Resource Schedule of Concrete Fish Pond Construction Using Network Analysis

In the construction of building, preparation of bid, maintenance and planning of oil refinery and preparation for agricultural activities, there is a need to know the completion days of the project without delay and the earliest time and the latest time for which each activity will take. It was based on this that we decide to analyze the construction of concrete fish pond using Network Analysis through the use of Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT). Sixty-four days was arrived at for the completion of the construction using CPM while sixty-eight days with 99% probability was arrived at using PERT method. In deciding which of the method is best suitable for the construction of the fish pond, PERT serve as the best method due to the fact that it considers the Pessimistic Time (longest time possible and can be seen as usual delay) and Optimistic Time (shortest time possible if things go perfectly) as well as the probability [which is 99%] of completing the task within a specific time. The result established some useful facts for researchers in this area as well as managers of industry in carrying out their study from the feasibility stage to the other stages so as to have a good practical target towards the completion of the project as planned. Keyword: Network Analysis, Critical Path Method, Program Evaluation Review Technique, Pessimistic Time, Optimistic Time and Probability DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/57-04 Publication date:June 30th 201

A Decision Support System for Dynamic Integrated Project Scheduling and Equipment Operation Planning

Common practice in scheduling under limited resource availability is to first schedule activities with the assumption of unlimited resources, and then assign required resources to activities until available resources are exhausted. The process of matching a feasible resource plan with a feasible schedule is called resource allocation. Then, to avoid sharp fluctuations in the resource profile, further adjustments are applied to both schedule and resource allocation plan within the limits of feasibility constraints. This process is referred to as resource leveling in the literature. Combination of these three stages constitutes the standard approach of top-down scheduling. In contrast, when scarce and/or expensive resource is to be scheduled, first a feasible and economical resource usage plan is established and then activities are scheduled accordingly. This practice is referred to as bottom-up scheduling in the literature. Several algorithms are developed and implemented in various commercial scheduling software packages to schedule based on either of these approaches. However, in reality resource loaded scheduling problems are somewhere in between these two ends of the spectrum. Additionally, application of either of these conventional approaches results in just a feasible resource loaded schedule which is not necessarily the cost optimal solution. In order to find the cost optimal solution, activity scheduling and resource allocation problems should be considered jointly. In other words, these two individual problems should be formulated and solved as an integrated optimization problem. In this research, a novel integrated optimization model is proposed for solving the resource loaded scheduling problems with concentration on construction heavy equipment being the targeted resource type. Assumptions regarding this particular type of resource along with other practical assumptions are provided for the model through inputs and constraints. The objective function is to minimize the fraction of the execution cost of resource loaded schedule which varies based on the selected solution and thus, considered to be the model's decision making criterion. This fraction of cost which hereafter is referred to as operation cost, encompasses four components namely schedule delay cost, shipping, rental and ownership costs for equipment