© SCS THE USE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY AND TOOLS TO IMPROVE MODEL ASSESSMENT IN SIMULATION STUDIES Germano de Souza Kienbaum Laboratory for Applied Mathematics and Computing (LAC) / Institute for Space Research (INPE) Av. dos Astronautas, 1758 CP 515 12245-970 São José dos Campos, SP, Brasil e-mail: germano@lac.inpe.br Álvaro Augusto Neto Carlos Henrique Netto Lahoz Aerospace Technical Center (CTA) Praça Mal. Eduardo Gomes, 50 12228-901 São José dos Campos , SP, Brasil e-mail: alvaro@comp.ita.br; lahoz@iae.cta.br KEYWORDS Project Management and Control, PERT Technique, Activity Cycle Diagrams, Discrete Event Systems. ABSTRACT The simulation model assessment comprises the design of experiments and model output analysis and it is a difficult task to be accomplished in simulation studies. The design of experiments is usually directed towards the identification of the bottlenecks and alternative strategies for model execution, by adding some more resources or modifying the way some components behave, with the resulting model changes being assessed individually. Many cross effects, nevertheless, may appear if more than one factor is applied and they make it difficult to determine the benefits of local changes to the overall performance of a complete production process or sub process. This suggests that the analysis could be directed towards sequences of repetitive tasks grouped together in process segments (production phases), representing partial/complete construction or assembling operations, which could be studied and improved in terms of completion time and operation costs, and would therefore enhance overall system’s performance. This work proposes the use of project management methodologies and tools, based on time and cost management with the use of PERT-like networks, in the identification and analysis of these process segments, for improvement of model assessment in simulation studies. The problem class it addresses is that of discrete event models of serial production processes. INTRODUCTION The results presented and discussed in this work are of a preliminary and conceptual nature and they have been produced in order to set the basis for a more ambitious ongoing research project. The general goal of the main research project is to develop a comprehensive methodology, and to design and implement its supporting tools, aiming at the conduction of simulation studies based on an integrated approach, originated from a merge of both process simulation and project management techniques. The proposed approach can be thought of as having two distinct viewpoints: the first one is related with the use of project management techniques as an auxiliary tool for modelling and analysis of a problem typical of the process simulation study area; and the second one is related with the use of process simulation techniques as an auxiliary tool for modelling and analysis of a problem typical of the project management study area. The methodology, nevertheless, exists only as whole, and it is based on a modelling concept created by the first author and denominated Unified Simulation Modelling Diagrams (USMD). USMD is a modified version of Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) diagrams, originated from a mix of both Activity Cycle Diagrams (ACD) and PERT networks. USMD diagrams can be used for modelling problems that belong to either of the domain classes of the two study areas mentioned above. This work is focussed on the first viewpoint of the approach, as implied by its title above, but it does it solely as a result from the class of problem chosen to illustrate the creation of USMD, which is an example of a serial production process, typical of the simulation study area. Another example of a house construction process, typical of the project management study area, has also been made and studied separately as a simulation problem, but it will not be presented here for lack of space. The following sections have been devised to explain the conceptual framework of the proposed methodology and were divided into: fundamentals of the methodology; its domain of applicability and limits, a comparison with other existing methodologies in both study areas, benefits of the integrated methodology and its tools, and the actual state of the research. The work concludes with a summary on the experience gained with the approach and points out to future research to be carried on the subject. FUNDAMENTALS OF THE METHODOLOGY The problem chosen for exemplification of the proposed approach is that of a hypothetical steelworks, commonly used as a course project for teaching simulation skills to post graduation students. Figure 1 shows the layout of the steelworks, as described in [Kienbaum and Paul 1994]. The Steelworks Problem The main elements involved in the problem are: blast furnaces, torpedoes, cranes, steel furnaces and a railway Proceedings 14th European Simulation Symposium A. Verbraeck, W. Krug, eds. (c) SCS Europe BVBA, 2002