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9-6 Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management Part IV Analyzing Process Performance This part describes how to use simulations and Process Analytics to analyze the performance of your business process. This part contains the following chapters: ■ Chapter 10, Running Simulations in Oracle BPM ■ Chapter 11, Using Process Analytics 10 Running Simulations in Oracle BPM 10-1 10 Running Simulations in Oracle BPM By running simulations, business analysts and developers can predict the behavior of business processes under specified conditions. They can run simulations to verify that the output meets the metric objectives and identify any bottlenecks. They can also run simulations to test the effects of changes on an existing process design. This chapter includes the following sections: ■ Section 10.1, Introduction to Running Simulations in Oracle BPM ■ Section 10.2, Creating Simulation Models ■ Section 10.3, Configuring Boundary Events ■ Section 10.4, Creating Simulation Definitions ■ Section 10.5, Running Simulations ■ Section 10.6, Analyzing the Results of a Simulation

10.1 Introduction to Running Simulations in Oracle BPM

After you define a simulation, you run it in Oracle BPM to determine the efficiency of that definition. Your simulation can reflect either real or anticipated data. Using the simulation capabilities of Oracle BPM, you can: ■ Define multiple models for a given process so that different conditions can be analyzed ■ Run multi-process simulations to learn how working in different business processes can affect resources

10.1.1 Simulation Models and Simulation Definitions

Before you run a simulation, you must specify the behavior of each element of your process. To define a simulation you must create and configure the following elements in your BPM Project: ■ Simulation model Enables you to define the behavior for an individual process model. Note that, for any given process model, you can have multiple simulation models, so that you can mimic a variety of scenarios. ■ Simulation definition Enables you to define the processes and resources that define a simulation scenario.In a simulation definition you specify the processes that participate in the 10-2 Oracle Fusion Middleware Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management simulation by selecting the simulation models associated to those processes. A process may have multiple simulation models defined for it. If a process has multiple simulations models defined, then you must select one of those models to use in the simulation definition. Simulations do not call each individual task within a process. For example, they do not run the service associated to a service task, variables are not assigned values, and external resources are not updated. However, simulations mimic the behavior of an activity using the following simulation variables that you can define using the Simulation Editor: ■ duration ■ resources ■ cost ■ queue information ■ probability of the instance passing through a sequence flow

10.2 Creating Simulation Models

Simulation models enable you to simulate the behavior of an individual process. They enable you to define how a process behaves as part of a simulation definition. You can define multiple simulation models for each process, creating different simulations based on different combinations of resource allocation and activity behavior.

10.2.1 How to Create and Configure a Simulation Model

To create and configure a simulation model: 1. In the BPM Project Navigator, expand the Simulations node.: 2. Right-click the Simulation Models node. 3. Select New Simulation Model. The Create Simulation Model dialog box appears. 4. Select a process. 5. Enter a name for the simulation model.

6. Click OK.

The simulation model appears under the Simulation Models node in the BPM Project Navigator and the Simulation Model editor opens. 7. Specify the number of instances to create during the simulation:

a. Select Specify number of process instances to be created.

b. Specify the number of instances to create during the simulation.

