Automated data collection for simulation?

It is argued that the data collection process is the most crucial stage in the model building process. This is primarily due to the influence that data has in providing accurate simulation results. Data collection is an extremely time consuming process predominantly because the task is manually orientated. Hence, automating this process of data collection would be extremely advantageous. This paper presents how simulation could utilise the Corporate Business Systems as the simulation data source. Subsequently a unique interface could be implemented to provide these data directly to the simulation tool. Such an interface would prove to be an invaluable tool for users of simulation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.