Arrangement for the propagation of alarm information in a building automation system that includes one or more applications that access building system data via a monitoring and control system

1. A method, comprising:

a) accessing building automation data comprising a plurality of data objects, each data object corresponding to a space or device in a building automation system, the data objects interrelated in a first hierarchy linking the plurality of data objects and as a series of parent and child objects;

b) receiving an event condition indication from a first device in the building automation system;

c) storing an indication of the event condition in a first data object corresponding to the first device;

d) propagating an indication of the event condition to upstream objects in the first hierarchy, wherein the upstream objects include a parent object of the first data object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein step d) further comprises storing an indication of the event condition in the upstream objects.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein step d) further comprises:

i) employing a hierarchy service to determine the upstream objects for the first object;

ii) storing information relating to the event condition in data records for each of the upstream objects.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein step d) further comprises:

modifying a value of an alarm property in each of the upstream objects to include information identifying the first data object.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data objects are further interrelated in a second hierarchy, and further comprising propagating an indication of the event condition to upstream objects in the second hierarchy.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

e) receiving from an application a request for event information for an upstream node corresponding to a first upstream object of the upstream objects;

f) obtaining information regarding the event condition from the first upstream object using the propagated event condition indication; and

g) displaying information relating to the event condition indication.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

e) receiving from an application a request for event information for an upstream node corresponding to a first upstream object of the upstream objects;

f) obtaining information regarding the event condition from the first upstream object using the propagated event condition indication;

g) evaluating user authorization information and information regarding the event condition;

h) displaying information relating to the alarm condition indication based on the evaluation of step g).

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device is at least one selected from a group consisting of: a sensor, a controller, an actuator, a pull station, a heat sensors, a motion sensor, and a smoke sensor.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data object further includes data correlating one or more event condition types with one or more user authorization levels.

10. An arrangement for use in a building automation system, comprising:

a) a plurality of building automation devices, including at least one sensor, and at least one controller;

b) a processing arrangement operably coupled to receive an event condition indication from a first device of the plurality of building automation devices, the processing arrangement configured to:

access building automation data comprising a plurality of data objects, each data object corresponding to a space or device in a building automation system, the data objects interrelated in a first hierarchy linking the plurality of data objects as a series of parent and child objects;

store an indication of the event condition in a first data object corresponding to the first device;

propagate an indication of the alarm condition to upstream objects in the first hierarchy, wherein the upstream objects include a parent object of the first data object.

11. The arrangement of claim 10 , wherein the processing arrangement is further configured to receive from an application a request for event information for an upstream node corresponding to a first upstream object of the upstream objects;

obtain information regarding the event condition from the first upstream object using the propagated event condition indication; and

provide to the application information relating to the event condition indication.

12. The arrangement of claim 11 , further comprising a second processing arrangement configured to execute the application and further comprising a display configured to display the information relating to the event condition.

13. The arrangement of claim 11 , further comprising a memory storing the first data object, the memory operably connected to the first processing arrangement.

14. The arrangement of claim 13 , wherein the first data object includes data identifying the first device.

15. The arrangement of claim 14 , wherein the first data object includes data correlating one or more event condition types with one or more user authorization levels.

16. The arrangement of claim 15 , wherein the parent object corresponds to a room within a building.

17. The arrangement of claim 13 , wherein the first data object includes data identifying the first device.

18. The arrangement of claim 10 , wherein the first data object further includes data correlating one or more event condition types with one or more user authorization levels.