Program planning management system

• US 6,609,100 B2
• Filed: 03/07/1997
• Issued: 08/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Smith, Lloyd E., Balunas, Edward W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
• Application Number:
  US08/812,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20020062239A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,356 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/7-9, 707/1, 345/963
• US Class Current: 705/7.26
• 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 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work

Abstract

A data processing system provides development of complex schedule plans under user control by using sorting and grouping processing to interface between a relational database and a scheduler application. The sorting and grouping processing provides for user-interactive editing of data in the database by presentation of groupings of activities developed in accordance with attributes of the activities concurrently with activities which are not included in a group. Editing of the group based on the presentation of other activities allows the user to apply acquired knowledge and understanding of the subtleties and dynamics of the activities and to make business decisions which therefore do not need to be represented in the scheduler application. Changes to data in the database are logged in a notebook or scratch-pad store so that data may be returned to its original or any prior state.

Claims

1. A system for developing a schedule for managing a project, including:

a relational database containing data representing a plurality of activities and attributes representing complications, requirements and dependencies of respective ones of said activities stored in a memory,

a scheduler application, and

an interface between said relational database and said scheduler application, said interface including

means for displaying a serial string of questions to a user together with data from said relational database which assist a user in answering said questions, including means for defining a list of questions in a predetermined sequence that must be answered for developing said schedule and means for providing a series of display screen containing said questions and data from said relational database which assist a user in answering said questions, to allow said user to define and edit one of activities and attributes of at least one of said plurality of activities stored in memory by answering said questions displayed in said display screen;

means for editing said attributes, said editing means including means for allowing a user to input answers to said questions;

means for storing said edited attributes in memory;

means for grouping said activities in accordance with said edited attributes; and

means for generating a schedule based on said activities grouped by said grouping means,

wherein said displaying means displays said serial string of questions and said editing means edits said attributes before said generating means generates said schedule.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said interface further includes

a notebook for logging changes to said attributes made by said means for editing.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said interface further includes

means for determining driver activities among said activities, and

means for forming a group of activities in accordance with each said driver activity.

4. A system as recited in claim 3, wherein said interface further includes

means for defining an activity as a driver activity.

5. A system as recited in claim 3, wherein said interface further includes

means for determining a driver activity from said attributes of one of said activities.

6. A system as recited in claim 3, wherein said editing means includes

means for concurrently presenting to a user all activities included in a group and a list of activities which are not included in a group.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, further including

means for forcing exclusion of an activity from operation of said means for grouping.

8. A system as recited in claim 7, wherein said means for forcing exclusion includes

means for designating an activity as one of a stand-alone activity or an unfunded activity.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein said notebook automatically logs changes to said attributes made by said means for editing.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said notebook includes means for allowing a user to enter commentary in association with said changes which have been automatically logged.

11. A method for developing a schedule for completing a project, including the steps of:

developing a database including a plurality of entries, each entry including a plurality of associated attributes representing at least one of complications, requirements and dependencies corresponding to respective ones of said entries, said entries and said attributes being stored in a relational database,

selecting at least one entry from among said plurality of entries based on at least one of said attributes,

presenting said entry selected in said selecting step to a user in a first list together with other ones of said entries in a second list,

editing said second list in accordance with steps that include;

(a) displaying, in a series of display screens, a serial string of questions that must be answered for developing said schedule in a predetermined sequence, together with data from said relational database which assist a user in answering said questions to prompt a user regarding editing and to allow said user, by answering said questions displayed in said display screen, to define and edit attributes of at least one entry in said second list, and

(b) editing one of said entries and said attributes of said at least one entry based on answers to said questions input by a user; and

generating a schedule based on said second list as edited in said editing step,

wherein said displaying means displays said serial string of questions and said editing means edits said attributes before said generating means generates said schedule based on the answers to said questions.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, including the further step of

selecting entries from said second list in accordance with said attributes.

13. A method as recited in claim 11, including the further step of

ordering said entries of said second list in accordance with said attributes.

14. A method as recited in claim 11, including the further steps of:

displaying said edited list modified in accordance with said editing step.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, including the further step of

selecting entries from said second list in accordance with said attributes.

