1. A method for estimating effort for implementing a system associated with a document, comprising: quantifying a structure of the document and evaluating a format of the document using a computing device; identifying a domain of an application associated with the document; defining a set of complexity variables associated with the document based on the structure of the document, a format of the document and a domain of the document; using a neural network to estimate an effort based on the set of complexity variables; and outputting the effort via a tangible medium; wherein quantifying the structure of the document comprises determining a volume of text in the document and determining a distribution of text in the document; wherein evaluating the format of the document comprises comparing the document to a predefined standard; and wherein identifying the domain of the document comprises identifying a subject of the document.