System and Method for Tracking Information in a Business Environment

Abstract

A system and method for tracking information in a business environment. The system uses a tree-view hierarchy whereby alerts and time triggers are set by the user and upon the triggering of an event, the visual attributes of the tree-view folders change to reflect the triggering event.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method for tracking and displaying time critical information comprising:
 establishing a parent folder;   establishing a child element associated with the parent folder;   correlating the child element with a time critical task having a status;   starting a system clock and monitoring system time;   changing an attribute of the child element corresponding to the time critical task status; and   changing an attribute of the parent folder when the attribute of the child element changes.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the time critical task status is selected from the group consisting of in-progress and completed. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the attribute of the parent folder is selected from the group consisting of visual, color, animation, textual, size and audible; and the attribute of the child element is selected from the group consisting of visual, color, animation, textual, size and audible. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the attribute of the parent folder is selected from the group consisting of visual, color, animation, textual, size and audible; and the attribute of the child element is selected from the group consisting of visual, color, animation, textual, size and audible.