Joint Requirement of Two Multi-skill Resource Types in Multi-period Multi-site Assignment Problem

A classic assignment problem determines how to assign resources to tasks in the best possible way. Over the past years, the classic assignment problem has been extended and more complicated assignment models have been proposed. A multi-period multi-site assignment problem is one extension of the classic assignment problem. The number of site and period are increased to more than one and the decision is extended to consider assigning resources to site while concerning tasks in each site and period. Most multi-period multi-site assignment models do not concern joint of resources for operation; however, in some real-life problems, there is a case in which joint of resources for doing tasks is required. In this study, we consider joint requirement of two multi-skill resource types in the multi-period multi-site assignment problem and propose the mathematical model and heuristic. The developed heuristic is separated into two parts. The first part is to create an initial solution by CPLEX In the second part, to improve solution, algorithms for allocating resources to sites and assigning resources to tasks are developed. The computational experiment is done for studying the characteristic of the proposed problem when joint requirement is added and also evaluating the efficiency of the developed algorithm. The result shows that the complexity of the problem highly depends on the ratio of task requiring one and two resource types and while other parameters are fixed except the number of resource, there is only one range of the number of resource that makes the problem complex. For the efficiency of the algorithm, the developed heuristic can find good solutions in a short time in all ranges of the number of resource in all test problems (average optimal gap of all test problems is 7.25%)

Business Process Instances Scheduling with Human Resources Based on Event Priority Determination

International audienceBusiness Process Management (BPM) is concerned with continuously enhancing business processes. However, this cannot be achieved without an effective Resource allocation and a priority-based scheduling. These are important steps towards time, cost and performance optimization in business processes. Even though there are several approaches and algorithms for scheduling and resource allocation problems, they do not take into consideration information gathered from past process executions, given the stateless aspect of business processes. Extracting useful knowledge from this information can help achieving an effective instance scheduling decisions without compromising cost or quality of service. In this paper, we pave the way for a combination approach which is based on unsupervised machine learning algorithms for clustering and genetic algorithm (GA) to ensure the assignment of the most critical business process instance tasks, to the qualified human resource while respecting several constraints such as resource availability and reliability, and taking into consideration the priority of the events that launch the process instances. A case study is presented and the obtained results from our experimentations demonstrate the benefit of our approach and allowed us to confirm the efficiency of our assumptions

Um problema de afetação de pessoal a clientes de uma empresa de serviços domésticos

Mestrado em Decisão Económica e EmpresarialO presente trabalho final de mestrado é apresentado sob a forma de trabalho de projeto, em que se aplicam métodos e conhecimentos de Investigação Operacional e Computação, adquiridos ao longo do curso, à resolução de um problema real com que se deparou uma instituição de solidariedade social, a Pressley Ridge. Este problema que a instituição designa de "projeto Marias" consiste em promover o encontro entre os pedidos de clientes que procuram quem lhes faça determinados serviços domésticos e as funcionárias da instituição com formação para prestar os serviços procurados. Para conciliar os pedidos com as disponibilidades das funcionárias é preciso fazer a afetação de funcionárias a clientes, respeitando um conjunto de condições impostas por ambas as partes. Neste trabalho propõe-se um modelo de programação linear binária para descrever matematicamente o problema. Este modelo tem por base o problema de afetação clássico, no qual se incorporam restrições adicionais. Foram desenvolvidas duas heurísticas, uma construtiva e uma melhorativa para resolver o problema nos casos em que a dimensão não permite a resolução pelo Solver Premium Pro (Premium Solver Pro, 2006-2013), um suplemento do Excel. Quer as heurísticas, quer os procedimentos de tratamento dos ficheiros de dados e de apresentação de resultados foram programados em Visual Basic. Para comparar os diferentes métodos de resolução é realizada experiência computacional considerando um conjunto de instâncias de teste. São apresentadas conclusões acerca da qualidade das heurísticas e do desempenho do Solver Premium do Excel.This final master thesis is presented in the form of work project on the application of methods and acquired knowledge on Operations Research and Computer Science to the resolution of a real problem found by a private institution of social solidarity, the Pressley Ridge. This problem designated by the institution as "Projeto Marias" has the purpose of matching the requests of customers looking for people who do certain domestic services and trained employees of the institution who can provide the requested services. To match the clients' requests and employees' availability one has to assign employees to customers, respecting a set of conditions imposed by both parts. This paper proposes a binary linear programming model to mathematically describe the problem. The model is based on the classic assignment problem, where additional constraints are incorporated. Two heuristics were developed to provide feasible solutions for large instances that Premium Solver Pro (Premium Solver Pro, 2006-2013), an Excel add-in, could not solve. Either the heuristics or the procedures for input and output data files management were coded in Visual Basic. To compare the different methods computational experiment was carried out on a set of test instances. Conclusions are drawn about the quality of the heuristics and the performance of Excel Solver Premium

