Interface for project and task submission for automated delegation

• US 8,805,713 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2009
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Duffy, Maureen Emily, Kuratomi, Toshio Ernie, Macken, Luke J., McGlynn, Evangeline A., Palmieri, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Erb, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US12/350,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20100174578A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,043 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.14
• US Class Current: 705/7.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The automated task delegation and project management system tracks user profiles and project profiles, which include information about the interests and skills each user in the system possesses as well as the skills that are required by each project in the system and the characteristics of each project. This information can then be utilized to correlate user interests and skills with the available projects. Project data can be collected from the submitter to enable the automated matching. The user interface facilitates the collection and storage of the project profile data including tasks, files, resources, and tags.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, by a user interface module of a project management system executing on a processing device, an interface to collect project profile data and to import a project into the project management system;

receiving, by the processing device, a designation of a plurality of skills and a plurality of interests for the project through the user interface module, wherein the plurality of interests are generated for a plurality of users in view of projects completed by the plurality of users;

storing the project profile data in a data store associated with the project management system, wherein the project profile data comprises the designation of the plurality of skills and the plurality of interests for the project and at least one of a project task, a project file, a project resource, or a project tag, wherein the data store stores user profile data for the plurality of users, wherein the user profile data comprises identified skills and interests for the plurality of users;

matching, by the project management system, the imported project with a user from the plurality of users in view of the designation of the plurality of skills and the plurality of interests for the project and the stored user profile data, wherein the matching is performed without user input to match the imported project with the user, wherein the matching comprises;

calculating a user'"'"'s project skill match rating in view of a comparison between the designation of the plurality of skills for the project and the user'"'"'s overall skill level for those skills;

calculating the user'"'"'s project interest match rating in view of the number of interests in common between designations of the plurality of interests for the project and the identified interests for the user;

calculating the user'"'"'s completion match rating in view of the user'"'"'s completion rates for tags representing descriptive aspects of the project;

calculating a final compatibility rank based the user'"'"'s projects skill match rating, the user'"'"'s project interest match rating, and the user'"'"'s completion match rating; and

matching the imported project with a user from the plurality of users in view of final compatibility ranks of at least two of the plurality of users;

presenting a mentorship recommendation for the user in view of at least one of the designation of the skills and interests for the project, the stored user profile data, or the matched project;

transmitting a status update request to the user, after the user has accepted the project, to determine a status of the project; and

presenting a project status overview of the project to a project owner.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting a set of one or more tasks associated with the project; and

matching at least one of the set of tasks with at least one of the plurality of users.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising collecting a set of resources associated with the project.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a designation of a set of one or more project files associated with the project.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

uploading the set of project files by the program management system; and

storing the set of project files in the data store, wherein the data store is a persistent storage.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising placing the imported project into a pool of projects to await said automated matching.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the project status overview comprises a participant list including the matched user.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform a set of operations comprising:

generating, by a user interface module of a project management system executing on a the processing device, an interface to collect profile project data and import a project into the project management system;

receiving a designation of a plurality of skills and a plurality of interests for the project through the user interface module, wherein the plurality of interests are generated for a plurality of users in view of projects completed by the plurality of users;

storing the project profile data in a data store associated with the project management system, wherein the project profile data comprises the designation of the plurality of skills and the plurality of interests for the project and at least one of a project task, a project file, a project resource, or a project tag, wherein the data store stores user profile data for the plurality of users, wherein the user profile data comprises identified skills and interests for the plurality of users;

matching, by the project management system, the imported project with a user from the plurality of users in view of the designation of the plurality of skills and the plurality of interests for the project and the stored user profile data, wherein the matching is performed without user input to match the imported project with the user and wherein the matching comprises;

calculating a user'"'"'s project skill match rating in view of a comparison between the designation of the plurality of skills for the project and the user'"'"'s overall skill level for those skills;

