Patent ID: 8543443

Claim:
At a computer device, the computer device including a display, a method for visually conveying status for a multi-stage change management item, said method comprising: accessing change management data for said multi-stage change management item from a change management database, said multi-stage change management item defining a plurality of stages for a process; in response to accessing the change manage data, for each stage in said plurality of stages: assigning a stage identifier icon for said stage; defining a completed status icon to display along with said stage identifier icon to visually indicate that said stage has completed; defining a not yet started status icon to display along with said stage identifier icon to visually indicate that said stage has not yet started; for at least one stage in said plurality of stages, defining one or more additional icons displayable along with said stage identifier icon for said at least one stage, each of said one or more additional icons for visually indicating a corresponding additional status for said at least one stage when said at least one stage is the current stage; the computer device analyzing said change management data to identify a current stage for said multi-stage change management item and to identify a current status for said current stage; the computer device forming a set of stage identifier icon and status icon combinations representing the state of the multi-stage change management item, including: assigning a status icon corresponding to said identified current status to said stage identifier icon for said identified current stage; assigning said completed icon to said stage identifier icon for any completed stages; and assigning said not yet started icon to said stage identifier icon for any stages that have yet to be started; and displaying said set of stage identifier icon and status icon combinations at said display to visually convey the state of the multi-stage change management item.