Patent ID: 7788146

Claim:
An apparatus for visualizing financial and measurement data of an organization comprising: a database for storing and processing the financial data; a computer including a processor for accessing and processing the financial data and interfacing with the database; an input device; a graphical interface linked to the computer for depicting the financial data as instruments that are part of an instrument panel within a vehicle; a display; and a software program residing on the database and interfacing with the computer, the database, the display, and the input device; and wherein the software program comprises machine readable or interpretable instructions for converting the financial data into graphics representing the instrument panel; wherein the database has links established with financial formulas, wherein each financial formula is linked with one or more instruments on the instrument panel; wherein the vehicle may be dragged along a desired future flight path on the display using the input device such that a user may observe the changes in the financial data as calculated by the financial formulas that are required to achieve desired future flight path, thereby allowing the user to create and save different scenarios; wherein an instrument may be altered via a mouse click to observe changes in a desired future flight path on the display such that the user may observe the changes as calculated by the financial formulas in the financial data that are required to achieve the desired future flight path; wherein the database has links established with the financial data such that as new financial data is entered into the database, the instruments automatically change to reflect the new data, thereby altering a path of the vehicle; wherein the software program further comprises a simulator that is used to establish an actual path, a budget path and a forecast path for the organization; wherein differences between the actual flight path projected flight path and budget flight path are calculated, and then displayed in one or more variance reports.