The basic steps to specify how resources are used to perform processes are as described below:
1 For each process in your Process Model, specify a Resource allocation definition.
Resource Allocation is on page 1 of the Sim Process tab of a BPMN Process definition, Unit of Behavior (of the IDEF3 Process Flow notation), or Elementary Business Process (of the Process Chart diagram notation).
2 For each Resource Allocation definition, specify whether it is a Single Resource or a Group Resource. The default is Single. If you change it to Group, be sure to click the Apply button at the bottom of the dialog to change the property set (or close and reopen the definition).
3 Specify a Role for the Resource Allocation. This is done by accessing the second tab of the Resource Allocation definition (which will say either Single or Group depending on your choice made above), and filling in the Resource property by specifying a Role (either by clicking Choices and drag-and-dropping one in or typing one in and clicking Define to create a new Role). Note: As far as resource utilization is concerned, you don't have to enter any further information for a Role, such as costing information, and so on.
4 In the Resource Allocation definition, underneath the Resource property, specify a Quantity Allocated. This essentially specifies how many Roles can perform the process.
The Quantity Allocated property is on the second tab of the Resource Allocation definition (which will say either Single or Group depending on what you chose it to be)
5 In the Process definition, enter a value in the Quantity property on page 1 of the Sim Process tab. Quantity is a limiting factor for the process: it is the amount of objects that can be processed by the process at a time.
For example, if you have 10 people to perform work, and multiple orders are coming in at a time, but each order has to be performed at a desk: Quantity would be the amount of desks that you have in the room. If you have a simulation where you want the process to act on one object at a time, set the Quantity to 1. If you have a simulation where you want to have a number of people act on a number of objects at a time, then set the Quantity to a number at least as equal to the number of Roles that you will have on Shift, or even a larger number to be safe: so that if you toy with the number of workers you apply to the simulation later, you will not be limited by the Quantity number. In the example above with 10 people, you might set a Quantity of 15 or 20: setting it too high could cause the simulator to run slowly.
The Quantity property is on the Sim Process tab, in the top left corner of page 1 for either a BPMN Process definition (used on the (BPMN) Business Process diagram), a Unit of Behavior definition (used on the IDEF3 Process Flow diagram), or an Elementary Business Process definition (used on Process Charts).
6 Create a Resource Availability definition through the Explorer/Browser. The Resource Availability definition is used to specify the Roles available to perform work on work Shifts.
7 In the Resource Availability definition, specify a Shift and a Role.
8 In the Resource Availability definition, specify a Quantity on Shift: this tells the system how many Roles are available for work on a Shift. If you do not specify this, then no workers will be available to do the work when you run simulation, and you will see a bottleneck at the first process: nothing will be processed.
When you run Simulation, the number of Roles available for a job will be shown in the lower left corner of the screen, and the number of Roles actually working on a process will be shown directly below a process: those two numbers will add up to the Quantity on Shift.