M. Heiner et al., A PETRI-NET BASED METHODOLOGY TO INTEGRATE QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS, Information and software technology, 36(7), 1994, pp. 435-441
An innovative net-based methodology to integrate qualitative and quant
itative analysis of distributed software systems is outlined, and an o
n-going prototype implementation of a related graphic-oriented tool ki
t is sketched. The proposed method combines qualitative analysis, moni
toring and testing as well as quantitative analysis on the basis of a
net-based intermediate representation of the distributed software syst
em under consideration. All transformations (from the distributed soft
ware system into a first Petri net model, and between the different ki
nds of net models) can be made formally, and therefore automated to a
high degree. The evaluation of quantitative properties is based on so-
called object nets which are obtained by a property-preserving structu
ral compression and quantitative expansion of the qualitative model. I
n this way, the frequency and delay attributes necessary to generate q
uantitative models are provided by the monitoring and testing componen
t.