Jim SinurNow that I have your attention, let’s dig into some of the myths surrounding simulation. Most people think that simulation is hard and is for those gifted with deep math skills. Today nothing could be farther from the truth. Simulation is nicely embedded in process modeling and BPM engines and pretty easy to use even for business folks. Another big fallacy is that you have to set up lots of test data to make simulation work. Most of the simulators, today, will generate appropriate instances of process based on arrival rates.
The biggest misunderstanding is around the use of simulation itself. As a specific form of optimization, simulation does not just have to be used on an emerging process design. Sure simulation comes in handy when attempting test drive processes before you design them and put them into production with completed processes, but simulation has another important use. Simulation is also a tremendous help when using live data to fine tune an existing process. Simulation can suggest different allocation of scarce and/or expensive resources. In some circumstances, simulation can be linked to resource scheduling software to drive alternative resource scheduling scenarios. In more sophisticated and helpful tools, simulation combined with a “champion – challenger” driver can help auto-optimize processes. In an economy that is thirsty for savings, simulation can shine.
Category: BPM Business Proces Improvement Optimization Simulation Tags: BPM, Business Proces Improvement, Optimization, Simulation
7 responses so far ↓
1 The Hype about Simulation and Optimization « Leadership BPM March 2, 2009 at 10:00 am
[...] benefits that appear to be waiting at the finger-tips of the BPMS users. For example, in a recent blog, Jim Sinur, the leading BPM analyst at Gartner, writes as [...]
2 Adam Deane March 17, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Process Simulation Skills:
http://www.pnmsoft.com/process_simulation_skills.aspx
3 Jim Sinur March 17, 2009 at 1:27 pm
It is true that you can’t turn off your brain with simulation. There are some impotant guide posts and guard rails to establish, but you no longer need to be an accomplished operations research fellow to do run of the mill simulation and optimiztion. You still need the advanced folks for the tough problems, though.
4 Siddhartha SenGupta August 27, 2009 at 5:44 am
I tend to be more inclined towards Jim’s position based on our actual experiences. My team consists of the OR/MS PhDs. In a case, one of our team trained 3 regular IT colleagues in Simulation using one the popular BPM tools. This team was able to complete the process redesign so effectively that the Fortune 200 end user declared an award for the work. Yes, we did maintain an overview, but we never got to even see any of the models directly! And the training took 2 weeks.
5 Siddhartha SenGupta August 27, 2009 at 6:07 am
At the same time I would believe Rashid’s suggestion that users of simulation are the rare exceptions rather than anywhere close to single digit % populations.
The success of optimization thru simulation is much more a qualitative MS problem than a quantitative OR or IT issue. For example, unless one knows & compares the different types of contracts possible between vendors and consumers, optimizing the numbers behind an as-is scenario will surely be sub-optimal. Also, I completely agree that measurements of e.g. Standard Times for tasks are not for BPM systems but for e.g. Time and Motion study systems. And then only the mean values are not enough.
This is what I meant by our OR/MS team having an overview on the simulations done by our IT colleagues. We set the objectives, suggested the scenarios to evaluate and helped them interpret the results.
As my team does Optimizations with more standard simulation packages like ARENA and LogicTools, they know the extent to which BPM tools can be stretched.
6 Savoring Simulation: Recent Encouragement December 22, 2009 at 11:45 am
[...] http://blogs.gartner.com/jim_sinur/2009/02/10/extra-extra-simulation-is-bi-optimal/ [...]
7 Simulation and BPM; A Growing Engagement February 10, 2010 at 4:25 pm
[...] http://blogs.gartner.com/jim_sinur/2009/02/10/extra-extra-simulation-is-bi-optimal/ [...]