Simulation: creating terms

History of the creation of terms

When creating a methodology for simulation modeling, I needed to understand the terms. The problem was that the generally accepted terms were not suitable for describing statistical data collected in the process of imitation. The terms: process and instances of the process were unacceptable, because I could not work in the paradigm of Aristotle. The paradigm of Aristotle does not fit in with the matapparat applied by me. At the same time, the practical application of this technique was simple - modeling and imitation of business objects in order to make management decisions. The program created a virtual object, the description of which consisted of the description of scenarios and their interaction. Scripts were run inside the program , and resources and their interactions were modeled.

I recall that:

Simulation modeling is a method of researching objects, based on the fact that the object under study 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 receive information about the object being studied. The simulating object is an information object .

The purpose of simulation is to obtain approximate knowledge of a certain parameter of an object, without directly measuring its values. It is clear that this is necessary if and only if measurement is impossible, or it costs more than carrying out imitation. At the same time, to study this parameter, we can use other known parameters of the object and the model of its construction. Assuming that the construction model describes the object fairly accurately, it is assumed that the statistical distributions of the parameter values ​​of the modeling object obtained during the simulation will coincide to some extent with the distribution of the real object parameter values.

It is clear that the mathematical apparatus that was applied is statistical mathematics. It is clear that the statistics do not use the terms instances and types. It works with objects and sets. As a result, I had to use the logical paradigm on the basis of which the ISO 15926 standard was created for writing the methodology. It is based on the presence of objects, classes and classes of classes.

I want to share some definitions that I had to introduce to explain the mechanisms for modeling and analyzing the results of simulation. These examples will be enough to understand what I was dealing with when I built the domain model.
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Examples of definitions:

Operation

1. Simulated operation: Real or projected operation. Its description may contain the following attributes:
   
   
   • the objects and subjects involved in the operation,
   • events that occur during the operation.
   
   Example: the operation “hammer nail”, which is described as:
   
   
   • 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. Simulating operation: An object created in the program to simulate a simulated operation. The simulating operation is described by the following simulating events:
   
   
   • the beginning of the operation
   • completion of the operation,
   • Completion of technological waiting time
   • queuing the operation to resources,
   • interruption of the operation,
   • resumption of the operation,
   • action with variable and so on.
   
   
3. Class of modeled operations: A set of modeled operations that are combined according to some attribute: for example, by the coincidence of sets of types of input and output objects. Example: the “hammer nail” class of operations is the set of all operations that are combined together on the basis of the type of object of work — the nail and the uniformity of impact on it.
   
4. Class of simulating operations: A set of simulating operations that simulate a variety of simulated operations.
5. Operation ( object in the directory:) Directory object storing information about:
   
   
   • class of simulated operations. For example, the distribution law of the execution time of a simulated class operation is a class parameter.
   • any simulated class operation. For example, the regulatory act in accordance with which each modeled operation is performed.
   
   
6. Operation ( as an element of a diagram:) Graphic of modeled operations of one class on a diagram.
   
   
7. Operation ( as an element of notation ) : A symbol in the process modeling notation, a template for designating simulated operations. It has different names depending on the notation.
   

Event

1. Simulated event: Real, or projected event. Example:
   
   
   • For operation: technological waiting within the framework of the operation on painting the machine body, ended at 09-20.
   • For the process: the application event is issued, which occurred at 09-30, occurred as part of the "application acceptance" process.
   
   
2. Simulating Event: An object created to simulate a simulated event. This object is created in the computer's memory during the simulation.
3. Modeled event class: A set of simulated events, combined together for some reason. Example:
   
   
   • For operations: the set of all events, which signify the beginning of operations on the design of applications.
   • For the process: the set of all the events that led to the start of the application processes.
   
   
4. Imitating Event Class: A set of imitating events created to simulate a set of simulated events. Examples: A report on events simulating the start of operations of the class under study can be seen in the reports on the simulations performed, for example, in the form “Process execution history”.
5. Event ( as an object in the directory ): The “Events” reference object, which stores information about:
   
   
   • class of simulated events, for example, the distribution law of the moment of occurrence of a starting event is a class parameter,
   • objects of the class of simulated events, for example, the name of the event.
   
   
6. Event ( as an object on the diagram ): Graphic designation of simulated events of one class. Used in the chart. This event as an element in the diagram corresponds to the object of the “Events” directory stored in the system.
   
7. Event ( as an element of the notation ): The symbol used in the process modeling notation for designating simulated events. Different notations use different conventions for different classes of events.

The figure shows the relationship between the entities: the events are grouped into event classes. The event class is described using the “Events” reference object. Events of the same class are depicted in process diagrams using graphic elements. Based on the “Events” reference object, the imitation engine creates imitating 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. The description contains events. For example, events: "start of the process" and "end of the process".
2. Simulating process: An object created to simulate a simulated process. This object is created in the computer's memory during the simulation.
3. Class of modeled processes: The set of simulated processes, united by any attribute. The most common association is the association of processes that share a common model. As a model, a process diagram can be used, performed in any modeling notation: Process, Procedure, EPC, BPMN.
4. The class of imitating processes: A set of imitating processes created in the framework of imitation, to simulate activity.
5. Process ( as an object in the directory ): Reference object “Processes.
6. Process (process diagram ): A single-class process model 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 the above objects. The problem of the current state of the industry is that entities named by a single term no longer differ in the minds of analysts. I have tried to give you an example of how you can think, and how you can enter terms to distinguish between different entities. I hope the reading was interesting.