Managing resources for projects

Abstract

Project management is made easier and more effective by enabling a planner to define project roles for tasks of a project and then, separately search for actual resources that match the project roles.

1 .- 7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . A machine-based method comprising
 enabling a project planner to identify a person to participate in a project that has time constraints on its completion, and   in response to the identifying of the person, scheduling assignments for the person that are consistent with the time constraints of the project, the assignments being selectively either tentative assignments or committed assignments.   
     
     
         9 . The machine-based method of  claim 8  in which the scheduled assignments comprise assignments of specific time periods. 
     
     
         10 . The machine-based method of  claim 8  also including searching scheduled assignments to identify people available for assignment, the searching being arranged to treat people as unavailable at times when they are subject to scheduled fixed assignments. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  in which the searching is also arranged to treat people as unavailable at times when they are subject to scheduled tentative assignments. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10  in which scheduled assignments for a person may exceed 100% of the working time of the person. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  in which the scheduled assignments may exceed 100% of the working time of the person. 
     
     
         14 . A machine-based method comprising
 maintaining a database of information about human resources of an enterprise including assignments of human resources to roles in projects being conducted by the enterprise, the database being managed by a workforce management application, and   when assignments of human resources to roles in projects are made or changed in a project resource planning application that is distinct from the workforce management application, updating the human resources database to incorporate the information about the assignments.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  in which the assignments comprise utilization and availability information with respect to the human resources of the enterprise. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14  also including receiving requests from users through the project resource planning application for information about availability and utilization of human resources, and based on the requests, automatically querying the human resources database. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14  also including making available, online to users within the enterprise, information about tasks of projects for which human resources have not been scheduled, and receiving requests to schedule the users for the tasks. 
     
     
         18 . A machine-based method comprising
 maintaining a common database of information about availability of resources of an enterprise for participation on projects of the enterprise,   enabling project planners to search the database for resources for possible assignment to projects and to assign resources to projects,   providing information about resources assigned to the projects from the common database to a groupware application to enable the groupware application to schedule the resources and alert the resources of the scheduling, and   providing updated information about scheduling of the resources from the groupware back to the common database, and updating the common database based on the updated information.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  in which enabling project planners to search the database includes receiving requests at an interface of a project resource planning application, and providing the requests to the common database of information. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  in which the groupware application comprises Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18  in which the assignments to projects are expressed as calendar tasks in the groupware application. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18  in which the resources comprise human resources. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 18  in which the updated information about scheduling is entered by a user of the groupware application. 
     
     
         24 . A machine-based method comprising
 maintaining information about a project of an enterprise, the information including assignments of human resources to roles associated with the project, and   providing online reports of all roles and assignments of human resources to all roles for the project.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  also including
 accumulating information about assignments of human resources to roles associated with multiple projects, and 
 enabling a user to obtain online analyses of utilization and availability of human resources across the multiple projects. 
 
     
     
         26 . A machine-based method comprising
 receiving from a project planner, with respect to a project, identifications of project roles to be performed for a project, the project roles identifying attributes of human resources useful for performing at least a portion of the project, without limiting the identification to specific human resources.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26  in which the attributes comprise qualifying attributes that define qualifications of suitable human resources. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26  in which the attributes comprise capacitive attributes that define time constraints on suitable human resources. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 26  in which the attributes for the project roles are defined by the project planner in connection with planning the project. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 26  in which the project roles are defined as generic project roles and the project planner selects the project roles for the project from the generic project roles. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30  also comprising associating tasks of the project with respective ones of the identified project roles. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  also including
 enabling the project planner to identify specific human resources for at least some of the project roles in a manner that is independent of the identification of the project roles or the associating of tasks with roles. 
 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 26  also including
 enabling the project planner to identify specific human resources for at least some of the project roles in a manner that is independent of the identification of the project roles. 
 
     
     
         34 . A machine-based method comprising
 presenting to a project planner a list of project roles needed for completing a project of an enterprise, and   enabling the project planner to enabling a project planner to assign tasks of the project to respective ones of the project roles without necessarily having specific human resources identified for each of the project roles.   
     
     
         35 .- 41 . (canceled) 
     
     
         42 . Apparatus comprising
 means for enabling a project planner to identify a person to participate in a project that has time constraints on its completion, and   means for scheduling, in response to the identifying of the person, assignments for the person that are consistent with the time constraints of the project, the assignments being selectively either tentative assignments or committed assignments.   
     
     
         43 . Apparatus comprising
 a stored database of information about human resources of an enterprise including assignments of human resources to roles in projects being conducted by the enterprise, the database being managed by a workforce management application, and   a project resource planning application that is distinct from the workforce management application, that is configured to respond to assignments of human resources to roles in projects being made or changed, by updating the human resources database to incorporate the information about the assignments.   
     
     
         44 . A medium bearing instructions to cause a machine to
 maintain a common database of information about availability of resources of an enterprise for participation on projects of the enterprise,   enable project planners to search the database for resources for possible assignment to projects and to assign resources to projects,   provide information about resources assigned to the projects from the common database to a groupware application to enable the groupware application to schedule the resources and alert the resources of the scheduling, and   provide updated information about scheduling of the resources from the groupware back to the common database, and updating the common database based on the updated information.   
     
     
         45 . A medium bearing instructions to cause a machine to
 maintain information about a project of an enterprise, the information including assignments of human resources to roles associated with the project, and   provide online reports of all roles and assignments of human resources to all roles for the project.   
     
     
         47 . (canceled)