Abstract: The invention provides an improved automated system and method for monitoring the states of other systems. In one embodiment, the inventive system and method may be employed by an operations console that is monitoring the state of one or more data processing systems. According to the invention, a set of states is defined to describe events or conditions occurring within the monitored systems. A set, or “family”, of files is defined, wherein the family includes an associated file for each of the defined states. When one or more of the monitored systems are determined to be in a predetermined state, data signals stored within the associated file may be used to generate some type of signal that may be readily perceived by the operator to determined the state. For example, the data signals may be used to generate a visual or audio representation of the state.