Patent ID: 7617117

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a storage device, for estimating requirements for completing a project, said method comprising: defining, in the storage device of the data processing system, for a general kind of project, project parameters, project characteristics, and major services; defining, in the storage device of the data processing system, analysis rules for said general kind of project; providing, for a specific project, a plurality of project factors comprising project-parameter inputs, project-characteristic inputs, and major-services inputs, wherein the project factors define a complexity matrix for the specific project having a plurality of complexity measures for the plurality of project factors; applying, by the processor of the data processing system, said analysis rules to said plurality of project factors; outputting, by the processor, for said specific project, a single complexity measure for the specific project based on a combination of the plurality of complexity measures for the plurality of project factors; performing, by the processor, an estimate of requirements for completing the project based on the single complexity measure for the specific project; and outputting, by the processor, the estimate of requirements for completion of the specific project based on results of performing the estimate of requirements, wherein: the complexity matrix has an associated defined exceptional combination that defines a combination of a subset of project factors, the subset of project factors being less than a total number of project factors within the plurality of project factors, and a condition of the complexity measures for the combination of the subset of project factors, that forces the single complexity measure for the specific project to be a maximum complexity measure value, and outputting a single complexity measure for the specific project comprises: determining, by the processor, whether the condition of the complexity measures for the combination of the subset of project factors defined in the exceptional combination is met in the complexity matrix for the specific project; and forcing, by the processor, the single complexity measure for the specific project to the maximum complexity measure value in response to the condition of the complexity measures for the combination of the subset of project factors defined in the exceptional combination being met in the complexity matrix for the specific project regardless of the complexity measures associated with the other project factors not part of the subset of project factors in the exceptional combination.