ALERT ENGINE

Methods and systems for managing alerts in a database are provided, whereby the alerts originate from at least one business application due to exceptional situations, and whereby the alerts are represented as objects, each object corresponding to one of a number of configurable alert types. Each of the alert type may be configured, so that alerts of that alert type comprise at least one of: an ID for uniquely identifying the alert, information representative of the type of alert, message text being descriptive of the alert, a set of parameters representative of business or control objects associated with the alert, an alert scope being representative of the relevance for partners or users, feedback information being representative of time and identity of acknowledging the alert by a partner or user, status information for controlling follow-up actions, validity time information, and priority information.