Device, system, and method of project planning and management

• US 8,219,468 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2008
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fisher, Amit, Nadler, Sima, Zodik, Gabi, Soffer, Aya
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Haider, Fawaad
• Application Number:
  US12/038,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20090222481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,594 Days
• Field of Search: 705/29
• US Class Current: 705/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

Device, system, and method of project planning and management. For example, a method of project planning and management includes: publishing a representation of a project specification comprising one or more discrete objects; publishing a collaborative comment to one or more of the discrete objects; and receiving a supplier proposal to fulfill one or more of the discrete objects.

Claims

1. A method executed on one or more processors for project planning and management, the method comprising:

publishing, over a communications network, a representation of a project specification comprising one or more discrete objects implemented in a computing environment having one or more processor to generate the representation based on a computer-implemented model constructed according to attribute values and constraints defined for said attribute values and attribute value combinations, wherein the discrete objects are represented by said attributes, and relationships between said discrete objects or goals of the project are defined according to designated requirements for the values or constraints associated with said attributes;

publishing a collaborative comment to one or more of the discrete objects, in response to receiving a comment from a user with authority to submit a comment in association with one or more of the discrete objects, wherein said comment proposes a change to one or more attribute values or constraints;

publishing a rating or feedback associated with the collaborative comment based on comments received about the collaborative comment;

receiving at least one supplier proposal to fulfill one or more of the discrete objects in consideration to said values or constraints associated with said attributes;

ranking the submitted supplier proposal, in response to evaluating the supplier proposal against the designated requirements for the values or constraints;

rejecting the submitted supplier proposal, in response to determining that the supplier proposal fails to meet the requirements for the values or constraints;

publishing the supplier proposal for comment and review; and

publishing a rating or feedback associated with the suppliers proposal based on comments received about the supplier proposal;

presenting the supplier proposal to at least a project initiator of the project specification;

receiving an indication of acceptance or rejection of the supplier proposal by the project initiator; and

if the indication comprises an indication of acceptance of the supplier proposal, closing the one or more discrete objects which the supplier proposal fulfills.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

if the indication comprises an indication of acceptance of the supplier proposal, generating a binding contract between the project initiator and the supplier based on content of the supplier proposal.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

if the indication comprises an indication of acceptance of the supplier proposal, updating a project itinerary to reflect content of the supplier proposal.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving an indication of acceptance of the collaborative comment by the project initiator; and

automatically modifying the project specification based on the collaborative comment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the modifying is selected from the group consisting of:

automatically adding an object to the project specification;

automatically removing an object from the project specification; and

automatically modifying an object of the project specification.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving a command to link between two or more of the discrete objects;

linking between the two or more discrete objects; and

publishing a linkage between the two or more discrete objects.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the linking comprises:

creating a dependency between the two or more discrete objects,

wherein the dependency is selected from the group consisting of;

mandatory one-way dependency;

mandatory two-way dependency; and

non-mandatory dependency.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one discrete object is associated with one or more object attributes representing one or more characteristics of the discrete object set by a project initiator of the project specification.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more object attributes are selected from the group consisting of:

location for object fulfillment,

date for object fulfillment,

time for object fulfillment, and

price limit for object fulfillment.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

reusing one or more of the published discrete objects in for creation of another project specification.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving from a project initiator input indicating a topic associated with the project specification; and

presenting to the project initiator a list of user-selectable previously-created discrete objects related to said topic.

12. An apparatus for project planning and management, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors for generating a representation of a project specification comprising one or more discrete objects, wherein the representation is generated based on a computer-implemented model constructed according to attribute values and constraints defined for said attribute values and attribute value combinations, wherein the discrete objects are represented by said attributes, and relationships between said discrete objects or goals of the project are defined according to designated requirements for the values or constraints associated with said attributes;

wherein a collaborative comment is published, over a communications network, in association with one or more of the discrete objects, in response to receiving a comment from a user with authority to submit a comment in association with one or more of the discrete objects, wherein said comment proposes a change to one or more attribute values or constraints;

wherein a rating or feedback associated with the collaborative comment is published based on comments received about the collaborative comment;

wherein at least one supplier proposal is received to fulfill one or more of the discrete objects in consideration to said values or constraints associated with said attributes;

wherein the submitted supplier proposal is ranked in response to evaluating the supplier proposal against the designated requirements for the values or constraints;

wherein the submitted supplier proposal is rejected in response to determining that the supplier proposal fails to meet the requirements for the values or constraints;

wherein the supplier proposal is published for comment and review; and

wherein a rating or feedback associated with the suppliers proposal is published based on comments received about the supplier proposal;

wherein a server in the communications network is to present the supplier proposal to at least a project initiator of the project specification, and to receive an indication of acceptance or rejection of the supplier proposal by the project initiator; and

wherein if the indication comprises an indication of acceptance of the supplier proposal, the server is to close the one or more discrete objects which the supplier proposal fulfills.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein if the indication comprises an indication of acceptance of the supplier proposal, the server is to generate a binding contract between the project initiator and the supplier based on content of the supplier proposal.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein if the indication comprises an indication of acceptance of the supplier proposal, the server is to update a project itinerary to reflect content of the supplier proposal.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the servers is to receive an indication of acceptance of the collaborative comment by the project initiator, to automatically modify the project specification based on the collaborative comment.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the server is to receive a command to link between two or more of the discrete objects;

to link between the two or more discrete objects; and

to publish a linkage between the two or more discrete objects.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the linkage comprises a dependency between the two or more discrete objects, and wherein the dependency is selected from the group consisting of:

mandatory one-way dependency;

mandatory two-way dependency; and

non-mandatory dependency.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein at least one discrete object is associated with one or more object attributes representing one or more characteristics of the discrete object set by a project initiator of the project specification, and wherein the one or more object attributes are selected from the group consisting of:

location for object fulfillment,

date for object fulfillment,

time for object fulfillment, and

price limit for object fulfillment.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory data storage medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to publish a representation of a project specification comprising one or more discrete objects, wherein the representation is generated based on a computer-implemented model constructed according to attribute values and constraints defined for said attribute values and attribute value combinations, wherein the discrete objects are represented by said attributes, and relationships between said discrete objects or goals of the project are defined according to designated requirements for the values or constraints associated with said attributes;

publish a collaborative comment to one or more of the discrete objects, in response to receiving a comment from a user with authority to submit a comment in association with one or more of the discrete objects, wherein said comment proposes a change to one or more attribute values or constraints;

publish a rating or feedback associated with the collaborative comment based on comments received about the collaborative comment;

receive at least one supplier proposal to fulfill one or more of the discrete objects in consideration to said values or constraints associated with said attributes;

rank the submitted supplier proposal in response to evaluating the supplier proposal against the designated requirements for the values or constraints;

reject the submitted supplier proposal in response to determining that the supplier proposal fails to meet the requirements for the values or constraints;

publish the supplier proposal for comment and review;

publish a rating or feedback associated with the suppliers proposal based on comments received about the supplier proposal;

present the supplier proposal to at least a project initiator of the project specification;

receive an indication of acceptance or rejection of the supplier proposal by the project initiator; and

if the indication comprises an indication of acceptance of the supplier proposal, closing the one or more discrete objects which the supplier proposal fulfills.