By defining your own set of attributes, you can begin customizing your model. These attributes can represent model element attributes that are not built into SIMPROCESS, such as entity weight or size, skill level of a resource, or service level.
When you define an attribute, you either tell SIMPROCESS to create an instance of that attribute for every model element of the same type (e.g., Entities, Resources), or to just create the attribute for a particular type of model element (Customer Order entities, Truck resources). In SIMPROCESS terminology, we say that attributes are either globally defined or locally defined.
When you define an attribute globally, an instance of that attribute is automatically created for each model element of that class. For example, if your model contains entities for different types of appliances (refrigerators, televisions, toasters, etc.) and you want to assign a weight value to each entity, you could globally define an entity attribute called applianceWeight. SIMPROCESS creates an instance of that attribute for every entity in your model, so every entity has an appliance weight attribute that you can reference.
On the other hand, the only Activity in which you are interested in weight is the Activity where entities are batched. In this case, it makes sense to locally define an attribute for that particular Activity. When that's done, no other activity will have a weight attribute automatically created for it.
Dialog Field Definitions
Name: is any unique name identifying the attribute. A default name is provided, but you should change this to something meaningful. The name can be anything you want, as long as you haven't previously used it for another attribute of the same class of model element.
Value: is the default initial value of this attribute. The value must correspond to the data type you specify in the Mode field. For instance, you cannot enter 1.0 if Mode is Integer. If the Mode is Object, the Default value is undefined. An Object attribute's value can only be set during a simulation run. Anything you enter in the Default field is ignored.
Model Parameter, when checked, means that every time the model is run, a dialog will open, prompting the user to either accept the default value of the attribute or enter a new initial value for the attribute. Only Global, User-defined attributes can be set as Model Parameters. If a Comment is entered for the attribute, this will appear in the Description field of the Model Parameters dialog.
Mode: is the data type of the User Attribute. Click on the arrow button to select from the following types:
Integer values are numbers without fractional or decimal parts.
Real values can contain a fractional part.
String is any series of alphanumeric characters.
Boolean values can be either TRUE or FALSE.
Object is a reference to another model element in your model. For example, during a simulation run you might use an Object Attribute to point to the Generate Activity that generated an entity.
Statistics Types: refer to statistics collected for attributes during a simulation run. These statistics are used in SIMPROCESS reports.
Observation Based: tells SIMPROCESS to collect statistical data without considering the amount of time an attribute maintains a particular level. Each time the value of an attribute changes, the new value is added to a running total.
Time-Weighted: provides time-weighted statistics. That is, the length of time an attribute remains at a particular value is factored into the statistical data when the average value is calculated.
Report Requests: refers to options for displaying statistical results for the attribute.
Real-Time Histogram Plot: tells SIMPROCESS to create a histogram chart for the attribute's values
Real-Time Trace Plot: tells SIMPROCESS to plot the attribute value changes as they occur during the simulation run.
Standard Report: tells SIMPROCESS to include the results in the Standard Report.