Patent ID: 8364519

Claim:
A method of determining a set of future actions, the method comprising: performing predictive analysis for a set of influencers and for a set of performance indicators to determine a first future value of a performance indicator of the set of performance indicators at a future predictive time, the performance indicators associated with the set of influencers by a model, the set of influencers associated with a set of present influencer values and a first set of future influencer values, each future influencer value of the first set of future influencer values associated with a future time of a plurality of future times; determining that the future value of the performance indicator at the future predictive time is not in compliance with a business rule associated with the performance indicator; performing root cause analysis by identifying a subset of influencers of the set of influencers based on the effect of a change in a future influencer value of each influencer of the subset of influencers on the future value of the performance indicator at the future predictive time, the subset of influencers provided in an ordered list of the subset of influencers based on the effect of the change in the future influencer value on the performance indicator; displaying the ordered list of the subset of influencers; automatically selecting, using a computer, a selected influencer of the subset of influencers and automatically adjusting based on an objective function and at a future action time a future influencer value of the selected influencer of the subset of influencers to provide an associated second set of future influencer values and performing predictive analysis using the second set of future influencer values to provide a second future value of the performance indicator that is at least in compliance with the business rule at the future predictive time, the second set of future influencer values representing a user actionable recommendation; receiving a what-if scenario from a user to determine an effect of adjusting future values of an influencer of the subset of influencers on the performance indicator, the what-if scenario including a user adjusted future value and a future action time associated with the influencer of the subset of influencers to provide a third set of future influencer values; and performing predictive analysis using the third set of future influencer values to provide a third future value of the performance indicator.