A method for predicting a property of a first sequence in a computing system, the method comprising the steps of: a) receiving data of a plurality of historical sequences in the computing system, wherein the data for each historical sequence identifies each point in the historical sequence and further includes a property of each of the plurality of historical sequences; b) analysing the data to identify a first and second alternative sub-sequence within the first sequence and a second sequence, said second sequence taken from the plurality of historical sequences, wherein the first alternative sub-sequence includes a first common point identified in both the first and second sequence, a first intermediate point identified in the first sequence, and a second common point identified in both the first and second sequences, and the second alternative sub-sequence includes the first common point, a plurality of intermediate points identified in the second sequence, and the second common point; c) defining a virtual point as the plurality of intermediate points and a virtual sub-sequence as the first common point followed by the virtual point followed by the second common point; d) processing the first sequence in the computing system, said first sequence containing the second alternative sub-sequence, by replacing, in said first sequence, the second alternative sub-sequence with the virtual sub-sequence, and defining the resulting sequence as a first variant sequence; (e) predicting a property of the first sequence in the computing system by i) calculating a value of similarity between the first variant sequence and each of the plurality of historical sequences having the same count of constituent points as the first variant sequence, and ii) predicting the property of the first sequence based on the calculated values of similarity, wherein the computing system is a computing network, wherein the sequences in the computing system are paths in the computing network, wherein the points in the sequences are routers, and wherein the predicting serves network management of the computing network. a) receiving data of a plurality of historical sequences in the computing system, wherein the data for each historical sequence identifies each point in the historical sequence and further includes a property of each of the plurality of historical sequences; b) analysing the data to identify a first and second alternative sub-sequence within the first sequence and a second sequence, said second sequence taken from the plurality of historical sequences, wherein the first alternative sub-sequence includes a first common point identified in both the first and second sequence, a first intermediate point identified in the first sequence, and a second common point identified in both the first and second sequences, and the second alternative sub-sequence includes the first common point, a plurality of intermediate points identified in the second sequence, and the second common point; c) defining a virtual point as the plurality of intermediate points and a virtual sub-sequence as the first common point followed by the virtual point followed by the second common point; d) processing the first sequence in the computing system, said first sequence containing the second alternative sub-sequence, by replacing, in said first sequence, the second alternative sub-sequence with the virtual sub-sequence, and defining the resulting sequence as a first variant sequence; (e) predicting a property of the first sequence in the computing system by i) calculating a value of similarity between the first variant sequence and each of the plurality of historical sequences having the same count of constituent points as the first variant sequence, and ii) predicting the property of the first sequence based on the calculated values of similarity, wherein the computing system is a computing network, wherein the sequences in the computing system are paths in the computing network, wherein the points in the sequences are routers, and wherein the predicting serves network management of the computing network. i) calculating a value of similarity between the first variant sequence and each of the plurality of historical sequences having the same count of constituent points as the first variant sequence, and ii) predicting the property of the first sequence based on the calculated values of similarity, wherein the computing system is a computing network, wherein the sequences in the computing system are paths in the computing network, wherein the points in the sequences are routers, and wherein the predicting serves network management of the computing network.