Open-perspective Modeling of Software Systems

This paper investigates the question of improving a performance model by exploiting all the information that is known about a system. The modeling perspective is to be opened up to encompass the entire available dataset, which could make performance models a useful adjunct in big data analysis of performance. The scope and content of the model would not be limited by preliminary decisions made by a performance expert, but would be determined by the data itself. For this purpose it may be necessary to create multiple sub-models in various formalisms (in order to capture different kinds of mechanisms in the system), and to associate them. We consider how a decision can be reached to add another sub-model, and how it can be associated with the existing model. The paper is exploratory only; a principal goal is to identify fruitful research questions in this area.