There are two optional modes of organization: centralized and descentralized. Under the centralized model, Michelsen Consulting organizes a Simulation Centre which services the different academic departments and Under and Post graduate degrees. Tasks include selection and training of personnel for the Simulation Centre, including operators and co-professors. Michelsen Consulting will train professors in the operation of simulations, recommending parameter changes and curriculum changes.

Under the descentralized model, Michelsen Consulting sets up a web page which can be accessed from each department at the university or campus. This option obviously requires the existence of personnel with considerable experience in simulations and the Internet.

Regardless of which option is more adequate for an organization, participants will receive an ID and a password to have access to a certain simulation through a special web page installed in the servers of the university or in the Internet. A central installation permits servicing a great number of students without having to print a single page of output. Participants download from the web page the Manual and the initial conditions or “history”, instructions as to how to feed decisions, access to private and the public results board, and access to the Professor in charge of the simulation. Michelsen Consulting will monitor traffic, assist in the consultation process and help professors to interpret simulation output.

The role of participants

The professor in charge of the course, or the co-professor under the centralized option, will group participants in simulated companies so that they will become the management team. Each simulation has a recommended number of members of the management team. Several simulated companies compete among themselves, although in one simulation devoted to services, they can elect to compete or to collaborate. The competitive or collaboration environment strongly motivates participants for now they can experience the application of techniques and concepts acquired in class in a nearly real situation.