Lehrstuhl für Simulation

Milestones

This page shows the contents required for the documentation (presentations and report) of the particular milestones.
Each presentation lasts at most 10 minutes (15 minutes for the last presentation).

Every milestone presentation must also contain the following:

lessons learned and experience gained
an estimate of the extent to which you have completed each of the future milestones
a summary of the costs incurred so far

Milestone 1 - Team Formation

The projects are to be carried out in teams of six (seven) students. Each student has one role within the team. In addition, each team elects a team leader, who is responsible for all milestones being achieved successfully.
Milestone documentation:

roles within the team
assessment criteria for each team member's performance
quality criteria for the project
the team's goal

"Homework" for Milestone 1:

e-mail-list for the team, Dropbox or other team & project collaboration tool
print and sign team goal
detailed list of personal and general performance and quality criteria
naming a team member who will be responsible for holding the team to these standards
Expressive photographs of current traffic situation
What is special there
What data will you need for the simulation model
Which four (!) experiments would you like to conduct

Milestone 2 - Project Plan

Planning is an essential part of every project. In this milestone, you will create a project schedule, which shows which tasks are to be performed, when, and by whom. You will also estimate the cost of your project.
Milestone documentation:

a project schedule that shows the tasks and the people involved
the estimate should be on a milestone-by-milestone basis

"Homework" for Milestone 2: Rough project plan

work packets may not exceed 7 days in length
for every work packet naming a person responsible, and the people supporting

Milestone 3 - Conceptual Model

The Conceptual Model describes the real system to be simulated in an abstract form. It describes implicitly and explicitly the rules governing the behavior of the system. It also - perhaps indirectly - states the assumptions made and decisions taken owing to lack of information or for reasons of simplicity.
Milestone documentation:

a stochastic Petri net model of the system to be simulated
all assumptions made with reasons and justifications
the quantities to be measured
the quantities that will be used as simulation results
the experiments that will be performed

"Homework" for Milestone 3: list of all relevant events

Which events describe the system to be modeled?
What type of events are these (primary/secondary)?
What are the underlying distributions (stochastic, time less, empirical)
What data will these be based on?

Milestone 4 - Data Analysis

The goal of the milestone is having all the data that is necessary for the parameterization of the simulation model. The data for later validation also needs to be collected.
Milestone documentation:

the values of the input and output variables that were measured
any other measurements
difficulties encountered while obtaining the data
limitations on the accuracy or validity of the data

"Homework" for Milestone 4: List of all the data needed (e.g. arrival intervals, turning probability, ...)

What data do you already have? What is the quality? (e.g. sample size, ...)
What data still needs to be collected and when will that be done?

Milestone 5 - Simulation Program

The simulation program used to run the simulation experiments should be coded in AnyLogic.
Milestone documentation:

the program concept and structure
modularization or other special issues
differences to the conceptual model
steps taken to verify the program
any particular difficulties encountered

"Homework" for Milestone 5: A working simulation model

What exactly is represented in the program (current state, possible changes, ...) ?
How can the experiments planned be executed with the existing program?
Are there changes compared to the conceptual model? Why?

Milestone 6 - Validation

Validation means attempting to show that your simulation program correctly represents reality, at least with respect to the quantities of interest. Validation may include comparisons between the simulation results and real-world measurements, and also plausibility checks, i.e. showing that the program produces reasonable results under certain conditions.

Goal of the presentation: Convince your client that your simulation program can be trusted.

Milestone documentation:

Description, justification and results of the validation experiments
Comparisons of real and simulated data, if any
Any corrections made to your model or data
Statement of confidence in your simulation model
Limitations on the scope of the validity

"Homework" for Milestone 6: A valid simulation model

How has the program been validated?
What changes (data, program structure, ...) had to be made due to the validation process and results?

Milestone 7 - Simulation Experiments

In this milestone, you will use your simulation program to carry out experiments, which study the behavior of the system. Your experiments should be designed to deliver reliable and meaningful results.
Goals and content of the Milestone documentation:

Prove (or disprove) claims about the system.
Provide the basis for recommendations.
Convince your client that you are making true and useful claims about the system.
Description, justification and results of experiments performed
Values of all variables of interest + Statement of accuracy (e.g. confidence intervals)

"Homework" for Milestone 7: List of all relevant system parameters and their effects

Which experiments were conducted and what were the results?
What are the insights regarding the original question?
What is your recommendation for the customer?

Milestone 8 - Final Report

In Milestone 8 you sum up your project and present your results and recommendations. In addition to the presentation, a report must be submitted.
Goals and content of the milestone documentation:

Present your results.
Explain and justify your recommendations.
Convince your client that you have done a good job and that his money was well-invested.
Make sure that your team will be hired next time your client needs a simulation study to be done.
A summary of the costs
Lessons learned and experience gained
Any final remarks, that you want to make ;-)

Content of the Final Report:

Part 1: Project

Overview of each milestone and problems encountered (and solved!)
Specific decisions or assumptions made (with justification!)
Your results and recommendations
Limitations on the validity of your results
Overview of spending; statement of profit (or loss)

Part 2: Team

Specific difficulties that arose (expected or unexpected)
Any experiences or events of interest
Evaluation of your team (leadership, organization, atmosphere, degree of cooperation, division of work, ...)
What would you do differently next time?
What you think you learned most from the project
Comments on the project as a university course (style, content, coaching system, ...)
Any other comments you feel are important