Lab # 6:Data module SSUET/QR/114

LAB # 6
OBJECTIVE : To create an Arena model using Data modules and observe the results of the
simulation run

Entity Module :
Description:
This data module defines the various entity types and their initial picture values in a
simulation. Initial costing information and holding costs are also defined for the entity.

PROMPT:

Prompt Description:
Design various entity types, pictures and their initial costing information.

Holding Cost Hour: Hourly cost of processing through system, this entity is incurred
when entity is anywhere in the system.

Initial VA(value added) Cost: Stores the total cost accumulated in process and delays
when the entity are recorded.

Value Added Time/Cost: Directly contributes value to the entity during the activity for
example insertion of components on a circuit board add values to the final product.

Non Value Added Time/Cost: Does not directly contributes value to the entity during
the activity. The preparation of the material needed to insert components to the board.

Initial Waiting Cost: Costs increased when an entity spend time in waiting activity e.g.
batch or wait for resource at a process model.

Initial Transfer Cost: When entity spend time in transfer. e.g model to sub model

Initial Other Cost: Entity is spending time in another activity.

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Example:

Prompt Entry
Entity Type Unhappy Customers
Initial Picture Sad Faces
Holding Cost/Hour 1.5
Initial Value Added 5
Cost
Initial Non-Value 0.0
Added Cost
Initial Waiting Cost 10
Initial Transfer Cost 0.0
Initial Other Cost 0.0

In this example, the Unhappy Customers will have an initial picture of Sad Faces when
they are generated. Their holding costs will be $1.50/hour, while their initial VA and wait
costs are $5 and $10, respectively. There are no initial NVA, Transfer or Other cost.

Screen Shot:

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Queue Module:

Description:

This data module defines the queues in the simulation system. You can use it to change the
ranking rule for a specified queue. The default ranking rule for all queues is First In First
Out (FIFO) unless otherwise specified in this module. There is an additional field that
allows the queue to be defined as shared. Used to change ranking rule for the specified
queue.

PROMPT:

Prompt Description:
Type: FIFO, LIFO, Lowest Attribute Value, Highest Attribute Value.

Attribute Name: Entities with lowest or highest values of attribute will be ranked first in
queue.
Shared: Determine whether a specific queue is used in multiple places with in simulation
model (used in seize model in Advance Processes panel).

Example:

Prompt Entry
Name Complete Order
Type Highest Attribute Value
Attribute Name WaitTime
Shared Unchecked

The Complete Order queue is specified in this example with a ranking rule of Highest
Attribute Value, based on the WaitTime attribute. WaitTime is a cumulative value of the
amount of time the entity has spent waiting in queues during the simulation run. When an
entity enters this queue, if there are other entities waiting, they will be ranked based on the
highest value of WaitTime. Those entities that have been waiting in queues the longest will
be serviced first. If there is a tie between entities, the entities will be ranked First In First
Out.

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Screen Shot:

Resource Module:

Description:
This data module defines the resources in the simulation system, including costing
information and resource availability. Resources may have a fixed capacity that does not
vary over the simulation run or may operate based on a schedule. Resource failures and
states can also be referenced in this module for use with the Advanced Process and
Advanced Transfer Panel (not available in Arena Basic Edition).

PROMPT:

Prompt Description:
Name: The name of the resource whose characteristics are being defined. This name must
be unique.

Type: Method for determining the capacity for a resource. Fixed Capacity will not change
during the simulation run. Based on Schedule signifies that a Schedule module is used to
specify the capacity and duration information for the resource.

Capacity: Number of resource units of a given name that are available to the system for
processing. Applies only when Type is Fixed Capacity.

Schedule Name: Identifies the name of the schedule to be used by the resource. The

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schedule defines the capacity of a resource for a given period of time. Applies only when
Type is Schedule.

Schedule Rule: Dictates when the actual capacity change is to occur when a decrease in
capacity is required for a busy resource unit. Applies only when Type is Schedule.

If a schedule or failure is specified and a capacity change (decrease) is to occur when a

resource is currently busy, the Schedule Rule/Failure Rule is used to determine when the
capacity change will take place.

Ignore— starts the time duration of the schedule change or failure immediately, but
allows the busy resource to finish processing the current entity before effecting the
capacity change.

Wait— waits until the busy resource has finished processing the current entity before
changing the resource capacity or starting the failure and starting the time duration of
the schedule change/failure.

Preempt— interrupts the currently-processing entity, changes the resource capacity

and starts the time duration of the schedule change or failure immediately. The resource
will resume processing the pre-empted entity as soon as the resource becomes available
(after schedule change/failure).

