete the selected schedule. A warning dialog box appears for you to confirm or cancel deletion if the schedule is referenced. If more than one Schedule was selected for removal, you can click All to remove all the selected schedules at once. Otherwise, you will be prompted for each used schedule, one by one with details. References are discovered in participant role and schedule assignments. Schedules cannot be used in Activity Pre- and Post script code. If an item is referenced, such as a LunchBreak schedule in a Participant definition, those references will be removed if you delete the Schedule. Click Show Details in the warning dialog box for a list of all the references to this schedule in your system. You can select the list and then copy it using Ctrl+C if you want to first make changes prior to removing the schedule. Click to rename the selected schedule. Renames the schedule in all instances in the scenario. Rename is enabled when a single schedule is selected and you enter a unique name in the Schedule name field. If you click Rename the selected schedule will be renamed. If you rename a schedule, references to it are updated throughout the system. Duplicates the current schedule to make it easy for you to create a similar one. 1. Select the schedule you want to duplicate from the list of existing schedules. 2. Edit the name in the Schedule name. 3. Click Duplicate. The new schedule appears on the list with its unique name and the same settings as the original schedule. General tab Duration How long the schedule applies each time it's used. An expression that must evaluate to a number at simulation time. Start tab Units Determines when the Schedule should first be applied: Used with the duration to determine the length of the schedule. 45 / 148

49 Repeat tab Participants tab OK Cancel Apply Start Relative Date/Time At simulation start time. Relative to simulation start time. For example, if simulation starts at Sunday at midnight, the schedule can be started 8 hours later to denote 8 AM Monday morning. The Duration is an expression that must relate to a number at simulation time. An absolute date and time. This is particularly useful for Vacation and Holiday break schedules. Most schedules will probably be repeated. A typical example is a 9 hour Work schedule repeated every week day or a 1 hour lunch break also repeated every week day. The options are: No repeat Every day Week Days Selected Days Other Single instance. 7 days a week Monday - Friday Specify days of the week for this schedule by checking the appropriate boxes for each day to include in the schedule. Select to repeat the schedule at custom intervals. Duration is an expression that must evaluate to a number at simulation run time. Use the arrow buttons to assign participants to the selected schedule, or remove them from one selected schedule at a time. If you select multiple schedules, you cannot modify the assignments on the Participants tab. To add, remove, or modify participants in your simulation scenario, see Participants configuration. Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Scheduling tips You can have schedules start prior to the simulation start time. Schedules that don't apply past simulation start time (because they expire before, for any reason) will be ignored. Repeating schedules that are set to start before simulation start time will do a fast forward to simulation start time and then be used normally. Schedules you create here appear on the Schedules tab when you set up Participants. Schedule repetition is computed based on where the schedule started in the previous iteration. For example, assume the schedule is set to start 8 hours after simulation start time. Assume the simulation start time is Sunday at midnight, so the schedule starts at 8 AM Monday. The repetition is set to Week Days. A week day is added to the initial start time and the schedule starts 8 AM Tuesday and so forth for the next repetition. Creating a process Modeling and simulation tutorial 46 / 148

50 Using business calendars Process simulation can use a business calendar to simulate how work would be processed with a specific number of hours per day or considering certain holidays. Assign schedules to a business calendar if you plan to send simulation results to managerview Server or another third-party application that supports business calendars. Simulation statistics in analystview reflect business calendar settings if Show time in business time is checked (default). If you export from analystview to managerview, the business calendar times will always appear in analysis. When managerview Server calculates the time it took to accomplish an activity, it bases its calculation on scheduled work hours instead of the actual number of hours that elapsed. You can define a business calendar to specify business hours for a company or department and use the schedules in your simulation scenario. For example, your company's office hours may be Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., with a holiday the first Monday of September for U.S. Labor Day. In that case, if work arrives on Friday at 4:00 P.M. and is completed by Tuesday at 10:00 A.M., simulation using a business calendar shows that it took 3 hours to complete the work (the amount of time your office was open) instead of 90 hours (the amount of actual time elapsed). NOTE: The business calendar is different from the Week Days unit of time for Duration settings in Schedules and Arrivals. Defining a business calendar You create the business calendar when you define one or more work or holiday schedules in Schedules configuration with Business Calendar checked in the schedule entry. analystview maintains one business calendar per scenario based on all the schedules in a scenario with Business Calendar checked. NOTE: Define your business calendar using a schedule of working time or holiday. Do not assign break or vacation schedules to your business calendar. To display simulation results based on the business calendar, you must select Show time in business time in General Settings configuration "Simulation Statistics" tab. TIP: You can use a schedule that is marked for the business calendar in a Participant schedule as well. For example, if there is a "Lunch break" schedule and it is checked to be included to the business calendar, there is no need to create another, unchecked, "Lunch break" in order to assign it to a Participant. You can just reuse the existing, checked one. The participant schedule may overlap some, none, or all of a business calendar schedule. Wait time and work time calculations Wait time is computed in business time. This way, work that comes in at the end of the day or on a Friday will not show up with disproportionate wait times. For business time statistics, work time is computed in business time. If the "Show time in business time" option is selected, and work starts at 4:30 PM and does not complete until 5:30 PM, 30 minutes post closing time, the business work time is 30 minutes. This is consistent with how business work time is computed in managerview Server. Example Assume the Business Calendar work time is 9-5, Monday to Friday. If Bart works 3 PM - 9 PM, the work he puts in will have this effect on Wait & Work time computation: Assume an item X arrives at 3pm and the official work day is until 5pm. Bart picks up the item at 4pm and completes X by 6pm. The business wait time is 1 business hour or 1/8 business day (with an 8 hour business day resolution) The real wait time is also 1 hour The business work time is 1 business hour, 1/8 of a business day The real work time is 2 hours Wait time based on work schedule Simulation calculates a process instance's waiting time based on the work schedule of the participant who picked up the work, not the number of hours in a business day, even if Show time in business time is selected in the Simulation Statistics tab in General Settings configuration. Example If a participant is scheduled to work 9 hours every day, but there are only 8 hours in a business day, when work arrives at the start of the business day and does not get worked on for that particular day because the participant was on vacation, then the sum waiting time for that work item is 1 day and 1 hour, not just 1 business day. If a participant has no work schedule for a day that a work item arrives, such as Tuesday, then on the next day he picks up the work and finishes it, the sum waiting time for that work item is zero for that day. If the simulation setup does not use Show time in business time, then you would see a wait time of 24 hours for Tuesday. Work processed outside of business time If a participant works on an item outside the hours of the business calendar, it does not count as business time for simulation processing time results. Simulation results will show 0 processing time for the period that falls outside the business calendar. Simulation results show the number of completed items and completion sum even if completed off-hours. This matches the business time standards in managerview Server, and it allows you to simulate off-hours work as a means of streamlining your business process. Schedules configuration Simulation General Settings configuration Running simulation with output to managerview Server Business calendar - cost calculations example 47 / 148

51 Cost calculations Processing and activity cost does not take into account the business schedule. Cost calculations are based on hours the participant worked, regardless of the business schedule, not on business hours. Example A process has a business-day schedule of 9 hours per day, with "Show time in business time" set to 9 hours per day. The one activity has a duration of 10 hours and only one arrival. The only participant has a work schedule of 10 hours and does not take a break. He has an hourly rate of $10. After running simulation, results read: Processes/Completion/Total equals 1 day, Processes/Cost/Total equals $100. The work completion time is 1.00 business day in duration because that is how long it took on the business calendar. The extra hour occurred off hours, but the cost does not use business time. The participant worked the 10 hours and must be paid for those hours. Simulation does not calculate overtime pay. To simulate cost based on business hours, use participant schedules that match your business hours. Using business calendars 48 / 148

52 Roles configuration Roles enable you to group participants and assign those participants to activities. Roles control what work a participant works on, and can be used to control in what sequence a participant looks for work. Roles are used in: Participant role assignments The performer setting in the Activities configuration Defining roles To add roles: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Resources, then click the Roles tab. 2. Enter a name in the Role name field. 3. Click Add. The role appears on the list of roles. 4. Optionally, enter additional roles. The list displays all roles you added. 5. Click Apply. 6. Repeat steps 1-5 to add additional roles. 7. Next, define Activities to continue configuring your simulation scenario. Roles setup Field Role name Add Remove Rename Duplicate Unassigned participants / Assigned participants OK Cancel Apply Modeling and simulation tutorial Role example Description Enter the name of a new role. All existing roles display below the role name text box. You can multi-select roles to delete them. Click to add after you enter a new name in the Role name field. Removes the selected role from the list of roles. (You can select multiple roles for removal.) A warning dialog box appears for you to confirm or cancel the deletion if the role is referenced. References are discovered in participant role assignments and activity performer assignments. References are not discovered in expressions or scripts, such as in the activity pre- and postscript code. If an item is referenced those references will be removed if you delete the role. However, the pre- and post-script code will not be changed. Click Show Details in the warning box for a list of all the references to this role in your system. You can select the list, then copy it by pressing Ctrl+C, if you want to make changes prior to removing the role. Click to rename the selected Role. Renames the Role in all instances in the scenario. Rename is enabled when a single Role is selected and you enter a unique name in the Role name field. If you click Rename the selected Role will be renamed to the content in the Role name field. If you rename a Role, references to it are updated throughout the system. Duplicates the current Role to make it easy for you to create a similar one. 1. Select the Role you want to duplicate from the list of existing Roles. 2. Edit the name in the Role name field. 3. Click Duplicate. The new Role appears on the list with its unique name and is assigned to the same participants as the original Role. All unassigned participants are displayed on the left. Assigned participants defined in the role are displayed on the right. To assign a participant to the role, select the participant on the left, then click the Assign button. You can select multiple participants, as necessary. You can also assign all participants by clicking Assign All. To move assigned participants back to the unassigned list, select the participant(s) in the list of Assigned participants. Then, click the Unassign or Unassign All button. TIP: If you need to limit the role, you should assign a schedule at the participant level. For more information, see: Participants configuration. Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. 49 / 148

53 Activities configuration An activity is a step within a process. For process modeling, an activity on a map may represent a set of activities at the execution task level. You should configure Data fields, Participants, Schedules, and Roles before you define Activities. TIP: Your scenario should have at least one Role or Participant assigned to each activity to get meaningful results. All activities performing tasks or making decisions or splits are displayed in the Activities dialog box: Task activities are activities where participants, (human or system) are involved in performing the work and time elapses. (User and script task activities are often referred to as human and system activities.) Explicit gateway activities are activities where decisions are made and the work is routed depending on the decision. The decision can be conditional based on properties of the work or stochastic based on weighted random draw. (Gateway activities are often referred to as decision activities.) Parallel gateway activities are activities where work is split up routed to new activities in parallel. The split work has to be assembled again at a parallel activity. (Also referred to as a merge activity.) User or script task activities can have multiple outputs, in which case the activity also acts as a decision activity. To configure activities, on the Simulation Ribbon, click Activities. To configure non-decision activities: 1. Select an activity on the list of activities in your process. 2. Make changes to the settings. The Activities setup section below describes each setting option. For detailed information, see Activity setup options for non-decision activities. To set up decision activities: 1. Select a Decision activity from the list of activities that you defined on your map. 2. Select Route by Condition or Route by Weight. See details about each option below. 3. Specify conditions or weight. 4. Click Apply. 5. Repeat for any other decision activities. 6. This completes the Activities setup. Continue to Arrivals configuration or run the simulation. For detailed information, see Activity setup options for Decision activities. TIP: The total value of weight does not have to add up to 100, it is not a percentage or a probability. Consider the weights for each route as a number of colored balls, a color for each route. All the balls are put in a bag and one ball drawn at random, the color of the ball determines the route to take. Activities setup The setup options are different for Decision activities. See the table below this one for Decision activities configuration. For information about activities, see Process activities. Activity setup options for non-decision activities Tab Field Description General Name Name of the selected activity. This field is read-only. Description Description of activity. Duration Duration Enter an expression or click... to use the Expression builder. The default is uniform(5,8), for uniformly distributed random numbers between 5 and 8. For information about expressions see Distributions. The duration is the time it takes to process an activity. A performance factor on the participant can change that time. You can import activity durations from managerview data. Click the Acquire... button to launch the Acquire Activity Duration wizard. For more information, see Importing Activity durations from production data. Units The unit of time for the duration specified. Seconds Minutes (default) Hours Days Weeks For example, this simulated activity will be completed in five to eight minutes. Force work to be suspended Check to put work on hold. Work may be suspended and resumed multiple times. When you check this option, additional fields appear to specify the phase, probability, duration of the suspended time, and duration when the work is resumed. Phase identifies the place in the list for each suspend/resume, based on the order in which items were added. You cannot modify the phase. When you add a phase, it starts with default values that you can modify using the fields below the list. TIP: To use this feature, you must add at least one phase. If not, process validation will return an error. Phase Label identifying the setting on the list. You cannot change the phase number or order. You can delete the row from the list. Suspend probability Suspended time The probability that the work will be suspended. If this evaluates to 0% (or less) then the work will not be suspended, if it evaluates to 100% (or more) then the work is always suspended. The amount of time to suspend the work. Select a measure of time (Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Week Days, Weeks). Duration when resumed Amount of time left to complete the work after resuming from suspension. Select a measure of time (Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Week Days, Weeks). 50 / 148

54 Performers The list of Roles, Participants, and String type Process fields that you created in other simulation setup sections. Global data fields are not listed. Be sure to select one or more Roles if you want to see simulation statistics by Role. If you select a role, simulation will automatically generate Participants statistics, but if you select only Participants, simulation cannot generate Role statistics because no role is played. The participant name or role name is taken from the given data field, when Import from Data Field is selected. This way you can ensure that the same participant is processing the same work. See the "Performer assignments in fields" section in Building expressions for information about the advanced-user option of using data fields for performer assignments. Suspended work Select who can complete suspended work, such as work suspended at the end of the day or for a break. Can be completed by anybody. Select to allow other performers to complete the suspended work. Must be completed by the same performer. Select to require that only the same performer completes suspended work, to simulate that certain work needs to be completed by a single performer. For example, if the work is sending an that might be in draft state when the work was suspended, it would make sense for the same performer to finish composing the . Pre-processing The Pre-processing tab lets you select specific data fields from the entire list to associate with the current activity, and to set a value for that data field. and Post-processing Data Field Type List of data fields you defined in Process fields configuration. Check the box next to the data field to add that field to the activity, and enter a value that will be assigned to the field. To specify a value for one or more fields, check the box next to the data field name and enter a value in the Value field. To change a value, click the name of the data field, not the check box, and modify the entry. NOTE: If you deselect a field with a value, when you check it again the value is reset to the default, "" for a String or 0.0 for a Float. Value Java Script to execute Type or paste Java Script code here. For more information see JavaScript. NOTE: JavaScript type representation is forgiving. For example, if you enter 1.7 for an Integer field, JavaScript processes it literally, as a float, 1.7, not as the integer 1. It does not ignore the fraction. Edit... Click to use the Expression builder to build expressions based on Simulation setup settings and JavaScript objects and functions. Activity setup options for Decision activities Tab Field Description Routes Every conditional Decision activity must have a default route in case any work does not get routed according to the condition settings. To set the default route, click a Route Label and check the Default box. The word "True" appears in the Default column for that route. TIP: Set the default route first, because if you select Default it clears any condition setting for that condition. Then make the default the last condition on the priority list because the default is always true and any condition after the default will never get evaluated. You can move routes up and down on the list to control which route has priority. For example, you may have more than one route that work might match, so the work continues on the route you position higher on the list and it follows the first route it gets to where the condition allows the work to proceed on the map. The order only matters for conditions. By Weight Select to route activities that reach the decision activity based on a weight you specify. Enter a number for the weight of the selected route in the Weight field or click... to use the Expression builder to calculate the weight value. You can acquire weights for decision activity routes from managerview Server. Click Acquire... in the Activity setup to launch the Acquire Decision Weights wizard. For more information, see Importing decision weights from managerview Server. NOTE: If the total weight of all branches for weight-based routing evaluates to zero or less, process instances are immediately terminated and calculated as completed work. Conditionally Select to route activities based on a specific boolean condition. Type or paste a condition in the Condition field or click... to use the Expression builder to calculate the condition value. You must specify one route as the "otherwise" option by checking Default for that route label. Route by condition requires that one decision route is the default in case a process instance does not meet any specified conditions. NOTE: Process validation issues a warning if there is no default route specified. If you ignore the warning and run simulation anyway, then any process instances that do not match a specified route will terminate without notice. Process statistics update according to the number of process instances processed regardless of route, so the total completed, for example, includes those that are terminated silently. For all activities Button OK Cancel Apply Description Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Building expressions "Assignments and scripts" section Modeling and simulation tutorial 51 / 148

