1. A method for comparing a first document to one or more second documents, a given document comprising one or more elements and one or more values for each of the one or more elements, the method comprising the steps of: assigning at least one weight to at least one of the one or more elements in the first document; generating a weighted template in accordance with the at least one assigned weight; computing one or more comparison scores for each of the one or more second documents, wherein the one or more comparison scores for a given second document are computed by comparing the one or more values for at least a given element in the first document to one or more values for each of one or more elements in the given second document in accordance with one or more comparison rules, wherein the one or more comparison rules determine at least one technique used for comparing the given element in the first document and a given element in the given second document based on whether the values of the elements being compared are textual or numeric values, wherein the at least one technique determined by the one or more comparison rules comprises using at least one or more language hierarchies to compare textual values; and generating one or more similarity scores for each of the one or more second documents in accordance with the generated weighted template and the one or more computed comparison scores.
1. A method for comparing a first document to one or more second documents, a given document comprising one or more elements and one or more values for each of the one or more elements, the method comprising the steps of: assigning at least one weight to at least one of the one or more elements in the first document; generating a weighted template in accordance with the at least one assigned weight; computing one or more comparison scores for each of the one or more second documents, wherein the one or more comparison scores for a given second document are computed by comparing the one or more values for at least a given element in the first document to one or more values for each of one or more elements in the given second document in accordance with one or more comparison rules, wherein the one or more comparison rules determine at least one technique used for comparing the given element in the first document and a given element in the given second document based on whether the values of the elements being compared are textual or numeric values, wherein the at least one technique determined by the one or more comparison rules comprises using at least one or more language hierarchies to compare textual values; and generating one or more similarity scores for each of the one or more second documents in accordance with the generated weighted template and the one or more computed comparison scores. 13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one technique determined by the one or more comparison rules comprises at least one of scaling and normalizing.