System and method for constructing a schedule that better achieves one or more business goals
First Claim
1. A method of building an optimized schedule to complete at least one project, the schedule being optimized for at least one business goal, said method comprising:
- parsing said at least one project into a plurality of tasks;
in respect of each task;
defining fixed costs associated with the task;
defining task constraints associated with the task;
defining at least one resource capable of completing the task and in respect of the resource;
defining the time to complete the task using the at least one resource;
defining costs associated with the at least one resource;
and defining resource constraints associated with the at least one resource;
defining at least one business goal;
generating a set of alternate schedules containing at least one alternate schedule, each alternate schedule being feasible based on any task constraints and any resource constraints and determining an optimization score for each alternative schedule based on the at least one business goal; and
determining the alternate schedule with the best optimization score, being the optimized schedule; and
returning the optimized schedule.
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Abstract
A system and method for constructing a schedule that better achieves one or more business goals by generating a schedule optimized for at least one business goal comprising either a business objective or a business constraint. The present system and method, in addition to using information about the set of tasks, any information about constraints about the tasks, the available resources, the time to complete the tasks, all costs and any additional information in relation to the available resources, the present method, also uses information about the costs associated with the project, the sales revenues or fees earned by the project, customer satisfaction and alternative resources, in order to generate an optimized schedule meeting one or more defined business goals.
69 Citations
67 Claims
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1. A method of building an optimized schedule to complete at least one project, the schedule being optimized for at least one business goal, said method comprising:
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parsing said at least one project into a plurality of tasks;
in respect of each task;
defining fixed costs associated with the task;
defining task constraints associated with the task;
defining at least one resource capable of completing the task and in respect of the resource;
defining the time to complete the task using the at least one resource;
defining costs associated with the at least one resource;
and defining resource constraints associated with the at least one resource;
defining at least one business goal;
generating a set of alternate schedules containing at least one alternate schedule, each alternate schedule being feasible based on any task constraints and any resource constraints and determining an optimization score for each alternative schedule based on the at least one business goal; and
determining the alternate schedule with the best optimization score, being the optimized schedule; and
returning the optimized schedule. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for determining a schedule to complete at least one project, the schedule being optimized for a goal and comprising:
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breaking down the project into a set of tasks and for each task defining any fixed costs, any additional information and any constraints associated with the task;
identifying and defining, for each of the tasks, a first resource able to complete the task and for each first resource defining the time to complete the task using the first resource, any costs associated with the first resource and any additional information associated with the first resource;
identifying and defining, for at least one of the tasks, a second resource capable of completing the at least one of the tasks and for the second resource defining the time to complete the at least one of the tasks using the second resource, any costs associated with the second resource and any additional information associated with the second resource;
defining at least one goal;
generating a set of schedules containing at least one schedule, the set of schedules being feasible and each schedule comprising the set of tasks which comprises the at least one task associated with either the first resource or the second resource;
calculating the value of the at least one goal for each schedule in the set of schedules and determining the schedule with the best value for the at least one goal in the set of schedules; and
returning the schedule with the best value of the at least one goal.
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35. A method for determining a schedule to complete at least one project, the schedule being optimized for a goal and comprising:
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breaking down the project into a set of tasks and for each task defining any fixed costs, any additional information and any constraints associated with the task;
identifying and defining, for each of the tasks, a resource able to complete the task and for each first resource defining the time to complete the task using the first resource, any costs associated with the first resource and any additional information associated with the first resource;
identifying and defining, for at least one of the tasks, a maximum number of a resource capable of completing the at least one of the tasks and a minimum number of the resource and defining the time to complete the at least one of the tasks using the different number of available resources, any costs associated with the second resource and any additional information associated with the second resource;
defining at least one goal;
generating a set of schedules containing at least one schedule, the set of schedules being feasible and each schedule comprising the set of tasks which comprises the at least one task associated with either the first resource or the second resource;
calculating the value of the at least one goal for each schedule in the set of schedules and determining the schedule with the best value for the at least one goal in the set of schedules; and
returning the schedule with the best value of the at least one goal. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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36. A computer system for creating a schedule to complete at least one project, the schedule being optimized for a business goal and comprising:
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a processing unit;
a memory storage device operatively connected to the processing unit;
an input device operatively connected to the processing unit wherein the input device is operative to transmit information to the processing unit;
a display device operative for displaying data and operatively connected to the processing unit; and
a program module stored in the memory storage device operative for providing instructions to the processing unit, the processing unit responsive to the instructions of the program module, the program module operative for;
receiving, from the input device, input information comprising;
a set of tasks necessary to complete at least one project and for each of the tasks any fixed costs, any additional information and any constraints associated with the task;
the resources necessary to complete each task and for each resource the time to complete the task using the resource, any costs associated with the resource and any additional information associated with the resource;
at least one business goal;
generating a set of schedules containing at least one schedule, the set of schedules being feasible, based on any additional information and any constraints defined for each project task and any additional information associated with each resources;
calculating the value of the at least one business goal for each schedule in the set of schedules and determining the schedule with the best value for the at least one business objective in the set of schedules; and
returning the schedule with the best value for the at least one business objective.
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Specification