A greedy heuristic approach for the project scheduling with labour allocation problem

Responding to the growing need of generating a robust project scheduling, in this article we present a greedy algorithm to generate the project baseline schedule. The robustness achieved by integrating two dimensions of the human resources flexibilities. The first is the operators’ polyvalence, i.e. each operator has one or more secondary skill(s) beside his principal one, his mastering level being characterized by a factor we call “efficiency”. The second refers to the working time modulation, i.e. the workers have a flexible time-table that may vary on a daily or weekly basis respecting annualized working strategy. Moreover, the activity processing time is a non-increasing function of the number of workforce allocated to create it, also of their heterogynous working efficiencies. This modelling approach has led to a nonlinear optimization model with mixed variables. We present: the problem under study, the greedy algorithm used to solve it, and then results in comparison with those of the genetic algorithms

Customizing BPMN Diagrams Using Timelines

BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is widely used standard modeling technique for representing Business Processes by using diagrams, but lacks in some aspects. Representing execution-dependent and time-dependent decisions in BPMN Diagrams may be a daunting challenge [Carlo Combi et al., 2017]. In many cases such constraints are omitted in order to preserve the simplicity and the readability of the process model. However, for purposes such as compliance checking, process mining, and verification, formalizing such constraints could be very useful. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for annotating BPMN Diagrams with Temporal Synchronization Rules borrowed from the timeline-based planning field. We discuss the expressivity of the proposed approach and show that it is able to capture a lot of complex temporally-related constraints without affecting the structure of BPMN diagrams. Finally, we provide a mapping from annotated BPMN diagrams to timeline-based planning problems that allows one to take advantage of the last twenty years of theoretical and practical developments in the field