Joint management models of kidney exchange program and deceased donor waiting list

Tese de mestrado, Estatística e Investigação Operacional (Investigação Operacional) Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2019Pacientes com problemas renais que levem a insuficiência renal têm de se submeter a hemodiálise, um tratamento que substitui a função do rim e filtra as substâncias tóxicas do sangue. É um tratamento que envolve bastante tempo e que tem de ser repetido várias vezes por semana e como tal, dá uma qualidade de vida baixa aos pacientes. Como alternativa a este tratamento os doentes podem fazer um transplante renal e para isso podem ser transplantados através de um dador vivo ou cadáver. Um dador vivo é alguém que geralmente conhece o paciente e quer doar um dos seus dois rins saudáveis enquanto o dador cadáver é alguém que quando falece pode ser considerado um potencial dador de órgãos, de-pendendo das circunstancias da sua morte. A lista de espera para transplantação através de dadores ca-dáver normalmente é bastante longa e demorada, por isso aconselha-se sempre o paciente a tentar arran-jar um dador vivo compatível. Como por vezes é bastante difícil arranjar alguém compatível, criou-se o programa de doação renal cruzada. Este programa permite criar trocas entre pares de pacientes-dadores incompatíveis de forma a ar-ranjar compatibilidades. Assim, o dador de um par pode doar um rim a um paciente de outro, desde que o seu paciente receba um transplante de um dador de outro par. Desta forma criam-se ciclos onde se pretendem maximizar o número de transplantes. Ao longo dos anos foram-se criando várias variantes deste programa de doação renal e foram efe-tuados diversos estudos que pretendem aumentar o número de transplantes e ao mesmo tempo reduzir o tempo de espera dos pacientes, reduzindo assim o tamanho da lista de espera, mas este trabalho foca-se nos modelos propostos por Haynes et al. (2017). Estes três modelos misturam o conceito de troca entre pares incompatíveis e transplantes de dadores cadáveres. Desta forma podem-se criar cadeias iniciadas por dadores cadáveres onde o rim destes é transplantado para um paciente que se encontrava no programa com o seu dador incompatível. De se-guida o seu dador doa para o paciente de outro par e assim sucessivamente até que o dador do último par doa de volta para a lista de espera, para um paciente que não tinha um dador vivo e que portanto não estava no programa. Os modelos diferem principalmente quanto à prioridade que se dá aos pacientes e pela ordem com que se efetuam os transplantes. O simulador criado por Santos et al. (2018) foi adaptado para simular a utilização destes modelos numa população também criada pelo simulador e foram analisados e comparados de acordo com a per-centagem de transplantes feita e com o tempo de espera médio e máximo para pacientes de acordo com o seu tipo de sangue e PRA (Panel-active antibody). As maiores conclusões que se retiraram são que existe um benefício enorme em ter um dador vivo disponível para doar um rim e que, na maior parte dos casos, estes três modelos são mais vantajosos do que usar um modelo que separa a gestão do pro-grama de doação renal cruzada e a lista de espera de dadores cadáveres.Patients with kidney diseases leading to kidney failure have to undergo hemodialysis, a treatment that replaces kidney function and filters out toxic blood substances. It is a treatment that involves a lot of time and that must be repeated several times a week and as such, gives a low quality of life to patients. As an alternative to this treatment, patients can have a kidney transplant and can be transplanted through a living donor or a deceased one. A living donor is someone who usually knows the patient and wants to donate one of his two healthy kidneys while a deceased donor is someone who, when dies, can be considered a potential organ donor, depending on the circumstances of his/her death. The waitlist for transplantation by deceased donors can usually be quite long in terms of patients and waiting time, so it is always advisable for the patient to try to find a compatible living donor. As it is sometimes quite difficult to find a match, a kidney exchange program (KEP) was created. This program allows to create exchanges between incompatible patient-donor pairs in order to achieve compatibilities. Thus, the donor of one pair can donate a kidney to a patient of another, as long as his/her patient receives a transplant from a donor of another pair. This creates cycles where the num-ber of transplants aims to be maximized. Over the years, several variants of the KEP have been created and several studies have been con-ducted to increase the number of transplants and at the same time reduce the patients’ waiting time, thus reducing the size of the waiting list, but this work focuses on the models proposed by Haynes et al. (2017). These three models mix the concepts of incompatible pair exchange and deceased donor transplan-tation. Therefore, chains initiated by deceased donors can be created where the kidney is transplanted to a patient who was in the program with the incompatible donor. Then the incompatible donor donates to the patient of another pair and so on until the donor of the last pair donates back to the waitlist, to a patient who did not have a living donor and consequently was not in the program. The models differ mainly in the priority given to the patients and in the order in which the transplants are performed. The simulator created by Santos et al. (2018) was adapted to simulate the use of these models in a population also created by the simulator, being analyzed and compared according to the percentage of transplants performed and the mean and maximum waiting time for patients according to their blood type and PRA (Panel-active antibody). The main conclusions drawn were that there is an enormous benefit in having a living donor available to donate a kidney and that, in most cases, these three models are more advantageous than using a model that separates the management of the KEP and the deceased donors waitlist

