Importance of component order

In the precursor models (IAT and NABSA), the order in which various actions were undertaken was defined by numbered priority lists the user specified in the parameter set up. CLEM uses the visual simulation tree structure to determine the order in which all activities are performed and other resources such as labour are assigned. This means the higher up the tree structure an activity or resource is, the more importance CLEM places on that component allowing the impact of this importance to be easily tested between two simulations.

This example of activities in the Activity Holder shows the order in which the thirteen activities will be performed based on the tree structure and shown by the activity numbering. A special note (Order important) will be provided throughout this documentation where ordering of components plays a role in the simulation outcomes.

Resource arbitration

Arbitration is the use of an arbitrator to settle a dispute. This is required in CLEM when two or more activities require a resource at the same time, and there is not enough of the resource meet the demand. In this situation, the model needs to know which activities to give the limited resources to. There are a number of ways this problem can be solved from "first in-first served" basis to very detailed rules based allocation and complex computations. CLEM uses the simplest approach where activities are given resources in the order they are performed. Activities are performed in the order they are listed in the simulation tree structure (see example above) and so the user effectively defines arbitration by ordering the activities in the order of importance and checking resource shortfall reports to understand where limited resources have influenced the simulation. This approach actually allows for quite detailed arbitration to be enforced in a transparent manner.

See next section - Data entry