General concepts of quality for discrete-event simulation

With the exception of validity, discrete-event simulation quality is a little understood concept. To improve this situation, a model of simulation quality is presented that aims to develop an understanding of the quality concept across a range of approaches to performing discrete-event simulation studies. The model consists of three separate, but related, quality concepts concerning the (i) content, (ii) process, and (iii) outcome of a simulation study. These concepts, their relationships, and their importance are discussed. The concepts are explored further, and a set of dimensions of simulation quality are proposed, through an empirical investigation within a business simulation context. Methods of assessing simulation quality are also discussed, although few approaches exist for evaluating process and outcome quality, since the extant methods concentrate on the technical content of the work. The model presented here may not only be of interest to simulation modellers, but also to the wider management science/operational research community.