1. A system wherein a user places an order for at least one provider, and a degree of matching between each order-provider pairing is computed, the system comprising: a data storage device to receive and store user information from at least one user, the user information including provider information that specifies provider criteria and order information that specifies order criteria for that particular order; at least one virtual provider that is created by pairing provider information of a particular provider with order information of a particular order to create an informational pair; a knowledge base which is stored in a data storage device which may be said data storage device, which is separate from the user information and separate from program code, and which contains information on which to base requests for information by the system to obtain the user information; a scoring system that compares the provider information of a particular provider and the order information of a particular order within each respective informational pair, and that determines a score reflecting a degree of matching for each respective informational pair; a management system that tracks each virtual provider of the at least one en virtual provider through a plurality of information gathering steps; and a sequencing system that specifies contents of each step of the plurality of information gathering steps, the contents at least including instructions to at least one of (a) the user regarding the input of user information and (b) the provider regarding the input of provider information.