A multi-level approach to information system modeling

This paper presents a top-down hierarchical approach to the simulation modeling of computer-based information systems. The modeling approach defines a series of progressively more detailed system models. The models range from a highest-level functional model, which can be defined in the earliest stages of system design, through several intermediate level models representing more detailed views of a system and yielding progressively more detailed predictions of system timing and resource requirements, to a lowest-level model which captures implementation-dependent details of system hardware, software, and database characteristics.