A Distributed Software System (DSS) is a complex system used
by organizations to deploy services simultaneously to many people
online and in real time (Akinnuwesi, 2011). The decisions made at
each phase of the DSS development process impact on the quality
attributes (e.g. reusability, reliability, modifiability and performance)
of software (Lloyd & Connie, 1998). Performance is a pertinent
quality attribute of software systems. It is an indicator of the
extent to which software system/components meet the requirements
of the end users. Performance failure usually results in damaged
customer relations, loss of revenue, loss of productivity and
cost overruns due to tuning or redesign of system (Lloyd & Connie,
1998). Therefore it becomes imperative to analyze and predict the
expected performance of DSS at the architectural design level in order
to: avoid the pitfalls of poor quality of software at system
implementation level; provide all organizational services and also
satisfy the performance expectations of the stakeholders such that
all stakeholders get maximum satisfaction from the software
system.