Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved


Chapter 1 Getting Started : Tutorial 8 - Using Historical Data for Activity Duration

Tutorial 8 - Using Historical Data for Activity Duration
As part of setting up a Process for simulation, you specify the duration of the Activities in the Process using a mathematical distribution (for example, Normal distribution). Alternatively, TIBCO Business Studio allows you to import any real historical data that you have about activity duration. This tutorial describes how to do this using a sample Process and data. The sample Process is one that represents the renewal process for insurance policies.
 
Task A Review the Import File
Open the renewal.xls spreadsheet located in the samples directory where you installed TIBCO Business Studio and take a minute to look at it. The first row of cells corresponds to the parameter names:
Case Number - a unique number to identify the case. This will be ignored when we import the data into TIBCO Business Studio.
Activity Name - the Activity being performed. Note the Activity Names do not have to match exactly the names of the Activities in the Process; the Import wizard allows you to map Activities between the spreadsheet and the Process.
Duration - the amount of time it takes to perform the Activity. The time unit is specified in the Import wizard.
Existing Customer? - this Parameter affects how long it takes to get the customer details.
Number of Drivers - the number of drivers to be insured.
Each column under the first row represents the parameter values that will be imported.
Task B Create the Parameter
In this example, the data on whether a customer is new or existing will affect the duration of the Take Customer Details Activity. For this reason, we need to create a Parameter to represent whether a customer is new or existing.
1.
2.
Click Next to accept the displayed Project, Package and Process.
3.
Enter ExistingCustomer as the Name, select String for the Type and click Finish.
4.
5.
Click Add Value. This adds a value called New Value. Double-click the value and rename it to Yes. Repeat this to create a No value. The result should look like this:
Task C Import the Data
To import the spreadsheet containing your historical data, do the following:
1.
Right-click the Renewal Process and select Import.
2.
Select Historical Case Data (Activity Duration).
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Either click Browse or Browse Workspace to locate the renewal.xls file and click Next.
5.
The Select Parameters dialog is displayed. This allows you to specify which columns in the spreadsheet represent the Activity name and duration:
In the Select from imported columns: section, select the Activity Name Column and the Duration Column. Select Minutes as the Duration Unit.
In the Map Activity Names: section, map the Activities in the spreadsheet to those in the Process.
The completed screen should look like this:
Click Next.
6.
The next dialog allows you to map any parameters not already used in the previous dialog onto Activities in the Process. In this example, there are three parameters left over, Case No, Existing Customer and Number of Drivers. In this example, we will ignore the Case No and Number of Drivers Parameters. The Existing Customer parameter is interesting to us because it affects what information is required for the Take Customer Details Activity. Map the parameters as follows:
Click Next.
7.
Click Finish.
8.

Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved