The Project Scheduling Problem with Non-Deterministic Activities Duration: A Literature Review

Purpose: The goal of this article is to provide an extensive literature review of the models and solution procedures proposed by many researchers interested on the Project Scheduling Problem with nondeterministic activities duration. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents an exhaustive literature review, identifying the existing models where the activities duration were taken as uncertain or random parameters. In order to get published articles since 1996, was employed the Scopus database. The articles were selected on the basis of reviews of abstracts, methodologies, and conclusions. The results were classified according to following characteristics: year of publication, mathematical representation of the activities duration, solution techniques applied, and type of problem solved. Findings: Genetic Algorithms (GA) was pointed out as the main solution technique employed by researchers, and the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) as the most studied type of problem. On the other hand, the application of new solution techniques, and the possibility of incorporating traditional methods into new PSP variants was presented as research trends. Originality/value: This literature review contents not only a descriptive analysis of the published articles but also a statistical information section in order to examine the state of the research activity carried out in relation to the Project Scheduling Problem with non-deterministic activities duration.Peer Reviewe

The Principles Of Developing A Management Decision Support System For Scientific Employees

Employees engaged in mental work have become the most valuable assets of any organization in the 21st century. The satisfaction of those involved in mental work requires the provision of objectivity and transparency in their decision-making. This, in turn, entails the development of scientifically motivated decision making mechanisms and scientific-methodological approaches to evaluate their performance based on innovative technologies.The main goal of this article is in development of the scientific and methodological framework for the establishment of a decision support system to manage the employees engaged in mental work and operating in uncertainty. In this regard, initially, the question of evaluating the activities of scientific workers is examined, its characteristic features are determined, and the fuzzy relation model is proposed as a multi-criterion issue formed in uncertainty. Taking into consideration the hierarchical structure of the criteria that allows evaluating the activities of scientific workers, a phased solution method based on an additive aggregation method is proposed. In accordance with the methodology, a functional scheme of the decision support system to manage the scientific personnel is developed. The working principle of each block and the interaction of the blocks are described. The rules for the employees\u27 management decisions are shown by referring to the knowledge production model.Based on the proposed methodological approach, the implementation phases of the decision support system for the management of the scientific workers of the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS are described. To evaluate the employees\u27 performance, the tools to collect initial information, evaluate the system of criteria, define their importance coefficients and mathematical descriptions are provided. Some results of the system software are presented. The opportunities of the system based on the proposed methodology to support enterprise mangers to make scientifically justified decisions are provided

Modeling and Solving Project Portfolio and Contractor Selection Problem Based on Project Scheduling under Uncertainty

AbstractIn this paper a new formulation of the project portfolio selection problem based on the project schedules in uncertain circumstances have been proposed. The project portfolio selection models usually disregard the project scheduling, whereas is an element of the project selection process. We investigate a project portfolio selection problem based on the schedule of the projects, so that the minimum expected profit would be met in the shortest possible time period. Also due to uncertain nature of durations of the activities, this duration considered as the semi-trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. Finally, a fuzzy linear programming model is developed for the problem, where the results indicated the validity of the presented model

Fuzzy goal programming for material requirements planning under uncertainty and integrity conditions

"This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in International Journal of Production Research on December 2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00207543.2014.920115."In this paper, we formulate the material requirements planning) problem of a first-tier supplier in an automobile supply chain through a fuzzy multi-objective decision model, which considers three conflictive objectives to optimise: minimisation of normal, overtime and subcontracted production costs of finished goods plus the inventory costs of finished goods, raw materials and components; minimisation of idle time; minimisation of backorder quantities. Lack of knowledge or epistemic uncertainty is considered in the demand, available and required capacity data. Integrity conditions for the main decision variables of the problem are also considered. For the solution methodology, we use a fuzzy goal programming approach where the importance of the relations among the goals is considered fuzzy instead of using a crisp definition of goal weights. For illustration purposes, an example based on modifications of real-world industrial problems is used.This work has been funded by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia Project: 'Material Requirements Planning Fourth Generation (MRPIV)' (Ref. PAID-05-12).Díaz-Madroñero Boluda, FM.; Mula, J.; Jiménez, M. (2014). Fuzzy goal programming for material requirements planning under uncertainty and integrity conditions. International Journal of Production Research. 52(23):6971-6988. doi:10.1080/00207543.2014.920115S697169885223Aköz, O., & Petrovic, D. (2007). A fuzzy goal programming method with imprecise goal hierarchy. European Journal of Operational Research, 181(3), 1427-1433. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2005.11.049Alfieri, A., & Matta, A. (2010). 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Fuzzy linear programming problems : models and solutions

