Patent ID: 7366680
Filing Date: 2008-04-29
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of determining a set of development project practices and persons to utilize for a new development project, the method comprising: forming a master set of hierarchical elements to be utilized when developing new projects; wherein the master set of hierarchical elements comprises a plurality of practices and persons; wherein the master set of elements are related to at least one of requirements, management, testing, manufacturing, and specifications; identifying, from the master set of hierarchical elements, a plurality of elements utilized by at least one historical or current project; forming a vector comprising a plurality of binary and non-binary weighted values and indicative of the plurality of elements utilized by the at least one historical or current project; receiving a request to develop a new project and information related to the new project; forming, using the received information, a vector comprising a plurality of binary and non-binary weighted-values and indicative of a subset of the master set of elements to be utilized by the new project; quantitatively assessing correlation of the new project and the at least one historical or current project via a statistical analysis of the at least one historical or current project and the new project, the statistical analysis comprising: identifying, based on the statistical analysis, at least one historical or current project closely correlated to the new project; providing a user with an estimate associated with the new project based on the identifying step; identifying weak and valuable practices and personnel utilized by the at least one historical or current project based on the statistical analysis; selecting a subset of the master set of elements to be utilized in developing the new project based, at least in part, on the identified at least one closely correlated project, the provided estimate associated with the new project, and the quantitatively assessed correlation; wherein the selected subset comprises at least one identified valuable practice or person and excludes at least one identified weak practice or person; and developing the new project using the selected subset of the master set of elements.