Method to support dynamic object extensions for common information model (CIM) operation and maintenance

An improved system and method is disclosed for making the Common Information Model (CIM), produced by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), more flexible and extensible without requiring changes to it or its existing implementations. MultipleInheritance associations are implemented to define extension abstract classes for managed element information and to create static and dynamic add-in classes, all operable to reference the CIM schema class. Ambiguity is mitigated by not allowing properties of different data types to have the same name in super classes that are used for MultipleInheritance associations. Data integrity is facilitated by merging class properties of the same name and data type through the use of a Min algorithm. Concrete user classes are derived from new abstract classes such that management functionality is enabled for managed element properties. A polymorphic object pointer is implemented using a PolymorphicPointer association to facilitate traversal or the resulting class hierarchies and inheritance trees.