Disclosed are a method, a software product and a system for machine-executable information processing, representing information in a hierarchical data structure consisting of at least two hierarchy levels, where the structural configuration can be modeled by input means and the contents of an element can either: a) be manipulated by input means; or b) be determined by machine-evaluating an expression, which can be manipulated by input means, said expression being able to contain a reference to at least one other element.Preferred embodiments involve separate modeling in an object hierarchy and a class hierarchy, manipulatable parameters for activating different representation modes and operation modes, and involve distributed parallel processing in conjunction with user-controlled and/or machine-controlled interaction.The method serves to create and execute complex information systems without resorting to programming, such systems being used, in particular, for administrative tasks (e.g. for order management, purchasing and customer service).