Patent ID: 7685016

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for analyzing relationships between at least a first and second person comprising the steps of: with respect to at least one of the relationships between at least the first and second persons, obtaining relationship data from different categories and recording the relationship data from each category in a relationship data store, wherein the different categories comprise: organizational relationship data based upon an organization structure; project-based relationship data based upon project-specific collaborations; and social relationship data based upon social interactions; with respect to at least one of the relationships between at least the first and second persons: assigning a first affinity value to the at least one relationship to indicate the relative strength of the relationship in a first direction, the first direction being from the first person to the second person; and assigning a second affinity value to the at least one relationship to indicate the relative strength of the relationship in a second direction, the second direction being from the second person to the first person, whereby the at least one relationship is a bidirectional relationship; dynamically and continuously altering, by a computer, the first and second affinity values based on detected communication events including informal social interactions between at least the first and second persons; receiving a relationship inquiry regarding at least the first and second persons; querying the relationship data recorded in the relationship data store; generating a response, by the computer, to the relationship inquiry based upon data gathered from the relationship data store; graphically illustrating the response in a unified relationship chart and a relationship linkage chart, wherein the unified relationship chart illustrates at least one of the relationships between at least the first and second persons using data from at least two of the different categories, and wherein the relationship linkage chart illustrates at least one relationship linkage including a chain of relationships that connect at least the first and second persons; and displaying the unified relationship chart and the relationship linkage chart in a graphical user interface of the computer, wherein the displayed unified relationship chart and relationship linkage chart can be interactively manipulated resulting in corresponding changes being made to the underlying relationship data store.