Patent ID: 8099728

Claim:
A computer program stored on a tangible storage medium and directly loadable into a working memory of a computer for performing when the program is run on the computer, steps of: providing a plurality of reference models arranged in a tree starting from a root reference model, associating each destination unit with a reference model including configuration information specific for the corresponding destination units, wherein the configuration information includes at least one record indicating a target status of a corresponding configuration element and wherein the tree provides dependency information indicating logic relations between the configuration elements, the target configuration being determined further according to the dependency information of the corresponding configuration elements, determining a target configuration for the destination units associated with a selected reference model according to the configuration information of the reference models in a path from the root reference model to the selected reference model, causing each destination unit associated with the selected reference model to be updated according to the target configuration, providing an inventory storing an indication of a current configuration of each destination unit, and determining a list of actions for reaching the target configuration on each destination unit associated with the selected reference model according to a comparison between the target configuration and the corresponding current configuration, wherein the configuration information includes an indication of at least one digitally encoded software application product to be installed or removed, and wherein the data processing system comprises a network with a server workstation and a plurality of client workstations each one associated with at least one destination unit, the method further including, for each destination unit associated with the selected reference model, the steps of building a package under the control of the server workstation, the package including each software application product of the target configuration to be installed and instructions for automatically executing the list of actions, distributing the package to the client workstation associated with the destination unit through the network, and updating the inventory according to the actions executed on the client workstation.