Help in simulating a simple business process for a newbie

[jepessen]

Hi.

I've used EA for developing programs, but now I need to use it for trying to simulate a business process and check if it's convenient or not.

My example for the business process is the following one: I need to run a service in a server and I've two possibilities:

• Buy a server with an initial investiment, and then paying the housing;
• Use an amazon EC2 service, and pay for hour.

I model the service as something that every day gives a number to me, I multiply the number with a custom parameter, and I obtain the money that I gain that day.

I want to model the process in order to check what's the best alternative. I'd like to run a simulation instead that make calculus by hand (real process that I want to simulate is similar but more complicated).

How can I start to model it? Which kind of diagrams I need to use? and how can I run the simulation by setting parameters (investment, cost for hour and so on) so I obtain the result that allow me to choose which alternative (and parameters) give the best gain to me?

[Helmut Ortmann]

Hi,

I doubt that EA is a good solution to simulate a business decision.

In my experiences, EA is top in understanding and discussing complex coherences. With this profound knowledge you gain from modeling and discussion, you can develop a simulation. Often it's a good idea to simply use Excel.

Maybe I have missed the point.

To get a quick understanding what you can achieve with EA you may have a look on the SPARX Webinars or whitepapers.

Kind regards,

Helmut