CIM elements are retrieved from the management definition object and a determination is made as to whether the element is a non-instance element or an instance element. If the element is a non-instance element and a qualifier is found in the management object, then the corresponding name is used. If the qualifier is not found, then the CIM element name is used. If the element is an instance element and a qualifier is found then the name corresponding to the qualifier is used. If there is no qualifier then a determination is made as to the number of non-propagated key properties. If there is one non-propagated key property then the value of the property is used. If there are more than one non-propagated key properties, then a display name is constructed from each non-propagated key property and its corresponding value.