1. A method for analyzing a target system, comprising: generating a characteristics model using a schema defining a domain; obtaining a plurality of characteristics from a plurality of artifacts of the target system using a characteristics extractor, wherein the plurality of characteristics is associated with a plurality of artifacts of the characteristics model; storing each of the plurality of characteristics in a characteristics store; and analyzing, using the characteristics model, the target system by issuing at least one query to the characteristics store to obtain an analysis result, wherein the plurality of artifacts of the target system comprises at least one hardware artifact and at least one software artifact, and wherein generating the characteristics model comprises: obtaining the schema, parsing the schema to obtain a plurality of parsed information, mapping a first one of the plurality of parsed information to an artifact of the plurality of artifacts of the characteristics model, mapping a second one of the plurality of parsed information to a characteristic describing a feature of at least one artifact of the plurality of artifacts of the characteristics model, and mapping a third one of the plurality of parsed information to a relationship describing an interaction between at least two artifacts of the plurality of artifacts of the characteristics model.