Discussion

On the Settings pane:

• Select GPD Method to include the four options below it, select Critical Path Method (CPM) to select none of the options, or select Custom to individually select options.
  • By selecting concurrent dependencies the simulator will calculate work and communication effort following the characteristics that is configured in each dependency. Excluding this option will treat all dependencies as finish-start, start-start, and finish-finish relationships. Typically this option is de-selected when the forecast is being compared with other systems that do not support complex dependencies. In normal use it should remain selected to accurately reflect the impact of complex dependencies on the project forecast.
  • By including communication the simulator will calculate the time and cost associated with communication and include it in the forecast. De-select this option to exclude communication from the forecast. Note that project cost, duration, and effort may be reduced when communication requirements are omitted, which can make comparing a project in TeamPort to one represented in a scheduler a better comparison.
  • By using time zones the simulator will calculate communication between teams based on their location settings. Not selecting this option causes the simulator to assume a single time zone for all teams. Time zones can expose critical issues in a project design, such as when two teams have no overlapping work hours but are expected to work together. Many project schedulers do not take time zones into account when creating a schedule; deselect this option if comparing to a project in another system.
  • By includung rework the simulator will add a percentage of rework to activities. The amount of rework is based on several factors and some randomization between simulation runs. Adding rework models the reality that activities usually take longer than anticipated.
• Select Use Stochastics to create a Monte Carlo simulation
• Set the Number of Runs to at least ten runs, more if time allows
• Set the Time Limit (weeks) to 13-26 weeks beyond the anticipated duration of the project

On the Sampling pane:

• Create trends unless specifically not needed.  Trends offer insight to simulated behavior of the model that can drive better decision making when making changes to the model to improve cost, duration, or effort.  Creating trends will take more time.
• The Sample Interval determines the size of each simulated step.  A model with more steps will be more accurate, however that accuracy may not be significant on a large project or during early design when many other factors are known to be not properly reflected in the model.  A fine grained simulation has a step of 24 hours, coarser simulations on large projects can go to 1-2 weeks.  The wider the sample interval the faster the simulation will run.
• The Max Steps #(x1000) creates a stop point for the simulator.  This limit setting is a fail-safe should the project have a loop that would cause simulation to never complete.  Typically a setting of 2000 is sufficient for large projects.  If a simulation run exceeds the set number of steps the simulation will be stopped and an error message will indicate that the simulation exceeded the maximum number of steps.