1. A computer-implemented method for presenting Digital Video Management (DVM) system information for a DVM system, the method including: providing an interface for displaying DVM system elements in a hierarchical tree structure, wherein the DVM system elements include hardware devices that enable the collection of surveillance footage in a DVM system wherein the hardware devices include cameras and camera servers, wherein the hierarchical tree structure includes a plurality of nodes arranged in a plurality of levels, each node corresponding to a DVM element characteristic value, such that DVM system elements having that DVM element characteristic value are grouped under that node, wherein for a given one of the DVM system elements defined by a hardware device, the DVM element characteristic value is representative of one or more of: (a) a hardware physical location; (b) a hardware physical operational status; or (c) hardware security settings; providing a tree customization module configured to receive instructions from a user indicative of: (i) a user designated DVM element characteristic for a level in the hierarchical tree structure, wherein the user selects the user designated DVM element characteristic from a list including the following selectable characteristic types: (a) a hardware physical location; (b) a hardware physical operational status and (c) hardware security settings; and (ii) a user designated location in the hierarchical tree structure for that level; in response to the instructions from the user, defining nodes for that level, wherein each node corresponds to a value for the user designated DVM element characteristic; updating the hierarchical tree structure with the defined nodes; providing an interactive checkbox for each node and element in the hierarchical tree structure wherein checking the checkbox causes selection of the associated element or in the case of a node causes selection of the associated node and all of the nodes and elements underlying the checked node in the hierarchical tree structure and wherein un-checking the checkbox causes deselection of the associated element or in the case of a node causes deselection of the associated node and all of the nodes and elements underlying the unchecked node in the hierarchical tree structure; providing a user-selectable functionality whereby nodes and elements selected using the interactive checkbox remain selected as the hierarchical tree structure is updated by the user through the tree customization module, such that, in use: when the hierarchical tree structure is presented in a first configuration, a user selects a first subset of the nodes and elements using the interactive checkboxes; subsequently, the user provides instructions to the tree customization module to update the hierarchical tree structure to a second configuration, wherein the second configuration presents a different configuration of hierarchical tree structure elements compared with the first configuration, with relationships between a subset of the nodes and elements altered; and when the hierarchical tree structure is presented in the second configuration, the user selects a second subset of the nodes and elements using the interactive checkboxes, wherein the first subset of the nodes remains persistent selected in spite of transition from the first configuration to the second configuration, such that both the first subset of the nodes and the second subset of the nodes become simultaneously selected.