8. In the Flow Nodes tree, select an activity.

Note: The process simulation runs until the completes the specified duration or reaches the maximum number of instances. Running Simulations in Oracle BPM 10-3 Depending on which type of activity you select, the following tab pages appear on the right of the Flow Nodes tree: ■ Duration: defines the distribution that determines the time an activity takes to complete. ■ Resources: specifies the number of participants assigned to a particular role. You can define this parameter in the simulation model or at a global project level in the project simulation definition. ■ Cost: specifies the cost of processing the activity. For user tasks it also specifies the cost of the resources assigned to the user task. ■ Queue Info: defines the simulated behavior of how process instances are queued for a given activity ■ Sequence Flows: determines the probability percentage of instances routed through the different outgoing sequence flows 9. Configure each activity as follows: a. In the Duration page, in the Instance Execution Duration section, specify the Distribution Type. Options are listed and described in Table 10–1 . Table 10–1 Options in the Simulation Model Flow Nodes Duration Page Option Description Constant Specifies that the simulation model uses the value specifies in the Period property to calculate the completion time for all the activities in the process. Uniform Determines the period required to complete an activity consistently, taking into account the variation specified in the delta property. When you select this option, you are prompted to specify each of the following: ■ Mean: Determines the mean time it takes to complete an activity ■ Delta: Defines the upper and lower limit variation of the mean parameter when determining how long it takes to complete a simulated activity Exponential Determines how long it takes to complete a simulated activity by specifying how many instances are completed within a specific period. When you select this option, you are prompted to specify: ■ Average Frequency: Determines the number of average instances processed within the interval defined by the Every property ■ Every: Defines the interval used for exponential distribution Normal Uses the Gauss Bell distribution to determine how long a simulated activity takes to complete. You must specify the mean and standard distribution. When you select this option, you are prompted to specify: ■ Mean: The mean period required to perform an activity ■ Standard Deviation: The standard deviation of the mean period required to perform an activity 10-4 Oracle Fusion Middleware Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management b. In the Cost page, specify the following: c. In the Queue Info page, specify the following:

d. In the Sequence Flows page, move the slider to specify the probability of each

outgoing sequence flow occurring. If the activity contains boundary events, then the flows of the boundary events appear in this page. For more information about configuring boundary events, see Section 10.3, Configuring Boundary Events .

10.3 Configuring Boundary Events

If the BPMN process you want to simulate contains boundary events, then you must specify the probability of these events happening. You can specify the probabilities for the different boundary events in the Outgoing Flows page. The way you specify the probability of a boundary event varies according to the type of the event: ■ Interrupting Boundary Message and Error Events Real Enables you to specify the amount of time required to complete a simulated activity for a specific time interval. When you select this option, you must specify: ■ Distribution Criteria: determines the time interval for determining how long a simulated activity takes to complete ■ Interval: specifies the period during which the simulation runs. ■ Mean: defines the mean time to complete an activity ■ Standard Deviation: defines the standard deviation of the mean parameter Table 10–2 Properties in the Simulation Model Flow Nodes Cost Page Property Description Fixed Base Cost Defines the cost required to perform the simulated activity Fixed Base Cost Plus Resource Cost Calculated based on the defined cost per hour and the time it takes the resource to execute the instance. This property is only available for user tasks. Table 10–3 Properties in the Simulation Model Flow Nodes Queue Info Page Queue Warning Size Determines the number of incoming instances that can be waiting for an activity simultaneously. Activity Queue Policy Determines how incoming instances are handled by the activity. The following values are available: F.I.F.O First In, First Out, L.I.F.O Last In, First Out, Random, and By Priority Table 10–1 Cont. Options in the Simulation Model Flow Nodes Duration Page Option Description Running Simulations in Oracle BPM 10-5 The probabilities of all the interrupting boundary message and error events for an activity are related. If you add these probabilities the result must always be 1. The simulation model editor displays a set of sliders to configure these activities. If you move a slider, the values in the other sliders automatically adjust. You can lock the values by clicking the lock icon next to the slider. When you lock a value the simulations model editor does not modify it when you move the other sliders. The simulation model editor forces you to leave at least two values unlocked. ■ Non-Interrupting Boundary Message and Error Events The probability of a non-interrupting boundary message or error event is independent from the probability of other events happening. This value of this probability can vary between 0 and 1. The simulation model editor displays a slider for each non-interrupting boundary message or error event. You can move this slider to specify any value between 0 and 1. ■ Timer Events To specify the probability of a boundary timer event, you must define the time interval between occurrences of the event. If the implementation of the timer event in the BPMN process uses an expression, then you must define a fixed time interval to use during the simulation. If the implementation of the timer event in the BPMN processes uses a fixed time interval, then redefining the time interval is optional because you can use the interval defined in the BPMN process for the simulation. The simulation model editor displays a table for interrupting timer events and another one for non-interrupting timer events. You can redefine the time intervals for each of the events using these tables. Figure 10–1 shows the Approve Quote user task with different types of boundary events. Figure 10–2 shows the simulation configuration page for the Approve Quote user task. Figure 10–1 The Approve Quote user task with multiple boundary events