rev 1.0 - 11/2009
Contents
Introduction
Simulation Overview
Getting Set Up
The Loan Process
Modeling Resources
Create a Simulation Model
Run the Simulation
Analyze the Results
Summary

BPM Simulation

Introduction


ActiveVOS™ Designer accelerates business process design and model-driven development and integration by enabling better collaboration between business analysts, process architects and developers.

This is achieved as a result of allowing business analysts to generate better defined processes, using intuitive BPMN-compliant process diagrams and documentation of goals, Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and requirements.

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is the standard for modeling business process flows. Created initially by the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) and later adopted by the Object Management Group (OMG), it is a rich notation that simplifies the modeling of complex processes. BPMN has been developed with the primary goals of being easy to use and readily understandable by business and technology users.

The ActiveVOS Designer business process model simulator extends and complements its business process modeling functions with analytical capabilities. Process architects can use the simulation capability to evaluate the
impact of new processes or proposed changes to existing processes in a model environment through the creation of "what-if" scenarios. Simulation enables examination and testing of options prior to actually implementing them in the "real" environment. Since simulation approximates reality, it also permits the inclusion of uncertainty and variability into the forecasts of process performance.

Objectives


Simulation Overview

Globalization and competitive pressures urge many organizations to radically change business processes. Although this approach can provide significant benefits, such as reducing costs or improving efficiency, there are substantial risks associated with it. Using simulation for modeling and analyzing business processes can reduce that risk and increase the chance of success for a business process.


Analysts can use the simulation feature to evaluate the impact of process changes and new processes in a model environment by creating "what-if" scenarios. Simulation allows you to include uncertainty and variability into forecasts of process performance.


By running simulations, you can quickly gain insights into


You can create a simulation project and define resources and how those resources can be shared among activities. You can also specify the length of time being simulated and the distribution of incoming arrival instances.


Simulation generates a set of instances according to the model, which are input to the simulated process. Each instance then visits each task according to the semantics of BPMN. When an instance arrives at an activity, the resources are assigned as needed. If the resources are not available, the instance will be blocked until resources are available. Data is collected about the start and end times of the activities in the simulation.


From within the Business Process Perspective, simulation provides an animated view of the business process in action. Process simulation enables the simultaneous viewing and examination of all cases in a virtual environment.


Simulation output provides detailed information including resource utilization levels, cost, and cycle time calculations. The data can be saved in Microsoft Excel format for further analysis and customization.

Getting Set Up

This sample is designed to use ActiveVOS Designer to simulate the HumanApprovalCompleted orchestration project. Here are the steps required to get set up:

The Loan Process

The loan approval process represents a loan approval/denial process.

  1. There are three primary tasks: Assess Risk, to assess credit risk, ReviewLoan, a task completed by a human participant, and NotifiyCustomerServiceOfDecision, for the purpose of notifying the customer with the loan decision.
  2. Upon receiving the loan request, the credit risk is determined.  If the risk level is high the loan is denied.  If the risk level is low the loan is approved.  If the risk level is set to review or the loan amount is greater than or equal to $10,000 the loan is routed to a human for approval and then forwarded to the customer service department so that they can reply with the decision.
  3. Here is the process that we will simulate:


Upon simulation the process architect plans to discover:

Simulation will be used to generate results that can then be further analyzed using Microsoft Excel.


Modeling Resources

Three resource pools (loan reps, loan mgrs and Credit Check Partner Service) and three types of resources (account admin, loan manager and Credit Check Service) will be used for simulation.  Resources are assigned to Resource Pools and resources in a pool can be prioritized.  This means that resources with a lower priority will only be used if all high priority resources are currently being used.  Additionally we can also model a resource cost structure that includes base cost, utilization cost and availability.

Here are the steps required to create the simulation resources:

Create the Resources


Create the Resource Pools and assign resources


Create a Simulation Model

At this point we will create a new simulation model based on the loanProcessHumanCompleted.bpel process.  Here are the steps to accomplish this.

Assign resources to the activities in the simulation model

Now that resources have been defined and added to resource pools the next step is to specify the resource pools used by each activity in the simulation model.  


Define How often the process is instantiated and instance data

Next we will define how often the process will be instantiated along with the message variables that have some sort of impact on the process.  Since the branching logic in the process is based on the loan amount and risk level we will create instance data for these two message variables.


Set the simulation properties for each path

Now we will set the simulation properties for each path.


Run the Simulation

We are now ready to simulate the process.  First we need to make sure that we are in the ActiveVOS Business Process Simulation perspective.  Select Window / Open Perspective / Other / Simulation from the menu.

Here are the steps required to simulate the process:

Analyze the Results

Upon completion of the simulation an Excel spreadsheet will open with the results.  The following images are some of the summary reports and graphs generated for the simulation.  Additional details are also available.

Summary

In this sample we described how to create and run a simulation model for help with resource planning and process optimzation using the simulation features of ActiveVOS Designer.  Simulation makes it possible to analyze resource utilization by changing resouce levels and re-running the simulation. Additional information can be found in the ActiveVOS Business Process Modeling and Simulation documentation available from the Help menu item and available online in the Product Documentation section of the Customer Education Center.