Patent ID: 7729933

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of managing a collaborative process performed in accordance with a first entity and at least a second entity, the method comprising: a computer obtaining information associated with the collaborative process used to design and develop a given product; and based on at least a portion of the obtained information, the computer dynamically building and maintaining an information structure as a context pyramid structure to assist at least one of the first entity and the second entity in managing at least a portion of the collaborative process; wherein the context pyramid structure represents a status of the collaborative process and comprises a plurality of flow lines that represent a plurality of levels of resolution of tasks in the collaborative process; and wherein the building and maintaining comprises: creating a lowest-level flow line to represent a lowest-level of resolution, the lowest-level flow line corresponding to a timeline for completing the collaborative process, the timeline containing a plurality of checkpoints for completing the collaborative process, each of the checkpoints represented on the lowest-level flow line by a node, the nodes comprising at least a starting node representing a starting checkpoint on the timeline and an ending node representing an ending checkpoint on the timeline; and iteratively creating at least one next-higher level flow line to represent a next-higher level of resolution from a next-lower level flow line, for at least one pair of consecutive nodes on the flow line of the next-lower level, the next-higher level flow line corresponding to a next-higher-resolution timeline containing a plurality of higher-resolution checkpoints for completing a portion of the collaborative process that occurs between the checkpoints represented by the consecutive nodes on the lower-level flow line, each of the higher-resolution checkpoints represented on the next-higher level flow line by a node, the nodes on the next-higher level flow line comprising at least a starting node representing a starting checkpoint on the next-higher-resolution timeline and an ending node representing an ending checkpoint on the next-higher-resolution timeline.