Economics and security issues in simulation: modes of simulation practice in business and the military

ABSTRACT

Although simulation is performed in a wide range of disciplines there has been almost no debate about the practice of simulation across these domains of application. This paper concentrates on two domains of practice, business and military simulation, and identifies three modes of practice: simulation as software engineering, simulation as a process of social change and simulation as facilitation. The facets of each of these modes of practice are described, and the predominant usage of the modes in business and the military are identified. The implications for simulation software suppliers, practitioners, researchers, educators and users are discussed.

REFERENCES

• 1: Balci, O. 1985. Guidelines for successful simulation studies. Technical Report TR-85-2, Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia.
• 2: Balci, O. 1994. Validation, verification, and testing techniques throughout the life cycle of a simulation study. Annals of Operations Research 53: 121-173.
• 3: Checkland, P. B. 1981. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Wiley: Chichester, UK.
• 4: Cochran, J. K., G. T. Mackulak, and P. A. Savory 1995. Simulation project characteristics in industrial settings. Interfaces 25, 4: 104-113.
• 5: Davis, P. K. 1992. Generalizing concepts of verification, validation and accreditation (VV&A) for military simulation. R-4249-ACQ, October 1992, RAND, Santa Monica, California.
• 6: Glenn R. Drake , Jeffrey S. Smith, Simulation system for real-time planning, scheduling, and control, Proceedings of the 28th conference on Winter simulation, p.1083-1090, December 08-11, 1996, Coronado, California, United States [doi>10.1145/256562.256914]
• 7: Flood, R. L. and M. C. Jackson 1991. Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention. Wiley: Chichester, UK.
• 8: Forrester, J. W. 1994. System dynamics, system thinking, and soft OR. System Dynamics Review 10: 245-256.
• 9: Christine A. Fossett , Dale Harrison , Harry Weintrob , Saul I. Gass, An assessment procedure for simulation models: a case study, Operations Research, v.39 n.5, p.710-723, Sept.-Oct. 1991 [doi>10.1287/opre.39.5.710]
• 10: Gass, S. I. 1977. Evaluation of complex models. Computers and Operations Research 4: 27-35.
• 11: Gass, S. I. 1993. Model accreditation: a rationale and process for determining a numerical rating. European Journal of Operational Research 66: 250-258.
• 12: Gass, S. I. and L. S. Joel 1981. Concepts of model confidence. Computers and Operations Research, 8: 341-346.
• 13: Ginzberg, M. J. 1978. Finding an adequate measure of or/ms effectiveness. Interfaces 8, 4: 59-62.
• 14: Jackson, M. C. 1999. Towards a coherent pluralism in management science. Journal of the Operational Research Society 50: 12-22.
• 15: Jackson, M. C. and P. Keys 1984. Toward a system of systems methodologies. Journal of the Operational Research Society 35: 473-486.
• 16: Lane, D. C. 1999. Social theory and system dynamics practice. European Journal of Operational Research 113: 501-527.
• 17: Lane, D. C. 2000. Should system dynamics be described as a "hard" or "deterministic" systems approach? Systems Research and Behavioral Science 17: 3-22.
• 18: Lane, D. C. and Oliva, R. 1998. The greater whole: towards a synthesis of system dynamics and soft systems methodology. European Journal of Operational Research 107: 214-235.
• 19: Averill M. Law , David M. Kelton, Simulation Modeling and Analysis, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 1999
• 20: Lehaney, B. 1996. Mixed-mode modelling. In Operational research keynote papers 1996, ed. D. Jonhnson and F. O'Brien, 150-156. Birmingham, UK: Operational Research Society.
• 21: Love, D. and J. Barton 1996. Evaluation of design decisions through cim and simulation. Integrated Manufacturing Systems 7, 4: 3-11.
• 22: Mingers, J. and J. Brocklesby 1997. Multimethodology: towards a framework for mixing methodologies. Omega 25: 489-509.
• 23: Ormerod, R. J. 1997. The design of organisational intervention: choosing the approach. Omega 25: 415-435.
• 24: Michael Pidd, Computer Simulation in Management Science, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1998
• 25: Robinson, S. 1994. Successful Simulation: A Practical Approach to Simulation Projects. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill.
• 26: Stewart Robinson, Simulation verification, validation and confidence: a tutorial, Transactions of the Society for Computer Simulation International, v.16 n.2, p.63-69, June 1999
• 27: Robinson, S. 2001. Soft with a hard centre: discrete-event simulation in facilitation. Journal of the Operational Research Society. Forthcoming.
• 28: Robinson, S. and M. Pidd 1998. Provider and customer expectations of successful simulation projects. Journal of the Operational Research Society 49: 200-209.
• 29: Rosenhead, J. 1989. Rational Analysis for a Problematic World. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
• 30: Sargent, R. G. 1981. An assessment procedure and a set of criteria for use in the evaluation of computerized models and computer-based modelling tools. RADC-TR-80-409, Rome Air Development Center, Air Force Systems Command, Griffiths Air Force Base, New York.
• 31: Roger D. Smith, Essential techniques for military modeling and simulation, Proceedings of the 30th conference on Winter simulation, p.805-812, December 13-16, 1998, Washington, D.C., United States
• 32: Vennix, J. A. M. 1996. Group Model Building: Facilitating Team Learning using System Dynamics. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.6 SIMULATION AND MODELING
      I.6.1 Simulation Theory
          Subjects: Systems theory

Additional Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.1 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING
      Subjects: Business
  J.7 COMPUTERS IN OTHER SYSTEMS
      Subjects: Military

General Terms:
Algorithms, Performance, Theory