55 Arrivals configuration An arrival determines what, where, and when work is created. In the Arrivals list, field values appear in columns that you can sort by any column. You can select multiple items on the list to remove them, and create a new Arrival by duplicating an existing one. Add Data Fields before you add arrivals. Only arrivals call field values. To add arrivals: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Arrivals. 2. Enter a name for the new arrival and click Add. The arrival name appears on the list of arrivals. 3. Select a Start activity from your process. 4. Define the arrival in the sections described in the Arrivals setup table below. 5. Click Apply to save changes. 6. Repeat steps 1-5 to continue to add arrivals. 7. When finished, click OK. 8. Continue to optionally configure Timed sequences, Logged Events, or SLAs. Arrivals setup Field Arrival name Add Remove Rename Duplicate Acquire Description The name of the arrival you want to add. This is only used by you, the user, to be able to distinguish arrivals from one another. Arrivals are not referred to by name during the simulation. Click to add a new arrival. Click to delete the selected Arrival on the list of arrivals. Click to rename the selected Arrival. Rename is enabled when a single Arrival is selected and the description field contains text that is not already an Arrival name. If you click Rename the selected Arrival will be renamed to the content you entered in the name field. Duplicates the current Arrival to make it easy for you to create a similar one. 1. Select the Arrival you want to duplicate from the list of existing Arrivals. 2. Edit the name in the Arrival name field. 3. Click Duplicate. The new Arrival appears on the list with its unique name and the same settings as the original Arrival. The duplicate is a copy of the selected item including all its properties, including pattern and pattern repeat settings as well as all field values. The Duplicate button is enabled when a single item is selected and you type a unique name in the Arrival name text box. Launches the Acquire from managerview wizard to connect to a production managerview OLAP database, query the OLAP database, acquire a set of arrivals and make automatic adjustments to the batch sizes. NOTE: You must have access to the managerview OLAP database to use this feature. TIP: If you get an error when you try to acquire, review the settings in managerview database connections and make necessary changes. Name Start Activity Batch Field Values Pattern The name of the arrival when you created it. Where work created by the arrival should appear in the process model. Describes a single batch of work created by the arrival. The Batch start time options are: Start Relative Date/Time Size Create the first batch at simulation start time (when simulation starts). Create the first batch relative to simulation start time. Specify the duration (time from simulation start time, not an actual duration of arrival time) and units of time, relative to simulation start time, to create the first batch. Create the first batch at the specific date and time you set. How many arrivals (process instances) are created in the batch. At simulation run time, the expression must evaluate to a number. Enter a size or click the... button to build an expression. Each data field can be assigned a value when work is created. The values are expressions, and at run time the expression must evaluate to a type that matches the field type. See Building expressions. In a typical use case, the Pattern describes how work is created during the day and Repeat Pattern describes how this happens over several days. A pattern period is not necessarily a day, but a user-defined unit selected from the Every drop-down list, including days, week days and weeks. The pattern options are: No Repeat Repeat Every Unit Repeat limits Only one batch is created by the arrival and Repeat Pattern settings are ignored. Select to repeat the pattern. The repeat settings fields appear. The time (in Units you specify) between batches. Duration is an expression that must evaluate to a number at run time. Enter a duration or click the... button to build an expression. For example, 1.5 hours for every 90 minutes. Used with the duration to denote the time between batches. Puts a limit on how the batch is repeated: Unlimited the pattern keeps creating batches until the simulation stops. CAUTION: Use this very carefully to avoid exhausting system resources. Pattern Repeat If the pattern is unlimited, its period is infinite, so pattern repeat is ignored according to the basic rule that the pattern period must be shorter than pattern repeat period. Size is the pattern keeps creating batches until a total of the specified number of instances have been created. Example: Each batch size is 5 and the pattern limit is 20. The arrival stops after 4 batches. Batches counts the number of times the batch has been repeated. Example: Each batch size is 5, the pattern limit is 4 Batches. When the arrival stops, 20 items have been created. Determines whether the pattern itself should repeat. Pattern repeat is typically used to repeat the arrival every day or business day. The settings mirror the Pattern settings: No Repeat Repeat Every The pattern is only executed once, according to its settings, where the pattern of course could be unlimited, depending on its settings. The pattern is repeated according to your settings. The time (in Units you specify) between pattern iterations. See the Pattern Repeat example below. TIP: Set the pattern repeat frequency or size to a setting greater than the time period or size of the pattern itself. In addition, the simulation time should be longer than the Pattern Repeat iterations to allow the planned arrival pattern repetitions. 52 / 148

56 Unit Repeat limits Duration is an expression that must evaluate to any number (floating or integer) at run time. The duration is added to the start time of the previous pattern to get the start time of the next pattern. See the examples below. Used with the duration to denote the time between patterns. Puts a limit on how the batch is repeated: Unlimited. The pattern repeats until the simulation stops. CAUTION: Use this very carefully to avoid exhausting system resources. Import... Export... OK Cancel Apply Size is The pattern repeats until a total of the specified number of instances have been created. Example: Each pattern has a limit 100 items. The pattern repeat limit is "Size is 500." The pattern will be repeated 5 times. Patterns Counts the number of times the pattern has been repeated. Example: The pattern repeat limit is 4 patterns. Each pattern produces 100 items. When the arrival stops, 400 items have been created. Click to import arrivals from a CSV file, then select a file from which to import and click Open. Click to export arrivals to a CSV file, then specify a file name for the exported arrivals and click Save. Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Notes about pattern and pattern repeat When the pattern repeat is used, the pattern limits are reset in each repetition. If there is a size limit on the pattern repeat, the arrival will stop when the pattern repeat limit has been reached, regardless of the pattern limit. Example: Daily arrivals An arrival that produces a random amount of work every hour through a work day, repeated every business day: The Start time is set to relative (to Simulation start), 8 Hours to make the simulation start Monday morning at 8 AM. The batch size is set to use the distribution function uniform(10,20) The Pattern is set to repeat every 1 Hour, limited to 7 batches The Pattern Repeat is set to repeat every 1 week day, limited to 10 patterns. This could produce a sequence of batches like: (Monday, 8 AM: 12 items), (Monday, 9 AM: 17 items), (Monday, 2 PM: 11 items), (Tuesday, 8 AM: 19 items), Notice that the second business day starts at 8 AM because the Repeat Pattern duration is added to the initial batch start time. Example: Random intervals You can use random durations in pattern and pattern repeat to create items at more irregular intervals. Using the previous example, change the pattern frequency to Every uniform(5,60) minutes, and the interval between the arrivals will be between 5 and 60 minutes. TIP: Be careful about randomness in the pattern and repeat pattern durations and limits. It is possible to use inconstant settings (so that the pattern overlaps the repeat pattern settings) and at best it can be difficult to understand the results, at worst you risk exhausting system resources when running the simulation. Example: Pattern Repeat Typically, the pattern describes how work is created during the day and repeat pattern describes how this happens over several days. A pattern period is not necessarily a day, but a user-defined unit selected from the Every drop-down list, including seconds, hours, week days and weeks. For example, you could set your pattern to generate repeated arrivals of the batch of 10 items every hour for seven batches, repeated every week day. 53 / 148

57 This would generate 20 new arrivals at 8:00am, 9:00am, 10:00am, 11:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, and 2:00pm on every week day for the entire length of the simulation. Simulation scenarios Simulation tutorial Poisson process (for advanced users) Acquire from managerview wizard Acquiring Arrivals from managerview Server 54 / 148

58 Configuring Timed Sequences Use timed sequences to track statistics for a sequence of activities instead of only a single activity or the entire process. Timed Sequences are particularly valuable in optimization. You can control if a sequence is started or stopped when arriving at or leaving an activity. You can start or complete one or more timed sequences on any activity. You can use a Timed Sequence to measure the time spent in a sub-map by defining the Timed Sequence to start and end at the same Sub-Process task activity. Timed sequence statistics are shown in analystview simulation statistics. The Insurance claim examples include two Timed Sequences: Setup One tracks time spent between Claims Review and Approved/Rejected (including both) One tracks time spent on the Claims Processing sub-map To configure timed sequences, on the Simulation Ribbon, click Statistics, then click Timed Sequences. For each timed sequence you set: The name of the timed sequence. The first activity in the sequence. The last activity in the sequence. Timed Sequences setup Field Timed sequence name Add Remove Rename Duplicate Description Enter the timed sequence name, then click Add. The timed sequence appears in the list with the first activity by default. Click to add a new timed sequence to the list. Deletes the selected timed sequence. A warning dialog box is displayed if the timed sequence is used in an SLA. Click to rename the selected timed sequence. Renames the timed sequence in all instances in the scenario. Rename is enabled when a single timed sequence is selected and an unique name is entered in the Timed sequence name field. If you click Rename the selected timed sequence will be renamed. If you rename a timed sequence, references to it are updated throughout the system. Duplicates the current timed sequence to make it easy for you to create a similar one. 1. Select the timed sequence you want to duplicate from the list of existing timed sequences. 2. Edit the name in the Timed sequence name. 3. Click Duplicate. The new timed sequence appears on the list with its unique name and the same settings as the original timed sequence. General tab Begin Activity Select an activity from the drop-down list of activities defined in the process. End Activity Select an activity from the drop-down list of activities defined in the process. You may select the same activity for each if the sequence you want to track uses arriving at activity and leaving activity. Advanced tab Begin timed sequence When arriving at activity. Select to begin the timed sequence when the work arrives at the specified activity. When leaving the activity. Select to begin the timed sequence when the work leaves the specified activity. OK Cancel Apply Validation End timed sequence When arriving at activity. Select to end the timed sequence when the work arrives at the specified activity. When leaving the activity. Select to end the timed sequence when the work leaves the specified activity. Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Timed Sequences are validated according to the requirements for a timed sequence. Similar to the Parallel/Merge structure, after a timed sequence starts, work must eventually go through a timed sequence end. Warnings When there is a route from a timed sequence start to an end activity that does not go through a matching timed sequence end activity. Errors Statistics If there is a loop back to a timed sequence start from the same start. If you have inconsistent advanced settings. For example, if a timed sequence is defined for a Jump activity, you can specify that the sequence should start when the activity completes and end when the activity starts, but that is not valid. In the statistics for your process, a timed sequence group appears. The same type of numbers are presented as for activities, plus an optional breakdown on a data field. See Activities. managerview Server The timed sequences begin and end events are sent to managerview Server. 55 / 148

59 Logged Events configuration You can define custom logged events in analystview to review in your simulation and/or to publish to managerview. You can also log analytics events to a CSV file, see Event logging. One or more events can be logged on any activity. Logged events are sent to managerview if managerview publishing is enabled. (See the General Settings configuration > managerview tab.) Logged event statistics are shown in analystview. You can control whether an event is logged when arriving at or leaving an activity. A condition can control whether the logged event is raised. Logged Event setup and statistics information is displayed in analystview. The Insurance claim examples include a Logged Event that tracks how much work of a certain size is processed at the Research activity. To configure logged events, on the Simulation Ribbon, click Statistics, and then click Logged Events. Logged Events setup Field Logged event name Add Remove Rename Duplicate Description Enter the logged event name and click Add. The logged event appears on the list with the first activity by default. Click to add a new logged event to the list. Deletes the selected logged event. Click to rename the selected logged event. Renames the logged event in all instances in the scenario. Rename is enabled when a single logged event is selected and an unique name is entered in the logged event name field. If you click Rename the selected logged event will be renamed. If you rename a logged event, references to it are updated throughout the system. Duplicates the current logged event to make it easy for you to create a similar one. 1. Select the logged event you want to duplicate from the list of existing logged events. 2. Edit the name in the Logged event name. 3. Click Duplicate. The new logged event appears on the list with its unique name and the same settings as the original logged event. General tab Activity Select an activity from the drop-down list of activities defined in the process. Condition Optional. Specify a condition for the event log. See Expression builder for details on entries in this field. Advanced tab Send log event When arriving at activity. Select to log the event when the work arrives at the specified activity. When leaving the activity. Select to log the event when the work leaves the specified activity. The simulation statistics for logged events count statistic is based on this setting. OK Cancel Apply Event logging Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. 56 / 148

60 Service Level Agreements (SLA) configuration Service level agreements are used to measure the completion time for process, timed sequence, or activity. For advanced KPI (key performance indicator) features, use managerview. You specify the target Completion time for the SLA in seconds, minutes, hours, or days, either as calendar time or business time. The value must be a decimal literal, e.g. 45 minutes. The default value is 60 minutes. The default value is the same, no matter what the SLA is based on (see below). The SLA can be based on the Process, on a Timed Sequence, or on an Activity. The default base is Process. You can also specify an optional filter on a breakdown data field value. The drop-down list is filled with values deduced from the arrivals, so you can select one or type in a value as well, because analystview might not be able to deduce all possible values from the arrivals (such as if the value is set in an initial activity). To configure SLAs, on the Simulation Ribbon, click Statistics, then click SLAs. NOTE: The Insurance Claims examples include an SLA on the Research activity. SLA setup Field SLA name Add Remove Rename Duplicate Description Enter the SLA name and click Add. The SLA appears on the list with the first activity by default. Use the fields in the SLA based on section to change the base. Click to add a new SLA to the list. Deletes the selected SLA. Click to rename the selected SLA. Renames the SLA in all instances in the scenario. Rename is enabled when a single SLA is selected and an unique name is entered in the SLA name field. If you click Rename the selected SLA will be renamed. If you rename a SLA, references to it are updated throughout the system. Duplicates the current SLA to make it easy for you to create a similar one. 1. Select the SLA you want to duplicate from the list of existing SLAs. 2. Edit the name in the SLA name. 3. Click Duplicate. The new SLA appears on the list with its unique name and the same settings as the original SLA. Target completion time Enter a number of units and the time period from the drop-down list. Seconds Minutes (default) Hours Days Week days Business time Check business time to use your scenario's business calendar. SLA based on Process Select to base the SLA on the process. OK Timed sequence Activity Breakdown Select to base the SLA on a timed sequence already defined in your scenario, and select a timed sequence from the list of those defined. See Timed Sequences to configure timed sequences. Select to base the SLA on an activity in your scenario, and select the activity from the drop-down list of activities in the process. You can choose to break down on the data field you have selected as breakdown field in the statistics settings in the General Settings configuration. For example, you can check to limit work included in the SLA to work of a ClaimType and type or select from the list of ClaimTypes defined in your scenario. Saves all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Cancel Apply Discards all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. Commits all changes made since the dialog box was opened or since Apply was last clicked, whichever was most recent. 57 / 148

61 Building expressions The analystview expression language is an extension of JavaScript. The JavaScript engine used is Microsoft JScript.NET. The extensions are: Simulation functions: A set of local simulation functions A set of global simulation functions A set of extra JavaScript global functions A set of distribution functions. See the advanced topics Distributions section. Automatic variable declaration from the simulation context as described in the sections on data fields and global fields. Strict variable declarations. Normally, JavaScript automatically declares variables in an assignment if the variable is not declared beforehand. For example, if there is a data field "amount", then the assignment with "amount=87" will cause an error (a missing n in amount) and not just declare a new variable as is the normal JavaScript behavior. Assignments and scripts You configure assignments and scripts when you configure Activities. Using Pre- and Post-processing you can change field values. Pre-and Post-processing configuration is divided into an assignment section and a script part. The assignment section is a convenient way of setting a field value, something you will often do while simulating your process. Any assignment you specify there could also be done in the script section if you prefer. Use the script area to write more advanced scripts. For example, updates of global fields or complex conditional updates of data fields. Performer assignments in fields You may assign performers to an activity with a string data field. At runtime, the field must contain the name of one of the roles or participants you created when you set up the scenario. Typically, the field would be assigned the name of a role based on the type of work as specified in another field, as shown in this pre-script example where WorkType and RoleField are data fields and Team1 and Team2 are roles: if (WorkType == "new business") { RoleField = "Team1"; } else if (WorkType == "admin") { RoleField = "Team2"; } TIP: Be very careful, because a typo can cause a runtime error. Commands, functions, and templates Using Global Fields and Data Fields Modeling and simulation tutorial JavaScript Distributions 58 / 148

62 Expression builder You can use the expression builder by clicking... in several dialog box boxes when setting up your scenario. Everywhere the Expression Builder is used, other than activity pre- and-post scripts, the scripts must be "proper" expressions. As a guideline, use expressions that would fit on the right-hand side of a JavaScript assignment, for example for an expression e, imagine it used as "var x = e". If the expression does not fit this rule, it will fail validation with a warning. TIP: If you receive errors for a script that worked in a previous release, see Notes on JavaScript. Categories NOTE: Not all categories are available in every context. Category Process Fields Global Fields Participants Role Names Distributions Local Functions Global Functions Java Script Description A simple list of the process field names defined in simulation setup. See Building expressions. A simple list of the global field names defined in the setup. See Building expressions. A simple list of the participant names defined in the setup. See Participants configuration. A simple list of the role names defined in the setup. See Roles configuration. The distribution functions. See the advanced topics Distributions section. Simulation-related local functions. See Commands and templates. Simulation-related global functions. See Commands and templates. Subset of the Java Script reference; see JavaScript. Scope Scope determines what scenario objects can be used in what context. For example, for the expression used in Options/Simulation Time Relative you can only use distribution functions and global functions. The scenario options are not specific to any one process instance so no data fields are available. The global fields have not been initialized yet when the scenario option expressions are evaluated, so global fields are also not allowed. At the narrow end of the scope spectrum, in Activity expressions all scenario objects and functions are available. Data field values are well-defined. When the activity with a performer (participant, role, or data field) assignment is executed, you can use the getparticipant function to get the name of the participant, for example, if a role was assigned, then the function returns the participant playing that role. If you call the getparticipant function but no performer was defined for the activity, it will return the empty string. Field Access functions All process fields and global fields can be accessed directly without using methods. For example, if index is an integer data field and counter is an integer global field, then the following is valid: index = counter; Accessing global fields See Commands and templates. Building expressions 59 / 148

63 Commands, functions, and templates Local and global simulation functions You may want to use certain functions only for a specific process instance (local) or you may want simulation functions to be available across your whole scenario (global). Local functions are functions that can only be used in activity expressions, because they are "local" to a running process instance, and must be available in the context where the local function is used. The only context where a process instance is available is in a script or expression on an activity. This means that you can use local functions here: Activity duration Pre-and post scripts and assignments Decision weights and conditions Activity suspended duration Activity resume duration Logged Event Condition (General tab) For example, getelapsedtime computes the amount of time a specific instance has been running, and it would not make sense to use this function to compute the duration of a Schedule. Global functions can be used anywhere. For example, you can always get access to the current simulated system time via getsystemtime(). Local simulation functions Command Function/Template Description Elapsed Time getelapsedtime() Returns the time (in minutes) since the process instance was created. Elapsed Business Hours getelapsedbizhours() Returns the time in business hours since the work was initiated. Returns calendar time if no business calendar is defined. Elapsed Business Days getelapsedbizdays() Returns the time in business days since the work was initiated. Returns calendar time if no business calendar is defined. Participant getparticipant() Returns the current participant name as a string. Returns the empty string if no participant. Example: if (getparticipant() == "Homer")... Role getrole() Returns the current role name as a string. Returns the name of the participant, if it is directly assigned. Returns empty string if no role. Example: if (getrole() == "SafetySpecialist")... Process Instance ID getprocessinstanceid() Returns the current process instance ID. Use to compute custom statistics, for example, or append it to a data field if you need to ensure that data field values are unique. Trace trace(text) In simulation you can trace messages to a file in activity pre and post scripts. This command adds text to a log file if the logging level is set to Trace or finer. The Logging level and log filename are set in the ScriptLogging section of the application config file: <repository name="scriptlogging"> <hierarchies level="trace" /> <filelog filename="simscript.log" messageonly="true" maxcount="100" rollsize="1000" /> </repository> Example usage: trace(getprocessinstanceid()); Example: trace("hello world") Global simulation functions The following simulation functions are always available in expressions: Command Function/Template Description Stop Simulation stop() Stops the current simulation run. System Time getsystemtime() A function for getting the current simulated time. Returns the current simulation system time as a Date object. Returns "now" if called in start simulation time expression. Duration. If you use this function for an activity Duration, you must specify a numeric value. Otherwise, an error message appears when you validate your process. Value. If you use this function for a data field in the pre- or post-processing setup, for example, whatever you enter can be converted to a string. Additional JavaScript global functions The following non-simulation related functions are always available in expressions: Command Function/Template Description Inline if condition iif(condition, true-exp, false-exp) "Inline-if" that returns true-exp if condition is true, otherwise false-exp. Choose selection choose(index, [exp1, exp2]) Returns the expression that the 1-based index selects. There can be any number of expressions. The last expression is returned if the index is too high. Positive pos(value) Returns 0 if the value is negative, otherwise returns the value. Current real time now() Returns the current real time as a date object, short-hand for: new Date(Date.now()) These are auxiliary JavaScript global functions. Building expressions Using Global Fields and Data Fields Modeling and simulation tutorial JavaScript Distributions 60 / 148

