Process for developing and implementing a model (ASM) for the formal description of a collaborative system including multiple, distributed components, wherein analyzable models of the components are generated via simulation processes. The invention includes the steps of generation of models of collaborative units, preparation of a catalog of models of the collaborative units, assignment of a set of rules to the catalog for the specification of interactions among the autonomous models of the collaborative units and for the development of the model of the complex collaborative system, generation of the desired model using selected models of the collaborative units as the basic module from the catalog, and taking selected rules into account, and automatic adaptation of the model by deriving new rules, taking into account evaluation parameters for each application in one process operation.