Explaining task scheduling for a project

• US 20060004618A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Brixius, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US10/881,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20060004618A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups

Abstract

Techniques for causing project management software to explain task scheduling for a project are provided. A technique for explaining task scheduling for a project analyzes every task of the project, stores an indication of an explanation relating to a primary consideration for determining a schedule for the task, and then determines a schedule for the task. A primary consideration for determining a schedule for a task is a consideration that is actually used to determine the schedule for the task from a set of considerations that could be used. The stored indication of an explanation may be used to generate an explanation that is provided to a user using one or more of a variety of user interfaces. By storing the indications during analysis and providing the indications using a user interface, the project management software may enable its user to better understand portions of a project'"'"'s schedule.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computing system for explaining scheduling considerations for a project, comprising:

receiving information defining each of a set of schedule tasks for the project; and

for each schedule task,

analyzing scheduling considerations for the schedule task; and

based on the analysis,

determining a schedule for the schedule task; and

storing information identifying a reason for determining the schedule for the schedule task.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the analyzed scheduling considerations is a constraint and the determining includes satisfying the constraint.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the reason includes an indication of the constraint.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the analyzed scheduling considerations is a dependency on another schedule task and the analyzing includes analyzing the dependency and scheduling considerations for the other schedule task.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the reason includes an indication of the other schedule task.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing includes selecting a scheduling consideration that primarily affects the schedule for the schedule task.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the storing includes storing information identifying the selected scheduling consideration.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the scheduling consideration is a schedule task.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the scheduling consideration is a resource.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing includes storing one of a plurality of scheduling considerations selected as primarily affecting the schedule for the schedule task.

11. The method of claim 1 including displaying an indication of the reason.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the indication is a tool tip.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the indication is a change of a color of an item in a user interface.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the item is an arrow indicating a relationship between schedule tasks.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the indication is a smart tag.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the indication appears in a dialog box.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the storing is performed before a subsequent schedule task is analyzed.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the analyzed scheduling considerations relates to another project.

19. A method performed by a computing system for explaining scheduling considerations for a project, comprising:

receiving information defining each of a subset of schedule tasks for the project; and

for every schedule task of the subset of schedule tasks, performing an

analysis process, wherein the analysis process comprises;

analyzing scheduling considerations for the selected schedule task; and

based on the analysis, determining a schedule for the schedule task and storing information identifying a reason for determining the schedule for the schedule task.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the analyzed scheduling considerations comprise a constraint and determining the schedule includes satisfying the constraint.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the identified reason includes an indication of the constraint.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein at least one of the analyzed scheduling considerations is a dependency on another schedule task and the analyzing includes analyzing the dependency and scheduling considerations for the other schedule task.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the identified reason includes an indication of the other schedule task.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein the analyzing includes selecting a scheduling consideration that primarily affects the schedule for the schedule task.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the storing includes storing information identifying the selected scheduling consideration.

26. A computer-readable medium containing a data structure employed for explaining scheduling considerations for a project, the project having multiple schedule tasks, the computer-readable medium comprising:

for each schedule task of at least a subset of schedule tasks,

a description for the schedule task;

a list of constraints for the schedule task;

a schedule for the schedule task; and

an indication of a reason for the schedule of the schedule task.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the indication includes an indication of another schedule task that is a primary consideration for the schedule.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the indication includes an indication of a resource that is a primary consideration for the schedule.

29. A system for explaining scheduling considerations for a project, comprising:

a component that (1) analyzes input to determine a schedule for a schedule task, wherein the analysis includes determining a primary scheduling consideration, and (2) stores an indication of an explanation for the schedule for the schedule task.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the primary consideration is a constraint.

31. The system of claim 29 wherein the primary consideration is an actual value reported for a task.

32. The system of claim 29 wherein the primary consideration is a start date of the project.

33. The system of claim 29 wherein the primary consideration is an end date of the project.

34. The system of claim 29 wherein the primary consideration is a dependency.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the dependency relates to a task of the project.

36. The system of claim 34 wherein the dependency relates to a task of another project.