Method and apparatus for maintaining and configuring systems

A method for defining a system that can be configured comprising the steps of:

• identifying an element of said system;
• specifying said element as an included element when said element is automatically included in the configuration;
• specifying said element as an optional element when said element is not a necessary component of said system;
• specifying said element as a required choice when said element is a group that contains one or more members from which to choose.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for configuring a system comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to generate a definition for said system, said definition containing one or more elements and being conveyed graphically using a set of product relationships;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to generate a s et of relationships between said one or more elements, said set of relationships being conveyed graphically using a set of part relationships;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to configure said system using said definition and said set of relationships.

An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for defining a system that can be configured comprising:

• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to identify an element of said system;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to specify said element as an included element when said element is automatically included in the configuration;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to specify said element as an optional element when said element is not a necessary component of said system;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to specify said element as a required choice when said element is a group that contains one or more members from which to choose.

A method of configuring a system comprising the steps of:

• translating a system definition from an external representation comprising a set of intuitive relationships between components of said system definition into an internal representation comprising a set of internal relationships;
• validating configuration input using said internal representation;
• and
• modifying a configuration state based on said user input.