Patent ID: 8335705

Claim:
A method comprising: searching, via one or more processors, a database stored on a computer-readable storage medium for information about resources that is used for participation in projects, the database containing time periods during which each of the resources is available, the time periods during which each of the resources is available indicating both tentative and non-tentative allocations of each of the resources, amounts of resource participation for which the resources can be used for the projects, and attributes for each resource, wherein the projects require two or more resources to complete and the projects are comprised of a set of tasks, each individual task among the set of tasks requiring at least one qualifying attribute, selected from the attributes in the database, which qualifies each resource to perform a given task in the project, the at least one qualifying attribute including at least one skill, at least one qualification, at least one level of experience, or at least one level of expertise; the searching comprising matching proposed amounts of resource participation, proposed time periods, and the at least one qualifying attribute of the resource with the available time periods, available amounts of resource participation, and available qualifying attributes stored in the database for each of the projects; identifying, via the one or more processors, based on the at least one qualifying attribute necessary to complete each task of each project, available resources based on the matching; determining, via the one or more processors, a priority value for each of the projects by identifying an importance for the project through receiving an identification of the importance of one of the qualifying attributes to the project from a user; and allocating, via the one or more processors, resources to each project based on the identified resources necessary across all of the projects based on the available resources having the at least one qualifying attribute and the priority value of the project, wherein the allocation of resources includes both tentative and non-tentative allocation of resources.