Proactive Project Scheduling With Activity Splitting and Resource Transfer Times Under Uncertain Environments

Abstract

Proactive project scheduling aims to generate robust baseline schedules that are protected against the potential schedule disruptions during project execution. In this paper, we propose a new problem named the proactive resource-constrained project scheduling problem with activity split-ting and resource transfer times, and try to investigate the trade-off between the benefits of activity splitting and the drawbacks of the resulting more resource transfer times. The proposed problem is formulated into an integer programming model with considering the constraints of a maximum allowed number of splitting and a minimum period of continuous execution. Since the problem is NP-hard in the strong sense, a genetic algorithm is then developed for problem solving. From the obtained results of a designed computational experiment, we prove that the developed genetic algorithm is effective in solving the defined problem, and the benefits of activity splitting to schedule robustness improvement can be weaken with the resulting more resource transfer times among the subactivities. Besides, with the increase of the maximum allowed number of activity splitting, the decrease of the minimum continuous execution time, the decrease of resource transfer times, and the extension of project deadlines, schedule robustness increases.

A Two-Layer Approach for the Decentralized Multi-Project Scheduling Problem Sharing Multi-Skilled Staff

“…Project scheduling, as an important component of project management, can provide scientific decision-making support for project managers [1]. The resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) studies the reasonable scheduling of the start time of all activities while satisfying the priority relationship constraints between activities and resource constraints to achieve the goals of project managers, such as minimizing project completion time or cost [2]- [4]. With the development of the global economy and the intensification of market competition, the scale and quantity of projects that enterprises need to manage simultaneously have also increased.…”