1. A method for performing an action, in a distributed environment, upon occurrence of a monitored event related to a set of data elements, the method comprising: providing a rule, the rule comprising an event identification component specifying an event to be monitored and an action component specifying an action to be performed upon occurrence of the event; determining, from the rule, if the event identification component is to be evaluated by a remote event engine from a plurality of remote event engines executing on one or more computers remote from a centralized event engine executing on a first computer and if the action component is to be evaluated by the remote event engine from the plurality of remote event engines; evaluating the event identification component and the action component of the rule, wherein, for a component of the rule that is determined to be evaluated by the remote event engine, the component of the rule is evaluated by the remote event engine at a computer remote from the first computer, wherein the evaluating comprises monitoring occurrence of the event specified by the event identification component; and performing the action specified by the action component upon occurrence of the event.