PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20110252019A1
• Filed: 04/08/2011
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Lamothe, Ricardo Panero
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,487 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/720
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A project management system includes a database formed of one or more tables and a computing device having one or more modules configured to: receive data and an identifier of the data, store the data in one or more tables of the database based upon the data identifier, in which the one or more tables in the database are accessible by a database management tool, and produce one or more records corresponding to the data stored in the one or more tables, in which the one or more records are accessible by a project management tool.

Claims

1. A project management system comprising:

a database formed of one or more tables; and

a computing device having one or more modules configured to, receive data and an identifier of the data;

store the data in one or more tables of the database based upon the data identifier, wherein the one or more tables in the database are accessible by a database management tool;

produce one or more records corresponding to the data stored in the one or more tables, wherein the one or more records are accessible by a project management tool; and

predict outcomes resulting from multiple variations of the data and to analyze the predicted outcomes to identify an optimal variation of the data, to thereby substantially minimize costs, time and complexity required to apply statistical techniques to analyze the data.

2. The project management system according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to receive the data and the data identifier through one or more input devices, wherein each of the one or more input devices comprises a spreadsheet program, and wherein the computing device is further configured to receive the data and the data identifier as entries into the spreadsheet program, wherein the spreadsheet program is configured to automatically upload the data and the data identifier onto the database.

3. The project management system according to claim 1, wherein data contained in the database is accessible through both a database management tool and a project management tool.

4. The project management system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more tables comprise a table containing data pertaining to work products, a table containing data pertaining to action items, a table containing data pertaining to defects, a table containing data pertaining to journals, and a table containing data pertaining to time series.

5. The project management system according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to validate the received data and to store the data in response to a determination that the data is valid.

6. The project management system according to claim 1, wherein the data comprises deliverables assigned to one or teams, and wherein the computing device is further configured to produce the one or more records to have a one-to-one correspondence with the deliverables stored in the database.

7. The project management system according to claim 6, wherein the project management tool has custom created fields that match attributes of the deliverables stored in the database and wherein the computing device is further configured to produce the one or more records from the deliverables to be addressable by the custom created fields.

8. The project management system according to claim 6, wherein the one or more modules are further configured to track a cost of quality and a cost of poor quality without breaking down the deliverables into multiple tasks.

9. The project management system according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to compute one or more metrics from the data contained in the one or more tables and to produce one or more reports detailing at least one of the computed one or more metrics.

10. The project management system according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to evaluate the data contained in the one or more tables to determine whether data is missing, generate one or more emails directed to personnel responsible for the missing data, and send the generated one or more emails to the personnel.

11. A method of managing a project, said method comprising steps performed by a processor of:

receiving data and an identifier of the data through one or more input devices;

storing the data in one or more tables in a database based upon the data identifier, wherein the one or more tables in the database are accessible by a database management tool;

producing one or more records corresponding to the data stored in the one or more tables, wherein the one or more records are accessible by a project management tool;

predicting outcomes resulting from multiple variations of the data; and

analyzing the predicted outcomes to identify an optimal variation of the data, to thereby substantially minimize costs, time and complexity required to apply statistical techniques to analyze the data.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

validating the data received through the one or more input devices; and

wherein storing the data further comprises storing the data in response to a determination that the data is valid.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the data comprises deliverables, and wherein the deliverables have been assigned to one or teams of personnel.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein producing the one or more records further comprises producing the one or more records to have a one-to-one correspondence with the data stored in the database.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the project management tool has custom created fields that match attributes of the deliverables stored in the database and wherein producing the one or more records from the data further comprises producing the records one or more from the deliverables to be addressable by the custom created fields.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

computing one or more metrics from the data stored in the one or more tables.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:

producing one or more reports detailing at least one of the computed one or more metrics.

18. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

evaluating the data contained in the one or more tables to determine whether data is missing;

generating one or more messages directed to personnel responsible for the missing data; and

sending the generated one or more messages to the personnel.

19. The method according to claim 11, wherein receiving the data and the data identifier through one or more input devices further comprises receiving the data and the data identifier from data inputted into a spreadsheet program, wherein the spreadsheet program is configured to automatically upload the data and the data identifier onto the database.

20. At least one computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method of managing a project, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:

receiving data and an identifier of the data through one or more input devices;

storing the data in one or more tables in a database based upon the data identifier, wherein the one or more tables in the database are accessible by a database management tool; and

producing one or more records corresponding to the data stored in the one or more tables, wherein the one or more records are accessible by a project management tool;

predicting outcomes resulting from multiple variations of the data; and

analyzing the predicted outcomes to identify an optimal variation of the data, to thereby substantially minimize costs, time and complexity required to apply statistical techniques to analyze the data.