Developing a Budget and Schedule

With objectives and constraints clearly defined and a specification prepared identifying the work to be performed, a budget and schedule should be developed projecting the expected cost and time for completing the simulation project. Obviously, the time to perform a simulation project will vary depending on the size and difficulty of the project. If data is not readily available, it may be necessary to add several additional weeks to the project. A small project can take two to four weeks while large projects can take two to four months. A simulation schedule should be based on realistic projections of the time requirements keeping in mind the following:

• Defining the system to be modeled can take up to 50% of the project time.

• Model building usually takes the least amount of time (10 to 20%).

• Once a base model is built, it can take several weeks to conduct all of the desired experiments, especially if alternative designs are being compared.

While it may have initially been determined that simulation is a suitable tool for achieving the objective, the decision to use simulation may need to be reconsidered in light of projected cost and time estimates. Simulation may be a good solution to the problem at hand, but if the time or the cost of doing the project outweighs the anticipated benefits, either an alternative solution may need to be explored or the objectives may need to be modified to cut down on the level of effort required.