Abstract for: Building Interactive System Dynamics Simulations in R

System dynamics provides insights into the dynamic behavior of a system through modeling the accumulations, flows, and causal relationships in a system. This allows modelers to develop simulations and models to understand the structure of a system, identify leverage points, and evaluate policy options for modifying the behavior of the system. An essential tool for system dynamics is the management flight simulator that enables business leaders and decision makers to interact with the model to evaluate policy options based on the simulated behavior. However, building and developing these flight simulators is time and resource intensive and can limit the ability of modelers to share their models with clients in an interactive manner. This paper uses a classic system dynamics model to explore the possibility of building and simulating a system dynamics model in the R coding language. The methodology transforms a traditional system dynamics model from Vensim into R code and simulates the model in this language. Additionally, the paper examines methods to display the model using a Shiny application within the R language. Ideally, this work will lower the threshold required to generate management flight simulators to provide insights for decision makers in a more timely, efficient manner.