Modeling and simulation advance scenario building with a wide variety of techniques to represent a process or problem in some way that leads to predicting behavior or finding solutions.

Graphical or qualitative models represent problems in conceptual terms, such as flows, resources, information, causal relationships, or abstract relational structures (such as semantic or social relationships), and require clear identification of concepts, relationships, and interactions.

Quantitative models represent the problem in some mathematical form that allows calculating interactions or outputs, and they require clear identification of concepts, relationships, and interactions in addition to a basis for calculations.

Models that consider the feedback of effects from one part of a system to another are called system dynamics models. While usually quite complicated, these models provide a way to explore the dynamic interactions that are not represented in other techniques.

Modeling and simulation can be utilized through technological programs and workshops aimed at helping managers in strategic planning and strategic thinking. In science, modeling software ranges from enormously complicated climate modeling programs that use thousands of separate inputs to quite simple ones that show the relationship between numbers of a predator and numbers of its prey. In business, you can use similar programs, with the inputs varying depending on the nature of your organization and what you need to learn. The simplest modeling can be done with nothing more complicated than a sheet of paper and a pen.