64 JavaScript Simulation supports an extended version of JavaScript as it's expression language. For specific information about JavaScript, consult a JavaScript reference. This topic and others in this help address information specific to using JavaScript in the particular context of simulation with analystview. For more information about JavaScript see online documentation, such as js, or the book JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan. NOTE: JavaScript is case sensitive, so a data field constant "Amount" is different from a data field "amount." TIP: See Expression builder for details about correcting existing script that gets warnings in analystview. Operators With JavaScript, use && not AND, not OR, and true/false. Date Date and time is handled with the Date object in JavaScript. The Date object can, for instance, be instantiated with a date string: new Date('2006/04/04 23:04:11') It can also be instantiated with numbers for each part, months are 0-based: new Date(2006, 3, 4, 23, 4, 11) String Surround the string with quotation marks or apostrophes, for example "string" or 'string'. Number Integers are given as numeric literals, prefixed with for negative numbers. Floats are given as decimal numbers, such as 3.14, or in exponential form such as 3.5e-2, 3.5e2. Currency uses Float format. Wildcards There are no wildcards, but you could specify decision condition values as AB_STRING.substring(0,4) == " Alam"; to find Alameda, Alamida, or other spellings. Building expressions Floating point numbers 61 / 148

65 Validating models and scenarios When you run simulation, analystview first validates your scenario to make sure there are no explicit problems with expressions and scripts that would cause simulation to fail. Errors and warnings appear in the Issues pane. You also have the option to validate your scenario before running simulation. To validate a scenario: Select Panes > Issues. Then click Check Diagram. Validation information appears in the Issues pane. If you validate your model, the Issues pane automatically displays if you have any issues or warnings. TIP: You can also click Check Diagram on the Process Ribbon. You can select an issue in the Issues pane and the object with the issue is automatically selected in the model. The following figure shows an issue with the Pay Claim activity. You have additional options on how to handle BPMN validation issues that display in the Issues pane. You can select an issue and then right-click and choose Ignore This Issue or Ignore Rule. If you select to ignore the issue, the validation will ignore only the issue selected. If you select to ignore the rule, the entire rule is ignored, which may affect multiple issues in the Issues pane. NOTE: Validation cannot determine whether the scenario will generate useful simulation data (especially if something has been deleted and not replaced correctly). Validation checks that: Field and global field names are correctly defined. See Data fields configuration for a list of rules. No durations contain negative values Expressions evaluate to numbers when they should Each role assignment with a schedule uses work schedules Each participant has an assigned schedule (warning) All shapes are supported by analystview (if unsupported shapes are used, validation will report an error) A valid activity is selected if simulation stop is based on a condition (if you selected condition but specified None, validation will report an error) Scenario and system names are specified if the "Publish simulation results to managerview" option is selected (see General Settings configuration managerview section) so managerview does not receive an empty system name There is at least one start activity per map All activities except Start have at least one incoming connection All parallel activities connect to Merge activities on the map Validation is always run before simulation. Warnings are shown but ignored, the simulation will start anyway. When a validation encounters a BPMN error, you can opt to ignore the errors and simulate anyway. Keep in mind that you can only opt to ignore BPMN issues, not analystview issues or warnings. NOTE: Warnings are issued for participants that are assigned at least one role but no work schedule. Validating Merge and Parallel activities For each parallel gateway activity (P) on a map, a second parallel gateway activity (M) (often referred to as a merge activity) must exist on the same map so that all paths originating from P converge on M. For each merge activity on a map exactly one parallel activity on the same map must exist such that all paths converging on M originate from P. There are two important cases involving Sub-Process task activities that validation cannot accurately verify: If a path between a parallel and its corresponding merge activities contains a call to another map, but work items can not actually return from the target map (such as if there is an infinite loop or all paths end with End activities), validation will not report this error. If a parallel and its corresponding merge activities are located on different maps connected with sub-process task activities in such a way that the work item flow is actually legal and correct, validation will report an error for each such map, even though the flow is valid. Workflow Model (XPDL) The process must have at least one start activity per map. Result = Error. (You cannot simulate without an activity) A non-start activity should have at least one incoming transition. Result = Warning (It can be convenient to simulate a partly-completed process) A condition and parallel activity must have at least one outgoing transition. A condition (parallel) with only one outgoing transition causes a warning. Result = Warning (It can be convenient to simulate a partly completed process) A Parallel activity must have a matching merge activity and vice-versa. Result = Warning (It can be convenient to simulate a partly completed process) An End activity does not have outgoing transitions. All paths from inside a parallel/merge block to the parallel activity must go through the merge. Result = Warning (It can be convenient to simulate a partly completed process) Scenario (SOM) 62 / 148

66 Building expressions. Scenario element Fields Arrivals Roles Schedules Participants User and System activities Decision activities Jump activities Options Validation restrictions Data field names must be legal JavaScript names Global field names must be legal JavaScript names Field name may not be a JavaScript reserved word Data field and global field names cannot overlap All expressions must be valid The start activity must be a valid start activity. All referenced fields must exist and all field expressions be valid If Pattern Repeat is set, Pattern must be set No restrictions. All expressions must be valid. All expressions must be valid. All schedules must exist All roles and schedules used in role assignments must exist All expressions must be valid. All referenced performers must exist. For data field performers, the field must be of type string All fields used in pre-and post assignments must exist and the expressions must be valid All pre-and post scripts must be valid All user and system activities without a performer assignment will cause a warning. All expressions must be valid. Jumped-to start activity must exist. All expressions must be valid If selected, Simulation Statistics/Breakdown field must exist and be of type string If managerview/publish is set, a connection must be configured (not validated during validation) and exposed fields must exist Simulation Running simulation 63 / 148

67 Running simulation After you have created a simulation scenario, you can run the simulation. Simulation statistics appear in a docked pane in the lower portion of the Visio window. TIP: You should always save your processes and maps before doing a simulation run as it may take a long time to run. To run simulation: 1. Open your process in analystview. 2. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Run. Simulation will validate the scenario and display any warnings in the Issues pane. You can select an issue in the Issues pane and the object is automatically selected in the model. When validation is complete, the Simulation Results pane appears and numbers begin to appear on your map next to each activity. NOTE: The blue counter above each activity on the map reflects the number of Arrivals and the number of Completed work items. You should arrange your map window so that all the activities show for which you want to see the numbers during simulation. If you pause simulation or it ends, the counters are not updated when you move other activities into view by scrolling, for example. (If you scroll up and down in the map while the simulation is in progress, these counters may be confusing.) See Simulation statistics for information to help you analyze the results. - To pause click the Pause button. - Click the Stop and Reset button to clear out the statistics and reset the simulation. - Click to start the simulation. You can adjust the simulation slider during simulation to increase or decrease the simulation speed. TIP: If you pause simulation and make changes to your scenario, when you resume the current simulation it will continue with the settings of the scenario when you started simulation. For current simulation statistics, re-start the simulation. NOTE: If you press start on a reset run, the simulation will start over based on the original simulation settings. If you have set up the simulation to produce repeatable results (see General Settings configuration), the simulation will show the same statistics as in the previous run. Otherwise, you will probably get different results each run, depending on the level of randomness in your scenario, that is, how you assigned distribution functions in your scenario settings. When the simulation is running you will see numbers updating next to the activities on your process model and also the simulation results pane. The following figure shows an example of running a simulation. Notice the simulation results pane shows a previously run simulation for comparison. You should see numbers update in the Processes/Counters table. You can navigate between Statistics groups (Process, Activity, Participant, and Role) and tables in the active group while the simulation is running, but it is a good idea to pause the simulation to study the statistics at that point in the simulation. TIP: If you do not see numbers in the Simulation Results pane, check that you have simulated Arrivals configured. Simulation time. The simulation timestamp of the most recent statistics update appears on the bottom-left of the Simulation Results window. Execution pane. If the simulation end time is set, the progress bar updates relative to time set. If no end time is set, the bar updates relative to a day, then starts over. TIP: After you run simulation, the optimization features are enabled so you can optimize your simulation scenario. See Optimization. Evaluating simulation data To evaluate simulation data: 1. Click one of the categories on the left: Process, Activity, Participant, or Role. 2. View all the result data or filter by breakdown (set in General Settings configuration), Activity, or Role. 3. Examine the results and consider what scenario settings might change for different outcomes. Revising scenarios To revise a scenario, you must close it and make changes in the General Settings configuration. Stopping simulation Simulator will stop when one of the stop criteria is met. For example, if the simulation reaches the specified end time or a number of items have been completed at an activity as specified in the conditional stop setting. If the stop setting is When all work is done, then simulation stops when there is no more work left in the system and all arrivals have completed. See General Settings configuration for Stop setting descriptions. TIP: Make sure that you do not configure the simulation to run for an indefinite period of time! For example, if the Arrivals Pattern limit is set to unlimited and the Stop time is When all work is done, then simulation would run until all system resources are exhausted. 64 / 148

68 Simulation statistics Simulation overview Creating a process 65 / 148

69 Statistics display options When you run simulation, you can customize your view of the simulation statistics. The statistics tables labeled Processing, Waiting, and Completion all contain "duration" statistics. These statistics are shown using a day.hour:minute:second notation. For example, one day, three hours, five minutes and 2 seconds is shown as 1.3:05:02. Filtering and breakdown You can filter any columns that are "String" type in the Simulation Results pane. The context menu shown in the following figure displays the breakdown column in the Process results. Filter options vary for each statistics type: Process, Activity, Participant, Role, and so on. Sorting When you click the column header, the context menu opens. You can select what you want to show by choosing the appropriate option. Hiding empty rows You can choose not to display rows with a value of 0 so you have less in your results pane. The Hide/Show empty rows functionality applies for Process and Activity statistics only. Select Hide empty rows from the Filter context menu. With this option selected, the row is hidden when: Process: Counters tab: Created=0 Processing, Waiting, Completion, Cost: Count=0 Wait ratio: does not apply Activity: Counters tab: Arrived=0 Processing, Waiting, Completion, Cost: Count=0 Wait ratio: does not apply Running simulation Simulation statistics Simulation overview Creating a process 66 / 148

70 Simulation statistics analystview collects statistics for display in tables during the simulation. This is not the same as the reporting you can get from managerview Server, though some of the reports are similar. One important difference is that analystview Statistics cannot be viewed as reports over time. The Status shows overall statistics of the simulation. Simulation statistics breakdown: Process Activity Participant Role Timed Sequences Logged events SLA The following figure shows the Simulation Results - Status category. In the following explanation about how statistics are computed, we will use this example: The scenario has been configured to start at 12 AM and stop at 10 AM. A single arrival produces a single process instance at 8 AM. Simulation Statistics has been configured to do hourly updates. All Update Statistics events prior to 9 AM have been left out of the picture for simplicity. The 9 AM update is used to illustrate the impact of statistics update on what you see in the statistics tables. Some events technically happen sequentially but so closely in time that it doesn't make sense to distinguish. For example, after the process is created (at 8 AM) it is immediately available at the activity (Activity Arrived, also at 8 AM). To explain Cost statistics, we need a participant working the Init and Finish activities. Assume the participants' hourly rate is $20. NOTE: Statistics collection is not continuous, but somewhat discrete. The numbers are updated when an event occurs, such as when work arrives at an activity or a participant completes work. This means, for instance, that processing time for an item is updated when the item is completed even though statistics have be reported during the processing. Data bar colors The color definitions for the Completion ratio, Wait ratio, and Utilization data bars are defined in the following table. Wait ratio Completion ratio Utilization Green [0%, 50%] [85%, 100%] [60%, 85%] Yellow [50%, 75%] [75%, 85%] [50%, 60%], [85%, 95%] Red [75%, 100%] [0%, 75%] [0%, 50%], [95%, 100%] Graphically, the color definitions for the Completion ratio, Wait ratio, and Utilization data bars are defined as shown here: The colors and ranges are adjustable in the config file, for example using the InTimeRatioBarLimits key: <add key="intimeratiobarlimits" value="0.00, Red, 0.80, Gold, 0.90, LimeGreen"/> For user-defined coloring, you have to use managerview Server KPIs. See managerview integration. How is Cost calculated and displayed? Total cost includes the total of the full value of each simulated cost. If you choose to display only two decimal places in simulation statistics, the total cost may appear to be different from the sum of the displayed cost item values. For example: Each number would appear 1.15 in analystview and in any generated report, but the total of the two costs would be 2.31, which might appear to be incorrect, but it is the true sum of the complete numbers. You see the same behavior in Excel. See the page for each type of simulation statistic for details about the cost simulation for that type. For more information about reports, see Reports. Why are activity statistics sometimes zero? 67 / 148

71 Sometimes you may be surprised to see zero counts or waiting time, processing and/or completion time statistics in the activity statistics. There are several possible reasons for why these statistics show zero: An activity arrived count of 0 means that nothing arrived. An activity completed count greater than 0 and a processing time of 0 indicates that the duration is set to 0, which most likely is a modeling error for a user activity. Check your activity settings. It is not uncommon to use a zero duration for a system activity, you are not required to use a non-zero duration, but be aware that the results will reflect the choice. An activity completed count greater than 0 and a waiting time of 0 indicates that there are participants who can pick up the work immediately. Simulation overview Running simulation Statistics display options 68 / 148

72 Simulation statistics - Status The status category displays a general view of the simulation run, showing participant utilization and wait ratios. General tab Measure Simulation start time Current simulation time Process completion ratio Maximum participant utilization Average participant utilization Minimum participant utilization Maximum role wait ratio Maximum activity wait ratio Minimum activity completion ratio Simulation statistics Current run The date and time the simulation started. The time clock for simulation, showing the current time while simulation is running or the time simulation was paused or stopped. This time also appears in the Execution pane. The percent of all processes that were completed during the simulation. The percent utilization of the highest-used participant during the simulation, and participant name and number of instances of that participant. The average percentage of participant utilization for the whole simulation. The percent utilization of the lowest-used participant during the simulation, and participant name and number of instances of that participant. See Role statistics. See Activity statistics. The smallest completion ratio, which is the percentage of completed items relative to the number of arrived items at the activities. 69 / 148

73 Simulation statistics - Process The statistics in each table except "Counters" come from work that has reached the end of the process. The Process category includes these tabs: Counters Processing Waiting Completion Cost Wait ratio Counters Example Breakdown - The column name displays the name of the breakdown, if defined. For example, Work Type. Created - The number of process created events Completed - The number of process completed events In Progress - The total number of process created minus the total number of process completed events Time Created Completed In Progress 9 AM AM NOTE: If there are other changes to the scenario, the count of process instances created may vary from simulation to simulation even if you do not specify "Produce unique results" for the simulation. See the description of the "Produce unique results in every run" option in General Settings configuration for additional information. Processing Statistics showing the time items spent being worked on in activities. Notice that the Process Processing statistics are not computed for an item until it reaches the end of the process, at the Process Completed event. Average, Standard Deviation, Min, Max and Total are self-explanatory. Count is counting the total number of Process Completed events that contributed to the statistics. This measure can be useful for debugging purposes. Example Time Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count 9 AM AM 20 min ( ) 0 min 20 min 20 min 20 min 1 NOTE: All processing times reflect participant and role performance factors, similar to how cost is affected by performance factor. For example, if a participant or role's performance factor is 2, then the cost to complete the activity is doubled and the time it takes to complete the activity doubles. See Executing work for more information about these details. Waiting Shows the time waiting in all activities. Waiting time is computed as the time work waits to be processed in activities, the same as Wait time in managerview Server. The Process Waiting statistics are not computed for an item until it reaches the end of the process, at the Process Completed event. Example Time Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count 9 AM AM 80 min ( ) 0 min 80 min 80 min 80 min 1 Completion Completion shows the end-to-end, actual amount of time elapsed (including weekends, for example) to complete the process. Example Time Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count 9 AM AM 100 min 0 min 100 min 100 min 100 min 1 NOTE: The completion Total time may be greater than the simulation run time because it includes waiting time. Cost Cost shows the cost for items that have been completed. Process cost is updated each time a process is completed. Activity cost is updated each time an item is completed at the activity. For processes where there is uncompleted work, the sum cost of all the activities is usually greater than the sum cost of completed processes. For a given item, the cost is the sum of the cost to complete processes in each activity the item is worked at. See the advanced section Executing work for the details on how cost is computed in an activity for a single item. TIP: You can control the number of digits after the decimal in Cost statistics. From Control Panel/Regional and Language Options/Regional Options/Customize/Currency, change the number of digits after decimal. NOTE: Processing and activity cost does not take into account the business schedule. See Business calendar - Cost calculations. Example Time Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count 9 AM AM $6.67 $6.67 $6.67 $6.67 $ Wait ratio The waiting time as a percentage of completion time. A high wait ratio may indicate a potential bottleneck or a well-optimized process. To determine what the high wait ratio indicates, examine the roles performed by the specific participant and look at 70 / 148

