Transforming a product description into a process network and specifying product creation

A method for transforming product descriptions into a process network specifying how to create a product, comprising the steps of:

• classifying product descriptions into at least one class within a system of classification;
• selecting templates for said at least one class that represent at least one product description;
• using a heuristic engine to ask product description questions of a user, said questions associated with each template, said heuristic engine further populating said templates with answers to the questions until each template is complete;
• comparing completed templates with processing instructions against capabilities descriptions associated with the templates;
• and
• determining if the completed template is within boundaries defined by said capabilities descriptions.

A method for transforming a product description into a process network specifying how to create the product, comprising the steps of:

• defining a system of classification;
• defining rules and heuristics required to classify product descriptions into classes in the system of classification;
• defining templates for classes in the system of classification;
• and
• associating a set of questions and at least one capabilities description with each template.