Proceedings of the 2011 Winter Simulation Conference S. Jain, R.R. Creasey, J. Himmelspach, K.P. White, and M. Fu, eds. IMPROVING SIMULATION RESULTS WITH STATIC MODELS Martin J. Miller Niloo Shahi Capability Modeling, LLC Olive View-UCLA Medical Center 3113 Coventry E 13442 Olive View Dr. #2C155 Safety Harbor, FL 34695, USA Sylmar, CA 91342, USA Ashley N. Dias HKS, Inc. 1919 McKinney Avenue Dallas, TX 75201, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Effective simulation models require robust development methodologies. Planning, design, data, and test- ing are integral to ensure valuable answers to the model’s customers. This paper discusses how support- ing static models provide guidelines and directional correctness to simulation models. Static models can also provide supplemental answers which allow the reduction in simulation model complexity. 1 SIMULATION DEVELOPMENT 1.1 Planning and Design Simulation is one of the most widely used analytical techniques by professionals in Operations Research and Management Science (Law and Kelton 1991). Simulation analyzes the behavior of either real or im- aginary systems over time and is usually performed on a computer using either off-the-shelf or custom- ized software (Crosslin 1995). However, building valid, large scale simulation models usually require months of project effort. The phases of a simulation project typically are as follows.  Develop a conceptual model  Program the simulation and user interface software  Test the software  Experiment with alternative scenarios  Present the results to project stakeholders. 1.2 Data Analysis Effective models also require sufficient, valid data which project team members must collect (Miller et al. 2007). This data may come from information systems databases, observations, paper-based charts, and estimates from subject matter experts. Projects may require additional time for data collection due to sys- tem complexity (Miller et al. 2006). Also, analysts may need to reformat data for increased usability. These efforts ensure model validity when comparing model results with current processes. 1223 978-1-4577-2109-0/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE