Patent Document ID: 8185428
Application ID: 12502706
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer implemented method of predicting a cost performance index for a project, the method comprising: accepting via a user interface of a computer system a first input representative of a lifecycle overlap value for the project; accepting via the user interface a second input representative of a requirements volatility value for the project; defining by the computer system probability distributions for each of the first and second inputs; and based on the probability distributions, running on the computer system a plurality of simulations of an equation in order to generate a predicted cost performance index for the project, the equation defining a relationship between the lifecycle overlap value, the requirements volatility value and the cost performance index and having the form: 
 CPI=A* ( x 1 *x 2 ) +B; wherein CPI is the predicted cost performance index for the project; x 1 is the probability distribution for the first input; x 2 is the probability distribution for the second input; and A and B are pre-determined constants.