Busy/Hour: Cost per hour of a resource that is processing an entity. The resource becomes
busy when it is originally allocated to an entity and becomes idle when it is released. During
the time when it is busy, cost will accumulate based on the busy/hour cost. The busy cost
per hour is automatically converted to the appropriate base time unit specified within the
Replication Parameters page of the Run/Setup menu item.

Idle/Hour: Cost per hour of a resource that is idle. The resource is idle while it is not
processing an entity. During the time when it is idle, cost will accumulate based on the
idle/hour cost. The idle cost per hour is automatically converted to the appropriate base
time unit specified within the Replication Parameters page of the Run/Setup menu item.
Per Use:Cost of a resource on a usage basis, regardless of the time for which it is used.
Each time the resource is allocated to an entity, it will incur a per use cost.

StateSet Name:Name of set of states that the resource may be assigned during the
simulation run. This property is not available in Arena Basic Edition.

Initial State: Initial state of a resource. If specified, the name must be defined within the
repeat group of state names. This field is shown only when a StateSet Name is defined.

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Failures: Lists all failures that will be associated with the resource. This property is not
available in Arena Basic Edition.

Failure Name: Name of the failure associated with the resource.

Failure Rule: Dictates the behavior that should occur when a failure is to occur for a busy
resource unit.

EXAMPLE:

Example 1— Fixed Capacity Resources

Prompt Entry
Name Machines
Type Fixed Capacity
Capacity 5
Busy/Hour Cost 25
Idle/Hour Cost 10
Per Use Cost 5
StateSet Name
Failures

In this example, there are 5 machine resources in the system at all times. They have a $5
per usage cost, which may represent a setup cost per entity. When a machine is busy, its
costing rate is $25/hour. When idle, a machine’s costing rate drops to $10/hour.

Example 2— Scheduled Resources

Prompt Entry
Name Accountants
Type Based on
Schedule
Schedule Daily Schedule
Schedule Rule Ignore
Busy/Hour 30
Idle/Hour 30
Per Use 0
StateSet Name

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Failures

There are a variable number of accountants available to the simulation system. Depending
on the capacity and duration values defined in the schedule named Daily Schedule, the
number of accountants will change over time. See the Schedule module Resource Schedule
example for more information.Whether an accountant is busy or idle, their costing rate is
$30/hour. There is no per usage cost associated with using an accountant resource.

The Ignore value for the Schedule Rule indicates that when accountants reach the time for
a schedule change, they will complete what they are doing prior to making the schedule
change. For more information about schedule rules, see Resource Module— Remarks.

Screen Shot:

Schedule Module:

Description:

This data module may be used in conjunction with the Resource module to define an
operating schedule for a resource or with the Create module to define an arrival schedule.
Additionally, a schedule may be used and referenced to factor time delays based on the
simulation time. Duration formatted schedules are defined within this module. Calendar

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formatted schedules are defined by selecting the Calendar Schedules, Time Patterns
command from the Edit menu.

PROMPT:

Prompt Description:
Name:The name of the schedule being defined. This name must be unique.

Format Type:Format of schedule being defined. If format is duration, the schedule is

defined with a collection of value duration pairs. If format is calendar, the schedule is
defined using the time pattern editor.

Type:Type of schedule being defined. This may be Capacity related (for resource
schedules), Arrival related (for the Create module), or Other (miscellaneous time delays or
factors).
Time Units:Time units used for the time duration information.

Scale Factor: Method of scaling the schedule for increases or decreases in Arrival/Other
values. The specified Value fields will be multiplied by the scale factor to determine the
new values. Not available for Capacity type schedules.

Durations:Lists the value and duration pairs for the schedule. Values can be capacity,
arrival or other type values, while the duration is specified in time units. Schedule pairs
will repeat after all durations have been completed, unless the last duration is left blank
(infinite). Schedule data can be entered graphically using the graphical schedule editor or
manually using the Value/Duration fields.

Value (Capacity):Represents either the capacity of a resource (if Type is Capacity), arrival
rate (if Type is Arrival) or some other value (if Type is Other). Examples of other may be
a factor that is used in a delay expression to scale a delay time during various parts of the
day.
Duration:Time duration for which a specified Value will be on—Time duration for which
a specified Value will be valid.

Example 1— Resource Schedule

Prompt Entry
Name Daily Schedule
Type Capacity

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Time Units hours

Value (Capacity) 4, 2, 4
Duration 4, 2, 3

The Daily Schedule is a Resource schedule, as it is specified as type Capacity. The

number of resources available will be four for the first 4 hours of the simulation (morning
hours). The duration then drops to two for 2 hours. This may represent a lunch time
period while two accountants go to lunch for a 1 hour period, then the other two go to
lunch for the second hour. For the last 3 hours of the day, all four of the accountants are
available (afternoon hours).

