Patent ID: 7003475

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of dynamically scheduling an arbitrary number of resources from among a plurality of resources of a work-producing system, wherein the work-producing system comprises a pharmacy, said method comprising the steps of: (a) in a computer system, sorting, in a predetermined order, available resources by an arbitrary number of tasks from among a plurality of tasks of the work-producing system performable per resource, and rate per task, and determining at least one queue responsive to said sorting, wherein the tasks are subject to an arbitrary number of constraints from among a plurality of constraints of the work-producing system, wherein the rate per task characteristizes the processing of pharmaceutical orders processed in the at least one task for a time period, the at least one task including reviewing a pharmaceutical order, dispensing a pharmaceutical prescription as part of the pharmaceutical order, and verifying the pharmaceutical order; and (b) assigning the available resources to the at least one task from among a plurality of tasks of the work-producing system subject to at least one constraint from among a plurality of constraints of the work-producing system, wherein said sorting step (a), and said assigning step (b) are performed according to a resource allocation model, wherein the resource allocation model includes entities with variable attributes having variable quantities that transform through at least one network of nodes; and wherein each node of the at least one network of nodes includes an associated set of attributes and parameters, the attributes include the resource; each node or at least one network of nodes exists for a pre-determined time period.