Evaluating Service Degradation Risk for a Service Provided by Data Processing Resources

A method for evaluating degradation of service risk for a service provided by at least one digital data processing device, comprising:

• recording in a data processing system a service requirements specification for a service, said service being a service provided by a set of digital data processing resources on behalf of at least one client, said service requirements specification specifying a plurality of digital data processing resources required to provide said service;
• recording in a data processing system a configuration specification, said configuration specification specifying a configuration of digital data processing resources of a service provider available to provide said service on behalf of said at least one client
• automatically accessing, with a data processing system, reliability data for digital data resources specified in said configuration specification;
• using said service requirements specification, said configuration specification, and said resource reliability data to automatically determine, with a data processing system, a risk of degradation of the service specified in said service requirements specification when provided by the configuration of digital data processing resources specified in said configuration specification;
• and
• providing results of said using said service requirements specification, said configuration specification, and said resource reliability data to automatically determine a risk of degradation of the service to a user.