Simulation Interface Reference

What This Reference Covers

This page provides a complete reference for the simulation interface in ProcessMind. Use it as a quick lookup when configuring simulations.

Accessing the Simulation Tab

The simulation configuration is located in the right panel when viewing a process model:

1. Open a process containing a BPMN model
2. Navigate to the Simulation tab in the right panel
3. All simulation settings are organized in collapsible sections

Simulation Management

At the top of the simulation panel, you’ll find controls for managing simulation configurations:

Simulation Selector

Control	Description
Simulations list	Select an existing simulation configuration from the sidebar
Create Simulation	Create a new simulation configuration
Rename	Change the name and dataset name of the current configuration
Duplicate	Create a copy of the current configuration
Auto Configure	Automatically configure simulation parameters using AI or observed data
Delete	Remove the current simulation configuration

You can have multiple simulation configurations for the same process, allowing you to compare different scenarios without losing your settings.

Action Buttons

In the page header, you’ll find the main action buttons:

Button	Description
Run Simulation	Execute the simulation with current settings
Auto Configure	Open the auto-configuration dialog to populate simulation parameters

The Auto Configure dialog offers two modes:

• AI-Suggested: Uses AI to generate realistic simulation parameters based on your process model structure
• Observed from Data: Derives parameters from your actual process data (only available when data is mapped to the model)

Periods

The periods section defines the time frame for your simulation:

Setting	Description	Example
Simulation Period	The date range for the simulation (start and end dates)	2025-01-01 to 2025-03-31
Warm-up period	When enabled, runs an additional warm-up period before the start date	Toggle on/off

Case Attributes

Attributes are values carried by each case through the process. Configure how they’re generated.

Number Attributes

Number attributes use statistical distributions to generate values. See Distributions for all available types.

Setting	Description
Distribution	Type of statistical distribution
Parameters	Distribution-specific parameters
Periodicity	Optional time-based variation
Conditions	Optional conditional generation

Text Attributes

Text attributes have several generation modes:

Mode	Description	Example Output
List	Weighted random selection from a list of values	“Gold”, “Silver”, “Bronze”
Numbered	Prefix followed by sequential number	“ORDER-0001”, “ORDER-0002”
Fictional Names	Generated person names	“Sarah Johnson”, “Michael Chen”
Fictional Companies	Generated company names	“Acme Corp”, “Global Industries”
Countries	Country names	“United States”, “Germany”, “Japan”

Resource Configuration

Define the resource pools available for activities to use.

Setting	Description
Name	Identifier for the resource pool
Capacity	Number of available units
Periodicity	Optional time-varying capacity

See Resources for detailed guidance on resource modeling.

Start Event Settings

Configure how new cases enter the process through start events:

Setting	Description
Distribution	How arrivals are distributed (typically Poisson)
Rate	Average number of arrivals
Rate Unit	Time unit: perHour, perDay, perWeek, perMonth, perYear
Periodicity	Time-based arrival rate variations
Conditions	Conditional arrival patterns

Default Configuration

By default, cases arrive following a Poisson distribution at 1 case per hour.

Task (Activity) Settings

Each task in your BPMN model can be configured with processing parameters:

Processing Time

Setting	Description
Distribution	How processing time varies
Time Unit	seconds, minutes, hours, days
Periodicity	Time-based processing time variations
Conditions	Conditional processing times

Required Resources

Setting	Description
Resource Pool	Which resource pool to use
Quantity	How many units required

Multiple resource requirements can be added to a single task.

Skip Chance

Setting	Description
Percentage	Probability (0 to 100%) that the activity is skipped
Periodicity	Time-based skip probability variations
Conditions	Conditional skip rules

When skipped, the case proceeds immediately to the next element without consuming resources; only the 1-second minimum duration is added.

Queue Strategy

Setting	Description
FIFO	First In, First Out - cases are processed in the order they arrived (default)
LIFO	Last In, First Out - most recently arrived cases are processed first
Random	Cases are selected randomly from the waiting queue

The queue strategy determines how the next case is selected from the waiting queue when the activity becomes available to process new work.

