Methods and systems consistent with the present invention include developing a real-time caution and warning (CW) and system health management (HM) software, having an architecture that partitions the application software into two major components: a) a Bytecode, which is an organized collection of CW and/or HM data objects that defines the components and attributes of that particular application function within the given system, and b) a software entity, called the Virtual Engine (VE), which is executed within an embedded system, which takes as its input the "Bytecode" that it manipulates according to a predefined instruction set. The system user or designer can define, design, test, and validate the system using a user-friendly tool. The VE is intended to be reusable within the CW and system HM application domain.