Process modeling is a process business people do to set a goal for how situations should play out when a given set of activities is carried out. Objectives are defined, inputs decided, and goals rationalized. With predictive process modeling, models are created to examine information and see how likely certain things are to happen under certain conditions. Meta-process modeling interacts with existing models to see how they work and how they can be reused and improved. Furthermore, computer modeling allows people to take information and see how it interacts with other information in different situations.
Computer modeling is a type of process modeling that is more familiar under the term computer simulation. With this type of process modeling, variables and information are inputted into the model, and the rules of the model are decided. This allows the people working with the model to see how the inputted variables interact with each other and how different changes affect the overall situation. An advantage of this type of model is that people may discover problems with a system before they put it in place, because they will be able to see how it actually plays out.
Predictive modeling is a type of process modeling that aims to figure out how likely a certain situation is to happen when another situation happens. For instance, a predictive model might try to discern how likely a customer is to purchase a striped blue umbrella when she enters a specific department store on a rainy day. A business might be able to compare this information to how likely a customer is to purchase a striped blue umbrella on a sunny day and change the layout of the store based on this information. Successful predictive modeling techniques implement methods of ignoring information that is not helpful in predicting outcomes. People who implement this modeling technique try not to allow their system to be affected by red herring information that does not necessarily indicate a pattern by which future outcomes can be predicted.
Meta-process modeling is a type of process modeling that works with other process models. The goal of this process is to analyze and work with other models to determine how they are working and to try to reuse aspects of them in other models. An advantage of utilizing this modeling system is that less time may be wasted developing new systems, because old systems may be able to be reused to solve new problems instead of investing more time building new models.