Reflecting Time in an EPC

Alcuin

Yes, you can do that but using EPC (instance). Moreover you can use attribute based modeling to change position of your objects based on their time attributes. However, the most rewarding way to work with process instances is to simulate processes (Business simulator) or to record the actual instances (Process Performance Manager).

Mr. Ivo,

Thank you for the useful and timely response. I was especially intrigued by your reference to simulation, and would appreciate any information regarding this course of action. Also, how would this allow for the ability to reflect time?

Cheers,

Alcuin

Hi Alcuin,

In my opinion the best way  to reflect the time is use animation.

First,  this is simple and you don't need so much time to prepare like for simulation.

Second,  it is very understandable for process  managers and good for presentations.

For example what scenario in EPC model is quicker or what scenario in EPC is cheaper or analyse both dimensions.

And finally this is very good thing which allows managers to make decisions ASAP based on process facts.

If you need just show the time then you should fill attributes and then set attributes visible using propertie of  objects.

Cheers

Alcuin,

There are some BPM consultants that are very sceptical about the real benefit of simulation mainly on the grounds that a good simulation requires a lot of efforts that sometimes doesn't pay off. Much as I agree that it could be a daunting task, I'm quite convinced that it's worth it. Regarding TIME, the topic of this discussion, that's focal for simulation. It's too big a subject for such a discussion but basically you have wait, orientation and processing time as a main input in each step and many times as output probably the most important two being the dynamic wait time and the process throughput time. The latter two are vital indicators for  analysing bottlenecks and process performance respectively. Popular objectives in simulation are resource utilisation and capacity planning. That's why in ARIS Business Simulator you can fine tune priorities, commitment, batch work and other parameters that make the resource usage aspect closer to reality.

By the way simulation topics were discussed in the Community, the first one I remember happened a about a year ago. You might find some ideas there. Regarding the usage of the tool, I find this part the Help quite comprehensive.

@ Yuri, yes animation is a nice feature though I'm not as enthusiastic as you about the real benefits. If there is a capability I'm excited about, that's definitely Simulation Experiments.