Online Resources

I taught a one-on-one ExtendSim class a few weeks ago.  The student asked about ONLINE resources a new modeler should be aware of.  Great question.  It was an interesting discussion I want to share.

One of the online resources I suggested was the Winter Simulation Conference Proceeding archives. Coincidentally, I noticed that the proceedings from the last conference (2017) has recently been posted.  There are papers on basic simulation concepts that is a must read for everyone!  Even for the advanced modeler, these concepts are a great refresher from time to time.  Here is the short list of suggestions.

Winter Simulation Conference Proceedings (https://informs-sim.org/)

• A Tutorial on How to Select Simulation Input Probability Distributions by Averill Law (2016)
• Inside Discrete-event Simulation Software: How It Works and Why It Matters by Tom Schriber (2017)
• A Tutorial on Simulation Conceptual Modeling by Stewart Robinson (2017)
• A Tutorial on the Operational Validation of Simulation Models by Robert Sargent (2016)
• A Practical Look at Simulation Project Management by Joseph Hugan (2014)
• Information and Process Modeling for Simulation by Gerd Wagner (2014)
• How to Build Valid and Credible Simulation Models by Averill M. Law (2009)

There are also many advanced topics that I think are interesting that you can find information on WSC.  I recently become interested in agent based simulation.  I attended several presentations on this topic this past year at WSC.  After attending these presentations and doing some studying up on the topic, I built an ABS model myself in ExtendSim.  I discovered ExtendSim was a great fit for a certain type of agent based models.  I used some of the advanced database features along with the Queue Equation block and the Query Equation blocks.  If anyone is interested in agent based modeling then I suggest you look up the WSC paper below and look for other good articles on the WSC website.

• Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation by Charles M. Macal and Michael J. North (2015)

I also pointed out to my student there are lots of papers on actual customer models.  We did a search together on the site and found his company had published a few papers on WSC about a decade ago.  What a coincidence.  It turned out to be a great resource for him. 

Here are other great online resources.

• ExtendSim Exchange (https://www.extendsim.com/forums/)
• ExtendSim Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/ExtendSim/featured)
• LinkedIn ExtendSim Group (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1705447)
• Blogspot (http://simulationsoftware.blogspot.com/
• ExtendSim Industries Page (https://www.extendsim.com/solutions/industries)

You might be reading this post on either Linked In or the Blogspot - so you might know about one and not the other - so I posted both.  And if you have other online resources that I have not mentioned then please share by adding it to the comments!