Methods and apparatus for evaluation of combinatorial processes using simulation and multiple parallel statistical analyses of real data

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for evaluating combinatorial processes using simulation techniques and multiple parallel statistical analyses of real-world data. A simulation model is generated that simulates one or more steps of a combinatorial process. The simulation model comprises key features of the combinatorial process. A plurality of first data mining tasks are performed in parallel over real data of the combinatorial process to obtain key feature prediction models that estimate the key features. The key feature prediction models are bound to the simulation model. Query types to be supported are identified and a plurality of simulation runs are generated in parallel, comprising simulated data for the supported query types. A plurality of second data mining tasks are performed in parallel over the plurality of simulation runs to build global prediction models to answer queries of each supported query type. An answer to a user query is determined using the global prediction models.