Thinkteam with replicated data repositories: stochastic model checking in industry

Product Data Management (PDM) systems support the document management of design processes like those used in the manufacturing industry. They allow enterprises to capture, organise, automate and share engineering information efficiently. Essential aspects of such systems are handling queries on product information and down- and uploading assemblies of related files for modification by designers. The efficiency of such a system as perceived by its users depends on its correct functioning, but also for a significant part on its performance aspects. We apply stochastic model checking in an industrial setting to evaluate a service-oriented extension of the PDM system thinkteam with multiple replicated vaults. We investigate the effect of different quality of service assumptions on the system's usability from a user's perspective, and briefly report on our industrial experience with stochastic model checking.