A compositional method for reliability analysis of workflows affected by multiple failure modes

Abstract

We focus on reliability analysis for systems designed as workflow based compositions of components. Components are characterized by their failure profiles, which take into account possible multiple failure modes. A compositional calculus is provided to evaluate the failure profile of a composite system, given failure profiles of the components. The calculus is described as a syntax-driven procedure that synthesizes a workflow's failure profile. The method is viewed as a design-time aid that can help software engineers reason about system's reliability in the early stage of development. A simple case study is presented to illustrate the proposed approach.