Patent ID: 8458009

Claim:
A system for estimating a cost of a project comprising one or more tasks, the system comprising: a memory storing instructions for estimating the cost of the project; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor performing the instructions to configure the processor to: determine characteristics for a basic task in a predetermined type of project, comprising an input quantity for the basic task; receive an assigned cost for the basic task; receive task information for an expected project comprising initial task information for an initial task and additional task information for additional tasks, the expected project comprising the initial task and the additional tasks; analyze the task information based on the basic task characteristics; determine costs comprising an additional task cost, an additional input cost, a complexity cost, an input timing cost, and an input quality cost, the costs based on analyzing the task information and the input quality cost based on a quality of preparation of the task information, the input quality cost having an inverse relationship to the quality of preparation of the task information; and estimate a total project cost for the expected project based on the basic task cost, the additional task cost, the additional input cost, the complexity cost, the input timing cost, and the input quality cost.