A prospect is generated for filling a batch with at least one item having
at least one characteristic property. The prospect is used to assign an
item to a batch having at least one batch shortage expressed in terms of
the at least one characteristic property. A first set of data
representing at least one characteristic property of at least one item is
provided. A second set of data is provided, representing at least one
batch shortage. A third set of data is generated, representing a tally on
the number of combinations of the items represented in the first set of
data as a function of batch shortage and item count. A fourth set of data
is provided indicating at least one batch shortage and optionally a
maximum number of items on which the prospect generation is to be based.
The prospect related to the fourth set of data is generated on the basis
of multiplying each of the entries of the third set of data by the single
count probability corresponding to each entry, subject to the proviso
that each of the entries multiplied represents: (i) one of the batch
shortages indicated in the fourth set of data, and (ii) a number of
combinations of items being smaller than or equal to the provided maximum
number of items.