Patent ID: 8065318

Claim:
A method for remotely changing a runtime configuration of an application to be configured, comprising: at the application to be configured, polling a message queue for reception of a configuration message from a remote messaging originator using an application configuration agent residing at the application, wherein the configuration message includes configuration changes to be made to the application and an effective date, including a date and time when the configuration changes are to be applied to the application; when the configuration message is in the message queue at the application, determining if the configuration changes from the configuration message conflict with other stored configuration changes; if the configuration changes from the configuration message conflict with other stored configuration changes, then sending a conflict message to an originator of the configuration message; if the configuration changes from the configuration message do not conflict with other stored configuration changes: storing the configuration message in an application database in the application; and applying the configuration changes from the configuration message stored in the application database to a current configuration of the application when the effective date occurs using the application configuration agent, wherein the application configuration agent is a program module residing at the application.