sent the query to the first node 102 1 may process any responses it receives in a manner similar to that described in connection with step 218 the method 200 ends in step 220 at least with respect to the second node 102 2 for any nodes 102 located in higher levels of the hierarchy such as the first node 102 1 certain steps of the method 200 may continue e g receiving processing and or delivering responses until the originating node has received a response to the original query thus the user of the originating node does not need to know who is capable of responding to the original query he need only know the next person to whom to send the query to facilitate the response e g a person with direct or indirect access to the information needed for response each person to whom the query e g the original query or a sub query of the original query is forwarded creates the next portion of the workflow that is required to generate the response the user of the originating node is constantly aware of the extent of the tree that is being created of the time frame within which a response is expected and whether part of the query may have stalled at an unresponsive user the user of the originating node may modify the tree at any time e g by pruning portions of the.