Patent ID: 8376749

Claim:
A method for managing processing activity of computer applications in a distributed computing environment, comprising: receiving, by at least one processor, a first milestone message from a first application, the first milestone message comprising milestone information including a milestone type indicator and one or more milestone parameter values, wherein the fist milestone message indicates that the first application has reached a specific point in its periodic processing, and wherein at least one of the milestone parameter values is a first hierarchical attribute value that represents a first element of a hierarchal structure; bridging down, by the at least one processor, the first milestone message to derive a second milestone message and a third milestone message based at least in part on the first hierarchical attribute value and the hierarchal structure, wherein the second and third milestone messages each correspond to elements of the hierarchal structure that are child elements of the first element according to the hierarchal structure, wherein the second milestone message indicates that a second application has reached a specific point in its periodic processing, and wherein the third milestone message indicates that a third application has reached a specific point in its periodic processing; applying, by the least one processor, a rule based process on the second and the third milestone message; and sending, by the at least one processor, a first trigger message and a second trigger message in response to the application of the rule on the second and third new milestone messages.