International Business Machines Corporation

Miriam Sarah Powell

David Edward Shough

Debra L Mayhew

The invention leads a user through an application program procedure via interactions with displayed information. A method incorporating the invention first displays maps (i.e., flow charts) of tasks required to be accomplished during the application procedure. The maps include various graphical icons, each of which provides an indication of job execution status; job names that are associated with at least some of the graphical icons; and connectors between the job names which designate an execution relationship therebetween. During the application program procedure, the presentation of a graphical icon is modified to indicate a readiness of an associated job to execute. Thereafter, the user selects the associated job for execution by entering a selection signal. The graphical icon's presentation is modified to indicate completion of execution of the associated job and the presentations of one or more connectors are modified to indicate a completion of execution. A preferred application of the method of the invention is to an application program which enables installation of a complex software system such as a database, on a mainframe computer.

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Tewksbury, MA, United States of America

Miriam Sarah Powell