Although, the structured methodologies are widely used in information systems applications, the performance prediction methods and algorithms are rarely used by system analysts and designers in their evaluation of the design alternatives. It is the intent of this paper to outline a comprehensive framework in the form of an appropriate methodology and to create an object library to support the decision making process. The proposed methodology is interfaced to the SSADM (Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method) and has detailed instructions on what data should be collected and which source to set up a performance model from. Based on these facts, the design alternatives can be defined in the form of objects. An object library and the related methods are developed to support the performance modelling of design options. The methods of the objects incorporate the best concepts from existing performance prediction algorithms and computational methods. The various objects provide ways for analysing distinct aspects of information systems as software service demand, transactions resource requirement depending on the data distribution, the average response time of the system based on patterns of functions usage. The object-oriented programming environment in which the object library is implemented, yields the opportunity for re-usability and enhancement to fit into some particular requirements. A proposal for .knowledge-based approach is outlined as well.
Software Engineering, Information Engineering, SSADM, Performance Engineering, Capacity Planning, CASE
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