calculating the user'"'"'s project interest match rating in view of the number of interests in common between designations of the plurality of interests for the project and the identified interests for the user;

calculating the user'"'"'s completion match rating in view of the user'"'"'s completion rates for tags representing descriptive aspects of the project;

calculating a final compatibility rank based the user'"'"'s projects skill match rating, the user'"'"'s project interest match rating, and the user'"'"'s completion match rating; and

matching the imported project with a user from the plurality of users in view of final compatibility ranks of at least two of the plurality of users;

presenting a mentorship recommendation for the user in view of at least one of the designation of the skills and interests for the project, the stored user profile data, or the matched project;

transmitting a status update request to the user, after the user has accepted the project, to determine a status of the project; and

presenting a project status overview of the project to a project owner.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, having further instructions thereon, which when executed cause the computing system to perform a set of operations, further comprising:

collecting a set of one or more tasks associated with the project; and

matching at least one of the set of tasks with at least one of the plurality of users.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, having further instructions thereon, which when executed cause the computing system to perform a set of operations, further comprising collecting a set of resources associated with the project.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, having further instructions thereon, which when executed cause the computing system to perform a set of operations, further comprising receiving a designation of a set of one or more project files associated with the project.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, having further instructions thereon, which when executed cause the computing system to perform a set of operations, further comprising:

uploading the set of project files by the program management system; and

storing the set of project files in the data store, wherein the data store is a persistent storage.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, having further instructions thereon, which when executed cause the computing system to perform a set of operations, further comprising placing the imported project into a pool of projects to await said automated matching.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the project status overview comprises a participant list including the matched user.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processing device, coupled to the memory, wherein the processing device is to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising;

generate, by a user interface module of a project management system executing on the processing device, an interface to collect profile project data and import a project into the project management system;

receive, by the processing device, a designation of a plurality of skills and a plurality of interests for the project through the user interface module at a profile management module, wherein the plurality of interests are generated for a plurality of users in view of projects completed by the plurality of users;

store the project profile data in a data store associated with the project management system, wherein the project profile data comprises the designation of the plurality of skills and the plurality of interests for the project and at least one of a project task, a project file, a project resource, or a project tag, wherein the data store stores user profile data for the plurality of users, wherein the user profile data comprises identified skills and interests for the plurality of users;

match, by the project management system, the imported project with a user from the plurality of users in view of the designation of the plurality of skills and the plurality of interests for the project and the stored user profile data, wherein the matching is performed without user input to match the imported project with the user and wherein the matching comprises;

calculating a user'"'"'s project skill match rating in view of a comparison between the designation of the plurality of skills for the project and the user'"'"'s overall skill level for those skills;

calculating the user'"'"'s project interest match rating in view of the number of interests in common between designations of the plurality of interests for the project and the identified interests for the user;

calculating the user'"'"'s completion match rating in view of the user'"'"'s completion rates for tags representing descriptive aspects of the project;

calculating a final compatibility rank based the user'"'"'s projects skill match rating, the user'"'"'s project interest match rating, and the user'"'"'s completion match rating; and

matching the imported project with a user from the plurality of users in view of final compatibility ranks of at least two of the plurality of users;

present a mentorship recommendation for the user in view of at least one of the designation of the skills and interests for the project, the stored user profile data, or the matched project;

transmit a status update request to the user, after the user has accepted the project, to determine a status of the project; and

present a project status overview to a project owner.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the plurality of interests generated for the plurality of users is further in view of user interactions with a project guidance interface.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing device further executes the instructions to:

upload the set of project files by the program management system; and

store the set of project files in the data store, wherein the data store is a persistent storage coupled to the apparatus.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a remote machine coupled to the apparatus by a network, the user accessing the project management system from the remote machine.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the project status overview comprises a participant list including the matched user.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing device is to further execute instructions to perform operations to:

upload the set of project files by the program management system; and

store the set of project files in the data store, wherein the data store is a persistent storage.