A method of evaluating software application performance includes receiving, in an evaluation module in a computer system and from an application program: 1) a first call indicating that execution begins of a predefined portion of the application program, and then 2) a second call indicating that the execution of the predefined portion ends, the evaluation module being configured to receive similar calls from any of several application programs in the computer system. It is determined, in configuration information for the application program that is available to the evaluation module, whether a duration time between the first and second calls exceeds a predefined time specified in the configuration information. Upon determining that the duration time exceeds the predefined time, a message is forwarded from the evaluation module to a recipient, the message and the recipient being specified in the configuration information. Configuration information may specify performance of tracing or usage tracking.