Simulation: Creating Terms

History of the creation of terms

When creating a simulation modeling technique, I needed to deal with the terms. The problem was that generally accepted terms were not suitable for describing the statistics collected during the simulation. Terms: the process and process instances were unacceptable because I could not work in Aristotle's paradigm. Aristotle's paradigm does not fit with the device I used. At the same time, the practical application of this technique was simple - modeling and imitation of business objects in order to make managerial decisions. A virtual object was created in the program , the description of which consisted of a description of the scenarios and their interaction. Scripts run inside the program, as well as simulated resources and their interactions.

Let me remind you that:

Simulation - a method of researching objects, based on the fact that the studied object is replaced by a simulating object. Experiments are conducted with a simulating object (without resorting to experiments on a real object) and as a result, information is obtained about the object being studied. The imitating object in this case is an information object .

The purpose of simulation is to obtain approximate knowledge about a certain parameter of an object without directly measuring its values. It is clear that this is necessary if and only if the measurement is not possible, or it is more expensive than the simulation. Moreover, to study this parameter, we can use other well-known parameters of the object and its construction model. Assuming that the construction model accurately describes the object, it is assumed that the statistical distributions of the parameter values ​​of the modeling object obtained during the simulation will to some extent coincide with the distribution of the parameter values ​​of the real object.

It is clear that the device that was used is statistical mathematics. It is clear that the statistics does not use the terms instances and types. She works with objects and sets. As a result, to write the methodology, I was forced to use the logical paradigm on the basis of which the ISO 15926 standard was created. Its basis is the presence of objects, classes, and class classes.

I want to share some definitions that I had to introduce to explain the modeling mechanisms and analyze the simulation results. These examples will be enough to understand what I was dealing with when I was building the domain model.

Examples of definitions:

Operation

1. Simulated operation: Real or projected operation. Its description may contain the following attributes:
   
   
   • objects and subjects involved in the operation,
   • events that occur during the operation.
   
   Example: Operation "Hammer a Nail", which is described as follows:
   
   
   • participated in the operation: board, hammer, nail, performer - Khrunichev Gennady Petrovich
   • events: the beginning of the operation at 9-00, the end - at 9-01.
   
   
2. Simulated operation: An object created in a program to simulate a simulated operation. The simulated operation is described by the following simulated events:
   
   
   • start of operation
   • completion of an operation
   • completion of the technological waiting time,
   • queuing an operation to resources,
   • interruption of the operation
   • resuming the operation
   • action with a variable and so on.
   
   
3. Class of simulated operations: A set of simulated operations, united by some attribute: for example, by the coincidence of sets of types of input and output objects. Example: the class of operations “Hammer in a nail” is the set of all operations combined together on the basis of coincidence of the type of work item - the nail and the uniformity of impact on it.
   
4. Class of simulated operations: Many simulated operations that simulate many simulated operations.
5. Operation ( the object in the directory: ) directory object, which contains information about:
   
   
   • class of simulated operations. For example, the distribution law of the execution time of an operation of a simulated class is a class parameter.
   • any simulated class operation. For example, a normative legal act in accordance with which each simulated operation is performed.
   
   
6. Operation ( as charts element: ) Graphic marking modeled operations of a class in the graph.
   
   
7. Operation ( as an element of notation ) : Conventional notation in process modeling notation, template for designating simulated operations. It has different names depending on the notation.
   

Event

1. Simulated event: A real or projected event. Example:
   
   
   • For the operation: technological waiting as part of the operation to paint the machine’s body ended at 09-20.
   • For the process: the event the application is drawn up, which occurred at 09-30, occurred as part of the process of "receiving applications".
   
   
2. Simulated event: An object created to simulate a simulated event. This object is created in computer memory during the simulation.
3. Class of simulated events: A set of simulated events, combined together for some reason. Example:
   
   
   • For the operation: the set of all events that mark the beginning of operations for processing applications.
   • For the process: a lot of all the events that led to the start of the application process.
   
   
4. Simulated Events Class: Many simulated events created to simulate many simulated events. Examples: A report on events that simulate the beginning of operations of the class under study can be seen in reports on the conducted simulation, for example, in the form "Timeline of process execution".
5. Event ( as an object in the directory ): An object of the "Events" directory that stores information about:
   
   
   • class of simulated events, for example, the distribution law of the moment of occurrence of the start event is a class parameter,
   • objects of the class of simulated events, for example, the name of the event.
   
   
6. Event ( as an object in the diagram ): Graphic designation of simulated events of one class. Used on chart. This event as an element in the diagram corresponds to the “Events” directory object stored in the system.
   
7. Event ( as an element of a notation ): A symbol used in process modeling notation to indicate simulated events. Different notations use different conventions for different classes of events.

The figure shows the relationship between entities: events are collected in event classes. The class of events is described using the "Events" directory object. Events of one class are depicted on process diagrams using graphic elements. Based on the “Events” directory object, the simulation engine creates simulated events.

Process

1. Simulated process: A sequence of simulated operations. The description of this sequence is conveniently presented in the form of a Gantt chart. Description contains events. For example, events: “start of the process” and “completion of the process”.
2. Simulating process: An object created to simulate a simulated process. This object is created in computer memory during the simulation.
3. Class of simulated processes: A set of simulated processes, united by any criterion. The most common pool is a pool of processes that share a common model. As a model, a process diagram made in any modeling notation can be used: Process, Procedure, EPC, BPMN.
4. Class of simulating processes: A set of simulating processes created as part of a simulation to simulate activity.
5. Process ( as an object in the directory ): The object of the directory “Processes.
6. Process (process diagram ): A process model of one class, made in the form of a diagram. Based on this model, imitating processes are created.

Conclusion

Thanks for attention. I sincerely hope that my experience will be useful to those who wish to distinguish between the above objects. The problem of the current state of the industry is such that entities named by one term cease to differ in the minds of analysts. I tried to give you an example of how you can think, and how you can introduce terms to distinguish between different entities. I hope the reading was interesting.