Integrated design application

1. A process of designing a composite application system, the method comprising:

defining a plurality of case scenarios performed by a composite application system in a composite application system design;

integrating the plurality of case scenarios with a plurality of execution tools; and

specifying an underlying infrastructure for the system design to embody the plurality of execution tools to select a plurality of components whose combination meets a plurality of application requirements, wherein specifying the underlying infrastructure comprises:

i) estimating a performance of the underlying infrastructure according to the composite application system design;

ii) evaluating a feasibility of the composite application system design; and

iii) identifying potential flaws of a feasible composite application system design,

wherein the process is performed in an integrated software application executed in a computing system.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process is performed over a plurality of design layers.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises:

providing running estimates of metric data, wherein the metric data is updated to correspond to modifications to the composite application system design.

4. The process of claim 3 , wherein providing running estimates of metric data comprises combining metric data of the composite application system design from a plurality of design layers.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the case scenario performed by the composite application system comprises a use case scenario.

6. The process of claim 5 , wherein the use case scenario comprises a technical process performed by a component comprising the composite application system design.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the execution tool comprises a software platform.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the execution tool comprises a hardware device.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein defining a case scenario for the composite application system design comprises comparing a target performance for the case scenario to an estimated performance for the case scenario.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein integrating the plurality of case scenarios with a plurality of execution tools comprises:

defining an information technology tool for executing a case scenario; and

mapping the use case scenario to the information technology tool that executes the use case scenario.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein evaluating a feasibility of the composite application system design comprises comparing the composite application system design to user-specified thresholds and computations.

12. The process of claim 11 , wherein comparing the composite application system design comprises displaying estimated metrics of the composite application system design with a set of target metrics in an associated programmable platform.

13. The process of claim 1 , further comprising correcting a nonconforming composite application system design to conform to the application requirement.

14. The process of claim 13 , wherein correcting the nonconforming composite application system design comprises:

visualizing relationships between the plurality of application requirements and a performance of the underlying infrastructure; and

adjusting the composite application system design to conform with the plurality of application requirements based on visualized relationships.

15. The process of claim 14 , wherein adjusting the composite application system design comprises:

estimating composite business metrics; and

modifying a provisioning of the underlying infrastructure based on estimated composite business metrics.

16. The process of claim 1 , wherein specifying an underlying infrastructure for the composite application system design further comprises

identifying a plurality of relationships between the plurality of case scenarios;

visualizing each of the plurality of relationships; and

mapping each of the plurality of relationships to a corresponding component of the plurality of components in the composite application system design.

17. The process of claim 16 , wherein visualizing each of the plurality of relationships further comprises displaying a component having a relationship with the relationship mapped and the components included in the relationship mapped.

18. The process of claim 16 , wherein mapping the relation to the plurality of components in the composite application system comprises:

propagating metric data estimates corresponding to a first component to a second component; and

propagating metric data estimates corresponding to the first component to a third component,

wherein, the second component comprises an identified descendant of the first component, and

wherein the third component comprises an identified ancestor of the first component.

19. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing collaboration among distributed users of the integrated software application, wherein, providing collaboration among distributed users of the integrated software application comprises allowing direct simultaneous collaboration performed in the integrated software application.

20. The process of claim 19 , further comprising

communicating with other contributors via messaging performed in the integrated software application, wherein

messaging comprises attaching messages to objects in the composite application system design.

21. The process of claim 19 , wherein client devices of users of the integrated software application are connected to client devices of other users of the integrated software application via a network.

22. The process of claim 21 , wherein the network is a peer-to-peer network.

23. The process of claim 22 , wherein a client device of a user of the integrated software application operates as a peer in the peer-to-peer network.

24. The process of claim 21 , wherein the network is a client-server network.

25. The process of claim 24 , wherein the client device of a user of the integrated software application operates as a client in the client-server network.

26. The process of claim 24 , wherein the integrated software application further comprises a central repository that operates as a server in the client-server network.

27. The process of claim 19 wherein providing collaboration among distributed users of the integrated software application further comprises tracking modifications to the composite application system by contributors.

28. The process of claim 19 , wherein providing collaboration among distributed users of the integrated software application further comprises maintaining version control of distributed instances of the design of the composite application system.

29. The process of claim 28 , wherein maintaining version control comprises:

automatically updating documentation of the composite application system;

ensuring exclusive access to files; and

providing merging functionality.

30. The process of claim 19 , wherein providing collaboration among distributed users of the integrated software application comprises archiving a version of a composite application system design.

31. The process of claim 1 , further comprising providing the capability to leverage pre-existing material, wherein, providing the capability to leverage pre-existing material comprises:

referencing a repository for storing pre-designed composite application systems for use as templates.

32. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:

designing the composite application system based on the underlying infrastructure, the composite application system comprising a plurality of components distributed over a plurality of domains; and

displaying the composite application system over the plurality of domains; and

providing estimated metric data for the composite application system, wherein providing estimated metric data comprises combining metric data for each of the plurality of domains comprising the composite application system.

33. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:

relating composite metrics for the composite application system, the composite metrics comprising an aggregate of a plurality of metrics corresponding to the plurality of components comprising the composite application system; and

incorporating applicable project type details, the project type details comprising a plurality of pre-defined data corresponding to a project type selected by a user for the composite application system,

wherein relating composite metrics are performed on-demand.

34. The process of claim 1 , further comprising providing estimated calculations of metric data for the composite application system; wherein providing estimated calculations of the metric data comprises:

providing running estimates of metric data throughout the design process;

updating the estimates of metric data to correspond to modifications of the composite application system design.

35. The process of claim 1 , further comprising debugging the composite application system design which does not meet the plurality of application requirements, wherein debugging a composite application system design comprises:

graphically displaying attributes of the composite application system design which do not conform to the plurality of application requirements; and

adjusting a provisioning of components of the composite application system design to align with the plurality of application requirements.

36. The process of claim 35 , wherein graphically displaying estimated attributes of the composite application system design further comprises displaying a comparison between estimated attributes of the composite application system design with the plurality of application requirements.

37. The process of claim 36 , wherein displaying a comparison between the estimated attributes of the composite application system design with the plurality of application requirements further comprises:

adjusting a displayed comparison between the estimated attributes of the composite application system design with the plurality of application requirements to account for an adjusted provisioning of components of the composite application system design,

wherein, adjusting the displayed comparison is performed in real time.