The Art of Process-Centric Modeling
with AnyLogic
This is a free educational textbook on process-centric simulation modeling. The book covers the theoretical concepts and implementation techniques behind good simulation modeling, as well as their mathematical and statistical backgrounds.
The primary focus of the book is process‐centric models based on flow systems, which many of you will know as discrete‐event models. This book draws on the author's experiences teaching simulation to hundreds of consultants, engineers, and researchers who work in world‐class consulting firms, Fortune 100 companies, and renowned research universities.
The book is actively maintained, and we’ll keep an updated version of the book, its models, and the changelogs here. Your feedback and input are also welcome.
The most up-to-date version of the book can be downloaded as a zip archive, which contains:
- The Art of Process-Centric Modeling with AnyLogic by Arash Mahdavi in pdf
- Example models
- A log of the changes
Book contents
This book tries to explain what process-centric modeling is by:
- Using the most popular modern-day simulation modeling tool to revisit legacy topics from a fresh perspective.
- Explaining the abstraction aspect of modeling that other resources often neglect.
- Expanding the process of description to include the thought process ("WHY") and also the techniques and procedures ("HOW").
- Replacing unnecessary explanations with information that helps bring focus, clarity, and simplicity (elegance!) to the covered topics.
- Showing state‐of‐the‐art, event‐driven modeling techniques for process‐centric models by:
- Adding state‐oriented modeling constructs (statecharts)
- Incorporating agent‐based modeling (and its broad capabilities)
- This book tackles subjects others have avoided – the model building process is as much an art as it is a science, explaining it well can be difficult.
About the author
Dr. Arash Mahdavi is a simulation modeling expert and head of training at The AnyLogic Company in North America. He holds a PhD degree in civil engineering from Purdue University where he applied a system-of-systems approach and agent-based modeling to profitability analysis of construction companies. He has trained hundreds of professionals and faculty members from Fortune 100 companies and elite research universities. He is also currently the AnyLogic-AI integration lead.