Scheduling and budgeting for projects

Abstract

Information for a project, including financials and scheduling is stored as the single dataset, with budgeting information automatically integrated to the cash flow information, and with scheduling information automatically integrated to the cash flow information, and vice versa, through the single dataset from a single database to associate scheduled project phases. The single database, allows users to view the cash flow via multiple user interfaces extracted from the same core data, and therefore updates in one user interface can reflect across all user interfaces comprising budget, schedule and cash flow.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of generating information for a project requiring information comprising financials and scheduling and having at least one project phase comprising at least one of a time period, department or other sub-unit of project execution the method operable in a non-transitory processing medium and comprising:
 providing a calendar and a scheduling user interface based on the calendar;   providing a financials user interface which comprises at least one of a budgeting and cash flow interface;   receiving by a processor an indication of assets used during said at least one project phase and a time period associated with the project phase;   receiving financial data associated with the assets used during the project phase;   associating the indication of assets with the calendar for display on the scheduling user interface and the financial user interface, thereby allowing the user to input or edit scheduling, and financial data to a single dataset, thereby associating the received financial data with the time period associated with the project phase;   automatically generating financial documents based at least in part on the assets, the time period and the financial data;   linking from a processor scheduling information to the financial data for the project, wherein the financial documents include budgeting information and cash flow information; and   automatically integrating the budgeting information as the single dataset with the scheduling information and the cash flow information, with the budgeting information automatically integrated to the cash flow information, and with the scheduling information automatically integrated to the cash flow information, and vice versa, through the single dataset from a single database to associate scheduled project phases with the correlating budget department to link departmental information automatically across multiple documents by obtaining the budgeting information, the scheduling information and the cash flow information from the single dataset,   wherein the automatic integrating comprises feeding the assets, the time period and the financial data to the budgeting information, cash flow information and scheduling information into the single dataset, so that changes to the assets, the time period and the financial data in the single database automatically reflect in each of the financial documents, budgeting information, cash flow information and scheduling information and any user interfaces based on the single database, allowing users to view the cash flow via multiple user interfaces extracted from the same core data, and therefore updates in one user interface can reflect across all user interfaces comprising budget, schedule and cash flow,   wherein the scheduling user interface comprises a calendar user interface displaying a plurality of phase display elements, each display element representing a project phase, and a plurality of calendar bars, each calendar bar associated with a project phase, the calendar bar automatically displayed in an order associated with an order associated with the project phases,   and wherein, in response to adding a new project phase, deleting an existing project phase or moving an existing project phase such that the new project phase has a time period that overlaps the time period of the project phase, or the existing project phase has a time period that previously but no longer overlaps the time period of the project phase, changing an appearance feature of the display elements associated with the new, deleted or moved project phase.   
     
     
         2 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating and displaying a running project total.   
     
     
         3 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating the budgeting information in response to at least one of the group selected from a predetermined time period, receiving the financial data and receiving an indication of a request for the budgeting information,   wherein the budgeting information comprises a projected cash flow document.   
     
     
         4 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving the assets associated with the project phase, department or time period, and receiving the financial data associated with the assets via the scheduling user interface or a financials user interface provided as a function of the financials user interface,
 wherein the scheduling user interface comprises a calendar user interface, 
 wherein the financials user interface comprises a periodic financials user interface, 
 and wherein the financials user interface comprises a fixed period or custom-identified financials user interface, 
   and comprising receiving the project, time period, or financial data via a user interface accessible from the scheduling user interface or a financials user interface,   
     
     
         5 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an edit to a selected asset, the time period or financial data associated with the selected asset, and in response to receiving the edit, automatically generating updated budgeting information based at least in part on the edit;   receiving the edit to the time period or financial data via the scheduling user interface or a financials user interface; and   receiving the edit to the time period or financial data via a user interface accessible from the scheduling user interface or the financials user interface,   wherein the user interface opens in response to a selection in the scheduling user interface or financials user interface.   
     
     
         6 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising providing the time period or financial data in user editable form via the scheduling user interface or a financials user interface. 
     
     
         7 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing the time period or financial data in user editable form via the scheduling user interface or a cash flow user interface, with the time period or financial data not user editable via a budget view.   
     
     
         8 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the financial data comprises:
 at least one of an expense, a named asset related to the project, such as a staff or vendor expense, pay rate data, and a basis for the pay rate data;   a capability of pre-populating the financial data;   and wherein the user can associate prepopulated staff or vendor expense data with the assets, time period and financial data.   
     
     
         9 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a capability of pre-populating the financial data; and   a capability of selecting and copying data, thereby allowing the user to speedily duplicate and update data for a project as a unit.   
     
     
         10 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further including generating a report based at least in part on the time period and the financial data, wherein the report includes a subset of the budgeting information. 
     
     
         11 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising providing a sharing function allowing more than one user to share the same project, and to interact with and edit the same data from the single database. 
     
     
         12 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising providing a data sharing function whereby the user may select a template upon which to base a project, with no pre-populated data, or by using a template based on a pre-existing project the user has created and stored as a template for future use without project-specific financial and scheduling data, while retaining the data structure, or by using a blank template with no pre-populated data. 
     
     
         13 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising providing the user with a capability of selecting, dragging and dropping a plurality of calendar bars as a unit with a single human interface action, resulting in an update to cash flow and a uniform increment/decrement of time periods across all user interfaces. 
     
