1 OBJECT ORIENTED SIMULATION OF THE ENROLMENT PROCESS Tomasa Dulin Bitanga, MBA, MIT Center for Computer and

d Information Services University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao City

Introduction Simulation is a modeling and analysis technique used to evaluate and improve dynamic systems of all types. It has grown from a relatively obscure technology used by few specialists to a widely accepted tool used by decision makers at all levels in an organization (Harell et. al. 2000). It has been used to analyze and design operations in the different fields like construction (Martinez and Iannou 1999; Martinez 2001; Zhang, et.al. 2005 ), healthcare (McGarvey, et. al., 2007; Gourgand, et.al 2007), manufacturing (Yang 2008) and business(Jackson and Love). However, there is scarcity of researches on the application of simulation in the operations of an academe, particularly on the services during enrolment. Simulation models have been used to predict success of systems, design better utilization of the resources and give the best service to the clienteles. The main capability of simulation is to analyze what-if scenarios, which allows significant exploration of multiple options, without spending enormous amounts of expense on staffing, training and equipment (Barnes, et.al 1997). Simulation can model and analyze realworld problems that cannot be successfully approached by other types of analytical techniques. The real world system is a collection of different objects capable of behaving separately. Traditional programming methods are not capable of capturing this highly volatile environment. Objectoriented programming (OOP) overcomes this shortcoming by providing features like reusability, encapsulation, information binding, inheritance, polymorphism, modularity (Warty 2000). Many of the simulation programming languages use this concept, and particularly termed as object-oriented simulation. This paradigm will be applied to simulate the existing enrolment processes, as it was applied to other real systems and processes in different fields as shown in various studies. Enrollment management is a term used frequently in higher education to describe wellplanned strategies and tactics to shape the enrollment of an institution and meet established goals. One of the primary goals of enrolment management is to improve services - shorten response time to students, increase satisfaction and reduce paperwork (Seidman 1995). Response time measures the performance of the system in response to particular decision variable settings. Shorter response time usually result to an increased satisfaction of clienteles. Background of the Study Enrolment Process in USL Enrolment procedure for old (students who were enrolled in at least one of the previous semesters) may differ a little from that of the new students (incoming first year students or transferees). This is particularly on the inclusion of a separate process on submission of pertinent documents to the Registrars office by the new students after the subject registration.

2 However, the study will only focus on the procedure followed by the old students the enrolment main processes. Below is the brief description of main components of the enrolment process shown in Figure 1. Admission

Advising and Subject Registration Assessment and Payment Figure 1: The main components of the enrolment process. The process has the following main steps: The first process of the enrolment is Admission. This process validates enrolment of a student in the university. Entry requirements are submitted and verified by the admission officer before a student can be admitted. The process includes entry of the ID number of the student in the Academic Information Management System (AcadIMS), verification of the essential information and tagging the student as Admitted. Existing admission process requires at least four(4) queues two(2) lines for the female students and two(2) others for the male students. After admission, the student proceeds to Advising and Subject Registration. The Department Head checks the academic record of the student and determines whether the student is eligible to enroll a subject. The curriculum of the student indicates the pre-requisites to particular subject. The student can only enroll a subject when all pre-requisites were already taken in the previous semesters. This process is the most crucial part of the enrolment. It usually takes a longer transaction time as compared to other processes. The Subject Registration follows after the advising. Based from a form containing the approved subject load of the student, the faculty in-charge input subject codes into the students account. The subject codes are pre-determined according to the subject schedule in the curriculum of the student. Two(2) copies of the enrolment form are printed and are given to the student for the filling up of the address portion. The filled up form will be signed by the Academic Dean of the department to signify approval of the enrolment form. A department usually maintains only one queue for this process. The third process is the Assessment and Payment. This is done at the Accounting office. Upon submission of a copy of the enrolment form, the Cashier inputs the ID number of the student to the system that automatically computes the corresponding fees based from the subjects enrolled. Schedule of payment is also printed with the Assessment form of the student. Upon payment of at least the minimum down payment, the student is tagged Officially enrolled. In this process, at least five(5) cashiers are assigned to do the service, hence, five(5) queues are maintained.

