Abstract: Aspects of the present invention include improvements to a management decision support system. Before improvement, the system includes a computer system having memory and resources, a retail demand forecasting program applying one or more forecasting approaches, running on the computer system and utilizing the output, said analysis programs generating at least one of (a) order of goods from a supplier-related data, (b) allocation of the goods to be shipped by the supplier-related data, or (c) distribution of goods to selling locations-related data. The improvements, according to one aspect of the invention, include a causal calendar utilized by the forecasting program to generate the output, the calendar including certain attributes for a plurality of events, and an analysis program to generate open to buy reports. Other aspects of the present invention are described in the specification, drawing and claims.

Abstract: A method and system for predicting the profit attributable to a proposed sales promotion of a product, wherein the product has a wholesale price and a manufacturing cost per unit sales, including establishing a base volume for sales of the product in the absence of promotions; determining a sales lift for the plurality of single promotions; and correlating the sales lift with promotion information to provide a sales lift model. The method and system also include proposing a promotion having a cost per unit sales for a promotion time period and having a planned sale price for the product; applying the sales lift model to the proposed promotion to predict sales of the product for the promotion time period; and calculating manufacturer profit based upon the product's predicted sales, cost per unit sales for promotion, wholesale price, and manufacturing cost per unit sales during the promotion time period.

Abstract: A software method for analyzing relationships between individuals can include the step of establishing a recordation framework for recording relationships between individuals. At least one relationship based on organization structure can be recorded using the established framework. Additionally, at least one relationship based upon project-specific collaborations can be recorded using the framework. At least one relationship based upon social interactions can also be recorded using the framework. The recorded relationships can be queried to determine a set of organizational, project-specific, and social relationships for a defined group of individuals.

Abstract: A product development project assessment approach is provided which includes identifying multiple possible root causes of trouble for a product development project, identifying question sets related to the multiple possible root causes of trouble, and providing a computer-implemented tool to evaluate answers to the question sets and provide guidance regarding existence of one or more root causes of trouble for the product development project. The assessment approach further includes evaluating project management processes employed for the product development project by comparison thereof to identified, standard project management processes, and provide guidance regarding effectiveness of implementation of the project management processes employed. Product management work product is also evaluated as further evidence of the existence of one or more root causes of trouble or the effectiveness of implementation of the project management processes.

Abstract: The present invention describes the scheduling requirements if a business to an automatic scheduling system in a way which allows efficient automatic scheduling of appointments for resources of the business. In one embodiment, the scheduling system schedules the resources based not only on total capacity, but based on how many appointments can be initiated at a given time.

Abstract: Electrical data processing techniques are described for performing business analysis based on datasets that are incomplete (e.g., contain censored data) and/or based on datasets that are derived from a stage-based business operation. A first technique offsets the effects of error caused by the incomplete dataset by performing a trending operation followed by a de-trending operation. A second technique provides a model containing multiple sub-models, where the output of one sub-model serves as the input to another sub-model in recursive fashion. A third technique determines when a specified event is likely to occur with respect to a given asset by first discriminating whether the event is very unlikely to occur; if the asset does not meet this initial test, it is further processed by a second sub-model, which determines the probability that the specified event will occur for each of a specified series of time intervals.

Abstract: A fleet engine, a crew engine, a passenger engine and an integration engine that communicate with a distributed computer network via two-way communication channels to monitor and repair disruptions to schedules particularly in the airline industry. When a disruption occurs, the method will produce a plurality of solutions that are structurally different for evaluation by the controller or operations manager. The method of generating solutions includes two phases. A first phase with artificially relaxed costs and a second phase with costs that reflect the policies and actual costs of the relevant activities. Upon creating structurally different solutions, the method evaluates the solutions and presents summary information about the solutions to the operations manager. If a violation of a rule occurs in a solution, an alert is generated to notify a user of the rule violation.

Abstract: A workflow model is described. In one example of the workflow model, a first workflow is associated with a first party, and a first workflow view is used to represent an abstraction of the first workflow. Similarly, a second workflow is associated with a second party, and a second workflow view is used to represent an abstraction of the second workflow. Then, a coalition workflow view referencing the first workflow view and the second workflow view provides a collaborative workflow that specifies tasks that the first party and the second party are required to perform. In this way, multiple parties may easily partner with one another to accomplish a business objective, while maintaining a level of confidentiality of their workflow processes.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method that prescreens the qualifications of clinical monitors, and quickly and efficiently matches qualified monitors with corresponding qualified clinical sponsors for work on a project. The system and method provide a secure platform for storage and searching of monitor profiles that may be continuously updated by the monitors. The system and method also checks the qualifications provided by monitors in their profiles to ensure that only qualified monitors are capable of being searched by the sponsors. The system and method also provides a secure platform for sponsors to post their clinical projects, and enables the sponsors to select the monitors they wish to view the project details. The system and method then provides the details of the project to the selected monitors, and the ones who are interested may be subsequently interviewed and selected by the sponsors.