74 the Roles Statistics, Wait Ratio Table. If that table shows a high wait ratio for any of the roles performed by the given participant, then you have a process bottleneck. If the wait ratio is within an acceptable range, then you have a well-optimized process. The wait ratio bar is colored as follows: Green if less than 50% of the completion time is spent waiting. Yellow if between 50% and 75% of the time is spent waiting. Red if more than 75% of the time is spent waiting. 100% wait ratio would indicate that the work time is at or close to zero. Work time is when the participant has work open. Available time is when the participant does not have work open, when the participant is waiting for work. Wait time is how long the participant is available, waiting for work, with no work open. Simulation overview Running simulation Simulation statistics 71 / 148

75 Simulation statistics - Activity The statistics in each table except "Counters" come from work that has reached the end of the activity. The Activity category includes these tabs: Counters Processing Waiting Completion Cost Wait ratio Counters Example Map - The map name (derived from the Visio page tab) Activity - The activity name. Breakdown - The column name displays the name of the breakdown, if defined. For example, Work Type. Arrived - The number of items arrived at the activity In Progress - The total number of items currently in the activity, either waiting or processing Active - The total of number of items currently being processed Completed - The number of items completed at the activity Opened - The number of items that has been opened for processing (only the first open for each item) Reopened - The number of items that has been reopened after a suspend Suspended - The number of items that has been suspended before the processing is complete (opened but not completed) Time Activity Arrived Completed In Progress 9 AM Init AM Finish AM Init AM Finish Processing Statistics showing the time items spent being worked on in each activity. The Activity Processing statistics are computed for an item until it completes the Activity, at the Activity Completed event. Average, Standard Deviation, Min, Max and Total are self-explanatory. Count is the number of Activity Completed events that contributed to the statistics. Example Time Activity Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count 9 AM Init AM Finish AM Init 10 min 0 min 10 min 10 min 10 min 1 10 AM Finish 10 min 0 min 10 min 10 min 10 min 1 NOTE: All processing times reflect participant and role performance factors, similar to how cost is affected by performance factor. For example, if a participant or role's performance factor is 2, then the cost to complete the activity is doubled and the time it takes to complete the activity doubles. See Executing work for more information about these details. Waiting The time spent waiting at each activity. Waiting time is computed as the time work waits to be processed in activities, the same as Wait time in managerview Server. The Activity Waiting statistics are not computed for an item until it completes the Activity, at the Activity Completed event. Example Time Activity Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count 9 AM Init AM Finish AM Init 55 min 0 min 55 min 55 min 55 min 1 10 AM Finish 25 min 0 min 25 min 25 min 25 min 1 Completion Waiting + Processing time in each activity. Cost The cost to execute each activity, computed as described in the advanced section Executing work. NOTE: Processing and activity cost does not take into account the business schedule. See Business calendar - Cost calculations. Wait ratio The waiting time as a percentage of completion time in each activity. A high wait ratio indicates a potential bottleneck. The bar colors are the same as for Processes Wait ratio. Simulation overview Running simulation Simulation statistics 72 / 148

76 Simulation statistics - Participant The participant statistics are concerned with the time a participant is Working and idle (Waiting). TIP: If there is more than one instance of a participant, the results list appends a count. For example, if the participant is named Prep Day and there were more than one in the scenario, it would appear like this: Prep Day (2). The statistics reflect the simulation of all instances, not each individual instance. The Participant category includes these tabs: Counters Processing Idle Breaks Utilization Participant statistics Each participant with a quantity of more than one will have the quantity after the name in the Participants statistics table. For example: Joe (6). This way you know if the statistics are for a participant with "Quantity" of more than 1. The total results appears only when a participant plays more (or less) than one role. Often a participant only plays one role, so the total row on top of the breakdown row would just repeat the same numbers. For more information, see Filtering Results below. The following formula describes the relationship between Participant working, idle, break and scheduled work time: Working + Idle + Break = Scheduled Work Participant results Counters Statistic Participant Role Active Completed Opened Reopened Suspended Active Description The name of the participant. The role to which the participant is assigned. The total of number of items currently being processed. The number of times the participant completed an item. The number of times the participant opened an item for processing (only the first open for each item). The number of times an item has been reopened after a suspend. The number of times an item has been suspended before the processing is complete (opened but not completed). The number of items currently being worked on by the participant. This can be viewed only in real time while a simulation run is in progress. Processing The amount of time the participant spends working. The table is updated when the participant stops work on the item, either by suspending it or closing it. Statistic Participant Role Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count Description The name of the participant. The role to which the participant is assigned. The average time the participant spent processing items. The statistical calculation for the participant's processing time. The minimum amount of time the participant spent processing. The maximum amount of time the participant spent processing. The total amount of time the participant spent processing items. The number of times the participant enters the Processing state. A participant could enter the processing state multiple times for the same piece of work. Idle The amount of time the participant is available but not working. Idle time is calculated as scheduled work time minus processing time. Idle time is not break time. Statistic Participant Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count Description The name of the participant. The average time the participant spent idle. The statistical calculation for the participant's idle time. The minimum amount of time the participant spent idle. The maximum amount of time the participant spent idle. The total amount of time the participant spent idle. The number of times the participant enters the Idle state. A participant could enter the idle state multiple times for the same piece of work. Breaks These results indicate the actual length of breaks the participants actually used. When participants go on break, their work goes into suspended status. TIP: When you configure Activities, you select whether suspended work can be resumed by any performer, or limited to the same performer continuing the work after the break. Statistic Participant Average Standard Deviation Min Max Total Count Description The name of the participant. The average time the participant spent on break. The statistical calculation for the participant's break time. The minimum amount of time the participant spent on break. The maximum amount of time the participant spent on break. The total amount of time the participant spent on break. The number of times the participant enters the On Break state. A participant could go on break multiple times while processing the same piece of work. Utilization Processing time as a percentage of the participant's available work time. It shows the time the participant is working. This is the opposite of process, activity, and role wait ratio. 73 / 148

77 Utilization with Role breakdown You can choose to view the results by Role, see Filtering results, below. With the Role breakdown, "utilization" gives you a measure for what percentage of the time the participant works a given role. For example, if John works 8 hours total, 2 hours as thisrole and 4 hours as thatrole, then the total utilization for John will be 75%, 25% for thisrole, and 50% for thatrole. The utilization bars are colored as follows by default: % time working Color Indication less than 50 Red Participant is under utilized % Yellow Participant could be better utilized % Green Participant is well utilized % Yellow Participant may be over-utilized. more than 95% Red Participant is over-utilized which may cause a bottleneck. Tip: You can change the utilization colors in the <appsettings> section of the analystview.visioaddin.dll.config file. Filtering results You can filter results to view all participants or a few selected participants. To filter participants: 1. In the Simulation Results, click the Participants column heading. 2. Click Select All to deselect all participants. (The check marks should be removed.) 3. Then, select the participants that you want to see in the simulation results. Tip: Similar to selecting participants to display, to hide participants, clear the appropriate check boxes. Role breakdown Follow the same process as filtering participants (above) to filter by role and view data for only participants assigned to the selected roles. This lets you compare participants with the same role. For information about filtering, see Statistics display options. Simulation overview Running simulation Simulation statistics 74 / 148

78 Simulation statistics - Role The Role display includes these tabs: Counters Processing Waiting Wait ratio To explain role statistics it helps to look at an example: Assume a piece of work is completed at activity Initialize by role Data Entry. The work will contribute 55 minutes to the Waiting role statistics for Data Entry and 10 minutes to Working role statistics. The statistics in these tabs come from work that was completed by the role. Role results Counters Counters is also available in the participant statistics. See Participant. Processing The work time for items that were completed by this role. Waiting The wait time for items that were waiting for this role. Waiting time is computed as the time work waits in activities or for a given role, the same as Wait time in managerview Server. Wait ratio Waiting time as a percentage of the completion time for work that waited for this role. A high wait ratio indicates not enough resources for this role; see if some resources could be reassigned or retrained to do different work to spread out the workload. The (Total) row is the ratio for a participant playing this role, for example processing and waiting times for all participants playing this role. The breakdown rows are the ratio for this participant, such as processing and waiting for this participant playing this role. TIP: Role wait ratio is different from participant utilization. Role wait ratio is like activity and process statistics in that it shows the percentage of time spent working or waiting for the work done by that role. Because roles can include schedules in role assignments, the total time is not simply working plus waiting, it also includes scheduled breaks or other impacts based on the schedule. Filtering results Participant breakdown You can click the column heading to filter, such as Role or Participant. The breakdown for each participant with results (empty breakdowns, when the count is less than 0, do not appear). Simulation overview Running simulation Simulation statistics 75 / 148

79 Simulation statistics - Timed Sequence The statistics in each table except "Counters" come from work that has reached the end of the activity. Timed Sequence results The Timed Sequence display includes these tabs: Counters Processing Waiting Completion Cost Counters Wait ratio Timed sequence - The name of the timed sequence. Breakdown - The optional breakdown chosen in the options. For example, ClaimType can be selected in an Insurance Claims example. Started - The total of number of items that started a timed sequence. Completed - The total number of items that completed a timed sequence. In progress - The number of items that currently are in a timed sequence; corresponds to the number of started timed sequences minus the number of completed timed sequences. Processing Statistics showing the time items spent being worked on in each activity. The Activity Processing statistics are computed for an item until it completes the Activity, at the Activity Completed event. Average, Standard Deviation, Min, Max and Total are self-explanatory. Count is the number of Activity Completed events that contributed to the statistics. Waiting Shows the time waiting at activities in timed sequences. Waiting time is computed as the time work waits to be processed at activities in timed sequences. Completion The time from the timed sequence is started until it is completed. Notice that this time is not necessarily the same as processing time plus waiting time, because parallel paths can make this sum greater than the completion time. Cost The cost to execute each timed sequence, computed as described in the advanced section Executing work. Wait ratio The Waiting time as a percentage of completion time in each timed sequence. A high wait ratio indicates a potential bottleneck. The bar colors are the same as for Processes Wait ratio. Filtering results You can filter the Timed Sequence results on the Timed Sequence name and on the breakdown value (if breakdown is configured in Simulation General Settings configuration). For more information about filtering, see Statistics display options. Simulation overview Running simulation Simulation statistics Timed Sequences configuration 76 / 148

80 Simulation statistics - Logged event Logged events simulation results include counters of items by category. Logged event results Counters tab Logged event name Optional breakdown Count - the number of items passing through (either arrived or completed, depending on the configuration Advanced setting) the activity where the logged event is defined Filtering results You can filter the Logged events results on the Logged event name and on the breakdown value (if breakdown is configured in Simulation Statistics options): Filter by Logged event Filter by breakdown When you filter work by breakdown value in the Logged event definition, only a single row is shown in the results, for the selected breakdown value. If no breakdown value is chosen in the Logged event definition and breakdown is chosen in Simulation Statistics, a row is shown for all breakdown values, the same as in other statistics results. Simulation statistics Logged Events configuration 77 / 148

81 Simulation statistics - SLA Service Level Agreement (SLA) simulation results include counters and the ratio of items completed within the target completion time to the total count of items completed. SLA results The SLA display includes these tabs: Counters In time ratio Counters SLA name Optional breakdown In time - counts items that completed within the target completion time. Not in time - counts items that did not complete within the target completion time. In time ratio SLA name Optional breakdown In time ratio - the ratio between the in-time count and the total count. Data bar colors The color of the in time ratio data bar is: Red below 80%. Yellow between 80% and 90%. Green above 90%. The colors and ranges are adjustable in the config file using the InTimeRatioBarLimits key: <add key="intimeratiobarlimits" value="0.00, Red, 0.80, Gold, 0.90, LimeGreen"/> Filtering results You can filter the SLA results on the SLA name and on the breakdown value (if breakdown is configured in Simulation setup options): Filter by SLA Filter by breakdown When you filter work by breakdown value in the SLA definition, only a single row is shown in the results, for the selected breakdown value. If no breakdown value is chosen in the SLA definition and breakdown is chosen in Simulation Statistics, a row is shown for all breakdown values, the same as in other statistics results. Simulation overview Running simulation Simulation statistics SLA configuration 78 / 148

82 Statistics reference Status Tab General Tab description Shows generally interesting measures that quickly show the state of the simulation Row Type Row description Updated at Simulation start time date time The start time from general options setup Current Simulation time date time The current time for the statistics shown in the panel Process Completion Ratio ratio Process completed count over created count Maximum participant utilization ratio The name and utilization of the busiest participant Average participant utilization ratio A simple average of all the participant utilization Minimum participant utilization ratio The name and utilization of the most idle participant Maximum role wait ratio ratio The name and wait ratio for the role with the highest wait ratio Maximum activity wait ratio ratio The name and wait ratio for the activity with the highest wait ratio Minimum activity completion ratio ratio The name and completion ratio for the activity with the lowest completion ratio Simulation start Every statistics update WORKFLOWCREATE, WORKFLOWTERMINATE BEGINACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY, CONTINUEACTIVITY, COMPLETEACTIVITY, START_BREAK, END_WORK COMPLETEACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY COMPLETEACTIVITY BEGINACTIVITY, COMPLETEACTIVITY Process Tab Counters Processing Waiting Completion Cost Tab description The number of process instances created, completed, and in progress. The time participants have spent processing the completed process instance. The time the completed process instance has been in the system without being worked on. The total time for the process instance in the system, optionally broken down on the value of a string data field. The cost of processing the completed process instances. Currently only participant cost. Column Type Column description Updated at Process string Process name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Created integer The number of created process instances WORKFLOWCREATE Completed integer The number of completed process instances WORKFLOWTERMINATE In progress integer The number of process instances still in progress, i.e. created minus completed Process string Process name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of all processing times, i.e. total divided by count Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the processing time. Min time span The minimum of all processing times Max time span The maximum of all processing times Total time span The sum of all processing times Count integer The number of completed process instances WORKFLOWCREATE, WORKFLOWTERMINATE WORKFLOWTERMINATE Process string Process name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of all waiting times, i.e. sum divided by count WORKFLOWTERMINATE Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the waiting time. Min time span The minimum of all waiting times Max time span The maximum of all waiting times Total time span The sum of all waiting times Count integer The number of completed process instances Process string Process name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of all completion times, i.e. sum divided by count Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the completion time. Min time span The minimum of all completion times Max time span The maximum of all completion times Total time span The sum of all completion times Count integer The number of completed process instances WORKFLOWTERMINATE Process string Process name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average amount The average of all costs, i.e. sum divided by count WORKFLOWTERMINATE Standard deviation amount The standard deviation for the cost Min amount The minimum of all costs Max amount The maximum of all costs 79 / 148

83 Wait ratio Waiting time relative to completion time. Total amount The sum of all costs Count integer The number of completed process instances Process string Process name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Wait ratio ratio Waiting time relative to completion time WORKFLOWTERMINATE Activity Tab Counters Tab description The number of process instances arrived, completed, in progress, and active at the given activities. Column Type Column description Updated at Process string Process name Identifier row Map string Map name Activity string Activity name Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Arrived integer The number of arrived process instances at the activity ARRIVEACTIVITY Completed integer The number of completed process instances at the activity COMPLETEACTIVITY In progress integer The number of process instances still in progress at the activity, i.e. created minus completed ARRIVEACTIVITY and COMPLETEACTIVITY Active integer The number of process instances currently being worked on at the activity BEGINACTIVITY and COMPLETEACTIVITY Opened integer The number of opened process instances by the participant BEGINACTIVITY Reopened integer The number of reopened process instances by the participant CONTINUEACTIVITY Suspended integer The number of suspended process instances by the participant SUSPENDACTIVITY Processing The time participants have spent processing completed process instances at the activity. Process string Process name Identifier row Map string Map name Activity string Activity name Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of activity processing times, i.e. sum divided by count Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the activity processing time. COMPLETEACTIVITY Min time span The minimum of activity processing times Max time span The maximum of activity processing times Total time span The sum of activity processing times Count integer The number of completed process instances at the activity Waiting The time the completed process instances have been waiting at the activity. Process string Process name Identifier row Map string Map name Activity string Activity name Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of activity waiting times, i.e. sum divided by count Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the activity waiting time. COMPLETEACTIVITY Min time span The minimum of activity waiting times Max time span The maximum of activity waiting times Total time span The sum of activity waiting times Count integer The number of completed process instances at the activity Completion The total time spent for completed process instances at the activity. Process string Process name Identifier row Map string Map name Activity string Activity name Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of activity completion times, i.e. sum divided by count Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the activity completion time. COMPLETEACTIVITY Min time span The minimum of activity completion times Max time span The maximum of activity completion times Total time span The sum of activity completion times 80 / 148

84 Count integer The number of completed process instances at the activity Cost The cost of processing the completed process instances. Currently only participant cost. Process string Process name Identifier row Map string Map name Activity string Activity name Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average amount The average of activity costs, i.e. sum divided by count COMPLETEACTIVITY Standard deviation amount The standard deviation for the activity cost Min amount The minimum of activity costs Max amount The maximum of activity costs Total amount The sum of activity costs Count integer The number of completed process instances at the activity Wait ratio Waiting time relative to completion time. Process string Process name Identifier row Map string Map name Activity string Activity name Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Wait ratio ratio Waiting time relative to completion time COMPLETEACTIVITY Participant Tab Counters Processing Idle Breaks Utilization Tab description The number of process instances active, completed, opened, reopened, and suspended by the given participants The time participants have spent processing the completed or suspended process instance. The time that participants are available and not processing The time that participants are on breaks. Waiting time relative to available time, where available is the sum of processing Column Type Column description Updated at Participant string Participant name Identifier row Role string Breakdown on role participant is playing. This also includes the name of the participant, because the participant can be assigned directly to an activity Active integer The number of process instances currently being worked on by the participant Completed integer The number of completed process instances by the participant BEGINACTIVITY, COMPLETEACTIVITY, CONTINUEACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY COMPLETEACTIVITY Opened integer The number of opened process instances by the participant BEGINACTIVITY Reopened integer The number of reopened process instances by the participant CONTINUEACTIVITY Suspended integer The number of suspended process instances by the participant SUSPENDACTIVITY Participant string Participant name Identifier row Role string Breakdown on role participant is playing. This also includes the name of the participant, because the participant can be assigned directly to an activity Average time span The average of processing times, i.e. sum divided by count COMPLETEACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the processing time Min time span The minimum of processing times Max time span The maximum of processing times Total time span The sum of processing times Count integer The number of times the participant stops working, i.e. either completes or suspends a process instance Participant string Participant name Identifier row Average time span The average of idle times, i.e. sum divided by count BEGINACTIVITY, CONTINUEACTIVITY, Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the idle time. START_BREAK, END_WORK Min time span The minimum of idle times Max time span The maximum of idle times Total time span The sum of idle times Count integer The number of times the participant stops being idle, i.e. begins or continues working on a process instances or potentially starts a break or ends the work shift. Participant string Participant name Identifier row Average time span The average of break times, i.e. sum divided by count END_BREAK (END_WORK) Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the break time Min time span The minimum of break times Max time span The maximum of break times Total time span The sum of break times Count integer The number of breaks taken Participant string Participant name Identifier row Role string Role name. Identifier row Utilization ratio Waiting time relative to available time, where available is the sum of processing and idle COMPLETEACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY, BEGINACTIVITY, CONTINUEACTIVITY, START_BREAK, END_WORK 81 / 148

