Method and apparatus for facilitating management of information technology investment

• US 7,756,734 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2006
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Ofer, Amir, Cimral, John, Lawler, Mark S., Yokoyama, Doug, Tzur, Avrami
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel; Jagdish N
• Application Number:
  US11/326,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20060116946A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,651 Days
• Field of Search: 705 7- 11
• US Class Current: 705/7.39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A method, product and system are disclosed for generating and facilitating user navigation among one or more investment maps and corresponding scorecards generated using stored data associated with performance metrics of a several information technology (IT) projects.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing data in a computer-readable medium, said data being associated with performance metrics for a plurality of information technology (IT) projects;

storing executable computer code in a computer processor linked to the computer readable medium;

generating, by executing the computer code using the computer processor, a plurality of dashboards for said IT projects for display on a computer display device, using said stored data, with each dashboard graphically illustrating one or more aspects of at least one IT project;

generating, by executing computer code using the computer processor, a scorecard for an IT portfolio for display on a computer display device, using also said stored data, with the scorecard showing where IT projects of the IT portfolio stand on said performance metrics; and

facilitating navigation between a selected one of said IT projects shown on said scorecard and a corresponding one of said dashboards.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing comprises storing data associated with performance metrics that include selected ones of budget metrics, staffing metrics, project size and quality metrics, and progress metrics.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating said scorecard comprises generating a plurality of rows and columns for said scorecard and populating measures of the performance metrics of each IT project in columns of a row.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating said scorecard further comprises generating a cross-project composite measure for at least one of the performance metrics, and populating the generated cross-project composite measure in the corresponding column of a cross-project summary row.

5. A computer executable program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein,

first programming instructions to access stored data associated with performance metrics for a plurality of information technology (IT) projects,

second programming instructions to generate a plurality of dashboards for said IT projects, using said stored data, with each dashboard graphically illustrating one or more aspects of at least one IT project,

third programming instructions to generate a scorecard for an IT portfolio, using also said stored data, with the scorecard showing where IT projects of the IT portfolio stand on said performance metrics, and

fourth programming instructions to facilitate user navigation between a selected one of said IT projects shown on said scorecard and a corresponding one of said dashboards.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein said data associated with performance metrics include selected ones of budget metrics, staffing metrics, project size and quality metrics, and progress metrics.

7. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein said third programming instructions generate a plurality of rows and columns for said scorecard and populate measures of the performance metrics of each IT project in columns of a row.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein said third programming instructions generate a cross-project composite measure for at least one of the performance metrics, and populate the generated cross-project composite measure in the corresponding column of a cross-project summary row.

9. A system comprising:

a database to store data associated with performance metrics for a plurality of information technology (IT) projects;

a dashboard generator to generate a plurality of dashboards for said IT projects, using said stored data, with each dashboard graphically illustrating one or more aspects of at least one IT project;

a scorecard generator to generate a scorecard for an IT portfolio, using also said stored data, with the scorecard showing where IT projects of the IT portfolio stand on said performance metrics;

wherein the dashboard generator and the scorecard generator are navigationally coupled to facilitate user navigation between one of said IT projects shown on said scorecard and a corresponding one of said dashboards for a selected IT project by a user of the scorecard through selection of a representation of said IT project.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said data associated with performance metrics include selected ones of budget metrics, staffing metrics, project size and quality metrics, and progress metrics.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said scorecard generator generates a plurality of rows and columns for said scorecard, and populate measures of the performance metrics of each IT project in columns of a row.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said scorecard generator generates, for the scorecard, a cross-project composite measure for at least one of the performance metrics, and populate the generated cross-project composite measure in a corresponding column of a cross-project summary row.