A system for scoring a concept is provided. The system includes a data
store, a graphical user interface, and a scoring component. The data
store maintains values for categories, sub-area weighting factors, and
area weighting factors. The graphical user interface allows a user to
score a concept based on a plurality of categories of the concept. At
least some of the categories are associated with one of a plurality of
sub-areas, and at least one of the sub-areas is associated with one of a
plurality of areas. The scoring component is operable based on the
categories selected by the user to calculate a concept score using the
values for the categories selected by the user. The scoring component
also calculates the concept score using the sub-area weighting factors to
weight the associated sub-areas, and also uses the area weighting factors
to weight the associated areas.