Methods and systems (100) for modeling operations of a physical plant (110) are presented. For instance, a system (100) includes at least a first component (111) and a second component (112). The first and second components (111), (112) have at least one physical connection (130a). First and second model operational parameters of the physical connection are received from firstand secondmodels121, 122, respectively. The first and second models (121), (122) are updated with the secondand first model operational parameters, respectively. In one example, the first and second models (121), (122) run on different computer systems.In another example, real-time operational data is received from the first and second components (111), (112), and the first and second models (121), (122) are updated with the real-time operational data received from the secondand first components, respectively.In a further example, the system (100) may receive and process simulation input.In various examples, the physical connections (130