16. A method as recited in claim 14, including the further step of

ordering said entries of said second list in accordance with said attributes.

17. A method as recited in claim 14, including the further step of

recording content of each said editing step.

18. A method as recited in claim 11, including the further step of

grouping another entry with said selected entry in accordance with an attribute of said another entry.

19. A method for generating a schedule for managing a project, said schedule being displayed on a display screen of a computer running a scheduling applications program, said method comprising:

(a) storing information in a relational database, said information including activity information indicative of activities to be performed for completing the project and attribute information indicative of at least one attribute representing at least one of complications, requirements and dependencies corresponding to each of said activities;

(b) designating at least one driver activity from the activity information stored in said database;

(c) identifying as non-driver activities at least a subset of those activities not designated in said designating step;

(d) creating a group of non-driver activities for the driver activity designated in step (b), said group being created based on a relationship between at least one attribute of the non-driver activities in said group and at least one attribute of said driver activity;

(e) displaying an interactive display screen listing the driver activity and the non-driver activities in said group corresponding to said driver activity, said screen including a format identifying the driver activity as a driver activity and identifying the non-driver activities as non-driver activities, said screen further having means for prompting a user regarding editing and allowing a user to modify one or more of the non-driver activities at the user'"'"'s discretion, said stet of displaying an interactive display screen including steps of

defining a list of questions in a predetermined sequence that must be answered for developing said schedule,

designing a series of display screens containing said questions and data from said relational database which assist a user in answering said questions, and

defining at least one of activities and attributes required to answer said questions displayed in said display screen; and

(f) forming a schedule for managing the project based on the activity information in said database corresponding to said driver activity and said group of non-driver activities corresponding to the driver activity, including any modifications made to said group in step (e) based on the answers to said questions.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein the step of creating said group of non-driver activities includes at least one of the following steps:

(g) adding one or more non-driver activities not previously in said group to said group, said adding step being performed as a result of a decision of a user; and

(h) deleting one or more non-driver activities which are in conformance with said desired attribute from said group, said deleting step being performed as a result of a decision of a user.

21. A method as recited in claims 20, wherein any one of steps (f),(g), and (h) are performed by a user in accordance with one or more interactive display screens.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein in step (e), wherein said display screen listing the driver activity and non-driver activities and the means for modifying the non-driver activities is displayed before the schedule is formed for managing the project.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein in step (e), a modification performed by a user using said means includes at least one of changing an attribute of one or more of the non-driver activities and deleting one or more of the non-driver activities.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein one or more of the non-driver activities are modified, the non-driver activities in said group are automatically re-ordered based on the modification.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

displaying at least a portion of the non-driver activities in said group corresponding to said driver activity based on one of area of an object on which the non-driver activities are to take place, an installation location, and special procedures required by the non-driver activities.

26. The method of claim 19, wherein the schedule formed in step (e) schedules at least two of the non-driver activities in said group to be performed simultaneously.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the schedule formed in step (e) schedules the two non-driver activities based on hardware dependencies of the two non-driver activities.

28. The method of claim 19, wherein in step (b) the user designates said at least one driver activity.

29. The method of claim 19, wherein modifications of one or more of the non-driver activities by the user are stored in a scratchpad memory in order to develop a record of user decisions used to form the schedule formed in step (f).

30. A method for generating a schedule as recited in claim 19, wherein said at least one driver activity is designated on a basis of whether said driver activity is funded.

31. A method for generating a schedule for managing a project, said schedule being displayed on a display screen of a computer running a scheduling applications program, said method comprising:

(a) storing information in a relational database, said information including activity information indicative of activities to be performed for completing the project and attribute information indicative of at least one attribute of each of said activities;

(b) designating at least one driver activity from the activity information stored in said database;

(c) identifying as non-driver activities at least a subset of those activities not designated in said designating step;

(d) creating a group of non-driver activities for the driver activity designated in step (b), said group being created based on a relationship between at least one attribute of the non-driver activities in said group and at least one attribute of said driver activity; and

(e) forming a schedule for managing the project based on the activity information in said database corresponding to said driver activity and said group of non-driver activities created for said driver activity; and

wherein step (b) is performed in accordance with steps that include;

identifying activities having a desired attribute from said activity information and said attribute information stored in said database;

designating the activities having said desired attribute as driver activities;

displaying a list of said driver activities on the display screen of said computer, including

defining a list of questions in a predetermined sequence that must be answered for developing said schedule,

designing a series of display screens containing said questions and data from said relational database which assist a user in answering said questions, and

defining at least one of activities and attributes required to answer said questions displayed in said display screen;

editing said list to form an edited list of driver activities; and

performing steps (c) and (d) for each driver activity in said edited list of driver activities,

wherein step (e) includes generating a schedule, said schedule being generated based on the answers to said questions for managing the project based on the activity information in said database corresponding to said driver activities and the group of non-driver activities formed for each of said driver activities.

32. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein said editing step includes deleting from said list driver activities which do not have a second desired attribute.

33. A method for generating a schedule for managing a project, said schedule being displayed on a display screen of a computer running a scheduling applications program, said method comprising:

(a) storing information in a relational database, said information including activity information indicative of activities to be performed for completing the project and attribute information indicative of at least one attribute of each of said activities;

(b) designating at least one driver activity from the activity information stored in said database;

(c) identifying as non-driver activities at least a subset of those activities not designated in said designating step;

(d) creating a group of non-driver activities for the driver activity designated in step (b), said group being created based on a relationship between at least one attribute of the non-driver activities in said group and at least one attribute of said driver activity, including

defining a list of questions in a predetermined sequence that must be answered for developing said schedule,

designing a series of display screens containing said questions and data from said relational database which assist a user in answering said questions, and

defining at least one of activities and attributes required to answer said questions displayed in said display screen; and

(e) forming a schedule for managing the project based on the activity information in said database corresponding to said driver activity and said group of non-driver activities created for said driver activity, said schedule being generated based on the answers to said questions,

wherein said step (c) includes;

sorting said non-driver activities according to priority information stored in said database, said priority information being stored in association with one of the activity information and attribute information corresponding to said non-driver activities.

34. A method a s recited in claim 33, wherein the step of creating said group of non-driver activities includes:

(f) identifying non-driver activities in said group having attributes which violate a desired attribute; and

(g) performing a step of deleting the non-driver activities in said group having attributes which violates said desired attribute, or alternatively performing a step of modifying the attributes of the non-driver activities in said group which violates said desired attribute so as to be conformance with said desired attribute.

35. A method as recited in claim 33, wherein steps (b) and (d) are performed by a user in accordance with one or more interactive display screens.

36. A method as recited in claim 33, further comprising:

sorting said first and second driver activities according to date information stored in said database, said date information being stored in association with one of the activity information and attribute information corresponding to said driver activities.

37. A method for generating a schedule for managing a project, said schedule being displayed on a display screen of a computer running a scheduling applications program, said method comprising:

(a) storing information in a relational database, said information including activity information indicative of activities to be performed for completing the project and attribute information indicative of at least one attribute of each of said activities;

(b) designating at least one driver activity from the activity information stored in said database;

identifying as non-driver activities at leant a subset of those activities not designated in said designating step;

(d) creating a group of non-driver activities for the driver activity designated in step (b), said group being created based on a relationship between at least one attribute of the non-driver activities in said group and at least one attribute of said driver activity; and

(e) forming a schedule for managing the project based on the activity information in said database corresponding to said driver activity and said group of non-driver activities created for said driver activity,

wherein step (b) includes designating a plurality of driver activities from the activity information stored in said database, and said method further comprising;

listing said plurality of driver activities chronologically;

determining whether a violation in said list of driver activities exist based on at least one of hardware dependencies of said driver activities and one of said driver, activities being a predecessor activity of another one of said driver activities;

performing one of (i) removing violating driver activities or (ii) automatically re-ordering said list of driver activities to remove said violation.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

defining a list of questions in a predetermined sequence that must be answered for developing said schedule;

designing a series of display screens containing said questions and data from said relational database which assist a user in answering said questions; and

defining at least one of activities and attributes required to answer said questions displayed in said display screen, said schedule being generated based on the answers to said questions.