Patent ID: 7613129

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of managing information using a data management system, the information describing a communications network, the method conducted using software and comprising: assigning identifiers to a set of communication devices for use with the communications network; maintaining a workbook, the workbook including device information associated with each of the set of communication devices, the workbook further including the assigned identifiers; maintaining a network specification book in memory on the data management system, the network specification book including specifications regarding a configuration of a network; receiving at the network specification book over a network connection an indication of a change in the configuration of the network, the indication including at least one of the assigned identifiers, the change being stored in the network specification book; communicating the included at least one of the assigned identifiers from the network specification book to the workbook; updating an entry in the workbook in response to the communicated at least one of the assigned identifiers, the entry being stored in memory and associated with the communicated at least one of the assigned identifiers; communicating at least a portion of the device information from the workbook to the network specification book in response to the update to the entry, the portion of the device information being associated with the communicated at least one of the assigned identifiers; and updating the network specification book with the portion of the device information, the portion of the device information being stored in memory.