Solving Project Delays and Abandonment Using Hybrid Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Models

Resource-constrained project scheduling models either the single-mode or the multi-mode case finds minimum schedule that minimizes the completion time of a project with constant per period renewable resource. That the level of provided resources, each period must be constant, does not reflect a real-life situation and hence makes these models inappropriate for solving project delays and abandonment. We present a Hybrid resource-constrained project scheduling problem (Hybrid RCPSP), the single-mode case and the multi-mode case for solving delays and abandonment of projects. These models are combination of the existing single-mode and multi-mode RCPSP models with some added assumptions. Our method essentially formulates the network project as a Hybrid RCPSP (single-mode or the multi-mode) and then finds the minimal schedule that minimizes the completion time of the project using priority rule based scheduling technique, while the level of the renewable resource availability varies. The idea is that if a completion time of the project can be minimized then, that project cannot be delayed or abandoned. We performed our method on a real-life building construction project (a fenced three-bedroom bungalow), a fictitious single-mode and multi-mode network projects. Our result of the real-life building construction project, show that to solve project delays and abandonment, the level of per period available resource should vary and our result of the fictitious Single-Mode and Multi-mode RCPSP show that no matter how small (even at zero level in some time periods), the per period amount and how long the length of the period, the projects will not be delayed or even abandone