3 The Admission and Assessment and Payment processes employs multiple-channels queue system while Advising and Subject Registration uses single-channel queue system. Planning for the enrolment is usually done by key persons few days before the start of enrolment. Part of this meeting includes decisions on the number of faculty members who will assist and the number of computer units that will be deployed in the different areas of enrolment. Most of the time, decisions are based from the request of the Head of the department, and not on the actual need, which should have been based from a scientific study. In effect, there is an inefficient resource allocation. There could be some resources (faculty members or computers) that had been fully utilized; however, there could also be those that became idle for some time. Another obvious problem encountered during enrolment period in the University is the long waiting time of students. This could result to lower satisfaction of students in the enrolment services. Objectives of the study The main objective of this study is to develop an object-oriented simulation framework for enrolment in USL based from the 1) performance analysis; 2) analysis of the queuing method; and 3) resource utilization of the existing enrolment process. Significance of the Study Simulation technology will be used in this research as a tool for identifying existing problems on enrolment and for the improvement of decision making. The problem and the bottleneck in the different enrolment activities will be identified based from the simulation. The decision can then be made for the system improvement by the key persons of the University. This study will also open the opportunity for the investigation of other academic processes using simulation. RELATED LITERATURE Object-Oriented Programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm using "objects" data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction, encapsulation, messaging, modularity, polymorphism, and inheritance. Most of the recent programming languages support OOP concept. An object-oriented program will usually contain different types of objects, each type corresponding to a particular kind of complex data to be managed or perhaps to a real-world object or concept such as a student, student record and subject. A program might well contain multiple copies of each type of object, one for each of the real-world objects the program is dealing with. For instance, there could be one student account object for each real-world student at a particular university. Each copy of the student account object would be alike in the methods it offers for manipulating or reading its data, but the data inside each object would differ reflecting the different types of students coming for enrolment.

4 Objects can be thought of as wrapping their data within a set of functions designed to ensure that the data are used appropriately, and to assist in that use. The object's methods will typically include checks and safeguards that are specific to the types of data the object contains. An object can also offer simple-to-use, standardized methods for performing particular operations on its data, while concealing the specifics of how those tasks are accomplished. In this way, alterations can be made to the internal structure or methods of an object without requiring that the rest of the program be modified. This approach can also be used to offer standardized methods across different types of objects. As an example, several different types of objects might offer print methods. Each type of object might implement that print method in a different way, reflecting the different kinds of data each contains, but all the different print methods might be called in the same standardized manner from elsewhere in the program. These features become especially useful when more than one programmer is contributing code to a project or when the goal is to reuse code between projects. The object-oriented paradigm, in combination with modeling and simulation concepts, helps implement and manage models of complex entities, information and control flows in the different domains of study. Object-Oriented Simulation Simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time(Banks,1999). It involves the generation of an artificial history of the system, and the observation of that artificial history to draw inferences concerning the operating characteristics of the real system that is represented. It is used to describe and analyze the behavior of a system, ask "what if" questions about the real system, and aid in the design of real systems. Both existing and conceptual systems can be modeled with simulation. Developing a valid simulation model involves three(3) basic entities: the real system under consideration (enrolment process); a theoretical model of the real system; and the computer-based representation of the model, the simulation program. The activities developing a theoretical model from the real system are referred to as simulation modeling, and the activities of developing a computer-based representation for the theoretical model are referred to as simulation programming. It is possible to increase programming productivity in code maintenance and re-usability in a simulation program by implementing object-orientation. Object-oriented simulation is an approach that can describe a particular system domain down to the object level. Generally, an object-oriented system will usually be composed of many objects; these objects may have relationships with other objects (Rosetti and Chan 2003). Studies on simulation in the fields of construction (4), healthcare (4), manufacturing (2), and business operations (4) have shown the advantage of implementing the features of object orientation using different object-oriented programming languages. The various object oriented systems discussed have similar characteristics with the enrolment system. All systems apply at least one queuing theory, use different resources for every process and are discrete-event systems. Most service systems, such as enrolment, are typically modeled using discrete-event simulation(Harell, et.al. 2000). METHODOLOGY Enrolment Simulation Framework

