Patent ID: 7406423

Claim:
An information handling system comprising: one or more processors; a memory accessible by the processors; a nonvolatile storage device accessible by the processors; a input mechanism for receiving input actions from a user; and an automation tool for controlling a plurality of operational subsystems, the automation tool including: means for receiving a user protocol statement, wherein the user protocol statement is vocal; means for analyzing the user protocol statement; means for identifying a particular operational situation based upon the analyzed user protocol statement, the particular operational situation encountered in a particular operational environment and requiring one or more actions to be taken in response to the particular operational situation; means for retrieving a protocol corresponding to the identified operational situation, the protocol including both system actions and user input actions, wherein at least one of the system actions and user input actions are optional and wherein at least one of the system actions and user input actions are mandatory; means for automatically performing a first system action as specified in the protocol; means for determining that a second system action is optional; means for checking for an action override input from the user in response to determining that the second system action is optional, wherein the action override input corresponds to the second system action; means for overriding the second system action in response to both receiving the action override input corresponding to the second system action and determining that the second system action is optional; and means for storing the system actions and user input actions to provide a record of the operational situation.