Abstract: A method for optimizing an allocation of infrastructure resources in a cloud environment based on supply and demand considerations with respect to computational capacity is provided. The method includes: receiving first information that relates to an initial number of jobs to be executed; determining, based on the first information, a number of clusters to be allocated for executing the jobs; provisioning the clusters such that each of the number of clusters is available for executing the jobs; receiving second information that relates to an updated number of jobs to be executed; adjusting, based on the second information, the number of clusters to be allocated; when the adjusting results in an increase in the number of clusters to be allocated, provisioning at least one additional cluster; and when the adjusting results in a decrease in the number of clusters to be allocated, deprovisioning at least one cluster.

Abstract: A method and a system for forecasting future activity with respect to a financial account is provided. The method includes: retrieving historical data that relates to a first account from a memory; and determining at least one projected attribute of the first account based on the retrieved historical data. The method is implementable on each of a diverse plurality of platforms by executing software that is compatible with each of the plurality of platforms.