Attribute Changes

Configure how case attributes are modified when the task completes:

Setting	Description
Attribute	Which attribute to modify
New Value	The value to set (a fixed value that works for text and number attributes)
Conditions	When to apply the change

Intermediate Event Settings

For intermediate events (not start events):

Setting	Description
Attribute Changes	Modify case attribute values
Skip Chance	Probability to bypass the event

Gateway Configuration

XOR (Exclusive) Gateways

For exclusive gateways, configure the probability of each outgoing path:

Setting	Description
Probability	Relative weight for this path (auto-normalized)
Periodicity	Time-based probability variations
Conditions	Conditional path selection

Note: Probabilities are relative weights. Setting flows to 70, 20, 10 produces the same result as 7, 2, 1.

AND (Parallel) Gateways

No configuration needed; all outgoing paths are taken simultaneously.

OR (Inclusive) Gateways

Similar to XOR, but multiple paths can be selected, with at least one guaranteed.

Sequence Flow Settings

Configure individual sequence flows (arrows between elements):

Setting	Description
Probability	Relative weight when flow leaves a gateway
Periodicity	Time-based variations
Conditions	Conditional flow selection

Distribution Editor Reference

When configuring any distribution, you’ll use the distribution editor:

Available Distribution Types

Type	Parameters	Use Case
Fixed	value	Constant values
Normal	mean, stdDev	Symmetric variation
Uniform	min, max	Range with equal probability
Triangular	min, mode, max	Range with most likely value
Poisson	lambda, rateUnit	Arrival rates
Lognormal	mean, stdDev	Right-skewed times
Weibull	scale, shape	Reliability modeling
Pearson VI	alpha1, alpha2, beta	Complex patterns
Beta	min, max, alpha, beta	Flexible shape between min and max

Time Units

When applicable, durations can be specified in:

• Seconds
• Minutes
• Hours
• Days

Rate Units

For arrival distributions:

• Per Hour
• Per Day
• Per Week
• Per Month
• Per Year

See Distributions for detailed explanations.

Periodicity Editor Reference

When configuring time-varying parameters:

Type	Parameters	Example
Always	(none)	No time variation
Default	(none)	Fallback rule
Each Day	startTime, endTime	09:00-17:00 daily
Each Weekday	startTime, endTime	Business hours Mon-Fri
Each Weekend Day	startTime, endTime	Weekend hours Sat-Sun
Each Week	startDay, startTime, endDay, endTime	Multi-day weekly pattern
Each Month	startDayOfMonth, startTime, endDayOfMonth, endTime	Month-end processing
Each Year	startMonth, startDayOfMonth, startTime, endMonth, endDayOfMonth, endTime	Seasonal patterns
Fixed Period	startDateTime, endDateTime	One-time events

See Periodicity for detailed guidance.

Conditions Editor Reference

Conditions allow parameter values to vary based on case attributes:

Condition Type	Description
Value Match	Attribute equals specific value(s)
Range	Numeric attribute within a range

Example: Apply different processing times based on customer tier.

Running Simulations

Run Controls

Control	Description
Run Simulation	Start executing the simulation
Progress Bar	Shows completion percentage during execution
Cancel	Stop a running simulation

Execution Limits

Limit	Value	Purpose
Max Events	5,000,000	Prevents runaway simulations

Simulation Output

When the simulation completes, it creates a dataset in your process containing the complete event log:

Output Contents

Field	Description
Case ID	Unique identifier for each simulated case
Activity	Name of the executed activity
Start Timestamp	When the activity began
Complete Timestamp	When the activity finished
Resource	Which resource performed the activity
Attributes	Case attribute values at time of execution

Working with Output

The simulated event log is a standard ProcessMind dataset. You can:

• View it in the process explorer
• Analyze with all ProcessMind features
• Compare with other datasets (historical or simulated)
• Export for external analysis

Next Steps