SIMUL8: Key Info

March 4, 2023 2:28 PM

Commands

HOW DO I? • Copy objects

• Collect Interval Results
• Make My Own Results
• Create an interface for my simulation
• Use Excel as an interface for my simulation
• Use multiple Work Centers to represent separate tasks in one process
• Debug my simulation
• Import my data
• Automatically load a simulation
• Export to an old version of Simul8
• Prioritize Work
• Route Work Without Routing Arrows
• Speed Up My Simulation
• Connect Multiple Simulations
• Call an external DLL

From <https://www.simul8.com/support/help/doku.php?id=tips>

Data Sources

Excel Connections -- TIPS

• If a lot of data has to be included in the Excel Interface, have a summary sheet that lists the main inputs and outputs clients are likely to want
to examine.
• If the structure of the sheets changes as the simulation evolves rather than change all your visual logic references you can create another
sheet that is nicely formatted and has direct links to the old sheets, that you can hide.
• Lock cells so people don't think they can move them around!
• Save different scenarios in different Excel files
• Your Excel spreadsheet must be opened to use it with the simulation. If you've forgotten to open it you'll get the error message “EXCEL is not
responding to a conversation request”.

○ The first parameter of the Set in Excel command tells Simul8 what information is to be written to Excel, in this case gbl_Utilisation. The
second parameter holds the names of the .xlsx EXCEL file, and the sheet where the information is located.
○ The remaining parameters tell Simul8 where in Excel to write this information to and how many rows and columns of data to copy.
(You only need the last 2 if you're copying information from a spreadsheet otherwise just enter 1 for both.)

Labels are a way to attach attributes to Work Items in your simulation.

Labels
- For example you might attach a label “Illness” to Work Item type “Patients” and set this label to a code number as they
enter your simulation of a hospital. Each code number would represent a type of illness and could be used to route the
patients though the different Activities in the simulation.

- Labels can contain either text or numbers.

- Tell Activities or Start Points to change the values of labels using the Actions button in an Activity or Start Point.

Labels can be used to:

• Tell Activities what distributions to use for sampling work times
• To prioritize Work Items as they enter a Queue
• To control the image that is used to display the Work Item on the screen and length of the item
• Control routing out from an Activity

Labels can only be deleted if they are not in use by any Work Item or simulation object.

WORK ITEMS:
Simulation Objects - A Work Item is the work that is done in the organization being simulated.
- Examples are:
○ Patients in a hospital
○ Invoices in an Accounts department
○ Products in a factory
- Individual Work Items flow through the Activities in a simulation.
- Each Work Item is of a “type” known as a “Work Item Type”.
- Work item types, and therefore all the Work Items of that type, may have Labels attached to them. All Work Items of the same
type have the same labels attached to them but the values in the labels for each individual Work Item may differ.
○ For example: a Work Item type called “Patient” may have a label called “illness” that may be set to 1 for some patients (for
minor), 2 for some patients (for serious) and 3 for others (life threatening).
- The values in the label can be changed using actions at Activities.
- Attach a label to a Work Item type in the WORK ITEM TYPES dialog on the Advanced tab. The size of a Work Item can also be
changed here.
- To see the values in labels of an individual Work Item in your simulation use the contents button in either the Activity or Queue

Simulation Methods Page 1

 - To see the values in labels of an individual Work Item in your simulation use the contents button in either the Activity or Queue
dialogs. (Or just Click with CTRL-SHIFT pressed where you see the Work Item on the screen).

Typically the work done in your system will be simulated by it going through a number of objects that are on the screen, but
they can be invisible, and some types of object (e.g. Resources) are “used” at other objects (e.g. at Activities).
The items that flow through the Simul8 simulation are called Work Items.
The main simulation objects contained within Simul8 are:

Start Points - where work enters the simulation

More information

Queues - where work waits to be processed

More information

Activities - where work has something done to it

More information

End Points - where work leaves the process

More information

Resources - Items, people or parts, that are needed to help process work
More information

INSTRUCTIONS:

By right-clicking on these, you can do the following:

- On any Number variable, to add it to the KPI Summary.

- On any spreadsheet to set it as the Main Data Sheet - this means that when clicking on Spreadsheets, under the Data & Rules Tab, the
nominated sheet will be opened.
- On a spreadsheet cell to add it to the Watch Window
- The Information Store has a References button that lists simulation objects and visual logic sections where the highlighted Global Data Item
is referenced.

When the Information Store list gets long, has more than 15 variables, the most recently used items are listed and numbered at the top of the list
for ease of use.

Click Search to search through all the Global Data Items to find a match (or partial match) on data e.g. if you performed a partial march searched
for 10, the search would return the names off all the Global Data Items (including spreadsheets) where 10 is found in the items content i.e. any
values of 10, 100, 1000 etc.

Distributions and Modelling 1. Named Distribution

2. Probability Profile

3. Combination

Simulation Methods Page 2

 4. Time Dependent

5. Time Absolute

6. Label Based

7. External

8. Access information store

9. Bounded

10. Machine Learning

Simulation Methods Page 3

OTHER CAPABILITIES (1) Travel Time
- Matrix

(2) Finances
- Overhead
- Fixed costs

Simulation Methods Page 4