US 6,609,100 B2Granted

Program planning management system

AssigneeLockhead Martin Corporation

InventorsLloyd E. Smith, Edward W. Balunas

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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.

Claims38

Dependent claims

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.

7 more elements

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.

6 more elements

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.

7 more elements

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.

15 more elements

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.

8 more elements

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.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 08/812,622Filed 7 Mar 1997
Published: US 2002/0062239 A123 May 2002
Granted: 19 Aug 2003
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G06Q 10/06
Administration; Management: resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation…
G06Q 10/06313
Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations: resource planning in a project environment
G06Q 10/06315
Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations: needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
G06Q 10/06316
Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations: sequencing of tasks or work