Patent ID: 8429002

Claim:
A machine-implemented method for assisting a user, the method comprising: identifying, using a processor, for each software tool in a plurality of software tools to be considered for performing a particular task, a plurality of characteristic values, wherein each of the plurality of characteristic values identifies a number that reflects how much said each software tool supports a particular characteristic in a plurality of characteristics; wherein the plurality of characteristics comprises: a first characteristic on interoperability of said each software tool with software applications from a first vendor; a second characteristic on interoperability of said each software tool with software applications from a second vendor; and a third characteristic on support provided by a company providing said each software tool; wherein the particular task is one of performing testing simulations, managing data persistently, or maintaining electronic records; computing a score for said each software tool, wherein the score is based on the characteristic values, of the plurality of characteristics; transmitting, to a client having a user interface, display data that describes how to render, on the user interface, a pictorial representation of the scores associated with the plurality of software tools, wherein the pictorial representation depicts a relative measure of how appropriate said each software tool is for the particular task; wherein each of the first characteristic, the second characteristic and the third characteristic is a child characteristic of another characteristic in the plurality of characteristics hereinafter referred to as parent characteristic; wherein a weight is associated with the child characteristic; in response to receiving input that changes the weight associated with the child characteristic, causing the display of the pictorial representation to be updated dynamically to reflect a change associated with the child characteristic thereby to cause information about the characteristic value associated with the parent characteristic to change.