Architecting and designing > Business Process Analysis (BPA) > Simulation of Process Models > Simulating business process diagrams > Simulation properties of BPMN symbol types > Specifying simulation properties for a BPMN process
  
Specifying simulation properties for a BPMN process
Processes use time and often resources to generate the user-defined Objects. A process can be automated and available all the time or limited to a shift pattern.
When defining a BPMN Process symbol the following Simulation properties apply:
Sim Definition tab
Shift
A Shift can consist of other Shifts, or it can be at the atomic level.
Sim Process tab
Quantity
Processes have a quantity that represents their capacity or ability to process objects.
Priority
Priority determines which processes a particular resource will do first from a scale of 1 being the highest and 9 the lowest. The simulator will attempt to allocate a resource and an object to the process, where both are available the resources will be allocated to the process with the highest priority.
Object Transformation: Transformed on output?
Select Transform on output? if you want to change the Object as it passes through to the next process symbol.
Input Buffer Capacity (Synchronicity)
By entering a number into this field, you are specifying a buffer that contains n objects waiting to be processed. By default it is set to the maximum number permitted in the simulator, which is 65535. You can decrease this value to limit the number of objects flowing into the buffer and therefore stalling the process.
Note Due to Synchronicity rules any values entered for buffer capacity will be ignored and treated as having a zero capacity where connecting junctions have been designated as synchronous.
Output Buffer Capacity
By entering a number into this field, you are specifying a buffer that contains n objects waiting to be processed or passed to the next process. By default it is set to the maximum number permitted in the simulator, which is 65535. You can decrease this value to limit the number of objects flowing out of the buffer and therefore stalling the process.
Resource Allocation
A Resource Allocation consists of one or more Roles that will be available to work on the process.
Duration
Service Time Profiles
You must specify a Service Time Profile for each process included on a BPMN diagram in order to simulate that diagram. The Service Time Profile specifies how long it take the process to complete. This time can be built up of one or more individual time elements that could also have been used in other processes.
Time profiles can be defined as either constant values, variables, or distributions (using the distributions wizard).
Processing parameters
There are four types of processes:
Single
Receives and processes each object individually
Batch
Processes a number of objects together using a single processing time, for example the post clerks in our example deliver post in the same time regardless of the value of applications in their mail bag.
Assembly
Takes a defined number of objects and produces a single object from them, an example could include the packing of order components into a box. The new objects inherit the object type and attributes of the last object to be assembled unless object transformation and /or attribute changes are requested.
Production
Takes a single object and creates an additional number of objects as specified by the user. An example is a machine that takes in raw a single quantity of mixture and produces a dozen loaves of bread. The original object entering the machine can be consumed or continue through the model. Objects will be created as the same type and carry the same attributes as the object they are produced from unless the user specifies that the object type is transformed change on output or changes the attribute values.
While produced objects inherit the attributes and object type from the original object they are produced in zero time as far as the simulation is concerned and will affect any subsequent statistics.
Process Penalties and Allowances
Penalty Time
Penalties represent the amount of time a process will allocate to completing a partly finished process from the previous shift.
Allowance Time
Allowances represent the additional time a process will continue working to finish a process after it goes off shift.
Penalties and Allowances also apply to Resource Shifts.
Process Costing
Various costing values can be allocated to a process. These values are optional and used to report on the overall cost of the process and netted against revenues to provide an approximate profit value.
When Process idle: Providing the process when not processing objects and process is “on shift” per unit of time
When Process Busy: Providing the process when processing objects per unit of time
Other Process Costs
Processing Each Object/Batch: Cost of materials used to process each object or batch of objects
Cost of Providing Process: Single cost of setting up the process.
Sim Child Diagram tab
Child diagram
Child Diagram to Be Simulated: A symbol can expand to multiple children of all diagram types. In this property, you can specify a child diagram to be used for simulation. It should be a Business Process type diagram.
Include Child Diagram in Simulation?: Select this to include in the simulation, the diagram specified in the Child Diagram to Be Simulated property.
Child Character: Specify Iterative, Parallel, or Neither Iterative Nor Parallel.
See also
Simulation properties of BPMN symbol types