Patent ID: 8230445

Claim:
A method comprising: creating an agent on a computer server in an event management system to detect an occurrence of an event and notify the occurrence of the event, the agent being software executable, the event occurring when data achieves a predefined status defined by a business rule, the event management system including a data source; creating an escalation agent on the computer server, the escalation agent being software executable; running the agent according to a schedule; generating a notification upon occurrence of the event as detected by the agent; responsive to occurrence of the event, launching the escalation agent by the agent responsive to the detection of the event by the agent, wherein the agent launches the escalation agent, and wherein the launching of the escalation agent results in a separate agent process that runs according to its own pre-defined schedule; passing event data associated with the event from the agent to the escalation agent after the escalation agent has been launched by the agent; passing control from the agent to the escalation agent upon passing of the event data to the escalation agent; terminating execution of the agent after control has been passed by the agent to the escalation agent; generating an escalation message by the escalation agent if the escalation agent determines that the event previously detected by the agent still exists after a period of time subsequent to control being passed from the agent to the escalation agent; and terminating execution of the escalation agent if the event previously detected by the agent does not still exist after the period of time subsequent to control being passed from the agent to the escalation agent.