Current computer systems and communication networks tend to be highly complex, and they typically hide their internal structure from their users. Thus, for selected aspects of capacity planning, overload control and related applications, it is useful to have a method allowing one to find good and relatively simple approximations for the observed system behavior. This paper investigates one such approach where we attempt to represent the latter by adequately selecting the parameters of a set of queueing models. We identify a limited number of queueing models that we use as Building Blocks in our procedure. The selected Building Blocks allow us to accurately approximate the measured behavior of a range of different systems. We propose an approach for selecting and combining suitable Building Blocks, as well as for their calibration. We are able to successfully validate our methodology for a number of case studies. Finally, we discuss the potential and the limitations of the proposed approach.