As businesses consolidate and modernize their operations, the impact on their network and computing infrastructure is a major consideration. In this thesis, discrete event simulation is used to show how implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can impact network performance and ultimately affect end-users. More specifically, the model simulates the flow of data packets across a network, through a Service Delivery Point (SDP), which is comprised of routers, switches, and firewalls that connect a Local Area Network to a Wide Area Network.
The model was used to run to determine the affect of more network traffic and additional SDP bandwidth capacity on end-user response time, which is the time for a transaction to be processed and returned to the user. Analysis of model output concluded that a 10%, 20%, and 30% increase in network traffic results in a 98%, 209%, and 352% increase in end-user response time, relative to the current workload. Further experimentation with the model concluded that a 42.5% increase in SDP bandwidth capacity reduced the average response time by 75%. By estimating end-user response time, proper SDP capacity can be planned prior to ERP deployment, to ensure timely completion of end-user transactions that inevitably affects bottom line cost.