Developing simulation models - from conceptual to executable model and back - an artifact-based workflow approach

Developing a model for simulation is an art and a science. The question is how this process can be suitably supported. Integrating workflows into simulation systems promises user guidance, documentation and reproducibility of this process. However, the highly interactive, partly concurrent, partly optional nature of the modeling process challenges traditional activity-based workflow approaches. This is intensified by its multiple inter-dependencies and the need for an easy extension. We will illuminate this based on a modeling example from cell biology. To support the required flexibility, we propose an artifact-based workflow approach instead. Conceptual model, formal model and different data and information sources are specified declaratively as artifacts. The life cycle of an artifact is defined by stages, guards, milestones, and sentries, following the Guard-Stages-Milestone (GSM) approach. It is shown that the declarative specification provides a better fit for the process of developing a model.