Modeling and Simulation in Enterprise Integration—A Framework and an Application in the Offshore Oil Industry

Abstract

This paper presents a framework and methodology that make systematic use of model definition formalization and analysis to en hance enterprise integration in engineering projects Our definition of enterprise models is based on a philosophy for thinking about enterprise in terms of 'an Organization carrying out a set of Processes to create one or more Products which satisfy predefined Objectives " This frame work, which we have denoted the OPPO, illustrates our belief that enterprise models must give a complete and correct description of relevant aspects of reality in order to address their stated purpose Based on the OPPO framework and an information processing view of project enter prise, we formalize our models using a methodology for describing coordination requirements This is based on a set of interaction matrices to develop so called ' houses of complexity, uncertainty and interdependence ' that describe important dependencies between project require ments (objectives), deliverables (products), activities (process) and team members (organization) We use these dependencies as a basis for deriving measures of the coordination which must take place between various project participants during project execution We can then use these coordination requirements as input to analysis, in the Virtual Design Team (VDT) object oriented discrete event simulation environment The simulation results can be used for systematically assessing predicted effects of proposed changes The framework methodology and analysis is illustrated by an example from engineering design of subsea modules for oil and gas production in offshore field development The results from simulation give various performance measures, including critical path duration, work volume (a substitute for cost), and process performance in coordination (error handling and communication attendance)