A note on the assignment problem with seniority and job priority constraints

Consider an assignment problem in which persons are qualified for a subset of the jobs; assume the persons to belong to given seniority classes. Seniority constraints impose that the solution is such that no free person can be given a job unless an assigned person with the same or higher seniority becomes free. Similarly, jobs can belong to priority classes for which priority constraints must hold. It is shown that the assignment problem with both types of constraints can be solved by successively reoptimizing a (rectangular) linear assignment problem of increasing size. The related complexity is lower than for a known coefficient scaling approach. A further advantage of this approach is that it is easy to modify to solve the problem under the bottleneck criterion

Uma aplicação de programação inteira para otimização do planejamento da fiscalização no âmbito da Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil - ANAC

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo propor uma modelagem da alocação de fiscais da Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil - ANAC. O problema consiste em minimizar o custo de diárias e passagens dispendido no exercício da fiscalização em Centros de Instrução de Aviação Civil (CIAC). Os fiscais, que estão lotados em quatro cidades, e os CIACs, localizados em mais de 180, demandam inúmeros deslocamentos na realização das fiscalizações. Com restrições orçamentárias cada vez mais severas no âmbito do Poder Executivo Federal, vê-se a necessidade de utilizar os recursos de maneira ótima, evitando desperdícios. Para tanto, foram utilizados dados reais para modelagem e resolução do problema. A abordagem ocorreu dividindo o problema em duas etapas, uma para geração das missões de trabalho e a outra para a alocação das equipes de inspeção. Dessa forma, buscando a geração da menor quantidade de missões e, na sequência, o menor custo da alocação dos inspetores ao longo do período de doze meses. Considerando a natureza de Programação Inteira do problema, o método de Geração de Colunas foi implementado, assim como um algoritmo heurístico para resolução. Adicionalmente, foram analisadas as implicações gerenciais da utilização do modelo, incluindo simulações de cenários com diferentes parâmetros. Os resultados obtidos indicam que é possível utilizar de forma mais eficiente os recursos disponíveis na ANAC. Ademais, a divisão do problema permitiu que fosse gerado um número mínimo de missões, garantindo uma significante redução no custo de passagens aéreas. Sendo assim, foi possível desenvolver e implementar uma modelagem capaz de ser utilizada de forma estratégica no planejamento das fiscalizações programadas no âmbito da ANAC.This work aims to propose a model for inspectors assignment in the National Civil Aviation Agency - ANAC. The problem consists in minimizing the cost of daily allowance and tickets spent during inspections at Civil Aviation Instruction Centers (CIAC). Inspectors, who are based in four cities, and CIACs, located in more than 180, demand numerous trips to carry out the inspections. With budget restrictions increasingly severe within the Brazilian Federal Administration, there is a need to use resources optimally, avoiding waste. For that, real data were used to model and solve the problem. The approach took place by dividing the problem into two stages, one for the generation of work missions and the other for the assignment of inspection teams. Thus, firstly, ensuring the generation of the minimum quantity of missions and, subsequently, the lowest cost of inspectors assignment over the twelve-month period. Considering the Integer Programming nature of the problem, the Column Generation method was implemented, as well as a heuristic algorithm. Additionally, the management implications of using the model were analyzed, including simulations of scenarios with different parameters. The results obtained indicate that it is possible to use the resources available at ANAC more efficiently. Furthermore, the division of the problem allowed a minimum number of missions being generated, reducing significantly the cost of airline tickets. In this way, it was possible to develop and implement a model capable of being used strategically in the planning of inspections scheduled within the scope of ANAC

Advanced Academic Degree Inventory Management (AADIM) Model

This research develops the Advanced Academic Degree (AAD) Inventory Model (AADIM) to employ an inventory management approach to select, educate, and assign officers to duties that require incumbents possessing advanced education in specialized technical disciplines. The AADIM offers an alternative approach to the US Air Force\u27s current billet-based Graduate Education Management System (GEMS). The entry model (AADIM-E) generates, via user inputs, a career field specific advanced education profile and then employs a Markov model to forecast the educational quotas necessary to achieve the desired profile within a prescribed period of time. The utilization model (AADIMU) uses an additive multi-attribute value function to ascribe a qualification score, based on a selected set of weighted criteria, to each officer with respect to each available duty assignment. An integer programming formulation is then solved to obtain an optimal matching between officers and assignments that maximizes the summed qualification scores. The research demonstrates that AADIM-E can be used to evaluate the feasibility and practicality of long-term policies such as career field manning, the desired proportion and timing of officers requiring advanced education, as well as the length of time allowed to achieve such goals. The AADIM-U yields an objective methodology to manage AAD officers, as long-term inventory assets, to yield substantially greater incumbency rates for AAD positions than historically achieved using the current GEMS process

