Business Simulation Software
Leads from ISWORDL list & other sources
Compiled by Bob Travica < btravica@ms.umanitoba.ca >
February 2002
From: Alev M.
Efendioglu <alev@usfca.edu>
Check
http://www.usfca.edu/alev/tmg.htm to see if it meets your needs. Good
luck in your search. --- A. Efendioglu
From: Bruce Campbell
<brucec@it.uts.edu.au>
There are lots of
different ways of simulating business processes. One
way is using System
Dynamics. If this is useful to you, Ventana Systems
has an SD product
available free of charge for educational use. Their
website is:
http://www.vensim.com/
Simple documentation
is available from the same site.
From: Rick Watson
<rwatson@terry.uga.edu>
Have a look at
http://www.hps-inc.com/
I used it for modeling an onion farm.
From: "Mandal,
Purnendu" <Mandal@Marshall.edu>
PowerSim is a good software to test business policy alternatives.
From: Dan Davenport
<dldave0@uky.edu>
I use IThink at work
by High Performance Systems, Inc. Its
easy to use and
a demo can be found at
www.hps-inc.com. It may not be robust
enough for
your purposes.
From: Mark Isken
<isken@oakland.edu>
Easy to use business
process sim. software include:
ProcessModel (also
bundled with Managing Business Process Flows by Anupindi
et al)
Extend
Simul8
Optima
There's also some some
easy to use software that is bundled with the book on
e-commerce and
business processes by El Sawi.
More comprehensive and
sophisticated products include:
ProModel
Arena
GPSS
There's tons more.
Check out INFORMS College on Simulation page at
http://www.informs-cs.org/comm.html.
Also, see back issues of OR/MS Today as
they have a simulation
software survey every two years or so
From:
S.Hewitt@Derby.ac.uk
I know that a team in
the Netherlands called Rematch Bv produced a
simulation business
systems some time ago. I used it in
Holland in the mid
1990's. I do not have
a contact I am afraid. But the team
names were L.J. de Man;
C.J.Nederstigt and J.H.P. Steggink if that is of any help.
From: Il Im
<ilim@homer.njit.edu>
I have been teaching a
graduate course, "Business Process Innovation"
I use Workflow BPR by
Holosofx for process mapping and analysis in the
course. Although it's
a process mapping tool, it has a powerful
simulation feature
(also good visual animation).
The software is free
for educational purposes and you can download
free version and get
more information from:
(NOTE: The same product was also proposed by another ISWORLD member not
listed here. – B.T.)
From: Eliot Rich
<e.rich@albany.edu>
There's a rich set of
simulation tools in the System Dynamics world -- Beer
Game, Strategem and The Manufacturing Game just to name a few.
From: David Raffo
<davidr@sba.pdx.edu>
We are using Extend by
Imagine That.
http://www.imaginethatinc.com
It has its advantages
and disadvantages. The main advantages
are:
1. Runs on a PC
2. Is inexpensive
3. They give you the source code
Something that is both
an advantage and a disadvantage is the graphical
interface. They have separate block for addition,
subtraction, everything.
So, the advantage is
that it is easy to learn. The
disadvantage is that the
screen gets muddled rather quickly.
From: Ryutaro
MANABE <manabe@shonan.bunkyo.ac.jp>
How about to use
"Stella" ("ithink" for industrial uses), software for
system dynamics? Stella is released by High Performance
System, Inc.
(http://www.hps-inc.com/).
One issue of
"OR/MS Today" published by INFORMS within one year ago carries
the article evaluating software for simulation.
From: Soffer Pnina
<pnina@techunix.technion.ac.il>
You may try
www.mbe-simulations.com, it is a simulator of
industrial processes
designed for educational purposes.
From: Curtis Palmer
<Curtis_Palmer@bus.emory.edu>
I use Extend for
discrete event modeling simulations.
See
http://www.imaginethatinc.com/
- there is aggressive student pricing.
It is marketed more
like an Operations tool, but is quite useful to
describe business
processes (most recently I used the animation feature to
illustrate a purchase transaction flow).
From: Jeanine
Schmierbach <jschmierbach@marketplace-simulation.com>
Our simulation covers
a broad range of functions. It is best
described at
this website:
http://www.marketplace-simulation.com/
We work with a lot of
companies in cross-training their management so they
learn how to
communicate better within the organization because they have a
better understanding
of how their decisions affect the company as a whole. If
you go to our
"methods of delivery" page at:
http://www.marketplace-simulation.com/products/difficulty-levels.html
you will see the broad range of content offered.
<anonymous>
For the supply chain
management see:
1.http://www.gensym.com/supplychain/
2.http://www.techasst.com/supply_chain_guru.htm
3.http://www.simulationdynamics.com/Sc/index.htm