85 Role Tab Counters Processing Waiting Wait ratio and idle Tab description The number of process instances active, completed, opened, reopened, and suspended by the given participants The time participants have spent processing completed or suspended process instances at the activity. The time the process instances have been waiting for a participant playing this role. The time is updated when the processing is stopped. Waiting time relative to the total time Column Type Column description Updated at Role string Role name Identifier row Participant string Breakdown on what participants are in this role Active integer The number of process instances currently being worked on by the participant Completed integer The number of completed process instances by the participant COMPLETEACTIVITY Opened integer The number of opened process instances by the participant BEGINACTIVITY Reopened integer The number of reopened process instances by the participant CONTINUEACTIVITY Suspended integer The number of suspended process instances by the participant BEGINACTIVITY, COMPLETEACTIVITY, CONTINUEACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY SUSPENDACTIVITY Role string Role name Identifier row Participant string Breakdown on the participants working the role, plus a total row. Average time span The average of processing times, i.e. sum divided by count COMPLETEACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the processing time Min time span The minimum of processing times Max time span The maximum of processing times Total time span The sum of processing times Count integer The number of activity completed or suspended process instances Role string Role name Identifier row Average time span The average of waiting times, i.e. sum divided by count COMPLETEACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the waiting time. Min time span The minimum of waiting times Max time span The maximum of waiting times Total time span The sum of waiting times Count integer The number of activity completed or suspended process instances Role string Role name Identifier row Participant string Participant name Identifier row Wait ratio ratio Waiting time relative to the total time COMPLETEACTIVITY, SUSPENDACTIVITY Timed sequence Tab Tab description Column Type Column description Updated at Counters Processing Waiting Completion The number of timed sequence started, completed, and in progress. The time participants have spent processing the completed timed sequence. The processing time is the sum of all activity processing times, i.e. the sum of the processing time and waiting time can be greater than the completion time, in cases where parallel work is performed. The time the completed timed sequence has been in the system without being worked on. The waiting time is the sum of all activity waiting times, i.e. the sum of the processing time and waiting time can be greater than the completion time, in cases where parallel work is performed. The total time for the process instance in the system, i.e. the time from creation to Timed Sequence string Timed sequence name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Started integer The number of started timed sequences BEGINTIMEDSEQUENCE Completed integer The number of completed timed sequences COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE In progress integer The number of timed sequences still in progress, i.e. started minus completed Timed sequence string Timed sequence name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of all processing times, i.e. sum divided by count Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the processing time Min time span The minimum of all processing times Max time span The maximum of all processing times Total time span The sum of all processing times Count integer The number of completed process instances Timed sequence string Timed sequence name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of all waiting times, i.e. sum divided by count Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the waiting time Min time span The minimum of all waiting times Max time span The maximum of all waiting times Total time span The sum of all waiting times Count integer The number of completed process instances Timed sequence string Timed sequence name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field BEGINTIMEDSEQUENCE, COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE 82 / 148

86 Cost Wait ratio the time from creation to termination. The cost of processing the completed timed sequence. Currently only participant cost. Waiting time relative to completion time. selected in option, plus a total row Average time span The average of all completion times, i.e. sum divided by count Standard deviation time span The standard deviation for the completion time. Min time span The minimum of all completion times Max time span The maximum of all completion times Total time span The sum of all completion times Count integer The number of completed process instances Timed sequence string Timed sequence name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE Average amount The average of all costs, i.e. sum divided by count COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE Standard deviation amount The standard deviation for the cost. Min amount The minimum of all costs Max amount The maximum of all costs Total amount The sum of all costs Count integer The number of completed process instances Timed sequence string Timed sequence name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Wait ratio ratio Waiting time relative to available time, where available is the sum of processing and idle COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE The BEGINTIMEDSEQUENCE and COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE events are sent at the same time as ARRIVEACTIVITY or COMPLETEACTIVITY depending on the setting (arriving or leaving). Logged event Tab Counters Tab description The number of logged events raised. Column Type Column description Updated at Logged event string Logged event name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row Count integer The number of process instances raising the event LOGGEDEVENT The LOGGEDEVENT event is sent at the same time as ARRIVEACTIVITY or COMPLETEACTIVITY depending on the setting (arriving or leaving). SLA Tab Counters In time ratio Formula chart Tab description The number of SLAs in time and not in time counts. Waiting time relative to completion time. Column Type Column description Updated at SLA string SLA name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row In time integer The number of process instances note completed in time COMPLETEACTIVITY, COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE, or WORKFLOWTERMINATE Not in time integer The number of process instances note completed in time COMPLETEACTIVITY, COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE, or WORKFLOWTERMINATE SLA string SLA name Identifier row Breakdown string Optional breakdown on each value of the field selected in option, plus a total row In time ratio ratio In time count relative to total count COMPLETEACTIVITY, COMPLETETIMEDSEQUENCE, or WORKFLOWTERMINATE 83 / 148

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88 Process Optimization Generally, optimization is the process of modifying a system to improve its efficiency. The analystview optimization feature helps you improve your simulation scenario by making adjustments that decrease wait time, for example. The Optimizer wizard assists in streamlining your process based on process analysis and simulation results. The wizard helps you to locate problem areas and indicate where the process needs to be improved. TIP: To use the optimization features, you first need to run simulation. The optimization cycle Optimization is an iterative course of action, where you continuously go through the following steps until the desired optimum is achieved: 1. Set up a simulation scenario. 2. Simulate the scenario. 3. Analyze the statistics. Optimization helps streamline the process of improving the simulation scenario. It makes changes to reduce end-to-end completion time (or "cycle time"), typically by resolving bottlenecks to reduce wait time. The time to complete a process instance consists of processing and waiting time, where processing time is the time spent processing in an activity and waiting time is the time spent waiting for a performer at an activity. Target activities columns Activity. The full name of the activity as <process name>.<map name>.<activity name>. Total waiting time. Same measure as the Total measure in the Activity Waiting time panel. This is the optimization measure, which in the advanced option can be set to total, average, maximum, or standard deviation for waiting or completion time. Participant shortage. A prediction of the number of full time participants needed to process the unprocessed items at the given activity. Completion ratio. The completed count relative to the arrived count. Wait ratio. The waiting time relative to the completion time. Same measure as the Activity Wait ratio panel. Workload. The number of process instances arriving at this activity relative to the total number of created process instances. Workload measures how much of the work in the system goes through this activity. The workload measure is the number of all created process instances that have arrived at this activity. If this number is low, then will that activity most likely not significantly influence the overall performance. The participant shortage measure is an estimation of the number of full time participants needed to process the unprocessed items in the simulation run. NOTE: The shortage measure is not an exact measure, it is an estimate. The shortage measure describes a demand at the point in time where the optimizer is run. There might be other problems that do not surface at this point in time, that indirectly cause the problems we see at the point of the optimization. Optimization example Express Optimization Custom Optimization 85 / 148

89 Optimization example The following sections show results for a slightly modified version of the InsuranceClaim AsIs sample model. The only modification is that Charlie also works the Life role (in addition to the Health role he already is working). Manual approach to reduce waiting time You can take a manual approach to reduce waiting time. Afterwards you can learn how it can be done with the optimization wizard. When looking for bottlenecks in your simulation results, look at the activity waiting statistics pane. In the Simulation Results pane, select Activity, and then select the Waiting tab. Sort the result to find the problematic areas: Average shows the average wait for the number of items going through that activity. The number is easy to relate to, but a high number might not influence the overall performance that much, if the Count is small. Total shows the sum of wait time for all items going through that activity. The number is more difficult to relate to, but the number is weighted with the Count thus providing an indication of how big an influence this has on the overall performance. Maximum shows the maximum wait time for an item at that activity. Most usable in case where the maximum total cycle time is critical. Standard deviation shows how much the wait time varies at that activity. A high standard deviation indicates that the flow is abrupt and most likely worth looking further into. Bottleneck In the InsuranceClaim AsIs.vsd example there is clearly a bottleneck at the Life activity, where the average wait is over 3 days, the standard deviation is more than 2 days, Max is more than 7 days and the total is almost 2000 days. The Life Activity appears in the top rows when sorted by all of the measures: average, total, max, and standard deviation. There is no association between the activity and the performers in the simulation results panel, you either have to know or look it up in the scenario setup. In this case it is simple, because the performer is a role named Life Claims. Selecting Status and reviewing the wait ratio clearly shows that the role is over utilized. Look at the participant utilization, it clearly shows that the assigned participants are over utilized. Specifically, Charlie and David. Tip: You can also filter the role by the life claims role. Now you have located a problem and you can correct it yourself. In this case, you can see that some roles are under utilized, and some cross-training can prepare more participants to be able to perform the life claims role. You can also simply add new participants to perform the role. Optimizer approach After a simulation run, you have the option to use the Optimizer wizard to improve the waiting times. To optimize using the wizard: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Optimize. 2. For this example, select Custom Optimization, then click Next. 3. Select the Timed Sequence scope. The timed sequence shows that in Claims Processing, there is a bottleneck. 86 / 148

90 4. Click Next. The Target Activity page appears. The Target Activity page shows that the Life Claims Processing activity has a lot of waiting time. It also shows that the wait ratio is very high, meaning that much more time is spent waiting than processing in the activity. The workload is low (35% of all created process instances have completed this activity), which means that this is only a problem for a fragment of the process instances, but in this case that fragment is all Life claims and thus very important. The participant shortage column predicts that we need 5.8 participants to complete all of the unprocessed items. 5. The first activity (Life Claims) is selected by default. Click Next to continue to participant cross training. Participant cross training is when we assign more roles to an under utilized participant. The Participant Cross Training screen shows the participants not working the critical role. It lists the name, the utilization, and a breakdown by roles. You can sort by clicking the column heading. In the InsuranceClaim-AsIs.vsd example, Endicott spent 100% of the time he worked in the Health Claims role. NOTE: The critical role appears in the header, and the predicted shortage that appears below the header is updated when cross training is selected. 87 / 148

91 6. Select Jerry, Endicott, and Tina for cross training. Click Next to add participants. The Add Participants screen shows the participants working the critical role and at least one other role. It lists the name, the utilization, and a breakdown over the worked roles worked by the participant. In this example Charlie is working both the Life Claims role and the Health Claims role. He is the only Life Claims participant who works more than one role. NOTE: The name of the critical role appears in the header. The predicted shortage shown below the header is updated when a specialization is selected. In this case it will not necessarily make a difference, because Charlie spent 100% of the time he worked working in the Life Claims role. Participant specialization is when a participant works more than one role, and we specialize it to work only the critical role used for the target activity. Charlie is selected for specialization. We allow duplicating participants or adding additional instances of existing participants if specialization and cross training is not sufficient. The Add Participants screen shows the assigned participants with the quantity, hourly rate, and utilization for each. You can increase the quantity directly in the table cell or duplicate a participant using the right-click context menu. Use the context menu to duplicate a participant, rename, or delete an added participant. You can edit the hourly rate for a duplicated participant in the cell. For this example: a participant is duplicated and renamed to New Hire the predicted number of instances is added by setting the quantity to 4 7. Click Next to continue. The Optimization Report shows a report of the changes made on the previous screens. 88 / 148

92 7. Commit to the changes by clicking Finish. The wizard closes and a new simulation run is started. 8. Compare the simulation results of the optimized simulation run in the Status result panel. The status results appear in a column next to your previous simulation run so you can see the differences. Optimization Express Optimization Custom Optimization 89 / 148

93 Express Optimization After you run your simulation, you can quickly run the Optimizer wizard to add participants to optimize waiting time for the activity with the longest total waiting time. Express Optimization targets the Activity with the longest total waiting time, and optimizes the waiting time at that activity by adding the number of participant instances predicted by the participant shortage measure. To run express optimization: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Optimize. 2. Select Express Optimization and click Next. 3. Optimization runs and provides a report of the changes made to improve the waiting time in your simulation scenario. 4. Click Finish. This starts a simulation run, and the results show the Previous run results to compare with the optimized run in the Status panel in the simulation results. Optimization 90 / 148

94 Custom Optimization Custom Optimization lets you select an activity to optimize, and you can specialize participants for certain work, cross-train existing participants for target goals, or add additional participants. You can use timed sequences and SLA to optimize specific sections of the process. To run custom optimization: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Optimize. The Optimizer wizard appears. 2. Select Custom Optimization. (It may already be selected if you chose Custom last time you ran optimization.) 3. Optionally check the option to use advanced optimization measure and aggregation options. If you check this option, the next step in the wizard is an additional Advanced Options screen. For details, see Advanced optimization options before you continue with the next step in this procedure. 4. Click Next. The Scope page appears with the list of activities sorted by the selected measure and aggregation (default is total waiting time), with the top activity selected. Select which part of the process to focus on for optimization: Process scope (default). Lists the process, the selected measure and aggregation (default is total waiting time), completion ratio, and wait ratio. Timed sequence scope. Lists the timed sequences, the selected measure and aggregation, the completion ratio, the wait ratio, and the workload (the number of started timed sequences relative to the total number of created processes; workload measures how much work goes through the timed sequence). SLA. Shows the SLAs, the In time ratio, the In time, and Not in time measures. 5. Click Next. The Target Activity page appears. The activities shown are the ones selected on the scope page, for example if a timed sequence is selected, then only the activities taking part of that time sequence is shown. The columns are the chosen measure and aggregation (for example, the default total waiting time), the participant shortage, completion ratio, wait ratio, and workload. 6. Select an activity from the list. You can use the default-selected activity, or select a different activity from the list, such as one with a high participant shortage or a low completion ratio. 7. Click Next to continue optimizing the selected activity. If there are any participants to specialize, the Participant Specialization page appears. Otherwise, the Participant Cross Training page appears (see next step). The number of full-time participants needed in the table appears in the header area of the screen. Participant specialization is when a participant works more than one role, and we specialize it to work only the critical role used for the target activity. This page shows the participants working the critical role and at least one other role. It lists the name, the utilization, and a breakdown over the worked roles worked by the participant. The shortage shown below the header is updated when a specialization is selected. NOTE: If a participant already works 100% of the time, there will not necessarily be any change if you check to specialize that participant. 8. Select the participants to specialize by checking the boxes next to each entry and click Next. The Participant Cross Training page appears, with the critical role name in the table header area of the screen. Participant cross-training is when the optimizer assigns more roles to an under utilized participant. This page shows the participants not working the critical role. It lists the name, the utilization, and a breakdown by roles. You can filter by role through the context menu, similar to how you can filter on roles in the participant simulation results. A participant does not play a role if the given cell background is grayed out. The shortage shown below the header is updated when cross training is selected. 9. Select the participants to cross train and click Next to continue. The Add Participants page appears showing the assigned participants with their quantity, rate, and utilization. You can duplicate or add additional instances of existing participants if specialization and cross training is not sufficient to achieve the number of participants needed. You can increase the quantity directly in the table cell or duplicate a participant through the context menu. Use the context menu to duplicate a participant, rename, or delete an added participant. TIP: You can edit the hourly rate for a duplicated participant in the cell. You cannot edit the rate of existing participants. The hourly rate change does not appear in the report. 10. Duplicate or add additional participant instances and click Next to continue. The report page appears listing all the changes made to the scenario during your custom optimization. TIP: Hourly rate changes to duplicated participants do not appear in the report. 11. Click Finish to run simulation with the new participant settings. Simulation runs and displays the optimized simulation results next to the previous simulation run results for comparison in the Status panel in the simulation results. You continue to run optimization again to address the wait time of other activities until all waiting times are acceptable. Optimization Optimization example Express Optimization 91 / 148

95 Advanced optimization options In this additional screen in the custom optimization wizard, you can select measures and aggregation. Measures Measure Waiting time (default) Completion time Aggregations Aggregation Total (default) Average Maximum Standard deviation Description This is normally what you have to focus on, as it is always non-productive time. This also factors in the processing time for activities. The optimizer will still only optimize the waiting time by adding more participants to the target activity, but in addition it allows the optimizer to prioritize activities with a high completion time. Description Shows the sum total of wait times for all items going through that activity. The number is weighted with the Count, providing an indication of how big an influence this has on the overall performance. TIP: In the simulation results panel, the corresponding column is titled "Total." Shows the average wait for the number of items going through that activity. The number is easy to relate to for the user, but a high number might not influence the overall performance that much, if the Count is small. Shows the maximum wait time for an item at that activity. Most usable in cases where the maximum total cycle time is critical. Shows how much the wait time varies at that activity. A high standard deviation indicates that the flow is abrupt and most likely worth investigating. Remember selection. Select to save the measure and aggregation to use the next time you run optimization. Return to the Custom Optimization procedure, step / 148

96 Saving simulation settings You can save simulation settings to HTML. To save simulation settings to an HTML file: 1. Pause simulation or wait for completion. 2. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Reports. The Report Viewer appears with the last viewed report template selected. 3. Select Default Simulation Setup Report from the Template list, or browse for a custom report. 4. Optionally save or print the report. 93 / 148

