Geschäftsprozesssimulation - Ergebnisse aus einem VDI-Richtlinienausschuss

Simulation is an established method in the production and logistics (P&L) area. The German Engineers Association (VDI) has provided a set of guidelines (Series 3633), providing basic information, procedures, and templates. A work group founded in 2005 is amending the series by a consideration of business process simulation (BPS) in the P&L field. This paper summarizes some key results of the group and illustrates the benefits of BPS on two examples. The specific characteristics of business processes that influence the effort and constraints of BPW are discussed. Then, a procedure model is proposed that provides guidance from the needs initiating the BPS study through analysis and conceptual models to implemented simulation. The handling of data is discussed for this model, in order to enable parallel work (and thus accelerate the study), but also to clearly interlink the work on modelling and data acquisition and preparation.