5 The work of Law(2003) states that there are seven stages which must be carried out in the successful implementation of a simulator including formulating the problem, gathering of data, validating the model, programming the model, validating the programmed model, conduct and analyze experiments and document and present results. The term "model" which is used in this section refers to the entity which the simulator is attempting to simulate. A description on each of these seven steps, follows: 1. Formulation of Problem - This first step involves defining what, exactly, the aim of the simulation is. The challenge in this step is defining how the simulation aims to solve the problem. Hence, this first step is of great importance in providing a successful simulation since it provides the overall objectives of the simulation. 2. Data Collection - The second step to simulation is in conducting research to gather data which can be used as a baseline for the simulation. This involves gathering information which the design and implementation of the simulator will be based upon. It has been stated that data collection is perhaps one of the most time consuming aspects of conducting a simulation (Liyanage 2005) with one source stating that it takes up to 40 percent of a projects time (Trybula 1994). Though time consuming, data collection is fundamental as it is from the data gathered that a simulator will be modeled against. It is essential to ensure accuracy of the data gathered because it will influence the simulations results (Robertson and Perera 2002). 3. Validation of Conceptual Model - From the data gathered, a conceptual, i.e theoretical, model should be presented and validated to ensure it meets the aims of the simulation (as defined in step one). Validation, in this context, refers to ensuring that right model is being built (Sargent 2008). This step ensures that the model presented is an accurate representation of the object(s) or system(s) which the simulator is simulating. 4. Implementation of Model - Having validated and presented an accurate model of the simulation, this step involves the actual creation of the simulation. The choice of either using a programming language or existing simulation software is entirely up to the developers own preference. 5. Validation of Implementation - Similar to step 3, upon successful implementation of the simulation, it is important to validate that the actual implementation is a valid representation of the model the simulator is attempting to simulate. 6. Experiment and Analysis - Having presented a valid implementation, experiments can then be conducted and results analyzed. The experiments carried out will relate back to what the initial aim of the simulation (as stated in Step 1) is. Having conducted the experiments, the results can be analyzed and, at this point, it can be stated whether or not the simulation was successful in solving the problem. 7. Presentation of Results - The final and perhaps simplest step, assuming all previous steps have been carried out correctly, the results of simulation can be documented and presented. Figure 2 illustrates the iterative process of developing a model for the enrolment processes.

Formulation of Enrolment Procedure

Data Collection Number of resources Service time for Admission Service time for Advising and Subject registration Service time for Assessment and Payment Arrival time of students

Validation of Enrolment Model

Implementation of Enrolment Model using GPSS

Validation of Implementation of Enrolment Model

Experiment and Analysis Percentage of Resource Utilization Average Waiting Time Average Queue Length Average Time of Completion

Figure 2. The Enrolment Simulation Framework

Presentation of Results

The enrolment logs captured during the enrolment of the previous semesters will be used to identify parameters in the data collection phase. Said set of data are currently stored at the Center for Computer and Information Services. These will be validated by actual

7 observation of the researcher during the enrolment period for the first semester of school year 2011 2012. General Purpose Simulation System (GPSS) The different enrolment processes will be modeled and analyzed using GPSS (Banks et. al. 1989), which provides a natural, powerful and flexible modeling framework for discrete-event systems. It is presently applied worldwide to model manufacturing, transportation, distribution, telecommunications, hospitals, computers, logistics, mining and many other types of queuing systems (Crain 1997). GPSS uses the intuitive and natural process-interaction approach modeling. The modeler specifies the sequence of events, separated by lapses in time, which describes the manner in which objects flow through a system. It thus resembles the structure of a flowchart of the system being modeled. This intuitive modeling approach contributes greatly to ease and speed with which simulation models can be built. Simulation projects require several steps(Law 2003). They normally include model building and data collection, testing and verification, simulation, experimentation, and the analysis of results. GPSS has a large number of capabilities addressing each of these steps. In GPSS, it is possible to create and modify a model using the full-screen text editor. Creation of a simulation object is also easy in GPSS. Thereafter, there is a powerful set of commands to run the simulation. During the testing and verification phase, a large number of window types are available for online viewing and to take snapshots of the simulation. Hot keys and point and shoot breakpoint control makes verification and debugging easy. After the simulation is tested, the Automatic Experiment Generators can be used or customized experiments can be designed.

