Activities

Activities are the only BPMN entities that actively consume time. Therefore the activity's duration is the most important simulation property.

Once you click the button next to the Duration label, you can select one of the stochastic distributions described in the Distributions topic with help of the Time Editor.

Several simulation properties will only be unlocked, if you add some optional Activity Properties. Currently there are three options, which are listed in the table below. By selecting one of these properties, an additional input box will appear in the Must-Have Simulation Properties area.

Simulation Properties of Activities

Activity Properties
Looping	Determines whether this activity is looping. This means it will be executed n times until a certain condition is being evaluated to true.
Multiple Instances: Parallel	Determines whether this activity is being executed in n parallel instances.
Multiple Instances: Sequential	Determines whether this activity is being executed n times in a row.
Must-Have Simulation Properties
Duration	The duration of the activity. You need to select one of the stochastic distributions and parametrize it as adequately as possible for your process.
Looping Condition	Defines the condition to break the loop. As long as the condition is evaluated to false, the activity will be started again. When the expression's result is true, the loop will break. You can either write a simple mathematical term like "x>5;" (Language-Selection: F(x)). x must be defined somewhere else before) or you can formulate a complex Python script. See Process Variables or the Models 7a, 7b and 7c from the Simulation Tutorial for more information and examples
Number of Parallel Instances	This expression defines the number of parallel instances of the activity. The approach is similar to the Looping Condition. The sole difference is that you can simply put a number into this box, which indicates the number of parallel instances. Another example is "x+1", though x must be defined or altered somewhere else.
Number of Iterations	This expression defines the number of iterations of the activity. The approach here matches with the Number of Parallel Instances.
Optional Simulation Properties
Expression	In this text box you can define custom attributes (e. g "x=5"), or operations that shall be executed in this activity (e. g. a Python-script).
Stochastic Attribute Assignment	In addition to Expression field, this option gives you the possibility to use one of our stochastic distributions to calculate the value of an attribute. E. g. "x" gets its value from the Normal Distribution with the parameters: Mean-Value = 4, Standard-Deviation = 1
Participant	Assign participants to this pool or lane. See topic Organization Diagram for more information.
Inherit Resources	This Check-Box determines whether this activity shall inherit its superior elements' resource demands. E. g. the activity's Pool demands n entities of resource x. If you check this property, the activity will also demand n entities of resource x. See Resources topic for more information on the resources concept.
Resource Priority	This property represents the priority of this activity in the resource allocation algorithm. The higher the priority is set the faster this activity (or the process instance which is currently working off this activity) will be provided with the needed resources. This option gives you the possibility to prioritize your activities in the resource allocation, because in reality there are often tasks that are more important than other tasks.
Report Properties
Generate Box-Plot	Gives you the option to generate a Box-Plot diagram for this activity. Attention: These diagram types are very expensive in relation to the simulation time advancement. The more Box-Plots you want to be generated the slower the calculation period of the simulation becomes.