A system and method for processing data on a plurality of distributed computing devices. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a system and method prioritizes and distributes computing tasks over a network of computers. One embodiment, remote computers communicate signals indicative of the availability of computing resources to a server. The server determines if at least one computer has available resources that match the requirements of at least one stored computing task. If the server determines that an available resource matches at least one computing task, an agent storing the computing task is communicated to the computer for execution of the task. In accordance with another aspect, a system and method provide an improved knowledge based system utilizing a set of expressions displayed on a graphical user interface to configure and view software objects that process and manage data.