Patent Document ID: 9613331
Application ID: 14060242
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for outputting a rating based upon an estimate of an environmental factor of an entity when data relating to the environmental factor for the entity is incomplete, the method being implemented in a machine having a processor and a memory, the method comprising: receiving at the machine data relating to an industry, sector, or sub-sector to which the entity belongs; determining by the processor one or more circumstances in which environmental factor data concerning the entity is at least one of missing and incomplete; based on the determining, applying the data to a plurality of estimation modules to obtain the estimate of the environmental factor of the entity in the absence of the missing or incomplete data, wherein each estimation module of the plurality of estimation modules encodes a respective heuristic model algorithm; computing, by each estimation module of the plurality of estimation modules, using the respective heuristic model algorithm, a different component of the estimate of the environmental factor of the entity; applying by the processor the estimate as a factor in a formula to generate the rating for the entity; and outputting the rating from the machine.