Abstract: In general, in one aspect, the invention features a computerized method for determining customer service impact. The method includes receiving item orders having a requested completion date. The method also includes scheduling a scheduled completion date for each item order. The method also includes selecting at least one item order, each item order having a scheduled completion date. The method also includes comparing the scheduled completion date with the requested completion date for each selected item order. The method also includes deriving a customer service measurement for each selected item order based on the comparing step. The method can include the optional step of reporting and/or displaying customer service measurement data. In general, in another aspect, the invention relates to a system for determining customer service impact that performs the method steps just described.

Abstract: Systems and methods of semantically investigating business processes are described. In one aspect, execution data that is generated by one or more components of a business process platform is accessed. The data is generated during execution, at each of one or more nodes, of one or more instantiations of one or more business processes each involving a set of one or more activities each defined by a respective service and performed by a respective set of one or more resources. The accessed execution data is mapped into one or more semantic concepts to obtain outcome data. The outcome data is visualized in terms of a user-selected perspective.

Abstract: A method to determine corrective actions of a nuclear steam generator, having the steps of modeling of steam generator tube and deposit heat transfer characteristics by analytically deriving specific deposit characteristics and descriptive model parameters, wherein the modeling uses historical thermodynamic data for an operating plant under evaluation, identifying a set of one of preventive and corrective maintenance alternatives to accomplish steam generator deposit objectives, determining through the modeling a power production impact of each of the set of one of preventative and corrective maintenance alternatives to determine an economic cost for each of the set of preventative and corrective maintenance alternatives, and initiating a maintenance alternative with a lowest economic cost as compared to the maintenance evaluation alternatives with higher economic costs.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for determining a quantity to be produced for each of two or more product types, where each product type is specified by one or more characteristics. An input specifying a desired distribution of the total quantity among the one or more characteristics is received. If the desired quantity to be produced of a product type is a non-integer value, the desired quantity is rounded to an integer to generate a final quantity to be produced for each product type. The final quantity preserves both a total quantity and the desired distribution of the total quantity among the one or more characteristics.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for evaluating customer activity. Data about the customer activity is received and is used to generate actual data values associated with preselected business metrics. One or more business metric score cards may be generated to assess how the business metrics are performing as well as what business metrics can be changed to better meet business goals.

Abstract: The present invention provides a system and method for measuring the relative economic benefits from services offered by health care plans. The present invention quantifies value of health care quality by indicating an economic return on the investment in health care quality, enabling organizations and businesses to view health care quality in a familiar paradigm that extends health plan differentiation beyond premium and benefits. Businesses may employ the present invention to compare different health care plans or classes of plans, such as accredited versus non-accredited plans. Specifically, a particular plan or class of plans may provide improved monitoring, treatment and control of various medical conditions, and the present invention quantifies the economic benefits to employers from the improved health care for employees. In one embodiment, the present invention looks to a set of specific medical conditions and is based on three key steps.

Abstract: A method for providing decision support through visualization of participant past performance is performed using a computer system associated with an electronic marketplace. The method includes retrieving stored past performance information for participants reflecting the performance of the participants in connection with prior transactions conducted using the marketplace. Substantially linear viewable objects are generated for display to a user, each object corresponding to a participant and including one or more subdivisions, each defined by first and second subdivision boundaries. Each subdivision corresponds to a past performance measure and has a length that is proportional to a value of the measure determined according to the past performance information for the participant corresponding to the object.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method and system for assessing the overall risk in at least part of an information technology system includes inputting into a risk assessment database a plurality of identified risks in a system; associating the risks to at least one severity band in a risk echelon; assigning a value to each risk; multiplying each risk value by a coefficient factor; and summing the factored risk values to determine the overall risk. The method preferably includes modifying the security implementation of the information technology system and determining the modified overall risk. The system preferably includes an automated vulnerability detection scanner to gather risk information, which is stored on a database and used in calculating the overall risk.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for analyzing a shopping environment. The method typically includes tracking a plurality of paths of a plurality of persons in the shopping environment, and recording corresponding path data. The method further may include normalizing path data for each path by use of a predetermined normalization function, and calculating a predetermined statistical measure of the normalized shopping data. The method also may include producing output based upon the predetermined statistical measure.

Abstract: Systems and methods integrate various types of scheduling information to create a single spatial view of a schedule. The spatial view enables observation of one's schedule at a glance and reduces the need for accessing additional information from other sources in order to comprehend scheduling information. Thus, users can access information regarding the time, location, and subject matter of appointments and/or events in a single location without the hassle of looking back and forth between various information sources. This helps users meet their scheduled appointments and events in an on-time and prepared manner.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method and a system for determining a scent or taste profile of a user consisting in: storing for each of a set of products chosen among products for which a database contains smell of taste prints constituted by a set of measurements given by smell or taste electronic sensors, a rating (SN) given by the user; and automatically calculating weighting coefficients constituting said profile and respectively affected to said sensors, by successive approximation of sets of weighting coefficients leading to minimizing the sum of the quadratic errors over the set of satisfaction notes.