Patent ID: 8464263

Claim:
A method for allocating work requests to performing centers, said method comprising: generating options for assigning said work requests to said performing centers, said options being based upon predetermined historical factors capturing work request characteristics and performing center characteristics, wherein said generating is carried out by a software module executing on a hardware processor; for each of said options, scheduling said work requests to determine a corresponding duration of said work requests, wherein said scheduling is carried out by a software module executing on a hardware processor; for each of said options, computing an overall cost, wherein said computing is carried out by a software module executing on a hardware processor, and wherein said computing comprises: calculating, for a first group of said work requests having no dependencies, an individual estimated effort, E e , via E e =E b ×A p (t, p), wherein: E b is a base effort for a given type of said work requests; and A p (t, p) is a productivity adjustment based on historical data corresponding to a given type of said work requests, t, and a given one of said performing centers, p, that a given one of said work requests is assigned to; calculating, for a second group of said work requests having dependencies on k other ones of said work requests executing on k other performing centers, E e , via E e =E b ×A CN ×A p (t, p) wherein A CN is a net collaboration adjustment factor calculated as a product of individual collaboration adjustment factors for said k other ones of said work requests; calculating, for each of said work requests, an individual cost as a product of E e and a unit cost; and adding said individual cost of each of said work requests to determine said overall cost of said work requests; and selecting one of said options based on said overall cost and said corresponding duration, wherein said selecting is carried out by a software module executing on a hardware processor.