11. A computer system for monitoring a process, the computer system comprising: a display device; a graphical user interface for displaying on the display device the status of components used in operation of said process, each component being represented on the graphical user interface by an associated graphical object that is generated or rendered by an application from a related vector graphic file; said vector graphic file including an animation instruction inserted into the vector graphic file, wherein the animation instruction: is not executable code, complies with a predefined syntax, does not violate a prescribed format for the vector graphic file, is ignored by said application; and defines one or more animation effects that are dependent upon a value of at least one variable and a set of conditions applying to the at least one variable; the value of said at least one variable being dependent upon the status of said component being represented; and an interpreter engine to: (a) recognize and parse said animation instruction, (b) retrieve a current value of said at least one variable, (c) determine a required animation effect based on checking the retrieved current value of the at least one variable against said set of conditions, and (d) instruct the application to modify said graphical object to exhibit the determined animation effect so as to show a change in status of the component being represented by said graphical object, wherein the display device is configured to display said graphical object with the determined animation effect.
11. A computer system for monitoring a process, the computer system comprising: a display device; a graphical user interface for displaying on the display device the status of components used in operation of said process, each component being represented on the graphical user interface by an associated graphical object that is generated or rendered by an application from a related vector graphic file; said vector graphic file including an animation instruction inserted into the vector graphic file, wherein the animation instruction: is not executable code, complies with a predefined syntax, does not violate a prescribed format for the vector graphic file, is ignored by said application; and defines one or more animation effects that are dependent upon a value of at least one variable and a set of conditions applying to the at least one variable; the value of said at least one variable being dependent upon the status of said component being represented; and an interpreter engine to: (a) recognize and parse said animation instruction, (b) retrieve a current value of said at least one variable, (c) determine a required animation effect based on checking the retrieved current value of the at least one variable against said set of conditions, and (d) instruct the application to modify said graphical object to exhibit the determined animation effect so as to show a change in status of the component being represented by said graphical object, wherein the display device is configured to display said graphical object with the determined animation effect. 17. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein said interpreter engine comprises JavaScript®.