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Run the Simulation and View Results

After you have created a process diagram, defined its behavior, and created a simulation scenario, you can run the simulation in Run Mode or Trace Mode and view results in a customizable report.

When you run a simulation, generators introduce transactions into the process. Transactions flow along the directed connector lines of the model to activities. When transactions enter activities, they may be held until the input conditions for the activity are met. Activities process the transactions, accumulate and report statistics, and then send the transactions along output paths based on the activity’s output criteria.

When the simulation ends, the results of the simulation display in the Report Window.

For more information about the Report Window, see View Simulation Results.

Run Mode

This is the fastest simulation mode.

The Simulator Progress window (accessible from the View menu) shows the simulation elapsed time and percentage completed, how many transactions are currently being processed, how many transactions have completed, how many transactions were discarded, and the maximum number of transactions allowed in the process. The simulation runs for a specified amount of time, or until all transactions have been processed.

Trace Mode

The Trace window shows the flow of transactions through a process diagram. Activity shapes change color as transactions move through them so you can more easily troubleshoot a model. In this mode, you can interact with the model, but simulation is slower.

Run simulation in Trace mode to:

• Find bottlenecks in transaction paths with color-coded display of activity states.

• Perform what-if analysis by viewing or setting the value of transaction and global attributes during the simulation.

• Evaluate an expression and display its value at a pause point.

• Change the value of an attribute at a pause point.

In Trace Mode, you can use the Model menu to control pause points, scenario attribute values, and trace color values and the Trace toolbar to control transaction flow. In addition, a Transactions window appears when you run a simulation in Trace mode.

Use the Transactions window to display and modify the state of transaction attributes and view transaction status and data while the simulation runs. The Transactions pane on left of the Transactions window is arranged in rows of transactions and column headings that include the names of the transaction attributes assigned to the transaction.

The Resource pane on the right of the Transactions window displays resource information for each transaction.

When in Trace mode, use the Attributes command in the View menu’s Trace Windows menu to display the Attributes window. The Attributes window can display and update values of global attributes as the simulation runs.

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