We investigate various types of fuzzy linear programming problems based on models and solution methods. First, we review fuzzy linear programming problems with fuzzy decision variables and fuzzy linear programming problems with fuzzy parameters (fuzzy numbers in the definition of the objective function or constraints) along with the associated duality results. Then, we review the fully fuzzy linear programming problems with all variables and parameters being allowed to be fuzzy. Most methods used for solving such problems are based on ranking functions, alpha-cuts, using duality results or penalty functions. In these methods, authors deal with crisp formulations of the fuzzy problems. Recently, some heuristic algorithms have also been proposed. In these methods, some authors solve the fuzzy problem directly, while others solve the crisp problems approximately

Decision Support for Innovation Management: Application to the Lighting Industry

Making decisions about resource allocation for future innovations is a challenging task in both planned and market economies. Not only can such decisions not be reversed without considerable loss of efficiency, but the decision maker generally faces a number of conflicting objectives. In this report the authors try to combine two disciplines that have been evolving independently for a long time: innovation theory and decision theory. A decision support system for managing innovations should reflect the multistage nature of the innovation process and should also be suited to multiobjective decision making. At the same time it is necessary to simplify the real situation for the decision maker in order to apply former procedures. A very promising scheme is the decision tree, though it has shortcomings. Application of decision trees is closely connected with the evaluation process. Almost all models for evaluating innovation projects operate with only one objective. However, discussions with decision makers in the lighting industry, which shows classic features of the innovation process, revealed the necessity to include at least three objectives in the evaluation. Therefore, the authors have made use of the possibilities of multiobjective decision making. The decision problem in this work concerns the allocation of resources to innovation projects for the 1981-85 Five-Year Plan in the German Democratic Republic. At present the model for evaluating innovation projects is based upon linear programming and decision trees. It will be improved in close collaboration with decision makers, using the results of goal programming and other aspects of decision theory

USAGE OF INTERVAL CAUSE-EFFECT RELATIONSHIP COEFFICIENTS IN THE QUANTITATIVE MODEL OF STRATEGIC PERFORMANCE

This paper proposes the method to obtain values of the coefficients of cause-effect relationships between strategic objectives in the form of intervals and use them in solving the problem of the optimal allocation of organization’s resources. We suggest taking advantage of the interval analytical hierarchy process for obtaining the ntervals. The quantitative model of strategic performance developed by M. Hell, S. Vidučić and Ž. Garača is employed for finding the optimal resource allocation. The uncertainty originated in the optimization problem as a result of interval character of the cause-effect relationship coefficients is eliminated through the application of maximax and maximin criteria. It is shown that the problem of finding the optimal maximin, maximax, and compromise resource allocation can be represented as a mixed 0-1 linear programming problem. Finally, numerical example and directions for further research are given

Short Software Descriptions

This paper briefly presents the software for interactive decision support that was developed in 1990-1991 within the Contracted Study Agreement between the System and Decision Sciences Program at IIASA and several Polish scientific institutions, namely: Institute of Automatic Control (Warsaw University of Technology); Institute of Computing Science (Technical University of Poznaii); Institute of Informatics (Warsaw University); and Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. This Contracted Study Agreement has been a continuation of the same type of activity conducted since 1985. Therefore many of the software packages are actually improved versions of the programs developed in 1985-1989. The theoretical part of the results developed within this scientific activity is presented in the IIASA Collaborative Paper CP-90-008 by A. Ruszczynski, T. Rogowski and A.P. Wierzbicki entitled "Contributions to Methodology and Techniques of Decision Analysis (First Stage)." Detailed descriptions of the methodology and the user guide for each particular software package are published in separate Collaborative Papers. Each software package described here is available in executable form for non-profit educational and scientific purposes, however, any profit-oriented or commercial application requires a written agreement with IIASA. Inquires about the software should be directed to the System and Decision Sciences Program at IIASA, Methodology of Decisions Analysis Project