Quick guide

BPSim Glossary

This glossary includes a selection of key terms from the BPSim specification, along with Cardanit-specific features and concepts to help you understand and work with business process simulations. Each term links to detailed documentation for quick reference.

Base Currency Unit: The currency used as a reference for financial calculations, cost parameters, and simulation results.
Base Time Unit: The unit of time used as a reference for simulation results and time-related parameters.
Calendar: Defines when business process elements are active, using dates, time periods, and recurring events. Expressed in iCalendar (RFC 5545) format.
Condition: The criteria that determines whether a token is triggered in a simulation. Expressed in XPath format.
Control Parameter: Settings that define when and how events are triggered in a simulation, adding conditions and probabilities to control process flow. Includes: Trigger count, Inter trigger timer, Condition and Probability.
Cost Parameter: Defines the financial impact of activities and resource usage. Includes: fixed costs and unit costs.
Consumed Resource: Resources that are used by a task during simulation.
DateTime Parameter: Settings that define time-related aspects of a simulation, such as start date, warmup period, and Property Parameters.
Distribution Parameter: Defines variability in simulation values using probability distributions, allowing ranges of values instead of fixed points. Includes: Beta, Binomial, Gamma, Log normal, Poisson, Triangular, Truncated normal, Uniform, Weibull, and Custom.
Duration: Duration can be fixed or defined using a Distribution Parameter.
Duration Parameter: Define how long tasks or process elements take in a simulation. Durations can be fixed or modeled using a Distribution Parameter. Supports both short format and long format representations.
Elapsed Time: The time taken for a task to complete relative to the total simulation time.
Expression Parameter: Dynamic values or behaviors evaluated when a token enters a process element, allowing simulation behavior to change based on conditions or properties.
Fixed Cost: One-time expenses incurred each time a token completes an activity, independent of processing time.
Inter Trigger Timer: The time interval between consecutive occurrences of a start event, controlling how often tokens are generated.
Lag Time: The delay between the completion of one task and the start of the next task in a simulation.
Parameter Type: Refers to a group of parameter categories used to model different aspects of a process, including Distribution, Duration, and DateTime parameters.
Probability: The likelihood of an event occurring or a token following a particular path in a simulation.
Processing Time: The duration a task takes to complete in a simulation.
Produced Resource: Resources generated by a task during simulation, increasing the available quantity each time the task runs. Production continues each time the task executes, without a predefined maximum.
Property Parameter: Variables assigned to BPMN elements, evaluated and set when a token enters an element, allowing dynamic behavior in the simulation.
Queue Length: The number of tokens waiting to be processed at a task or process element. Longer queues indicate potential delays or bottlenecks in the simulation.
Required Resource: The specific resources needed to perform each task in the process.
Resource Parameter: Settings that define resource usage in a simulation. Includes: required resources, resource quantity, and Cardanit-specific extensions such as produced resources and consumed resources.
Resource Quantity: The number of resources available to perform a task in the process.
Result Parameter: Simulation outputs that provide insights into process performance and resource usage. Includes: elapsed time, wait time, queue length, processing time, lag time, resources used, cost, duration, and tokens.
Run Parameter: Settings that control the execution of a simulation. Includes: duration, start date, warmup and seed.
Seed: A value used to initialize the simulation’s random number generator, ensuring repeatable results across runs.
Scenario Parameter: Settings that define the overall conditions for a simulation run. Includes: duration, start date, warmup and seed.
Simulation Analysis Interface: The part of the Cardanit UI used to analyze simulation results. Widgets such as tables, bar charts, and heatmaps display data and highlight process performance.
Simulation Flow: The sequence of tasks, events, and gateways as tokens move through a simulated process, representing how the process executes over time.
Simulation Setting: Global settings that define key aspects of a simulation. Includes: base time and currency unit.
Start Date: The date when a simulation run begins, defining the starting point for time-based parameters.
Time Parameter: Settings that define time-related aspects of process elements such as the processing time.
Token: Conceptual markers that represent the flow of work through process elements. Tokens show where tasks are executed, where queues form, and where congestion occurs. They can be in, out, or waiting.
Trigger: A condition or event that starts, activates, or continues the execution of a process element, such as a task or event.
Trigger Count: The number of times a trigger can activate an event or task during a simulation run.
Unit Cost: Cost that varies based on the amount of work or processing time, such as per-task or per-unit expenses.
Wait Time: The duration tokens spend waiting before a task can be executed, typically due to insufficient available resources.
Warmup: A simulation period at the start of a run during which data is not collected, allowing the process to reach a steady state.

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BPSim Glossary

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Duration

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Elapsed Time

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I

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Lag Time

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Queue Length

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Required Resource

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Seed

Scenario Parameter

Start Date

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Token

Trigger

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Wait Time

Warmup