GPSS Process Presentation An object in a GPSS model might be a student, a patient, telephone call or any other type of discrete entity. The representations of these entities in GPSS are called transactions. As the model executes, many transactions may be flowing through the model simultaneously just as many objects would be moving through the real-world system being modeled. In addition, multiple transactions can execute GPSS model statements at the same instant in (simulated) time without any special action required of the modeler. The execution of a processinteraction simulation model is thus similar to a multi-threaded computer program. This differs greatly from the single-threaded, sequential execution of most general-purpose programming languages. Many simulation projects focus on the use of system resources such as people, machines, conveyors, computers, physical space, and so on. In a GPSS simulation model, transactions (objects) compete for the use of these system resources; as transactions flow through the process representation, they automatically queue up when unable to gain control of a necessary resource. The modeler does not need to specify the transactions waiting time or its queuing behavior. Hence, the passage of time in a GPSS model can be represented implicitly, as in the case of a student waiting for an admission officer to be free, or explicitly, as in the case of a student being entertained by a faculty member.

8 Like most real-world systems, a GPSS model may consist of multiple processes operating simultaneously. Furthermore, each process may in some way affect the other processes in the system. For example, two parallel enrolment processes may converge to a single assessment/payment point where they are competing for a single resource the cashier. GPSS provides the capability for multiple parallel processes to interact with each other automatically. Transactions (objects) may be sent between processes; they may control or share common resources; or they may influence the (global) operation of all processes. Standard Report One of the strongest features of GPSS has always been its Standard Reports. With essentially no effort from the model developer, a simulation run automatically reports on all the GPSS Entities defined in the model when the simulation's termination count reaches zero. There are a variety of ways of customizing these reports by editing the settings in the simulation object. Below is a sample standard report of a GPSS simulation: Figure 3. Sample GPSS Standard Report

This study will be utilizing some important information from a generated GPSS report. This includes the percentage utilization of the facilities, average time spent in ever facility, average waiting time in the queue. These information will be used to analyze the performance of the different processes in the enrolment system.

9 Bibliography: A.M. Law. How to conduct a successful simulation study. In Proceedings of the 2003 Winter Simulation Conference, 2003., volume 1, pages 6670. IEEE, 2004. Charles Harrell, Biman L. Ghosh, Royce Bowden. Simulation Using Promodel. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. C. D. Barnes, J. L. Quiason, C. Benson, and D. McGuiness, Success Stories in Simulation in Health Care, Proceedings of the 1997 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 1280-1285. Igor Georgievskaya, William Pinney, Donald McWilliams. Using Queuing Analysis and Computer Simulation Modeling to Reduce Waiting Time in the Hospital Admitting Department. K.N.H.P Liyanage. Methodologies for data collection and model documentation in computer simulation. International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management, 13(SP2):4.14.6, 2005. N. Robertson and T. Perera. Automated data collection for simulation? Simulation Practice and Theory, 9(6-8):349 364, 2002. Robert C. Crain. Simulation Using GPSS/H. Conference. Proceedings of the 1997 Winter Simulation

Robert G. Sargent. Verification and validation of simulation models. In Proceedings of the 40th Conference on Winter Simulation, WSC 08, pages 157169.Winter Simulation Conference, 2008 Seidman, A. (1995). Parkland College Enrollment Management Model. Champaign, IL. Tobias Kesling, Thomas Krieger. Efficient Parallel Queuing System Simulation. Proceedings of the 2006 Winter Simulation Conference. W.J. Trybula. Building simulation models without data. In IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 1994. Humans, Information and Technology., 1994, volume 1, pages 209 214 vol.1, October 1994. Warty, Ameya W. (Fall 2000). Object-Oriented Modeling. Wichita State University. Enterprise Engineering. IMfgE at