Simulation based decision support systems: An industrial end-user based requirement gathering process

Modern manufacturing systems are growing in scale and complexity and increasingly require integrated predictive modelling and optimization methodologies to support routine decision making processes. The engineering of a free open source simulation modelling platform is the basis of the DREAM project, a Framework Programme 7 initiative co-funded by the European Commission. This paper reports on the capture of requirements for DREAM from four industrial end-users. These industrial end-users' requirements and accompanying pilot cases drive the research, technology and development work in the project. The users vary in size from micro-SME to multi-national and global organizations and by industry; from semi-conductor manufacturing, medical device design and manufacture to industrial machine manufacture and preprocess/prototype manufacturers. To capture requirements from the organizations a methodology was developed which is reported on in the paper. Its outcomes provide the basis for the subsequent open-source software development. In particular, the work assessed the various partner needs in the pre-coding, simulation application development, simulation application use and data-analytics areas which cover the end-to-end usage of a simulation based decision support system (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.