As mentioned in Chapter 2: Overview of SAS Simulation Studio, Simulation Studio provides a graphical user interface (GUI) and a batch interface. Initially, most users typically use the Simulation Studio GUI to build and execute simulation models. This chapter provides a high-level overview of Simulation Studio from the GUI perspective and discusses the major components of the application framework. The batch interface is detailed in Chapter 13: Batch Execution.

When you start the Simulation Studio application, the graphical user interface opens on your computer screen as shown in Figure 3.1. This window consists of six main areas: menu, toolbar, block template display area, project explorer, project desktop, and project status bar. The following sections provide details about each of these areas, as well as how to launch the application.