     
         14 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said changing an appearance feature of the display elements associated with the new, deleted or moved project phase comprises changing dimensions of calendar bars or elements thereof to render all calendar bars visible in the calendar user interface associated with the time period. 
     
     
         15 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , providing the user with a capability of configuring the order associated with the project phases. 
     
     
         16 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the budgeting data comprises a budget or a cash flow and the method further comprises printing the budget or the cash flow using an automatically determined printing format including a print area for a plurality of pages and pre-determined automatic pagination for one or more screens, views or pages. 
     
     
         17 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication that a plurality of calendar bars in a calendar user interface has been selected;   receiving an indication that the plurality of calendar bars has been dragged to a new date in the calendar user interface; and   in response to receiving the second indication, moving the calendar bars and displaying the calendar bars in a new location associated with the new date in the calendar user interface.   
     
     
         18 . A system for generating budgeting information for a project requiring finance, budgeting and scheduling and having at least one project phase comprising at least one of a time period, department or other aggregated unit of project execution, the system including:
 a processor configured to:
 provide a calendar, 
 provide a scheduling user interface based on the calendar, 
 provide a financials user interface which comprises at least one of a budgeting and cash flow interface, 
 receive an indication of a project phase and a time period associated with the project phase, 
 receive financial data associated with the project phase, 
 associate the indication of assets with the calendar for display on the scheduling user interface and the financial user interface, thereby allowing the user to input or edit scheduling, and financial data to a single dataset, thereby associating the received financial data with the time period associated with the project phase, 
 automatically generate financial documents based at least in part on the time period and the financial data, 
 link scheduling information to the financial data for the project, and 
 automatically integrating the assets, the time period and the financial data fed to the budgeting information, cash flow information and scheduling information into the single dataset, so that changes to the assets, the time period and the financial data in the single database automatically reflect in each of the financial documents, budgeting information, cash flow information and scheduling information and any user interfaces based on the single database, allowing users to view the cash flow via multiple user interfaces extracted from the same core data and therefore updates in one user interface reflect across all user interfaces comprising budget, schedule and cash flow; and 
 a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions, 
   wherein the financial documents include budgeting information and cash flow information, with the budgeting information automatically integrated as a single dataset with the scheduling information and the cash flow information, with the budgeting information automatically integrated to the cash flow information, and with the scheduling information automatically integrated to the cash flow information, and vice versa, through the single dataset from a single database to associate scheduled project phases with the correlating budget department to link departmental information automatically across multiple documents by obtaining the budgeting information, the scheduling information and the cash flow information from the single dataset,   wherein the scheduling user interface comprises a calendar user interface displaying a plurality of phase display elements, each display element representing a project phase, and a plurality of calendar bars, each calendar bar associated with a project phase, the calendar bar automatically displayed in an order associated with an order associated with the project phases,   and wherein, in response to adding a new project phase, deleting an existing project phase or moving an existing project phase such that the new project phase has a time period that overlaps the time period of the project phase, or the existing project phase has a time period that previously but no longer overlaps the time period of the project phase, changing an appearance feature of the display elements associated with the new, deleted or moved project phase.   
     
     
         19 . A computer program product for generating budgeting information for a project requiring finance, budgeting and scheduling and having at least one project phase comprising at least one of a time period, department or other sub-unit of project execution, the computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:
 providing a calendar and a scheduling user interface based on the calendar;   providing a financials user interface which comprises at least one of a budgeting and cash flow interface;   receiving an indication of a project phase and a time period associated with the project phase;   receiving financial data associated with the project phase;   associating the indication of assets with the calendar for display on the scheduling user interface and the financial user interface, thereby allowing the user to input or edit scheduling, and financial data to a single dataset, thereby associating the received financial data with the time period associated with the project phase;   automatically generating financial documents based at least in part on the time period and the financial data;   linking scheduling information to the financial data for the project,   wherein the financial documents include budgeting information and cash flow information, automatically integrating the budgeting information as a single dataset with the scheduling information and the cash flow information, the budgeting information automatically integrated to the cash flow information, the scheduling information automatically integrated to the cash flow information, and vice versa, through the single dataset from single database to associate scheduled project phases with the correlating budget department to link departmental information automatically across multiple documents by obtaining the budgeting information, the scheduling information and the cash flow information from the single dataset,   wherein the computer program product automatically integrates the assets, the time period and the financial data fed to the budgeting information, cash flow information and scheduling information into the single dataset, so that changes to the assets, the time period and the financial data in the single database automatically reflect in the financial documents, budgeting information, cash flow information and scheduling information and any user interfaces based on the single database, allowing users to view the cash flow via multiple user interfaces extracted from the same core data and therefore updates in one user interface reflect across all user interfaces comprising budget, schedule and cash flow,   wherein the scheduling user interface comprises a calendar user interface displaying a plurality of phase display elements, each display element representing a project phase, and a plurality of calendar bars, each calendar bar associated with a project phase, the calendar bar automatically displayed in an order associated with an order associated with the project phases,   and wherein, in response to adding a new project phase, deleting an existing project phase or moving an existing project phase such that the new project phase has a time period that overlaps the time period of the project phase, or the existing project phase has a time period that previously but no longer overlaps the time period of the project phase, changing an appearance feature of the display elements associated with the new, deleted or moved project phase.