Patent ID: 7130809

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for selecting a portfolio of products to be developed, the method performed using a computer system comprising one or more processing units and one or more memory units, the method comprising: using the computer system, selecting a set of candidate products to be developed; using the computer system, calculating a set of financial projections for each candidate product, the set of financial projections for a candidate product providing a future profit determination for each of a set of possible product introduction dates for the candidate product; using the computer system, for each candidate product, determining based on the set of financial projections an impact that the time of introduction has on profits associated with the candidate product; using the computer system, providing at least one project definition for each candidate product, such project definitions each including a development schedule and resource requirements, wherein the at least one project definition comprises one or more phases for development of the associated candidate product and each project definition comprises a plurality of ordered tasks for developing the product associated with the project definition, each task comprising a time requirement, a resource requirement and an ordering constraint with respect to the other tasks in the project definition; using the computer system, providing a set of available resources; and using the computer system, generating a development schedule for the set of candidate products to maximize profit based at least on the determined impact that the time of introduction has on profits associated with each of the candidate products and using the financial projections for the candidate products as a weighted factor in generating the development schedule such that products more affected by time are scheduled for faster production than products less affected by time, the development schedule providing for product development in accordance with project definitions for each of the candidate products and resource constraints; and using the computer system, assigning a probability of completion to each of the one or more phases, the probability of completion for use in allocating resources when generating the development schedule in accordance with the project definitions and the resource constraints; wherein each phase comprises one or more of the plurality of ordered tasks.