PMA Receives Patent for the Graphical Forensic Scheduling System
January 14, 2014
PMA Technologies, a subsidiary of PMA Consultants, today announced that it has been awarded a U.S. Patent titled “Graphical Forensic Scheduling System.” In summary, the Graphical Forensic Scheduling System, by supporting Graphical Path Method (GPM) rules, may automatically heal corrupted logic right of the data date and automatically and continuously refresh forensic float, forensic drift and forensic total float on either side of the data date. The system may optimize the schedule by sliding and/or shortening or lengthening activities, and maintain forensic float, forensic drift and forensic total float current with respect to such optimization schemes taking place right of the data date. The system may support gestural recognition, surface computing and voice recognition, and provide users with visual feedback on the impact to a schedule, both prior to and subsequent the data date, immediately upon gestural or surface input.
What is Forensic Float?
In CPM, the ability to calculate floats is lost when actual dates are entered. Not only does GPM® retain this ability, but it’s inherent to the GPM® algorithm. Once activities are actually completed, the meaning of float is interpreted as hypothetical: how much could an activity have been delayed? In GPM®, this value is referred to as forensic float, and it continues to refresh even as schedule progress updates to the right of the data date. This can be particularly useful when analyzing a schedule for delays after the project has started or finished.
PMA Technologies applied for the GPM Patent on January 14, 2010, and it was awarded on September 10, 2013. PMA received its’ first patent for the GPM scheduling algorithm on June 15, 2012.
PMA Technologies is a unique fusion of PM practitioners along with software developers and designers. We are passionate about channeling our intellectual innovation into real and practical solutions to improve the world of project management. We actively develop NetPoint®, a collaborative planning and scheduling app, and NetRisk™, a schedule risk analysis addition for NetPoint. Both NetPoint and NetRisk are powered by GPM®, a flexible scheduling algorithm that enables real-time feedback and offers new opportunities in schedule optimization.
For further information, please contact us.