97 Saving simulation results When simulation is paused or completed you can save a snapshot of current statistics. There is also an XPDL option in Process > Export. This is for exchange with managerview, for example. To save simulation results: 1. Pause simulation or wait for completion. 2. Select Reports > Default Simulation Results Report. Then, select Save. The standard Save Webpage dialog box is displayed. 3. Select the appropriate folder, optionally rename the file, and select a format. 4. Click Save. The data saved includes general scenario properties and all the tables in the results panel. For details about the tables, see Simulation statistics. Simulation overview Running simulation Simulation statistics 94 / 148

98 Reports Use the reports feature to: Create a Process Description Report based on a default template Create a report based on a custom template Review the report in the Report Viewer window Save the report to a specified directory The report manager uses templates to generate reports from the process and simulation data. You can select from the default templates provided, or you can create your own templates based on the defaults. Default templates The reports manager maintains a list of external templates that have been accessed and includes them on the list of templates when you export scenario data to the reports manager again. NOTE: Cost fields may not reconcile in HTML reports that round amounts to the nearest cent. For an explanation, see Simulation statistics. NOTE: If a scenario has a conditional simulation stop time, the Simulation Results Report reports the actual stop time, calculated by adding the simulator's elapsed time to the value of the start time. To generate a report: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, select Reports. The Report Viewer window appears, with the last-used template selected and the associated report displayed. (Default is the Default Simulation Report template.) 2. You can select a different template from the drop-down list of available templates to view the selected template report. To use a custom template, select Browse... and navigate to a template to open. See Custom templates below. The report for the selected template appears in the Report Viewer. 3. Save the report. Optional. Click the save button and specify where to save the HTML file. Toolbar Button TIP: To save the images as well as the text of the report, select the file type Web Page, complete (*.htm, *.html). The image files (PNG format) for the reports are saved in the same directory as the report. The image file name is the name of the map and it has an extension of PNG. 4. Print the report. Optional. 1. Click the Page Setup button and specify size, header, footer preferences and click OK. 2. Click the Print button, select a printer and click Print. Template Save Print Page Setup Description Select a template from the drop-down list. (Alt+T) Click to save the current report to the location you specify. (Alt+S) Click to print the current report to the printer you select. (Alt+P or Ctrl+P) Click to modify the page setup before printing. (Alt+E) To close the report viewer, click the Windows Close button at the top-right of the window or press Alt+F4. Custom templates You can apply a custom template to the current scenario for reporting: select Browse... in the Templates list. The report manager searches for specific ID values in element tags as a signal to generate content. For details about the template tags and customization options, see Customizing report templates. To use a custom template: Select Browse... and choose a file that holds a report template. The custom report appears in the Report Viewer and the custom template is added to the list of templates in the Templates drop-down list. Customizing report templates 95 / 148

99 Customizing report templates You can create custom report templates based on the HTML file default templates for: Default Process Report Default Simulation Results Report Default Simulation Setup Report The report viewer uses the template tags to generate the report content. Each tag is listed in the tables below. Example The simplest case is when a tag is a signal to insert some content. Other tag-id pairs tell the report manager to iterate through all of a list of items. In this example, the Process Description Report template looks like this: <html xmlns=" <head> <title> - Process Description Report</title> </head> <body> <h1>process Description</h1> <div id="processdescriptions"> <div id="processbody"> <h2 id="processheader"></h2> <p id="processdescription"></p> <div id="mapbody"> <h3 id="mapheader"></h3> <div id="mapimage"></div> <p id="mapdescription"></p> <div id="activitydescriptions"></div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html> The first tag that is processed is the Title tag. The report manager inserts the name of the scenario at the head of the Title tag and then appends whatever content is provided by the template. The Div tag with and ID value of ProcessDescriptions makes the report manager iterate through all the processes in the scenario, applying the contents of the Div tag to that process. Similarly, the Div tag with an ID value of ProcessDescription requests the report manager to iterate through all the maps in the process. The rest of the Div sections in the process description template are more straightforward. For example, the h2 tag with an id of ProcessHeader is given the name of the current process and ProcessDescription requests that the process description set in the Process Properties dialog box box be inserted. NOTE: When the report is saved, the image files are generated for the Process Description Report when a Div tag has an ID of MapImage. Tags and IDs used in report templates This section describes the meaning of the tags used in the templates. Content for tags that can appear anywhere in <body> Tag <div id="processdescriptions"> <div id="simulationresults"> <div id="scenariosetup"> Content Iterates through all maps in the process. See ProcessDescriptions tags table, below. See SimulationResults tags table, below. See ScenarioSetup tags table, below. Content for <div id="processdescriptions"> Tag <div id="processbody"> Content See ProcessBody tags table. Content for <div id="processbody"> Tag Content <h2 id="processheader"> The name of the current process. <p id="processdescription"> The description field of the current process. <div id="mapbody"> Iterates through all maps in the current process. See MapBody tags table. Content for <div id="mapbody"> Tag Content <h3 id="mapheader"> The name of the current map. <div id="mapimage"> Image of the current map. <div id="activitydescriptions"> Table of the activities in the current map. Content for <div id="simulationresults"> Tag <div id="scenarioproperties"/> <div id="statusgeneral"/> <div id="statusoptimization"/> <div id="processcounters"/> <div id="processprocessing"/> <div id="processwaiting"/> <div id="processcompletion"/> <div id="processcost"/> <div id="processwaitratio"/> <div id="activitycounters"/> <div id="activityprocessing"/> <div id="activitywaiting"/> <div id="activitycompletion"/> <div id="activitycost"/> Content Scenario properties table General status table Optimization status table Process counters table Process processing table Process waiting table Process completion table Process cost table Process wait ratio table Activity counters table Activity processing table Activity waiting table Activity completion table Activity cost table 96 / 148

100 <div id="activitywaitratio"/> <div id="participantcounters"/> <div id="participantprocessing"/> <div id="participantidle"/> <div id="participantbreaks"/> <div id="participantutilization"/> <div id="rolecounters"/> <div id="roleprocessing"/> <div id="rolewaiting"/> <div id="rolewaitratio"/> <div id="timedsequencecounters" /> <div id="timedsequenceprocessing" /> <div id="timedsequencewaiting" /> <div id="timedsequencecompletion" /> <div id="timedsequencecost" /> <div id="timedsequencewaitratio" /> <div id="loggedeventcounters" /> <div id="slacounters" /> <div id="slaintimeratio" /> Content for <div id="scenariosetup"> Tag <div id="options"/> <div id="globalfields"/> <div id="datafields"/> <div id="arrivals"/> <div id="roles"/> <div id="schedules"/> <div id="participants"/> <div id="roleassignments"/> <div id="humansystemactivities"/> <div id="decisionactivities"/> <div id="parallelmergeactivities"/> <div id="linkactivities"/> <div id="startendactivities"/> <div id="timedsequences"/> <div id="loggedevents"/> <div id="slas"/> Activity wait ratio table Participant counters table Participant processing table Participant idle table Participant breaks table Participant utilization table Role counters table Role processing table Role waiting table Role wait ratio table Timed sequence counters table Timed sequence processing table Timed sequence waiting table Timed sequence completion table Timed Sequence Cost table Timed sequence wait ratio table Logged Event Counters table SLA Counters Table SLA Timed Ratio Table Content Table of options Table of global fields Table of data fields Table of arrivals Table of roles Table of schedules Table of participants Table of role assignments Table of user and system activities Table of decision activities Table of parallel and merge activities Table of link activities Table of start and end activities Table of timed sequences Table of logged events Table of service level agreements 97 / 148

101 Importing and exporting arrivals, participants, and data fields (.csv) You can export arrivals, participants, and data fields to a comma-delimited file. This feature is useful if you want to: Edit a lot of participants, arrivals, or data fields in Microsoft Excel Import participants or data fields from an external tool that writes.csv the import tool can convert, such as LDAP TIP: To ensure that you use the correct.csv format, you could export a fully defined participant or arrival to.csv and start with that, making edits and importing back into analystview. This is also one way to transport arrivals, participants, or data fields from one process to another. To export arrivals, participants, or data fields to.csv: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Arrivals. 2. Click the Export button. The standard Open dialog box appears. To import arrivals, participants, or data fields from.csv: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Arrivals. 2. Click the Import button. The standard Save As dialog box appears. 3. Type, paste, or browse to the path and filename for the file you want to export to and click Save. If the import detects duplicate items, for each duplicate arrival or participant it will prompt you to replace the existing item with the imported file or not. Click Yes to All if you know you want to replace all the existing items with those in the imported file, click No to All if you want to leave all of your current items as they are. NOTE: If you replace items on import, the simulation scenario is updated. If you cancel the action, it is canceled after the import. Import problems If the import detects inconsistencies between the arrivals or participants in the.csv and those in your current scenario, the Import Problems dialog box appears listing the inconsistencies so you can: Finish the import removing references to undefined items, for example a schedule referred to in an imported participant definition, so that no schedule would be assigned to the imported participant. Finish the import including references to the undefined items, which would retain associated names, such as the name of a schedule for an imported participant. For example, the imported participant would still be assigned the named Schedule, but you would need to define that schedule after you import. NOTE: If you choose to include undefined items, these undefined items will be created during the import. These new items are created using the names in the.csv and the default configuration: it will be created with type "work" and it's duration will be 1 day, with start time relative 8 hours. For example, during participants import, if a schedule called "MYVACATION" is found in the source.csv file, and if there is no such schedule in the current process scenario, then a schedule named "MYVACATION" will be created with the default schedule configuration, which you can change after import. Cancel the import entirely. Duplicate items If the import detects arrivals or participants in the.csv with the same names as any in your current scenario, the Duplicate Import Item dialog box appears listing the details of each duplicate item so you can review them and determine whether to replace the existing item with the imported one. To replace all existing items with duplicate names in the.csv file, click Yes to All. To leave all existing items with duplicate names, ignoring duplicates in the.csv file, click No to All. To cancel the import, click Cancel. managerview Server integration 98 / 148

102 XPDL import and export managerview facilitates importing process definitions into analystview from an XPDL 2.0 file and exporting process definitions out to XPDL 2.0. Topics in this section: Importing from XPDL Exporting to XPDL XPDL adapters 99 / 148

103 Importing from XPDL The XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) is a format standardized by the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) to interchange business process definitions between different workflow products like modeling tools and workflow engines. analystview can directly import XPDL 2.0 from many tools that produce XPDL 2.0, including other Global 360 products such as Process360 and Case360. NOTE: Some XPDL may not be compatible with analystview; please see below for details on what is supported. Also see import/export adapters for information on how you can use an adapter to transform the XPDL (or even other non-xpdl data) into a version that is compatible with analystview. You can import an XPDL 2.0 file that contains process definitions into analystview The XPDL file can contain data for more than one process, and during the import procedure you specify the process you want to work with. The additional processes will be entirely invisible in analystview, they are only stored for compliance. Other tools will see the processes if they load the XPDL after you make changes in analystview. Import an XPDL 2.0 document as an alternative to creating a process and maps from scratch. This approach supports interoperability with: Global 360's Process Analyst, a process capture tool that uses the BPMN graphics methodology and produces XPDL 2.0 files. Any other tool that can produce conforming XPDL 2.0. XPDL import supports files containing OR gateways and AND condition gateways. XPDL import converts an OR or AND with conditions to a Conditional parallel activity in analystview. NOTE: On import, analystview converts IOR logic to XOR, and displays a warning indicating what will be converted and that the underlying XPDL will be modified. You can add adapters to the XPDL import wizard. See XPDL adapters for more information. To import from XPDL: 1. On the Process Ribbon, in the XPDL area, click Import. The XPDL Import wizard launches. Each screen includes detailed instructions for the step. 2. Type, paste, or browse to the path and filename for the file you want to import. 3. Select an adapter if you want to import a file that may not be compatible with analystview See XPDL adapters for more information about adapters. 4. Click Next. If the wizard needs additional information about the XPDL file that you are importing, a step appears. 5. Click Finish to complete the import. For information on importing Insight360 Studio models, see Moving from Insight360 Studio to analystview. Importing exported XPDL When you export a process to XPDL and then import from the same XPDL, you lose simulation settings, because the XPDL export is designed for process data that you might want to modify in an external tool that is also XPDL-compatible, not for transferring or archiving simulation data. Data that is not preserved with XPDL: Swimlanes Scenario configurations (Arrivals, Schedules, Participants, Roles, etc.) To export simulation data, see Exporting simulation settings. Getting the best results from XPDL import analystview supports the import of XPDL 2.0 (XPDL 1.0 is not supported), and not all XPDL 2.0 will be compatible due to differences in what the XPDL contains versus the supported features in analystview You should contact Global 360 for information about importing XPDL from a specific tool or if you need detailed information about what XPDL features are supported. See Global 360 Resources. Schema validation During import the file is validated against the XPDL 2.0 schema. The import wizard does not prevent you from continuing if there are schema violations but it is likely that the import will fail if errors are reported (failure may result in an empty diagram as the result of the import). Single process You can choose an XPDL file (XPDL Package element) containing more than one process, but you will be prompted to choose a single process for import. Graphical layout information preferred An automatic layout algorithm is applied to a map if any graphic object (activity, transition, annotation) is missing NodeGraphicsInfo or ConnectorGraphicsInfo. analystview expects approximately pixel-sized or points-sized coordinates (72 to 100 dpi) for attractive appearance. If there is more than one set if graphics info you will be prompted to select a single one. Some connector routing not supported There are many different types of connector routing logic (fork, parallel split, join, merge, etc.) that can be found in XPDL, and some of these cases are not supported in analystview The import wizard will report these instances and try to convert to a form that is supported, but this conversion may result in a different meaning from the original. Unique data field and participant names required Data fields and participants are imported from both the package and process collections. The names must be unique across the union of their respective collections (for example a data field name must be unique across the union of the package and process data field collections). Pools and lanes ignored Pool and lane elements are ignored in the XPDL. The contents (activities, sequence flows, etc.) of the pools are imported but without the containing pool or lane elements. Subflow, intermediate event, and reference not supported These workflow object types are not supported in analystview and are converted to generic system activities during import. Other unsupported objects Message Flow, Association, Data, and Group Box are not supported in analystview and ignored during an import (the Text Annotation is supported). 100 / 148

104 Exporting to XPDL You can export the process definition to an XPDL 2.0 file. You might use the XPDL to shift a process definition from Process Designer to Process Analyst or another tool. To export to XPDL: 1. On the Process Ribbon, in the XPDL area, click Export. The XPDL Export wizard launches. Each screen includes detailed instructions for the step. 2. Type, paste, or browse to the path and filename for the file you want to export. Select an adapter if you want to export a file that may not be compatible with analystview. See XPDL adapters for more information about adapters. 3. Click Next. The Promote Map step appears. 4. Optional. You can specify a map as the top-level map if your process does not have one. 5. Click Finish to complete the export. 101 / 148

105 XPDL adapters You can use adapters during import or export if you are importing or exporting XPDL between analystview and a tool from another vendor that might otherwise not work properly due to differences in vendor implementations of XPDL. You can add adapters to the XPDL import and export wizards that can transform the data from a non-compatible format into one that is compatible with analystview (or vice versa on export). You might want to use a custom adapter to: Transform an XPDL 2.0 document containing incompatible elements into a version that is compatible with analystview Transform from XPDL 1.0 into XPDL 2.0 that is compatible with analystview Map from a tool with case-sensitive data field and performer names into non-case sensitive unique names required by analystview Map to or from a proprietary non-xpdl format into XPDL 2.0 Contact Global 360, Inc. for any updated information about available adapters. You can add adapters to the XPDL import and export wizards in one of two forms: XSLT An assembly supporting the IGlobal360XPDLImportAdapter interface Without an adapter, analystview maintains two separate collections of graphics information: Information for analystview with updated graphics, and the XPDL graphics information that you imported. XSL transformations One option for writing an adapter is to use an XSL transformation (also called XSLT or style sheet). The analystview framework includes two types of XSLTs: Factory transformations are XSLTs embedded as a resource. Field XSLTs can be added or removed at run-time (they go into a specific directory and are automatically detected by the framework). See Importing from XPDL for details about the import wizard, where you select an adapter to use for the import and transformation. Importing from XPDL Exporting to XPDL 102 / 148

106 managerview integration If the managerview Server Analysis Engine is installed, you can send simulated data to managerview Server for analysis and import Arrival data from managerview Server. analystview can interact with managerview in two ways: It can produce data for managerview, so simulated data can be analyzed in the same way as production data. It can acquire data from managerview, so production data can be imported into the simulation scenario. To configure all managerview options you can use managerview section on the Simulation Ribbon. Getting started You must have permission to access the managerview server to import or export data between the Analysis Engine and databases and analystview. From the Simulation Ribbon, select Connections. You can import Production Arrivals to simulate a process using data from your production system. See Exporting simulation results for instructions to send simulation data for analysis CAUTION: Do not write simulation data to a production managerview Server Analysis Engine server because it would destroy the accuracy of your production data and adversely affect performance. Export data fields To expose measures and dimensions for simulation you need to: Define data fields in simulation setup. See Data Fields configuration. Check the fields as exposed in simulation setup. See General Settings configuration managerview tab. Check Publish simulation results to managerview in simulation setup or click Publish on the Simulation Ribbon. See General Settings configuration managerview tab. Export exposed fields. Click Export Data Fields on the Simulation Ribbon. See Data fields configuration. In managerview Server Administration, use the newly-exported fields to configure managerview Server dimensions and measures. Import Arrivals from managerview Server You can import arrivals, weights, and durations in any of these ways: Click Resources > Participants > Import. See Participants configuration. Click Fields > Import. See Process fields configuration. Click Arrivals > Acquire. See Arrivals configuration. managerview Server connections General Settings configuration Production Arrivals 103 / 148

