Robust Preemptive Resource Assignment for Multiple Software Projects Using Parameter Design

Abstract

Project preemption allows resources flow passively from one project or task to another. Due to high-cost and high-risk characteristics of software development, project preemption might have a significant impact on the ultimate completion time of a software project. This arti- cle examines the feasibility of the Taguchi's parameter design to achieve robust resource as- signment for multiple software projects with different preemptive rules. Two examples of soft- ware projects is employed to demonstrate the design process of the parameter design applying in the project scheduling problems. The first project illustrates a preemptive single software project. Project preemption occurs when resource vacations are considered. The second example consid- ers problems of preemptive multiple project scheduling. The parameter design with preemption rules and scheduling heuristics are employed to solve the problem. The results show that the pa- rameter design can achieve robust resource assignment by minimizing the effect of task varia- tion.