Patent Document ID: 9448787
Application ID: 14256473
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method comprising: generating, by a computer processor of a development server, a plurality of risk factor questions associated with a software development process of a software program during a software development stage in which the software program is being created or will be created, a risk factor question requesting information to assess software development risk associated with a particular software development activity, wherein generating, by the computer processor, the plurality of risk factor questions includes generating a risk factor question for a churn; respectively associating the plurality of risk factors with a plurality of risk factor models and a plurality of risk factor weightings, wherein the associating includes increasing a risk factor based on a churn risk factor response to the risk factor question for the churn, a churn risk being a dynamic risk that is generated at each gate, the plurality of risk factors including at least one static risk factor that is generated at only one gate; categorizing, by the computer processor of the development server, the plurality of risk factor questions into risk categories including at least one key staff, project, scope, gate and project schedule; receiving, by the computer processor of a development server from a user device over the Internet, a plurality of risk factor responses associated with the software development process of the software program at each of a plurality of gates in the software development stage, a risk factor response of the plurality of risk factor responses being a response to the risk factor question, a risk factor being associated with the risk factor response and reflecting a quantitative software development risk associated with the software development process; respectively associating, by the computer processor of the development server, a plurality of risk factors with a plurality of risk factor models and a plurality of risk factor weightings, the plurality of risk factors including the risk factor, a risk factor model of the plurality of risk factor models reflecting a mathematical relationship between the risk factor and a risk factor weighting; comparing a measurement of (i) the plurality of risks factors, (ii) weighting factors, and (iii) a determination of probabilities of introducing defects into the software program against historically derived standards and/or historically derived data using information of the plurality of risk factors associated with (i) at least one prior development project, (ii) prior development segments, and (iii) outcomes associated with the at least one prior development project or the prior development segments; totaling, by the computer processor of the development server, the plurality of risk factors in combination with their respective association of the plurality of risk factor models and the plurality of risk factor weightings to generate a predicted number of expected software development defects associated with continued development of the software program; selecting, by the computer processor of the development server, a possible developmental solution among a plurality of possible developmental solutions using the associating and the totaling; analyzing, by the computer processor of the development server, the plurality of risk factors in combination with their respective association of the plurality of risk factor models and the plurality of risk factor weightings to flag a software development risk area; and generating, by the computer processor of the development server, a notification based on flagging of the software development risk area.