Process Simulator Stencil

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Process Simulator Stencil

The Process Simulator stencil is the default stencil opened when you choose a simulation drawing type, and it activates Process Simulator in Visio. Although you may build simulation models using shapes from any stencil, the Process Simulator stencil must remain open to use Process Simulator.

The Process Simulator stencil has many shapes you will find useful to model your processes. These shapes have predefined simulation types, which are defined by the naming conventions used in the names of each shape on the stencil. You may edit the stencil to add or remove shapes specific to your organization. In addition to the Process Simulator stencil, several other stencils are installed with Process Simulator:

Manufacturing
Healthcare
Services
Value Mapping

Naming Conventions

Shapes in the Process Simulator stencil have names, which determine what type of object the shape will become when placed on the Visio layout. The default shapes in the Process Simulator stencil have a descriptive name and a type name.

The descriptive name is the first name of the shape below its graphic in the stencil.
The type name, which is contained in parentheses or brackets below the shape's descriptive name, determines the type (plain graphic, activity, buffer, storage, entity, or resource) of the shape.
- Type names contained in parentheses, ( ), will cause the shape to assume the descriptive name when it is placed in the layout. For example, a stencil shape with the name - Worker (Resource) - will be called Worker and have the type Resource when placed in the layout.
- Type names contained in brackets, [ ], will cause the shape to assume the type name when it is placed in the layout. For example, a stencil shape with the name - Event [Activity] - Will be called Activity 1 and have the type Activity when placed in the layout. If an object called Activity 1 already exists in the layout, the new object will be called Activity 2, and so on.
Shapes without a type name will automatically be assigned as an Activity type when placed on the layout.

Applying these naming conventions to new or existing shapes from a stencil helps to speed up model building by automatically applying the correct type to each object placed in the layout.