A method for sorting alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) of a plant (1, 20, 80, 160) having at least one alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164) each having at least two plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26) connected by at least one connection, wherein the at least one alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164) is defined so that the plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26) and the respective connection provide a directed graph (28, 86, 88, 90), wherein a directed graph refers to dependencies and relationships between the different plant devices in the plant, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a) providing at least one database (34, 122) containing alarm-data (36, 124) and topology-data (38, 126); wherein ▪ the alarm-data (36, 124) describe the relation between plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26) and an assigned alarm-areas (22, 82, 84, 162, 164); ▪ the topology-data (38, 26) describe a directed graph (28, 86, 88, 90) comprising at least one connection with a related flow direction between the respective plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26) of the assigned alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164), wherein the flow direction refers to the direction of the directed graph and is determined in particular from a material flow, an energy flow and/or an information flow between the respective plant-devices; b) retrieving alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) from plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26); c) associating alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) with the respective alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164) according to the alarm-data (36, 124); d) generating a first alarm-order (16, 60) of the alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) of the at least one alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164) by ▪ sorting the alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) according to the flow direction of the directed graph (28, 86, 88, 90); ▪ assigning the sorted alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) to the first alarm-order (16, 60); e) storing at least the first-up alarm-message (62, 92, 94, 96) of the first alarm-order (16, 60), wherein the first-up alarm-message refers to as an alarm-message of the plant-device which is in the first position in the flow-direction of the plant. a) providing at least one database (34, 122) containing alarm-data (36, 124) and topology-data (38, 126); wherein ▪ the alarm-data (36, 124) describe the relation between plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26) and an assigned alarm-areas (22, 82, 84, 162, 164); ▪ the topology-data (38, 26) describe a directed graph (28, 86, 88, 90) comprising at least one connection with a related flow direction between the respective plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26) of the assigned alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164), wherein the flow direction refers to the direction of the directed graph and is determined in particular from a material flow, an energy flow and/or an information flow between the respective plant-devices; ▪ the alarm-data (36, 124) describe the relation between plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26) and an assigned alarm-areas (22, 82, 84, 162, 164); ▪ the topology-data (38, 26) describe a directed graph (28, 86, 88, 90) comprising at least one connection with a related flow direction between the respective plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26) of the assigned alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164), wherein the flow direction refers to the direction of the directed graph and is determined in particular from a material flow, an energy flow and/or an information flow between the respective plant-devices; b) retrieving alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) from plant-devices (2, 4, 24, 26); c) associating alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) with the respective alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164) according to the alarm-data (36, 124); d) generating a first alarm-order (16, 60) of the alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) of the at least one alarm-area (22, 82, 84, 162, 164) by ▪ sorting the alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) according to the flow direction of the directed graph (28, 86, 88, 90); ▪ assigning the sorted alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) to the first alarm-order (16, 60); ▪ sorting the alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) according to the flow direction of the directed graph (28, 86, 88, 90); ▪ assigning the sorted alarm-messages (30, 32, 64, 98, 100, 102) to the first alarm-order (16, 60); e) storing at least the first-up alarm-message (62, 92, 94, 96) of the first alarm-order (16, 60), wherein the first-up alarm-message refers to as an alarm-message of the plant-device which is in the first position in the flow-direction of the plant.