Performance Engineering during Information System Development

Performance engineering of information systems aims at predicting and improving the performance of projected applications during development. The need for performance engineering of information systems is pointed out and discussed. The thesis also presents the state of the art in the related elds of information system engineering, computer performance evaluation, and software performance engineering. Requirements for successful performance engineering of information systems are pointed out. In particular, performance engineering must be closely integrated with the information system engineering process. A basic framework for performance prediction is presented. The framework is based on separate models of computer hardware, existing and projected software applications, and the organisation using the applications. In particular, workload modelling of projected applications is focused on. Workload models for projected applications are derived during development from design speci cations annotated with performance parameters. The framework is extended with support for capturing these performance parameters. Sensitivity analysis is provided for identi cation of important design parameters, and for pointing out where in the design speci cation optimisation e ort should be focused. A performance prediction technique for distributed information systems is also provided. The basic framework has been implemented in a CASE tool. The framework and the tool have been used in a practical case study. The conclusion points out that further work is particularly needed in the areas of practical case-studies, tool support, database performance prediction, software synchronisation and blocking, as well as distributed systems.