A method, device and computer product suitable for determining the source of failing to achieve a desired level of service quality in communication between at least two components in a distributed system is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of developing a model of the distributed system, the model including at least configuration non-specific representations of types of managed components, and representations of relationships among the managed components, determining associated managed components within each route of data communication between the at least two components, augmenting the representation of the associated managed components with information associated with each of the routes of data communication, monitoring at least one performance criterion of the communication between the at least two components and determining a source of degradation when the performance criteria is indicated to be outside acceptable limits. The device discloses a processor which is capable of executing the method steps recited. The computer program product represents instructions, which when loaded into a computer system provide instruction for the computer system to execute the method steps recited.