Method and system for quantitatively assessing project risk and effectiveness

• US 20030101089A1
• Filed: 11/29/2001
• Published: 05/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NTT Data Services Corporation (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Perot Systems Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Chappel, Oscar A., Creel, Christopher Taylor
• Granted Patent: US 7,313,531 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities

Abstract

A method and system for assessing risk of a change proposal on a project development, and effectiveness of a service provider to satisfy a client. The method for assessing risk may include receiving the change proposal requesting one or more amendments to be performed on the project. One or more elements of the project potentially affected upon the change proposal being approved may be identified based on the amendment(s) of the change proposal. Metric(s) indicative of the potential effects on the project based on the identified element(s) may be generated. The method for determining effectiveness may include receiving change proposals. A frequency of receipt of the change proposals being received during the course of the project may be monitored to determine effectiveness of the service provider in satisfying the client.

Claims

1. A method for assessing risk on a project associated with a change proposal directed toward the project, the project being developed by a service provider for a client, said method comprising:

receiving the change proposal directed toward the project, the change proposal requesting at least one amendment to be performed to the project being developed by the service provider;

identifying, based on the at least one amendment request, at least one artifact of the project to be potentially affected upon the change proposal being adopted; and

generating at least one metric indicative of the potential effects on the project based on said identifying the at least one artifact, the at least one metric providing an objective risk assessment for the service provider to provide the client.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one metric includes a statistical value.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said generating includes performing a regression analysis.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the service provider is at least one of a consultant and a contractor.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the project is at least one of a document and a product.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said identifying includes determining an artifact to be amended.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein said identifying the at least one artifact includes counting descendants of the artifact to be amended.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one metric includes a numerical representation of at least one of direct and indirect artifacts affected by the change proposal.

9. A system for assessing risk on a project associated with a change proposal directed toward the project, the project being developed by a service provider for a client, said system comprising:

means for receiving the change proposal directed toward the project, the change proposal requesting at least one amendment to be performed to the project being developed by the service provider;

means for identifying, based on the at least one amendment request, at least one artifact of the project to be potentially affected upon the change proposal being adopted; and

means for generating at least one metric indicative of the potential effects on the project based on said identifying the at least one artifact, the at least one metric providing an objective risk assessment for the service provider to provide the client.

10. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

receive the change proposal directed toward a project being developed by a service provider for a client, the change proposal requesting at least one amendment to be performed to the project;

identify, based on the at least one amendment request, at least one artifact of the project to be potentially affected upon the change proposal being adopted; and

generate at least one metric indicative of the potential effects on the project based on said identifying the at least one artifact, the at least one metric providing an objective risk assessment for the service provider to provide the client.

11. A method for determining effectiveness of a project development by a service provider for a client, said method comprising:

receiving a plurality of change proposals directed toward the project, the change proposals requesting amendments to at least one artifact of the project;

monitoring frequency of receipt of the plurality of change proposals being received during the course of the project; and

evaluating the frequency of receipt of the plurality of change proposals being received during the course of the project to quantitatively determine effectiveness of the service provider to satisfy the client.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said monitoring includes summing the number of change proposals received on a periodic basis.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the periodic basis is daily.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein said evaluating includes plotting the summed number of change proposals on a chart.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising determining effects on the project development created due to at least one change proposal.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the effects include at least one of direct and indirect work efforts to address the at least one change proposal.

17. The method according to claim 11, wherein the project includes developing a document.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the document is a requirements specification.

19. The method according to claim 11, wherein the service provider is at least one of a consultant and a contractor.

20. A system for determining effectiveness of a project development by a service provider for a client, said system comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of change proposals directed toward the project, the change proposals requesting amendments to at least one amendment of the project;

means for monitoring frequency of receipt of the plurality of change proposals being received during the course of the project;

means for evaluating the frequency of receipt of the plurality of change proposals being received during the course of the project to quantitatively determine effectiveness of the service provider to satisfy the client.

21. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions including instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

receive a plurality of change proposals directed toward a project being developed by a service provider by a client, the change proposals requesting amendments to at least one artifact of the project;

monitor frequency of receipt of the plurality of change proposals being received during the course of the project; and

evaluate the frequency of receipt of the plurality of change proposals being received during the course of the project to quantitatively determine effectiveness of the service provider to satisfy the client.

22. A method for determining satisfaction of client expectation of content of a development project being developed by a service provider, said method comprising:

receiving a plurality of change proposals directed toward the project, the change proposals requesting amendments to at least one artifact of the project being content oriented;

determining that the at least one artifact is content oriented; and

generating a metric as a function of the plurality of change proposals being directed to the at least one artifact being content oriented, the metric being indicative of the service provider satisfying expectations of the client.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein said determining includes identifying the at least one artifact as being content oriented.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein said generating includes utilizing statistical analysis.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein said statistical analysis includes producing correlation coefficients.

26. The method according to claim 22, further comprising producing a client satisfaction indicator based on the metric.

27. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

receive a plurality of change proposals directed toward a project being developed by a service provider for the client, the change proposals requesting amendments to at least one artifact of the project being content oriented;

determine that the at least one artifact is content oriented; and

generate a metric as a function of the plurality of change proposals being directed to the at least one artifact being content oriented, the metric being indicative of the service provider satisfying expectations of the client.

28. A system for determining satisfaction of client expectation of content of a development project being developed by a service provider, said system comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of change proposals directed toward the project, the change proposals requesting amendments to at least one artifact of the project being content oriented;

means for determining that the at least one artifact is content oriented; and

means for generating a metric as a function of the plurality of change proposals being directed to the at least one artifact being content oriented, the metric being indicative of the service provider satisfying expectations of the client.