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Predetermined intervals for start times of activities in the stochastic project scheduling problem

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  • Illana Bendavid
  • Boaz Golany

Abstract

This paper proposes a new methodology to schedule activities in projects with stochastic activity durations. The main idea is to determine for each activity an interval in which the activity is allowed to start its processing. Deviations from these intervals result in penalty costs. We employ the Cross-Entropy methodology to set the intervals so as to minimize the sum of the expected penalty costs. The paper describes the implementation of the method, compares its results to other heuristic methods and provides some insights towards actual applications. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

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  • Illana Bendavid & Boaz Golany, 2011. "Predetermined intervals for start times of activities in the stochastic project scheduling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 429-442, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:186:y:2011:i:1:p:429-442:10.1007/s10479-010-0733-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-010-0733-y
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