Patent ID: 7409430

Claim:
A computer system having a central computer and at least one peripheral computer for executing at least one business application, the peripheral computer further issuing an alert message when a current value of a predetermined variable in the business application is in a predetermined relation to a reference value, the central computer for receiving the alert message and, according to a predefined type of the alert message, for forwarding a notification message to communication devices that present a representation of the notification message to a predefined group of users; in the computer system, the central computer issuing a further notification message to a further user outside the group in the event that during a predetermined time period no user of the predefined group has confirmed reception of the notification, the computer system characterized in that the predefined group of users is determined from a message distribution list that is derived from a role-to-user assignment and from an application-to-role assignment, wherein the assignments define the business application that each user is allowed to access.