Patent ID: 7698710

Claim:
A method for evaluating and distributing workload across a processing environment having a plurality of computer systems each having a plurality of assigned current workload units comprising the steps of: calculating a plurality of impact values, one impact value for each current workload unit assigned for each of a plurality of computing systems in a processing environment each computer system having a plurality of assigned current workload units, wherein said calculating of each impact value comprises determining a change in system expiration date by assigning an impact number representing the number of days that the expiration date of the computer system would be changed should the current workload unit be removed from the system with all other workload units remaining the same; determining the impact of moving the current workload unit from a donor computer system to a recipient computer system based on said impact values; and reassigning workload in the processing environment by moving at least one of said plurality of assigned current workload units to change expiration dates of at least two of said plurality of computer systems.