The simulator is demonstrated as a useful tool applied to decision making in regard to practice resource utilization or requirements, operation analysis, service system design and policy evaluation. The simulator integrates an expert system with the conventional constructs of the Slamsystem software in order to simulate the complex scheduling requirements of the veterinary domain. The factors which account for this complexity are illuminated and the manner in which the expert system meets the need is described. The simulator is constructed with a broad list of inputs which give it a generic nature. The inputs of interest can be varied for experimental purposes while remaining variables describe the specific attributes of the practice under investigation.
Outputs are numerous and afford a large potential for performance measures.
Rigorous statistical analysis is performed on outcomes revealing the capability to provide degrees of confidence with which the conclusions of analysis may be regarded. The use of the same simulator for all applications illustrates the flexibility, versatility and extendibility of the simulator type tool.