1. A method of generating a benchmark profile used to predict the performance of a software application, the method comprising: identifying a plurality of performance characteristics associated with the software application, wherein each performance characteristic specifies a processing activity performed by the software application; determining a ratio for each identified performance characteristic, wherein each ratio specifies a proportion of the processing activity performed by the software application for one of the identified performance characteristics relative to the processing activity of the software application as a whole; for each of the plurality of performance characteristics, identifying at least one benchmark configured to evaluate the performance of a computer system, relative to a given performance characteristic; and generating the benchmark profile, wherein the benchmark profile stores the ratio for each identified performance characteristic and an indication of each identified benchmark.