Patent ID: 8335824

Claim:
A method for providing metadata subscription services, comprising: receiving a notification subscription request containing an item selected from a plurality of items residing in a repository, the plurality of items stored in hierarchically-arranged levels within the repository; receiving a message that metadata of the item has been modified; determining that a notification is associated with the metadata of the item that has been modified based on a level of the hierarchically-arranged levels provided in the notification subscription request, wherein the notification corresponds to a first address and the determining is performed in an automated manner in response to the receiving; creating the notification for the notification subscription request, the notification including changes made with respect to the metadata associated with the item and any other items residing at a level of the item and any levels lower than the level of the item; transmitting the notification to the first address in the automated manner in response to determining that the notification is associated with the metadata of the item that has been modified; and automatically transmitting a copy of the item to a user specified second address in response to determining that the notification is associated with the metadata of the item that has been modified, the user specified second address is different than the first address; wherein a first level of the hierarchically-arranged levels specifies a type of customer, a second level of the hierarchical storage specifies a service, and the notification is created for the item corresponding to the service when the level of hierarchically-arranged levels provided in the notification subscription request specifies the second level.