At Roche some of the chemical production plants are simulated in a system called WinMOD. Much of the input data is currently prepared manually. This is very labour-intensive and is prone to errors. The main goal of this thesis is the automation of the input process.

The process consists of three major phases. Firstly, the current input process at Roche with all its data sources and relationships is analysed. Then a planned simulation process is proposed to the client. Secondly, the requirements for the development of a software solution are gathered. Additionally, desired technologies are, after consultation with the client, selected. Thirdly, a new application is developed iteratively with an agile approach.

The final software solution consists of extensive pre-import, import, data processing and export functionalities. This is supported by a software documentation and a user manual. For Roche, this solution reduces the WinMOD import phase by two thirds and halves the overall WinMOD simulation creation-time. Per year, the new solution saves around 150 person-hours in the full functional state. Additionally, the data quality improved substantially and further improvement areas were discovered.