A Methodology for Simulation Development on the Basis of Cause-and-Effect Modeling in E-Commerce

The optimal configuration of an e-commerce system is a complex problem. The objective of the research project SimProgno is therefore the development of several e-commerce simulations and the integration of these simulations in order to support the shop managers in their decision making process. The structured development of these simulations is a challenging task for a development team. In this paper, we address this problem and present the SimProgno methodology which is used for the simulation development. This methodological framework is based on specific requirements of the research project and the e-commerce domain. Furthermore, we evaluate the methodology on the basis of its usage in the SimProgno project. Keywords-methodology; simulation; e-commerce; cause-and-effect modeling; development process; System Dynamics; agent-based simulation