Une approche à base d'agents pour la planification et l'ordonnancement en temps réel de personnel dans un contexte de chaîne d'assemblage flexible

La recherche abordée dans le cadre de cette thèse s'intéresse à la gestion des ressources humaines opérationnelles, et plus spécifiquement aux problèmes de planification de ces ressources dans un contexte dynamique. Un intérêt particulier est porté au problème d'ordonnancement en temps réel du personnel travaillant sur une chaîne d'assemblage. Nous abordons cette problématique dans une perspective de gestion par compétences et ce, en nous basant sur le profil de compétences dans la modélisation de l'offre et de la demande en main-d'oeuvre. Quatre principaux axes de recherche sont exploités. Le premier axe vise l'aspect théorique de la modélisation du problème d'ordonnancement du personnel. A cet effet, nous proposons un modèle mathématique du problème d'affectation dynamique des employés sur une chaîne d'assemblage avec la prise en considération des préférences, des compétences et des déplacements inter-postes des employés. En nous basant sur ce modèle, et grâce à l'utilisation du solveur commercial de type Cplex, nous avons pu résoudre des instances de problèmes de petite taille. Les résultats obtenus démontrent que la production d'une solution optimale requiert un temps de calcul important, ce qui risque de générer une rigidité et une moindre réactivité de la fonction d'ordonnancement face à des perturbations d'un environnement dynamique. Le deuxième axe de recherche porte sur l'élaboration d'une approche distribuée à base d'agents pour la résolution du problème d'ordonnancement du personnel. L'approche proposée se base sur l'utilisation de plusieurs catégories d'agents intelligents qui coopèrent entre eux à travers la formation de coalitions. Chaque coalition est formée de deux agents-employés qui auront décidé de coopérer entre eux en s'échangeant une partie de leurs activités d'assemblage afin d'améliorer leur profit et en conséquence, la qualité de la solution globale d'ordonnancement. Les résultats d'ordonnancement du personnel obtenus à partir des premiers tests sont encourageants. Ils démontrent que notre approche à base d'agents permet d'obtenir des solutions de bonne qualité en des temps raisonnables. Le troisième axe de recherche porte sur le réordonnancent du personnel en temps réel face aux aléas liés à l'absence d'employés. À cet effet, nous proposons une extension de l'approche à base d'agents ainsi que deux variantes de l'approche de recuit simulé, qui permettent de résoudre le problème de réordonnancement. Nous avons pu tester les performances de ces deux approches sur plusieurs cas du problème d'ordonnancement et de réordonnancement du personnel. L'ensemble des résultats démontre que l'algorithme à base d'agents conduit à de très bonnes solutions en comparaison avec le recuit simulé. Enfin, nous avons exploité les algorithmes à base d'agents et de recuit simulé, qui sont développés dans cette recherche, pour étudier deux aspects de la gestion stratégique des ressources humaines : la flexibilité dans l'élaboration des horaires de travail et l'impact de la prise en considération des préférences dans le processus d'ordonnancement du personnel. Dans les deux cas, les résultats de simulation obtenus corroborent les hypothèses initiales de recherche, à savoir la pertinence et l'intérêt de la notion de flexibilité et de la prise en compte des préférences dans le processus d'ordonnancement du personnel

4th Regional Helix | Porto, 2019- Book of Abstracts

Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Sustainability – Rethinking the Helix In an increasingly global and feverish economy, regional cartography is not always sufficiently documented and discussed. At the same time, the narrative “trial-mistake” is often discouraged, considering that when success emerges one should hide hypothetical errors. In a scenario, in which the new industry paradigms and value-adding processes require a critical reflection on the sustainability of entrepreneurial ecosystems and on the relations between firms, governments, society and the processes of knowledge creation emerges the 4th International congress of Regional Helix, under the topic "Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Sustainability - Rethinking the Helix". Since its creation, the Regional Helix conference emphasizes the importance of cooperation and this edition is no exception and it results from a joint organization between the School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic of Porto, through its research center (CIICESI), of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, NECE (research center of the Department of Economics and Management of the University of Beira Interior) and University of Trás os Montes and Alto Douro. The participation of several researchers from national and international institutions is an important step in the achievement of these aims. We are pleased to welcome colleagues from countries across the globe. We believe that this multiplicity reflects the interest that regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and sustainability issues have transversely across the world. Finally, we would like to call your attention to the several publication opportunities that Regional Helix 2019 bring to you, and we invite all colleagues to submit their papers for the publications that better fit their research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio