Simul8 Finance
The Simul8 Finance feature calculates the financial impact of the ideas you simulate.
Running a normal simulation is fine for many purposes - it tells you how much equipment and Resources you need, how many products you will produce, how long your customers will wait etc.
But what about the financial impact?
Simul8 Finance features use the simulation you have already built to calculate the costs and revenues that will come from the operation you are proposing - it shows you how much more profit your ideas will make for your organization. It shows you the bottom line directly on the screen - and then changes made to the logistics of the simulation are directly reflected in new bottom line figures.
Overview
This accumulated information is then displayed in summary form in the Finance Report seen by navigating to the Home tab and selecting the Finance Report from the Reports button within the Results section or via the Results Manager in the Finance tab.
You can also insert a Target KPI Tile or a Baseline KPI Tile to the simulation window by clicking the Tiles checkbox in the Build tab under the Finance section. These show, both in numbers and visually, how the current Profit is performing against the Target and/or Baseline.
Information from the Income Statement can be added to the Simul8 KPI Summary window so that Trials analysis can be performed to give you statistical confidence limits on the financial information. A report of the finances split by the Work Type can also be accessed from the Build tab here.
Objects
To add financial information to an Object, select the object then click Finance from the Properties tab. You can also enter the information in the Finance Matrix found in the Build tab. The options depend on the Object, as well as the option to add other Revenue and Cost via Visual Logic through the Properties option. Note this Revenue and Cost becomes zero on reset.
Start Points
Capital Cost - The initial one off set up cost of this object.
Cost Per Unit - The cost of each Work Item that enters the simulation through this Start Point.
Queues
Capital Cost - The initial one off set up cost of this object.
Cost per Item per Minute - The cost of each Work Item for each minute that it is queuing in this Queue. Click the Use Label button to enter a Label so that a different value can be used for each Work Item.
Activities
Capital Cost - The initial one off set up cost of this object.
Usage Cost Per Time Unit - The cost of processing a Work Item at this Activity based on time. This value will be multiplied by the number of simulation time units that each Work Item spends being processed by this Activity.
Usage Cost Per Unit - The cost of processing each Work Item at this Activity.
Click the Use Label button to enter a Label so that a different value can be used for each Work Item.
Resources
Capital Cost - The initial one off set up cost of using this Resource in your simulation. The capital cost is multiplied by the number of Resources available.
Time Based Costs
Utilization – Enter a Cost (per Unit) which will be multiplied by the simulation time unit utilized.
Salary or Cost (Annual) - Enter the salary or cost which will be apportioned based on the amount of time the simulation is run for.
Hourly – Requires an hourly rate that will be multiplied by the amount of time the Resource is available, regardless of whether it is working or not.
End Points
Capital Cost - The initial one off set up cost of this object.
Revenue Per Unit - The revenue generated by each Work Item that leaves the simulation through this End Point. Click the Use Label button to enter a Label so that a different value can be used for each Work Item.
If you have costs or revenues that are not directly related to the objects in your simulation enter them using the Overheads / Other Revenue feature.