1. A computer-implemented method for analyzing and managing business performance by designing and evaluating the performance of business process models, comprising the steps of: using a computer or computer platform to create a business process model comprising a flow of business tasks and artifact sources that generate business artifacts, each of said business tasks and artifact sources being rendered in a machine-readable format which includes a machine-readable identifier and one or more attributes further characterizing each business task and artifact source; loading into said computer or computer platform digitally-stored transformation knowledge specifying one or more types of transformation opportunities for said flow of business tasks, each of which comprises one or a plurality of transformation conditions, one or a plurality of transformation rules, and one or a plurality of business value attributes for the business tasks in said flow of business tasks comprising at least one of cost and development time; rendering said business tasks and artifact sources in a machine-readable format which includes a machine readable identifier and attributes characterizing each business task and artifact source; parsing by the computer the rendered business tasks and artifact sources; identifying by the computer from said parsing one or more transformation opportunities within said flow of business tasks that are parts of the business process meeting one of the transformation conditions of said types of transformation opportunities, each of which is specified for each type of transformation opportunity in said digitally-stored transformation knowledge; adopting one or more transformation opportunities that are identified in the previous step and transforming by the computer the parts of the business process according to the corresponding transformation rules, each of which is specified for each type of transformation opportunity in said digitally-stored transformation knowledge; employing one of analytics and computer simulation to evaluate investment cost and development time for the transformation according to the information on business value attributes comprising at least one of cost and development time that is specified for each type of transformation opportunity in said digitally-stored transformation knowledge, and other business performance metrics of each of said transformed business processes, said business performance metrics including evaluation of cost, resource utilization, maximum process throughput, and process cycle time; employing data processing in said computer or computer platform to manage the business performance of each of said transformed business processes by making iterative changes to said business processes or artifact sources and reiterating said transformation and evaluation steps until a satisfactory business process model is obtained; and producing as output from said computer or computer platform a business process model in machine-readable format.