System and method for managing and communicating state changes of a complex system

An apparatus for managing state changes of a system that includes a plurality of configuration items, wherein each configuration item is a functional component of the system and has an associated state value that is one of a set of state values describing operational characteristics of the configuration item, comprising:

• means for representing transitions between the state values in each of the configuration items;
• means for processing notification requests at the configuration items, each notification request including a first set of state values, a second set of state values, a requester identifier, and a message value;
• means for associating the requester identifier and message value of each notification request with a transition from a state in the first set of state values to a state value in the second set of state values;
• and
• means, responsive to a transition of a configuration item between state values, for selecting the message value and requester identifier associated with the transition and sending the message value to the requester referenced by the requester identifier.

An article of manufacture including a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

• receiving a notification request at the computing device, wherein the computing device is in a system, wherein the notification request includes a requester identifier and a first set of state values and a second set of state values, and wherein at least one of the first set and the second set includes two or more state values;
• and
• in response to a subsequent transition of the computing device between a state corresponding to any state value in the first set and a state corresponding to any state value in the second set, sending a message to a requester corresponding to the requester identifier;
• wherein the subsequent transition of the computing device is not caused by the receiving of the notification request.

A method, comprising:

• receiving a notification request at a configuration item in a system comprising a plurality of configuration items, wherein the notification request includes a requester identifier and a first set of meta-state values and a second set of meta-state values, wherein at least one of the first set and the second set includes two or more meta-state values;
• and
• in response to a subsequent transition of the configuration item between a meta-state corresponding to any meta-state value in the first set and a meta-state corresponding to any meta-state value in the second set, the configuration item sending a message to a requester corresponding to the requester identifier in the notification request;
• wherein the subsequent transition of the configuration item is not caused by the receiving of the notification request.