Cooperative modeling of discrete system elements and continuous system elements is described, in which a discrete system element and a relationship between the discrete system element and a continuous system element is modeled in a first modeling environment, where a description of the discrete system element and of the relationship between the discrete system element and the continuous system element is exported from the first modeling environment to a second modeling environment, causing the discrete system element and the relationship between the discrete system element and the continuous system element to be modeled in the second modeling environment, where the continuous system element is modeled in the second modeling environment.