Application of operations scheduling algorithms for the allocation of forensic science services

Abstract

The activities of preparing and issuing Forensic Science Services reports are a public service of great importance for society and for the executive and judicial branches. However, notably, it has difficulties in meeting due dates, causing damage to all involved and generating additional costs for governments. In practice, it is observed that knowledge in the area of operations management is not used to determine the allocations of Forensic Science services at Criminalistics Technical Sections. Therefore, the objective of this research is to develop and apply knowledge related to the operations scheduling of Forensic Science reports. To fulfill the objective, the case study research method was applied in the Regional Technical Section of Criminalistics (STRC) of Três Corações - Minas Gerais in Brazil. Real data from that Forensic Unity carried out in the past were implemented in an APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) software and new allocations, based on the software's internal algorithms, were carried out. The results of allocations from the software have been compared with the previous results. The comparisons show that scheduling from the software's algorithms can bring better results.