1. A simulation system for use in simulating the operation of a portion of a process plant, the simulation system comprising: one or more simulation blocks configured to perform simulation of one or more pieces of equipment within the process plant, each simulation block including; a process model that models a portion of the process plant; and a simulation unit that uses the process model to simulate the operation of the portion of the process plant to produce a simulated output for a process element associated with the portion of the process plant, the simulated output including one or more predicted future values for the process element.