Patent ID: 7983946

Claim:
A computer implemented method for identifying complex projects, comprising: receiving proposed project data for one or more factors including at least one of the group consisting of total project cost, total vendor costs, a number of organizations impacted, customer equipment impact, information technology billing impact, and network impact, wherein the data for each factor comprises an input value, a value range, a weighting coefficient, and a scale associated with the value range, wherein the scale has a minimum limit and a maximum limit; converting the input value to a scaled value for each factor; calculating, by planning team indicator software stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and executed by a processor, an absolute score for each factor as a function of the scaled value, the minimum scale limit, the maximum scale limit, and the weighting coefficient for the factor, wherein the function is defined using Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methodology; calculating, by the planning team indicator software, an absolute score for a project associated with the proposed project data as a function of the absolute score for all factors; comparing, by the planning team indicator software, the absolute score for the project to a defined breaking point; identifying, by the planning team indicator software, the project as complex when the absolute score for the project falls on one side of the breaking point; and calibrating the planning team indicator software, wherein the calibrating comprises using historical project data of completed historical projects as the proposed project data and iteratively modifying the weighting coefficients until the absolute score for a threshold number of the historical projects falls on the one side of the breaking point.