Patent ID: 7546285

Claim:
A computer implemented method of evaluating a strategic change in a business, comprising: displaying, via a computer display, a scoring screen for evaluating a concept for one of funding and selection by the business, the scoring screen including a plurality of areas, each area including at least one sub-area, and each sub-area including a plurality of categories, wherein each of the plurality of categories includes one of numeric categories and non-numeric categories; storing values in a data store of a plurality of category values and a plurality of coefficients based on a first strategic initiative of the business, wherein the plurality of coefficients include a plurality of sub-area coefficients each associated with one of the plurality of sub-areas and a plurality of area coefficients each associated with one of the plurality of areas; receiving selections, via the scoring screen displayed on the computer display, of a plurality of the categories, one of the categories from each of the plurality of sub-areas, wherein the selected plurality of the categories evaluate the concept for one of funding and selection by the business associating each of the plurality of selected categories with a corresponding one of the plurality of category values; reading the coefficients and the associated category values from the data store; calculating, via a scoring component computer program embodied on a computer readable storage medium and executed by a processor, a concept score of the concept by calculating a plurality of area values defined as the sum of the products of each of the associated category values of the plurality of selected categories by the associated sub-area coefficient and further by summing the products of each of the plurality of area values multiplied by the associated area coefficient; storing the calculated concept score; storing at least one of at least one category value and at least one coefficient associated with a second strategic initiative of the business; changing at least one of at least one of the plurality of coefficients and at least one of the category values corresponding with the plurality of selected categories to at least one of the at least one category value and the at least one coefficient associated with the second strategic initiative of the business; automatically recalculating, via the scoring component, the stored concept score of the concept using the plurality of selected categories that evaluate the concept and at least one of the at least one changed coefficient and the at least one changed category value according to the second strategic initiative; and evaluating the strategic change in the business using the recalculated concept score according to the second strategic initiative.