107 Analysis Engine connections The managerview Integration Service is used for exporting XPDL, user-defined fields, and writing events to the database. The production and OLAP databases are used for importing arrivals into simulation. Simulation data storage You should store simulation data in a separate OLAP database from your production database. You can use the same database server, just name the databases differently, for example PRODDB and SIMDB, PRODOLAP and SIMOLAP. CAUTION: Do not use the production managerview Server installation for simulated data. Using the same installation can cause severe data maintenance problems and can have performance implications for the production system. You can use the same database server, but as a best practice, name the databases differently, for example PRODDB and SIMDB and PRODOLAP and SIMOLAP. How managerview Server communicates with simulation The managerview Server connection supports integrated security. If database login is used, then the encrypted database password is stored in the analystview.visioaddin.dll.config file. See Simulation advanced topics. User-defined fields (UDF) managerview Server user-defined fields come from defined data fields, and the list merges with workflow user-defined fields based on name/type pair matches. If the same pair is defined in the workflow, then it works for simulation too. For detailed information about user-defined fields, see the managerview Server Administrator's Guide. Permissions To write data to the managerview simulation database, anyone using analystview must be a member of the: "Insight360 Process Engine" database role in order to write the log events to the staging table. "Insight360 Process Designer" database role in order to write the data fields and XPDL to the relevant tables. To acquire arrivals from the managerview production database, anyone using analystview must be a member of the "Insight360 User" role on the production managerview Server. The "Insight360 User" role enables users to read information in the managerview production relational and OLAP database, including acquiring arrivals. See the "Database permissions" section and the permission notes for each tab/database in the External Connections dialog box. managerview Server integration Production Arrivals 104 / 148

108 managerview Connections You can use the managerview Connections dialog box to configure and test managerview database connection settings used by the simulator engine and Web Service connections. The connections are designed to work with two managerview Server installations: One for production and one for simulation. You can use the same database server but name the databases different names. The Connections dialog box has three tabs: the first two tabs are for the simulation system and the third tab is for the production system. analystview uses the connections to: Use the managerview Integration Service to export data fields, and send log events and process model information to the managerview database. Import data fields from the production database when acquiring data. Acquire data from the production OLAP database. Note: analystview only supports SQL Server. Database permissions To simulate to managerview Server and acquire data from managerview databases, you must have the correct permissions to the databases. For simulation use, users need to be members of the "Insight360 Process Engine" and "Insight360 Process Designer" and "Insight360 User" role for the simulation and production database. managerview Server Connection setup To define managerview Server connections: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Connections. 2. Define settings in each tab: Integration web service Production database Production OLAP database Integration WS tab If the Publish simulation results to managerview option is selected in the General Settings configuration, the Web Service connection is used to export data fields and model XPDL. It requires write permission to several database tables, which is provided for the members of the "Insight360 Process Designer" database role. The Integration Web Service is also used to write log events to the managerview database for simulation and requires write permission to the Staging table in the managerview relational database, which is provided for the members of the "Insight360 Process Engine" database role. Field Web Service URL Test button Integrated security Description Enter the URL for the web service, for example: If a scenario is set to Publish simulation results to managerview, when simulation runs, certain information will be directly exported to the managerview Server Analysis Engine using the web services from analystview. To ensure that the export works properly, the Windows user that runs the modeler also needs to have access to the managerview relational database, which may or may not be the same user configured above for database access. managerview web services use the current Windows credential to connect to managerview relational database. Click to test the Web Service connection. A message appears indicating success or failure. If you get an error when you click the Test button, see Troubleshooting below. Select if you would like to use Microsoft Windows Authentication for access to this web service. Deselect to specify a user name and password, then specify the user name and password to access the web service. Events are published in batches. You can configure the option in the analystview.visioaddin.dll.config file to define the size of each batch. The default value is 300. The following is an excerpt of the analystview.visioaddin.dll.config file. <Global360.Simulator.Engine.Properties.Settings> <setting name="logeventsbatchsize" serializeas="string"> <value>300</value> </setting> </Global360.Simulator.Engine.Properties.Settings> Production DB tab The connection for the production database (not the database used for simulation data, the managerview production relational database). Because analystview does not write to it, this requires only read access, which is provided for the members of the "Insight360 User" database role. The scenario definition module retrieves the selected data fields from PRODDB using already released managerview assemblies. The managerview assemblies load the connection string for the database from the configuration file when the assemblies themselves are loaded, and the connection string cannot be reread. The scenario definition module loads the managerview assemblies when you execute the acquire the first time. If you alter the connection after you acquire production data, then you have to restart analystview, because the managerview assemblies have to be reloaded. In that case you will be warned with the message: "A production data connection string has changed and you need to restart the application in order to be able to acquire arrivals using the new connection string." You will not see the warning if an acquire has not been executed. Field Server name Instance name Database name Integrated Security Test button Advanced button Description Enter the Analysis Engine server name for the production database connection (not the Staging table, the managerview production relational database) and click Test to ensure it is valid. The named database instance. For example, if you have a SQL server instance named "Alameda" running on server "Oakland", the Server name is "Oakland" and the instance name is "Alameda". Click Advanced to view or edit the database connection string; this allows you to include advanced options such as a timeout parameter. The managerview production relational database name. For example, AEDB. Select Integrated Security if you would like to use Microsoft Windows Authentication for access to this database. The scenario definition module and the managerview assemblies use.net SqlClient to communicate with the database, so integrated security is available. Deselect to specify a user name and password, then specify the user name and password to access the database. Click to check that the server name is valid. This does not establish a connection with the server. Click to view or edit the database connection string in a separate dialog box. You can include advanced options such as a timeout parameter. Production OLAP tab The connection for the production OLAP cube database. Because analystview does not write to it, this requires only read access, which is provided for the members of the "Insight360 User" database role. Simulation only needs the same security permissions as a normal client for the managerview OLAP database, the same permissions as, for instance, to use Microsoft Excel. For more information about managerview OLAP database permissions, see the managerview Server Installation Guide. The restart warning is also shown for this connection for the same reasons as the production database connection (see above). This connection always uses integrated security. Field Server name Description Enter the production managerview OLAP database server name and click Test to ensure it is valid. 105 / 148

109 Instance name Database name Test button Advanced button The named database instance. You can have one or more named OLAP server instances running on the same server; this setting lets you specify an instance. If you click Advanced you will see the database connection string; this allows you to include advanced options such as a timeout parameter. The name of your managerview production OLAP database. For example, AEOLAP. Click to check that the server name is valid. This does not establish a connection with the server. Click to view or edit the database connection string in a separate dialog box. Troubleshooting If you experience problems, check the settings in SQL Server to ensure that it is configured correctly. See the managerview Server Installation Guide for detailed information. managerview Server integration General Settings configuration Arrival import wizard 106 / 148

110 Running simulation with output to managerview Server When you run simulation with output to managerview Server, you can analyze your simulated data. TIP: For best results, configure any dimensions and measures you want to use in managerview Server before you run the simulation with Publish simulation results to managerview selected. You will obtain valid entries for filtering if you create a dimension after all events are published and the cube processed. See the managerview Server Administrator's Guide for information about creating dimensions and publishing events. Simulating to managerview Server To simulate to managerview Server: 1. Configure your Analysis Engine connection. See Analysis Engine Connection. 2. Define data fields. 3. Expose fields in managerview Server by selecting the option Publish Simulation Results to managerview in the Options dialog box. See General Settings configuration. 1. Export fields to managerview Server. (Click Export Data Fields on the Simulation Ribbon.) 2. Configure measures and dimensions in managerview Server Administration. 3. In addition to exporting the data fields from analystview, you must configure managerview Server (using managerview Server Administration) with dimensions and measures. Only those fields with matching names and types from the list of selected fields will be picked up by managerview Server and used for measure and dimension values. See the managerview Server Fundamentals Guide and the managerview Server Administrator's Guide for more information. 4. Make sure that you defined the scenario name in the Simulation General Settings dialog box - General tab. The scenario name will display as a member in the Scenario dimension in managerview Server. 4. Run the simulation. The process model information is automatically exported to managerview Server as the simulation starts. The simulation will be slower because events are written to the staging table as simulation progresses. 5. Monitor progress in managerview Server Administration. 6. When simulation is complete, and all events are published (no staging and event queue backlog), process cubes in managerview Server Administration and study the results. You can distinguish results in managerview Server using the Scenario dimension. Example In managerview Server Administration you configure: Item Name Based on field Type Measure Amount Amount Currency Dimension Claim Type ClaimType String To ensure that simulation results are valuable, your simulation scenario must: Include a field named "Amount" of type Currency. Select "Amount" field on the list of Exposed fields in the managerview options tab. Expose a String field named "ClaimType" so the Category dimension can get useful values. Otherwise, the Value measure will be set to the default value you configured in managerview Server Administration and simulation values will not be useful. managerview Server integration Analyzing Results in managerview Server Simulation Running simulation Creating a process 107 / 148

111 Analyzing Results in managerview Server NOTE: To access the managerview database from analystview, you must configure the SQL Server Surface Area Connection to manage Local and Remote connections with TCP/IP even if running both managerview Server and analystview on the same local server. When you export exposed fields to managerview, two fields, SIM_Cost and SIM_TotalCost, are automatically included. During simulation, those hold the cost of processing an item in each activity and end-to-end respectively. Exposing the fields in managerview Administration allows you to do cost analysis in managerview Server on the simulated results. For information on exposing data fields, see the managerview Server Administrator's Guide. 108 / 148

112 Advanced notes on managerview Server integration A "run ID," which is the current time stamp, is automatically assigned to each simulation run to managerview Server. The Run ID is a level in the scenario dimension which prevents you from accidentally adding to existing data in managerview Server for the same scenario. It may be necessary to drill in to the run level of the Scenario dimension; if you do not drill to the Run level, you may see more data than you expect. managerview Server does not support Role or Utilization statistics. Some Simulation Cost statistics can be studied in managerview Server if you expose the internal fields SIM_Cost (for activity statistics) and SIM_TotalCost (for end to end statistics). See Analyzing Results in managerview Server for more details about these fields. managerview Server supports business calendars. To use a business calendar from Simulation: Set the business-day length in the General Settings configuration - Simulation Statistics tab. Select the Business Calendar option in the Schedules configuration to put together a business calendar from a set of schedules. Sample managerview Server measures and dimensions You can easily create measures and dimensions in managerview Server Administration that work well with the installed analystview samples. For example, in managerview Server Administration, create a Total Cost measure that uses the SIM_TotalCost data field and create a Claim Type dimension that uses the ClaimType data field. Sample measures and dimensions Measures Total Cost Amount Cost Dimensions Claim Type Submission Data Fields Data field SIM_TotalCost Amount SIM_Cost Data field ClaimType Submission Data field Type Description SIM_TotalCost Currency An internal simulation field. SIM_Cost Currency An internal simulation field. Amount Currency A field specific to the InsuranceClaim examples. ClaimType String A field specific to the InsuranceClaim examples. Submission String A field specific to the InsuranceClaim ToBe example. After you have run the simulation with results published to managerview Server, you should see the total cost of execution in the Total Cost measure in Process Statistics. For each activity the cost of execution is shown in the Cost measure on Activity Statistics. Measures can be broken down by Claim Type and Submission (for the ToBe model) respectively. See the managerview Server Administrator's Guide for more information about working with dimensions and measures. managerview Server connections General Settings configuration Production Arrivals 109 / 148

113 Acquiring production data analystview production data acquisition helps you to experiment with different work loads, schedules, resource allocations, etc. for a process already in production. Using the Acquire feature can save setup time when you want to simulate a process in production and you have data for the process in managerview. Consider the alternative: to manually determine the arrival patterns, you would need to: Look at a managerview report. The Process Created measure in the Process Statistics cube corresponds to the "batch size" in the arrival definition. Examine the measure over time to see initial patterns. Consider the user-defined fields (UDF) dimensions in the report when you decide how to set UDF values in the arrivals. This manual translation of report data to arrivals can be a complicated and time consuming exercise. Use the Acquire from managerview wizard to make arrival import more automatic. NOTE: If managerview is processing cubes when you try to acquire production data, the acquire will fail. Wait until the cube processing is complete in managerview before attempting to acquire. Acquire wizard You can import data from your managerview production system to run simulation using real data. Using the Acquire from managerview wizard, you can import: Arrivals Activity durations Decision weights Participants Roles Preparing to acquire from managerview In preparation for the acquisition you must create a simulation process model to match the production process definition. 1. Map out the process in analystview, including Start activities and adding data fields to the simulation setup. 2. Look at the exposed user-defined fields (UDF) dimensions in the production managerview system and determine which you want to include in the simulation. 3. Create corresponding process fields in data field setup. For example, if you have a dimension Region in the production managerview system based on a UDF called State and Region is important for your study, add a process data field "State" in your data field setup. The field type must be the same in both the production field and the simulation field. In the Region example, the State field would be type String so you need to add a String field in simulation. 4. Determine which dimensions are important and what the underlying fields are. You can look at existing managerview reports and determine if there are significant correlations between arrival patterns and durations and UDF values. For example, an account number may not affect how work is processed, whereas work type could cause large variations in processing time. 5. When you decide which dimensions are important, look in managerview Server Administration to determine what the underlying UDF names and types are, and then create the field in the data field setup. To import arrivals from managerview you must have your managerview connection configured. See External Connections. Note: In some cases an error message may display when acquiring weights from managerview. analystview uses both the Process Activity and the Previous Activity dimensions when it acquires weights from managerview. The previous activity dimension is updated by the state management logic in the managerview Analysis Engine. This state management logic is not used for simulated data, but managerview recognizes that the information stems from simulation, and picks the state information sent by the simulator. A defect in managerview 2.1.x implies that the Previous Activity dimension is not automatically updated on simulated data in the default managerview setup. The defect is scheduled to be fixed in managerview 3.x. You can force managerview to pick up the simulated information by setting the enablesimstatemanagement setting in the AnalysisEngine.exe.config file to true. For additional information on the enablesimstatemanagement setting, see the managerview Installation Guide. Advanced notes on managerview integration 110 / 148

114 Acquire from managerview Wizard You can acquire certain production data from managerview Server using the Acquire from managerview wizard. For an overview, see Acquiring production data. To acquire production data from managerview Server: 1. If not already connected to managerview Server, on the Simulation Ribbon, click Connections. See managerview connections dialog box for instructions. 2. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Acquire. The Acquire From managerview wizard appears with two options: Express. For all users. Select to search for the best fit of production data for your simulation model. After the search, you can edit the configuration. Custom. Use this if the Express option cannot find a good match, or if you want more control over the acquisition. Select to acquire specific production data. The Acquire wizard lets you set up acquire configurations for each of the areas: Arrivals Activity durations Decision weights Participants Roles When the configurations are complete you can execute them and have the data added to the scenario you are working on. TIP: If the managerview Server connection is not established when you try to acquire, you will get an error message to set it up. Express acquisition To use the Express option: Select Express and click Next. The wizard searches for matches on: Arrivals Durations Weights Participants Roles If the configuration status column indicates that an acquisition type needs to be edited, use the Custom option to change it. If the search yielded no importable objects (weights, participants, etc.), the Configuration Status shows "Not found" and cannot be selected for import. Custom acquisition The Custom option takes you through several wizard pages, one for each of the configuration types. 1. Arrivals. By default, this page shows all top-level start activities in the process. For each of the start activities you can edit the details of the configuration using the Edit button. You can add multiple configurations for the same start activity. Each configuration may differ by time frame, filter, etc. See the details of how an individual arrival acquisition is configured in Acquiring Arrivals from managerview. Click Next. 2. Activity Durations. This page shows you a list of all user and system activities in the process. The first column lets you select which activities to acquire durations for, using the check boxes on the left or the Include (check) or Exclude (deselect) buttons. You can edit the details of the configuration using the Edit button. For all selected activities, the Status column must show "Successful." See Acquiring Activity durations from managerview for details. Click Next. 3. Weights. This page shows a list of activities and their associated route and status. Select the routes for which you want to acquire weights and click Next. See Importing decision weights from managerview for more information. 4. Participants. This page shows participants not already in the scenario. Select the names you want included using the check boxes on the left or the Include (check) or Exclude (deselect) buttons. There is no additional configuration for participants. Click Next. 5. Roles. The Roles page also shows a list of names that can be selected, no additional configuration is needed. Click Next. NOTE: managerview Server does not have an explicit role concept. The managerview Server Queue dimension is the source of the role information. 6. Overview page. After each group has been configured, select which groups to include in the actual acquisition. For example, you may decide to exclude all Activity Durations rather than solving issues in the current session. Click Next. 7. Details. This page shows you the details of executing the selected acquisition groups. Nothing has been changed in the scenario at this point, you can still cancel the acquisition. 8. Click Finish to execute the configured acquisition. Acquiring Arrivals from managerview Acquiring Activity durations from managerview External Connections dialog box 111 / 148