Example 2— Arrival Schedule

Prompt Entry
Name Spring Weekly
Schedule
Type Arrival
Time Units Days
Scale Factor 1
Value 25, 40, 55, 70, 60, 20, 5
Duration 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

The Spring Weekly Schedule demonstrates the use of an Arrival type schedule. Each data
set in the arrival schedule specifies Value entity arrivals per hour over the time Duration.
An exponential distribution is used to evenly distribute the Value arrivals over each hour.
Assuming the hours per day is 24, Spring Weekly Schedule states that approximately 600
entities will arrive within the first day (25 arrivals/hour x 24 hours/day), 960 the second
day, 1320 the third day, 1680 the fourth, 1440 the fifth, 480 during the sixth, and 120 during
the last day.The Scale Factor in this example is set to 1. To increase the arrival rate by 10%,
the scale factor can be set to 1.1, while specifying a scale factor of 0.9 will decrease the
arrival rate by 10%.

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Screen Shot:

Set Module:

Description:

This data module defines various types of sets, including resource, counter, tally, entity
type and entity picture. Resource sets can be used in the Process (and Seize, Release, Enter
and Leave of the Advanced Process and Advanced Transfer panels) modules. Counter and
Tally sets can be used in the Record module. Queue sets can be used with the Seize, Hold,
Access, Request, Leave and Allocate modules of the Advanced Process and Advanced
Transfer panels.

PROMPT:

Prompt Description:
Name: The name of the set being defined. This name must be unique.
Type: Type of set being defined.
Members: Lists the resource, counter tally, entity type or entity picture members within the
set.
Resource Name: Name of the resource within the resource set. Applies only when Type is
Resource
Tally Name: Name of the tally within the tally set. Applies only when Type is Tally.

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Counter Name: Name of the counter within the counter set. Applies only when Type is
Counter.
Entity Type: Name of the entity type within the entity type set. Applies only when Type is
Entity Type
Picture Name: Name of the picture within the picture set. Applies only when Type is Entity
Picture.
EXAMPLE:

Example 1—Resource Sets

Prompt Entry
Name Shift 1 Operators
Type Resource
Resource Name Joe, Mary, Fred, Sue

In this example, the Shift 1 Operators set contains four resources, Joe, Mary, Fred and Sue.
Any of these members may also be contained within other sets. The rule for selecting
among the available set members is specified within the Process module. In the case of the
Preferred Order rule, Joe will be selected before Mary, Mary before Fred and Fred before
Sue should they be available. In the case of the Cyclical rule, the resources will be selected
in the specific order listed, Joe–Mary–Fred–Sue–Joe–Mary–Fred–Sue, etc. if they are
available. The order in which the members are listed does not affect other selection rules.

Example 2—Resource Set: members read from an external file

Prompt Entry
Name EmergencyStaff
Type Resource
Linked File ResourceDataInput
Linked Recordset EstaffRecSet

In this example, EmergencyStaff is a set of 50 resources. The set members are defined from
the file called ResourceDataInput. The recordset called EstaffRecSet contains this data:

Col 1
Row 1 Physician 1
Row 2 Physician 2
Row 3 Physician 3

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… …
Row 50 Patient Registrar 2

The model reads values in for the resource set members as follows: The first Set member
is Physician 1, the second set member is Physician 2, …, the last set member is Patient
Registrar 2.

The model reads values in for the resource set members as follows: The first Set member
is Physician 1, the second set member is Physician 2, …, the last set member is Patient
Registrar 2.

Screen shot:

Model:
1)

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2)

3)

4)

5)

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Task: Movie theater system

Design a Movie Theater in which customer arriving in the cinema house then check if the
queue is greater than 10(limit of a queue) exit the ticket queue and go somewhere else.
After getting the ticket, check for refreshment. There are two canteens: satellite canteen
and a main canteen. People select refreshment from the available canteens otherwise they
will leave the food queue. Also record how many people leaves the food queue and ticket
queue so that theater administration takes necessary actions for maintaining the theater.
After taking refreshment customer leaves the lobby and enter the theater. Apply all the
given changes in the given scenario:
1. Insert entity picture and all the costing information regarding entities and analyze
the report.
2. Use the appropriate queue type based on the given scenario.
3. Increase the capacity of the resources and set their costing information.
4. Use the set of resources option and apply any appropriate selection rule for the
selection of resources.
5. Using the schedule module, schedule the arrivals in create module.

SYSTEMSOLUTIO
DESIGN:

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1. Insert entity picture and all the costing information regarding entities
and analyze the report.

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2. Use the appropriate queue type based on the given scenario.

3. Increase the capacity of the resources and set their costing information

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4. Use the set of resources option and apply any appropriate selection
rule for the selection of resources.

5. Using the schedule module, schedule the arrivals in create module.

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REPORT:

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