Abstract: The construction and display of operator messages representative of alert conditions in a network is described. Code points, which are strings of bits, are generated in response to an event in a device attached to the network. The code points are used to index predefined tables that contain relatively short units of text messages in operator selectable languages to be used in building an operator's information display. A product attached to a network, an alert sender, will generate a series of code points representative of desired display messages for an operator. The messages are indepedent of the specific alert sending product insofar as an alert receiver is concerned. The operator can also choose between detailed and general display messages. The code points are hierarchically arranged so that if the alert receiver does not have the most up to date set of messages, the alert receiver will display a more generic message which is still representative of the event.