115 Acquiring Arrivals from managerview You can use Production Arrivals to connect to a production managerview OLAP database, acquire a set of arrivals, and make automatic adjustments to the batch sizes. In preparation for the arrival import, you must create a simulation process model to match the production process definition. See Acquiring production data for information about preparing to import production arrivals. You can launch the Acquire Arrivals wizard to import production arrivals from the Acquire from managerview wizard or in the Arrivals setup. To acquire Arrivals using the Acquire from managerview wizard: 1. Run the Acquire from managerview wizard. 2. On the Arrivals page, click Edit. NOTE: Do not select a Filter dimension that has null values or start activities because empty dimensions used for filters are ignored. The Arrival import wizard will not start if an empty dimension selected. To acquire Arrivals using the Arrivals Setup: 1. If not already connected to managerview, on the Simulation Ribbon, select Connections and connect. See Connections dialog box for instructions. 2. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Arrivals. 3. Click the Acquire button. The Acquire Arrivals wizard launches. See Acquire Arrivals Wizard. NOTE: You must have access to the managerview OLAP database to use this feature. Acquire Arrivals wizard 1. Simulation Start Activity. If you are running the Acquire Arrivals wizard from the main Acquire from managerview wizard, you already selected a start activity there. Select a target activity from the list of Start activities on maps in the current scenario. All arrivals acquired in this session will be assigned to the selected activity. 2. Click Next. 3. managerview Start Activities. Select one system from the list of managerview Start activities. In a typical production system, "Production" appears in the scenario column and "1" in the Run column. For each managerview start activity, the number of arrivals recorded in managerview for that activity appears in the Arrivals column. (The number is the Process Created measure for all recorded time in the OLAP database.) 4. Click Next. 5. Time Frame. Specify a range of time for the arrivals in the managerview process you selected. When you click the drop-down arrow for the date field, a monthly calendar appears from which you can select a date. The initial value for Arrivals in time frame depends on the selection you made in the previous step of the wizard. The start and end date controls are set to the minimum and maximum date for which there is arrival data in the managerview OLAP database for the selected start activity. If you go back and select a different start activity, you might see different initial start/end dates. As you narrow the time frame you will see the number of arrivals change to reflect the current selection. You cannot select dates outside the minimum and maximum dates. 6. Click Next. 7. Filters. Select a filter dimension from the list of exposed UDF dimensions in managerview Server. Each filter further narrows the number of arrivals by limiting the results to the filter you specify, and/or you may assign values to data fields in the scenario arrival. The filter list shows all exposed UDF dimensions except Range dimensions of type String, Boolean and Datetime. TIP: If you select more than one filter, only the dimensions that are in both will be acquired. For example, if you select two filter Dimensions, 'Color' and 'Shape', and assign values 'Red' and 'Circle' to these filter Dimensions respectively. With this configuration, the import would only include Arrivals that have both the Data Fields Color:Red and Shape:Circle. There might be other Arrivals in managerview with only one Data field 'Color' with value 'Red'; or Data Field 'Shape' with value 'Circle'. These Arrivals will be ignored. NOTE: Do not select a Filter dimension that has no values or start activities because empty dimensions used for filters are ignored. analystview looks for a process field in the scenario that matches the name of the data field used to define the dimension in the OLAP database. For example, if the filter dimension is "Claim Type" and the data field name for this dimension in managerview is "ClaimTypeData" of type String, then analystview looks in the scenario for a Data Field named "ClaimTypeData" of type string. If a match is found then all recorded values for this filter is listed in the 'Value' drop-down field. The Value column shows all the values for the field recorded in managerview. The arrival count should change when you apply a filter with a specific value. Continue until you have selected all the filters. For each selection there is one less UDF and data field to choose from. TIP: A dimension may contain a large number of values, but at most 1000 different values are shown in the filter value drop-down list. An example of a large-value dimension would be an Account number. For best results, do not try to simulate to that level of detail. 8. Click Next. 9. Breakdowns. Select breakdowns from the list of UDF dimensions that are not already used as filters. Each breakdown must be assigned to a scenario data field with matching type. The analystview simulator will then create arrivals for all recorded values of the selected breakdown dimensions. For example, say you select a Group dimension named "Region" and assign it to a scenario field "State." During arrival import, analystview will recognize the Region values and pick random states to represent each region as appropriate. For example, if the recorded region was South West and the states that are configured to belong to South West in managerview are CA, AZ, NM and NV, analystview will pick one of those four states and assign to the South West arrivals. NOTE: If your sample is small, random could return the same value several times in a row. Selecting very large dimensions could make the arrivals import take a long time. For best results, limit the breakdown dimensions to dimensions of at most a few hundred different values. For a currency, integer, or float field it might make most sense to choose a Range dimension as the source of data. You may use any dimension, but make sure you know how big the dimension is (how many unique values are in the dimension) before you do so, because a very large dimension would take a long time to acquire and in extreme cases, may exceed your system's memory capacity. 10. Click Next. 11. Options. Set options for the import: Field Arrival Name Description An arrival name. The name will be used as a prefix, the full name will be of the form: "Arrival (originally 12:00:00 AM, 9:41:51 AM)" if "Arrival" is selected as the name. Resolution Daily Sets the time of day for the arrivals. This is based on the simulation start time, which is always midnight (12:00:00 AM). Adjustment Hourly The arrivals are spread out hour by hour according to what is recorded in the cube. Percentage. A percentage by which to adjust the arrivals up or down. The adjustment may not be 100% accurate, as it is impractical to make accurate adjustments on a small number of items. This setting is most effective when batches contain more than 100 items. NOTE: If there is little data in the cube, or if an automatic adjustment doesn't yield a satisfactory result, you should not specify an adjustment. Instead, manually adjust the acquired arrivals in the scenario setup. The assumption is that in each interval (Day or Hour), there is enough data that a percentage-wise adjustment can be made. If there is not enough data (for example, only a single item in the interval), the adjustment may produce no items. 12. Click Finish. If you ran the wizard from the Arrivals setup, analystview generates an arrival for each day or hour based on the acquired information and specified options. NOTE: When you click Finish, there could be a brief delay while the import process queries the OLAP database. This query may take longer if you defined many filters and breakdowns if the arrival count is high (more data to transfer). But when the wizard closes, the import is complete and the new arrivals will appear on the arrival list in the Arrivals setup. If you ran the wizard from the main Acquire from managerview wizard, the configured arrival acquisition is saved in the main Acquire wizard. If you choose to do so, the configured acquisition is executed when you click Finish in the main wizard. 112 / 148

116 Return to configuring Arrivals, where acquired arrivals appear with field values matching the applied filters and breakdowns. Acquire from managerview wizard 113 / 148

117 Importing Activity durations from production data You can acquire activity durations from production data using the Acquire from managerview wizard. Using the Custom option, on the Activity Durations page you can configure individual activities. The detailed configuration is done using the Activity Durations wizard described here. You must set up a connection to a managerview Server before you can import activity durations. See managerview Connections. Activity Durations wizard To launch the Activity Durations wizard: On the Acquire from managerview wizard Durations page, click Edit. The Activity Durations wizard appears. To configure an individual activity duration acquisition: 1. On the first wizard page, select a source activity, from the production system. Click Next. 2. Select a time frame as start and end date. Click Next. 3. Select one or more user-defined fields (UDF) for breakdown. For example, you might choose to let the durations depend on "Work Type." 4. Click Finish to complete the import configuration. If no breakdown is selected, the durations are simply numeric values, reflecting the average durations found in managerview. If breakdown is selected, the durations are conditional JavaScript expressions, using the breakdown values. "if (WorkType='Big Loans' && Region="East") { return 87 } else if " TIP: In the main Acquire wizard, you can select an activity and click Edit to modify the configuration. The configuration for each selected activity is used in the general Acquire wizard when you click Finish, on the last page. 5. Complete the main Acquire wizard to acquire the activity durations you specified here. Activities configuration Creating a process Simulation tutorial Business process activities Acquire wizard 114 / 148

118 Importing decision weights from managerview data When you set up decision activities, you can choose to import weight data from managerview. The weight information is based on the Activity Statistics Arrived count with Activity and Previous Activity as dimensions. The Calendar dimension can be used for filtering and user defined dimensions for breakdown. The Acquire button in the Decision activity setup Properties dialog box Simulation tab launches a wizard that creates an expression for you based on the options you choose. Advanced users may choose to modify the expression manually or use the Expression Builder. Before you can import weights, you must set up a connection to managerview, both database and OLAP. The database is used for obtaining information about custom dimensions for breakdown. See managerview connections. A managerview Route is a source and destination activity, and the weight counts how many items arrived at the destination activity with the source activity in the "Previous Activity" dimension. If decision activities are involved, the source will be the activity prior to the decision activity and the destination activity will be the activity after the decision activity. Acquire Decision Weight confidence levels The wizard includes an algorithm to indicate the strength of a particular managerview route as an activity decision weight. A direct path is when the route from activity A to activity B does not pass through other event-generating activities (but could pass through a number of decision activities). Confidence Level High Medium Low Description Both source and destination managerview activities exist in the simulation model and that all paths from source to destination in the simulation model include the route that is being configured. Both source and destination managerview activities exist in the simulation model. There is a direct path from source to destination that goes through the route being configured, but there may be paths from source to destination that do not include the route that is being configured. The managerview weight may be too high for this route. The source (or destination) does not match source (or destination) activity of the route that is being configured. You may want to include Medium or Low confidence managerview routes. For example, activity names may not match between managerview and the simulation model or you can do a more accurate analysis than the wizard prediction. Acquiring decision weights To import weights for a process: Run the Acquire from managerview wizard. To import weights for a decision activity: 1. On the Simulation Ribbon, click Activities, then select the Routes tab and click Acquire... to launch the import wizard. The wizard establishes a connection to managerview and reads data from the OLAP database, so it may take a few minutes before the managerview Routes list appears. The list shows a Confidence level and all managerview routes with High confidence are pre-selected in the wizard. You can change the selections. 2. Click Next for the Time Frame step. To limit the weights for a smaller list, you may specify a period of time during which the items were completed. 3. Click Next for the Breakdowns step. You may specify user defined dimensions for the breakdown, for example by claim type, region, size, etc. To add a breakdown: 1. Select a Breakdown Dimension from the drop-down list and click Add. The item appears on the list of breakdowns. 2. Select the simulation data field for the item from the drop-down list. 4. Click Finish for a weight expression. Depending on selected breakdowns, the resulting expression may be complex. 5. Click Validate. Activities configuration managerview Server integration Acquiring production data 115 / 148

119 Acquiring participants from managerview Server You can acquire participant data using the Acquire wizard. Acquiring roles from managerview Server You can import queues from managerview Server that you can include for simulation. See Acquire wizard. NOTE: managerview Server does not have an exact match to an analystview role, so they are only suggested roles for simulation. 116 / 148

120 Event logging With this feature enabled, analystview writes the same analytics events that are, or would be, published to managerview in a comma-delimited (CSV) format log file. You can read this log file easily in Microsoft Excel, for example, to debug or trace your simulation, because you can look at the events and see exactly what occurred in the simulation. You can set filters to limit the number of events and focus on the areas that interest you, such as an activity or participant. To enable event logging and define filters, modify the analystview.visioaddin.dll.config file <logging> section. Analytics events Process events Event Workflow create Workflow terminate Child create Child terminate Description When the process instance is created. When the process instance is terminated. When a child process instance is created, currently only at a parallel split. When a child process instance is terminated. NOTE: In managerview Server Administration, these event names appear as one word, all capital letters, for example WORKFLOWCREATE. Activity events Event Arrive activity Begin activity Suspend activity Continue activity Complete activity Auxiliary events Event Begin timed sequence Complete timed sequence Logged event Participant events Event Login Logout Begin break End break Description When a process instance arrives at an activity. When a performer starts working at an activity. When a performer suspends the work at an activity. When a performer continues the work on a suspended process instance. When a performer completes the work on a process instance. Description When a timed sequence is started. When a timed sequence is completed. When a logged event is triggered. Description When a participant starts the shift. When a participant ends the shift. When a participant starts a break. When a participant ends a break. Event file columns The event file has the following columns: Event Time Event Instance id Parent id Process Map Activity Previous activity Participant Role Auxiliary id Processing days Waiting days Completion days Elapsed days Data fields Description The simulation time where the event was issued. The name of the event. The id of the process instance. Only present for non participant events. The id of the parent process instance. Only present for non participant events and when the parent is different from the current process instance. The name of the process. Only present for non participant events. The name of the map. Only present for non participant events. The name of the activity. Only present for non participant events. The name of the previous activity. Only present for arrive activity events. The name of the participant. Only present when a participant is involved. The name of the role: Only present when a role is involved. The name of the timed sequence of logged event. Only present for timed sequence and logged event events. The processing time for the event. The time is in business time, if the simulation is in business time. Only present for workflow terminate, child terminate, complete activity, suspend activity, and complete timed sequence. The waiting time for the event. The time is in business time, if the simulation is in business time. Only present for workflow terminate, child terminate, begin activity, continue activity, complete activity, and complete timed sequence. The time to complete. The time is in business time, if the simulation is in business time. Only present for workflow terminate, child terminate, complete activity, and complete timed sequence. The time to since the last event. The time is in business time, if the simulation is in business time. Only present for workflow terminate, child terminate, begin activity, suspend activity, continue activity, complete activity, and complete timed sequence. A column for each of the data fields that is published to managerview. Currency fields are logged in currency format, i.e. with 2 decimals and currency symbol. The column names are written on every simulation start, so the log file can roll over without new column headers being written. The values and column separator character is the localized, for example, the column separator is a comma for the US and semi-colon for Europe. Filtering You can filter the events on the event name and content information as follows: Workflow create.process name Workflow terminate.process name 117 / 148

121 Child create.process name Child terminate.process name Arrive activity.process name.map name.activity name Begin activity.process name.map name.activity name Suspend activity.process name.map name.activity name Continue activity.process name.map name.activity name Complete activity.process name.map name.activity name Begin timed sequence.timed sequence name Complete timed sequence.timed sequence name Logged event.logged event name Login.participant name Logout.participant name Begin break.participant name End break.participant name You only state the hierarchy level you need. For example, this will show all arrival activity events: <repository name="events"> <hierarchies level="info"> <hierarchy name="arrive activity" /> </hierarchies> <filelog filename="events.csv" messageonly="true" maxcount="100" rollsize="1000" /> </repository> This will show all complete activity events on the processing map: <repository name="events"> <hierarchies level="info"> <hierarchy name=" Complete activity.insuranceclaim As Is.Processing" /> </hierarchies> <filelog filename="events.csv" messageonly="true" maxcount="100" rollsize="1000" /> </repository> Exporting simulation results Logged Events configuration 118 / 148

122 Logging The event logging is enabled along with the other logging options in the configuration file. You can find the configuration file in the same folder where you installed analystview. For example, C:\Program Files\Global 360\analystView\analystView.VisioAddIn.dll.config. <!-- Valid log levels are Off, Fatal, Error, Warn, Info, Trace, and Verbose --> <logging watch="true"> <repository> <hierarchies level="info"> </hierarchies> <filelog filename="%localappdata%\global 360\analystView\analystView.log" maxcount="100" rollsize="1000" /> </repository> <repository name="events"> <hierarchies level="off"> <!-- Add hierarchy with event name to filter on that event only and set hierarchies level to the Info level. Append object name after event name to filter on object only, e.g. - Complete activity.insuranceclaim-asis.main.research - Complete timed sequence.claims Processing - Login.Charlie <hierarchy name="login.charlie" /> --> </hierarchies> <filelog filename="%localappdata%\global 360\analystView\events.csv" messageonly="true" maxcount="100" rollsize="1000" /> </repository> <repository name="scriptlogging"> <hierarchies level="off" /> <filelog filename="%localappdata%\global 360\analystView\script.log" messageonly="true" maxcount="100" rollsize="1000" /> </repository> The event logging is controlled by the Events repository. The settings are configured the same way as the normal logging. If you set the hierarchies level to: Off then nothing is written to the logging file. On then all events are written to the logging file. TIP: You can change the logging configuration while the application is running, and the log will reflect the changes immediately. 119 / 148

123 Work assignment How participants are assigned work To assign work to participants, the simulator performs a search: For each available participant (those participants that are at work and not already busy or on a break): If there is work in the participant's Inbox (because work that was assigned to the participant directly in an activity's Performer settings), simulation: Assigns the work at the top of the Inbox list to the participant. Executes the work for the participant. Continues this search with the next participant. Otherwise, for each role the participant is currently playing, if there is work waiting to be done by this role, simulation: Assigns the work to the participant. Executes the work for the participant. See Executing work. Continues this search with the next participant. If there is no work waiting for the participant or any of the roles the participant is currently playing, analystview will ignore the participant and continue the search. Modeling and simulation tutorial Participants configuration Roles configuration 120 / 148

124 Executing work analystview executes work in a particular order. When a process instance is routed to an activity, analystview takes the work through these steps: 1. Evaluates the activity pre-assignments (specified in Activities configuration). 2. Evaluates the activity pre-script. 3. Determines whether participants or roles are required to execute the work. If so, puts the work in queue to wait for the participants/roles. The work will be picked up during the work search as described in Work Assignment. If no participants or roles are required, the work is not put in a queue and the following step is by-passed. 4. When the work is picked up it is executed: Activity duration is computed by evaluating the Duration expression from the Activity settings. Processing time for the activity: The activity duration multiplied by the performance factor. If the performer is a role, it uses the performance factor for the role, if that is defined, otherwise it uses the performance factor for the participant. You set the performance factors in Participants configuration. Cost of processing the activity: The processing time multiplied by the participant rate, which is the activity duration multiplied by the performance factor multiplied by the participant rate. After work execution: 1. Evaluates the activity post-assignments (specified in Activities configuration). 2. Evaluates the activity post script. Example Assume: Participant Liza has performance 0.5, Rate $25 and plays the Data Entry role. Activity Data Entry has duration normal(8,3) minutes. Participant Liza has a performance factor of 0.5 and an hourly rate of $25. At simulation time, a process instance is picked up at Data Entry during the work search: Duration evaluates to 4.3 minutes for the activity. Processing time is duration times performance factor: 4.3 * 0.5 = 2.15 minutes. Processing time (2.15 minutes) times rate ($25/hour divided by 60 minutes/hour) = $0.90. Building expressions "Assignments and scripts" section Assigning work Activities Modeling and simulation tutorial 121 / 148

125 Pending work analystview provides several options for managing work as it is in progress, before it is complete. Resuming pending work You can set up work that is suspended for a scheduled break or end of day to be continued by the next performer available (anybody), or you can specify that the same performer should resume the work for the activity. In the Activities configuration, select the appropriate option for suspended work on the Performers tab. Simulation statistics - participant "Breaks" section. Force work suspension You can also force a suspension of work, such as if work is put on hold for a few days pending outside communication. Work may be suspended and resumed multiple times. Use the Force work to be suspended option on the Duration tab. See Activities configuration. Example This simple example illustrates how you might set up the forced work suspension feature. For an example in context of a scenario, see the Insurance Claim example (InsuranceClaim-AsIs.vsd), which include suspend settings on the Research activity. In this example, 30% of all work will be suspended for 9 hours. When the work is resumed, the duration will be 5 minutes (in this example, the performer just needs to verify that some information that came back was correct). It is possible to have multiple suspend settings in the list. For a given process instance, analystview uses the suspend settings one by one from top to bottom. Whether the work is actually suspended depends on the designated probability: If the work is suspended, the next setting in the list is used after the work has been resumed. Once again, a random draw is made, the result compared to the probability and the work may be suspended a second time. If the work is not suspended, the remaining suspend settings are dropped for this process instance's visit to the activity. Work is never suspended if the probability is 0 or less. Work is always suspended if the probability is 100 or higher. Notice that the standard activity behavior applies as it relates to suspend/resume due to schedule changes. Consider this example. Validation If the forced suspension option is selected for an activity, the suspend duration, probability, and resume duration are all validated for each suspend setting. Results Depending on the settings you will see: More suspended/reopened counts in the activity results. The processing time reflecting the general duration and resume durations The wait time reflecting the suspend time. Beware that the suspend time is designated in real time and wait time may be shown in business time. If business time is used you may see less wait time than you would expect, based on the suspend time. 122 / 148