Method and apparatus for maintaining and configuring systems

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein to cause a computer to configure a product comprising:
• computer readable program code to cause the computer to obtain user input, the user input identifying at least one selected element from a plurality of displayed elements;
• and
• computer readable program code to cause a computer to determine if activating a set of element relationships associated with the at least one selected element results in a valid product configuration in accordance with a definition of the product, wherein the definition of the product comprises a set of element relationships identifying classifications for interrelating each element with at least one other element.

A method of configuring a product comprising:

• selecting at least one element of the product from a plurality of elements displayed by a first computer system;
• sending a user input to a second computer system that identifies the at least one selected element;
• and
• receiving with the first computer system a configuration state of the product in accordance with an analysis of the at least one selected element to determine if activating a set of element relationships associated with the at least one selected element results in a valid product configuration in accordance with a definition of the product, wherein the definition of the product comprises a set of element relationships identifying classifications for interrelating each element with at least one other element.

A method of configuring a product, wherein the product is comprised of a plurality of elements, the method comprising:

• displaying on a display of a first computer system an indication received from a second computer system that, based on a definition of the product, an element of the product is included in a configuration of the product if the element is automatically included in the configuration of the product;
• displaying on a display of the first computer system an indication received from the second computer system that, based on the definition of the product, an element of the product is an optional element in the configuration of the product if the element is not a necessary element in the configuration of the product;
• and
• displaying on a display of the first computer system an indication received from the second computer system that, based on the definition of the product, an element of the product is a required choice in the configuration of the product if the element is a group that contains one or more members from which to choose in the configuration of the product.

An apparatus for configuring a system, the apparatus comprising:

• means for selecting at least one element of the product from a plurality of elements displayed by a first computer system;
• means for sending a user input to a second computer system that identifies the at least one selected element;
• and
• means for receiving with the first computer system a configuration state of the product in accordance with an analysis of the at least one selected element to determine if activating a set of element relationships associated with the at least one selected element results in a valid product configuration in accordance with a definition of the product, wherein the definition of the product comprises a set of element relationships identifying classifications for interrelating each element with at least one other element.