Patent ID: 8010484

Claim:
A computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program configured to generate data subscriptions, the medium comprising one or more code segments configured to: receive user input identifying a publication to be used to create data subscriptions, the publication being one of multiple predetermined publications identifying a type of data capable of being distributed to data sites; receive user input identifying a distribution criterion by which data is to be distributed to data sites by subscriptions automatically generated without human intervention; store, in computer-readable medium for later access, subscription-generation information including the identified publication and the identified distribution criterion; access, using a first computer system, the subscription-generation information identifying the publication and the distribution criterion; access, using the first computer system and the accessed subscription-generation information, application data of various data types, including the type of data identified by the subscription-generation information; generate, using the first computer system, data subscriptions for the publication to be distributed to data sites corresponding to computer systems that are distinct from the first computer system, the computer systems and the first computer system being connected in a network of distributed computer systems operating an application program having the application data of the various data types, wherein each data subscription 1) is generated automatically by the first computer system based only on the type of data to be distributed to data sites, the accessed application data, and the distribution criterion and 2) identifies a portion of the application data to be distributed to one or more of the data sites of the second computer system; generate assignments of data sites to the generated data subscriptions, the assignments being generated based on application data, using the first computer system, and automatically without human intervention; store, in computer-readable medium for later access, the generated assignments; and distribute a portion of the application data to the data sites corresponding to computer systems, the distribution being based on the data subscriptions generated by the first computer system and the generated assignments.