## 4 Verification of the Method  
### Stages of the Studies in the Real System in the Case of a Sample Container Terminal  
The proposed method of process evaluation was verified at a container terminal in Poland. The study was divided into six stages. The aim of the study was to collect the data necessary to determine the process's reliability. The first stage concerned the characteristics of the engineering system under study. At this stage, the focus was put on the technical parameters of the terminal, the availability of loading devices and the nature of the terminal's operation. The second stage of the study was more detailed than the previous one, where the operations performed at the terminal were thoroughly examined. The purpose of the system was marked out, and sub-processes were identified at each level of the process, along with the identification of information tools, as well as contractors (operators) of particular activities. In the next stage of the study (stage III), an analysis was performed of the information system in which internal and external information is propagated. Senders and recipients of given messages were identified. In the examined engineering system, documents are usually sent in printed or electronic form. By using interviews with employees, it was possible to access documents, and it was also determined which data included in the messages were necessary for the performance of operations. The interviews were conducted with employees at all levels of employment, from the manager to dispatchers, down to operators and drivers. In the fourth stage of the research, attention was focused on the efficiency of the terminal work, the efficiency of reloading devices and the duration of reloading activities. The duration of reloading of individual containers and acceptance of cargo to the terminal (rail transportation, road transportation) were measured. Thanks to access to the system, it was possible to analyze the number and types of reloading at the terminal (per month/per annum). In the consecutive stage of the study, the cargo handling process was analyzed along with all sub-processes carried out in the process under study. Based on the experimental research and the documentation available, information was collected on the number of delays in deliveries to customers, delays in accepting cargo at the terminal, and the causes of these disruptions. The 6 th stage of the study concerned the analysis and evaluation of the obtained results. As part of the analysis (process decomposition--level II) of the cargo handling process at the container terminal, the process was using the BPMN (business process modeling notation), see in Appendix D. At the inland terminal, the main contractors of the process are the road dispatcher, the railway dispatcher, the operator of the cargo handling machines and the driver. The mapped process contains certain simplifications that do not describe the ancillary events and all possible scenarios of the described activities. A situation was presented where the containers arrive at the terminal by rail and are delivered to the customer by road. The presented map contains the main activities and two triggered events that describe the cargo handling process, commencing with the receipt of the customer purchase order by the road dispatcher and finalized with the delivery of the cargo to the customer. After receiving the purchase order from the customer, the dispatcher enters the data into the IT system. Then, the railway dispatcher enters the data into the system from the advice note list received from the railway carrier. Next, the road dispatcher draws up a list of containers for shipment or storage and enters it into the system; it is then visible to operators of reloading machines. After these activities are concluded, the terminal is ready to accept the train according to the specified timetable.