Information stored in one of the computer's memory systems can be easily printed on paper in a

desired number of copies.

Programmers, also called software, are detailed sequences of instructions that direct the computer

hardware to perform useful operations. Due to a computer's operating system hardware and software

systems can work simultaneously. An operating system consists of a number of programmers

coordinating operations, translating the data from different input and output devices, regulating data

storage in memory, transferring tasks to different processors and functions that help programmers to

write software. In large corporations software is often written by groups of experienced programmers

each person focusing on a specific aspect of the total project. For this reason scientific and industrial

software sometimes costs much more than the computers on which the programmers run.

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What are entities?

Entities are the items customers, documents, parts that are being served, produced, or otherwise acted

on by your process. In business processes, they often are documents or electronic records (checks,

contracts, applications, purchase orders). In service systems, entities usually are people (the customers

being served in a restaurant, hospital, airport, etc). Manufacturing models typically have some kind of part

running through the process, whether it’s raw material, a subcomponent, or finished product. Other models

might have different types of entities, such as data packets in network analysis or letters and boxes in

package-handling facilities. You may have different types of entities in the same model. For example,

customers moving through a check-in counter at an airport might be separated into regular, first-class, and

priority entity types. In some cases, entity types might be of an altogether different form rather than

classifications of some basic type. For instance, in a pharmacy, prescriptions would be modeled as entities,

running through the process of being filled. At the same time, customers might be competing for the

pharmacist’s attention with medical inquiries; they would also be modeled as entities.

Using Visio and Arena

Introduction

Since the mid-1980s, Business Process Improvement (BPI) and simulation have become leading

methodologies to allow corporations to deliver high-quality products and services through business process

modeling. Businesses are seeking not simply to automate existing operations, but to improve and redesign

business processes to meet and exceed customers’ expectations for the delivery of products and services.

Many simulation systems are standalone, running only on a desktop and having limited capabilities to

Integrate with other technologies such as company databases, workflow engines, and other desktop

solutions. At the same time, leading corporations have discovered the value of simulation technology.

Many companies require simulation to be used as standard procedure in support of process improvements.

A much greater return on investment is possible if process descriptions and simulation results can be

accessed throughout the enterprise. Visio, the leading desktop drawing product, supplies a common

graphics platform for representing business process models. Visio’s open architecture via ActiveX and