Developing custom business simulations

We offer a portfolio of business simulations ‘off the shelf’ that cover a wide range of leadership and management topics. However, sometimes our clients ask us for a custom business simulation.

Why customise a business simulation?

A tailored simulation tends to land better than an off-the-shelf one, for a few reasons.

Using a company's own products, data, and language makes a simulation feel real rather than generic, so participants recognise the world they are in and carry the lessons straight back to the day job. A tailored simulation also becomes a lasting, reusable asset that the organisation owns and can run again as needs change, rather than a one-off. And company-specific events tend to be more memorable than generic ones: a supermarket manager will remember how their team handled a scenario about their own out-of-date stock far more vividly than an unrelated example from another industry.

Sharper relevance, a reusable asset, and lasting learning are what make the extra design time worth it for many organisations. If you need a faster or lighter start, an off-the-shelf simulation, or a foundation simulation built on top of an existing engine, can get you most of the way for less.

Building a business simulation from scratch is a sizable undertaking, though new tooling has brought the timescale down sharply: a custom simulation now usually takes around six to 12 weeks to complete.

Our development technique follows an eight-step process from scope to delivery.

1. Scope – What are the key learning objectives that the simulation must address? At this first stage, our learning, development and design team will be involved.
2. Programme design – How should the simulation be delivered and packaged? The simulation is a learning tool that should be used as part of a wider programme of learning. Our learning team works closely with the client’s L&D department to ensure the simulation and the programme it supports fit.
3. Business logic design – What are the inputs and outputs that drive this simulation and what effect should they have? Our development team will write logic unique to each custom simulation.
4. Presentation design – How should the simulation be presented to the users? Our design team will sit down with the client and compose a user interface (UI) that gathers inputs and presents outputs in an intuitive manner.
5. Document design – A big part of our learning methodology involves digesting and responding to information from supporting documentation. A credible set of documents making up the “back story” and news updates will make the simulation experience more immersive, but takes time and skill to author. Our learning and design team will work together to provide engaging and well-presented custom documentation.
6. Testing – An often underrated part of any design/development project. We know from experience that it is very unlikely the first iteration of the simulation will be the final one. Through user testing and pilot sessions, the simulation will be put through its paces and benchmarked against the learning objectives defined in the scope.
7. Design iteration – Programme, business logic, presentation and document design will be refined and retested.
8. Training – Typically, with a made-to-measure business simulation, the client will want their L&D team to deliver the simulation. Our learning team will provide ‘train the trainer’ (TTT) sessions so that the delivery can be handed over to the client’s in-house team.

Six to 12 weeks is a short run for a simulation built from scratch, and as you can see, the process behind it is intensive. There are no shortcuts if you want to deliver an immersive learning experience that challenges and engages the leaders within your organisation, so the time saved comes from better tooling rather than from skipping steps.

Foundation simulations

If you are looking for a shorter time to market (and a less costly approach), there is another option, building a custom simulation on top of one of our foundation sims. We have three that support project management (Spread), situational judgement (Decide), and business strategy simulations (Dilemma).

A foundation simulation is a starting point that accelerates the custom simulation development process by allowing our clients to take advantage of predefined generalised logic and functionality designed with a certain leadership topic in mind, for example project management.

While foundation simulations offer less flexibility in terms of custom logic and presentation, this hybrid approach still provides plenty of options to create a completely unique simulation in a fraction of the time.

If you would like to talk to our team about a tailored business simulation or one of our foundation simulations, please contact us.