How Can You Use GoldSim?

A Powerful, Flexible Simulator

At the most fundamental level, GoldSim can be used as a powerful, flexible simulator. That is, you can apply it to a very specific problem in a technical discipline such as finance, industrial engineering, environmental science, or chemistry.

GoldSim's graphical interface and powerful computational features facilitate a wide range of simulations, ranging from a simple homework assignment put together in less than an hour, to a complex professional application built over a period of several months.

However, GoldSim’s features allow it to be used for much more than a simulator.

A System Integration Tool

Most real-world problems are multi-disciplinary in nature. That is, the system being simulated actually consists of many subsystems, and the sub-models for each subsystem must typically be built by people from a wide variety of disciplines. For example, a model intended to help manage an ecological system (e.g., a river) in order to support management decisions to protect an endangered species (e.g., salmon) likely would include sub-models that are developed by biologists, urban planners, hydrologists, civil engineers, economists, forestry professionals, and social and political scientists (among others).

Unfortunately, in many such cases, the model builders get caught up in the details of their sub-models, and lose sight of the "big picture". The end result is typically separate sub-models which are unnecessarily complex. More importantly, the complex interactions and interdependencies between subsystems are often ignored or poorly represented. Such an approach not only wastes resources, but is often too complex to be explained (and hence used) effectively, and too poorly integrated to represent the entire system in a cohesive and realistic way.

What is needed for such complex, multi-disciplinary systems is a tool that can be used to integrate all of the various sub-models into a single total system model A simulation model that focuses on creating a consistent framework in which all aspects of the system, as well as the complex interactions and interdependencies between subsystems, can be represented.. A total system model focuses on creating a consistent framework in which all aspects of the system, as well as the complex interactions and interdependencies between subsystems, can be represented.

Because GoldSim is flexible and powerful enough to represent practically any aspect of your system, and because GoldSim provides unique capabilities for building your model in a hierarchical, modular manner, it is ideally suited to act as a system integrator. In fact, this was the original and primary objective around which GoldSim was designed.

A Visual Information Management System

Complex models often require a great detail of input data. These inputs may reside in databases, spreadsheets, or in written documentation. The user of a model (e.g., the author of the model, a reviewer of the model, or a decision-maker evaluating the results) can be most effective if this input information can be visually integrated with (and readily accessed and viewed alongside) the simulation model The implementation of a mathematical model of a system within a specific computational tool (or set of tools).. In addition, for a complex model which requires a great deal of input, it may be desirable (or even mandated) that the simulation model can directly access various data sources (e.g., databases or spreadsheets) to ensure the quality of the data transfer. GoldSim was designed to facilitate both of these tasks.

Even if you can directly and visually access the input data for your model, in order for your simulation model to be useful, you must also be able to explain its assumptions (and the implications of the simulation results) in a compelling and effective manner. GoldSim provides the tools to enable you to do so.

Hence, at the highest and most powerful level, GoldSim can used as a visual information management system, providing you with the ability to directly link to data sources, as well as describe, document and explain your model in a compelling and effective manner to any audience.