The system dynamics architecture of UTASiMo: A simulation-based task analysis tool to predict human error probability

This paper describes the system dynamics architecture of UTASiMo, a simulation-based task analysis tool that simulates the outcomes of task analysis for a system design and estimates task execution times, workload, and human error probability. UTASiMo combines discrete event, agent-based, and system dynamics simulation methods to automatically construct and simulate models that correspond to different scenarios to test prospective human system designs. Here, we focus on the system dynamics model, which captures the causal relationships of factors affecting human error and uses them to assess the overall human error probability of the simulated system (SimHEP). This SimHEP provides a quantitative basis to the simulated human system's evaluation. The present work is a continuation of our previous work on UTASiMo and aims to introduce system dynamics simulation as a potential method to assess human reliability.