Abstract
In practice, most projects result in cost overruns and schedule slippage due to poor resource management. This paper presents an approach that aims at reducing project duration and costs by empowering project managers to assess different scenarios. The proposed approach addresses combinatorial modes for tasks, multi-skilled resources, and multiple calendars for resources. A case study reported in the literature is presented to demonstrate the capabilities of this method. As for practical implications, this approach enhances the decision-making process which results in improved solutions in terms of total project duration and cost. From an academic viewpoint, this paper adds empirical evidence to enrich the existing literature, as it highlights relevant issues to model properly the complexity of real-life projects.
Highlights
Projects exist in various sectors of the economy
Project scheduling consists of determining start times for all tasks such that temporal and/or resource constraints are satisfied and some objective is optimized (Jozefowska and Weglarz 2006)
The authors use the term short-term resource management to highlight this tool’s ability to manage resources in near real time. It solves the Combinatorial Multi-Mode Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (CMRCMPSP) described in (Pinha 2015, Pinha et al 2016) which is another extension of the RCPSP
Summary
Projects exist in various sectors (constructions, shipyards, manufacturing, healthcare, education, government, etc.) of the economy. Project scheduling consists of determining start times for all tasks such that temporal and/or resource constraints are satisfied and some objective is optimized (Jozefowska and Weglarz 2006) It is a complex activity, when dealing with multiple projects, where tasks compete for limited resources over multiple projects. There exist significant gaps between theory and practice It has been reported (AlSehaimi et al 2013) that construction industry has lower productivity compared to other industries, primarily due to poor resource. The most commonly used project management tools are Microsoft EPM (MP 2015) and Primavera Project Planner (P3 and P6 versions, Primavera 2015) These tools do not support multiple task modes (i.e., only one way to carry out a task) and do not guarantee accuracy in calculating task duration, when multiple resources and multiple calendars are required.
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