IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/annopr/v321y2023i1d10.1007_s10479-022-04797-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resource leveling in projects with flexible structures

Author

Listed:
  • Hongbo Li

    (Shanghai University)

  • Linwen Zheng

    (Shanghai University)

  • Hanyu Zhu

    (Shanghai University)

Abstract

Project resource leveling, which is usually performed in the project planning phase, aims to minimize fluctuations in resource usage such that the project success probability is enhanced. The existing studies on resource leveling mainly assume a fixed project structure, i.e., the activities and precedence relationships are given in advance. However, in real-world projects, the project structure is usually flexible, i.e., not all activities are implemented, and the precedence relationships exist only between the activities that are implemented. Aiming at providing support for project managers to make effective resource leveling decisions when facing flexible project structures, we study the resource leveling problem with flexible structures (RLP-PS). We present a nonlinear integer programming model for the RLP-PS and a linearization method to transform the nonlinear model into a linear model. To efficiently solve the RLP-PS, we devise two problem-specific algorithms: a two-stage heuristic algorithm and a customized genetic algorithm. Based on the PSPLIB benchmark dataset, extensive computational experiments are performed to analyze the performances of our algorithms. The experimental results reveal the effectiveness and competitiveness of our algorithms.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongbo Li & Linwen Zheng & Hanyu Zhu, 2023. "Resource leveling in projects with flexible structures," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 321(1), pages 311-342, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:321:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10479-022-04797-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-022-04797-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10479-022-04797-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10479-022-04797-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kellenbrink, Carolin & Helber, Stefan, 2015. "Scheduling resource-constrained projects with a flexible project structure," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 246(2), pages 379-391.
    2. Wuliang Peng & Jiali lin & Jingwen Zhang & Liangwei Chen, 2022. "A bi-objective hierarchical program scheduling problem and its solution based on NSGA-III," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 308(1), pages 389-414, January.
    3. Lihua He & Lianying Zhang, 2013. "Dynamic priority rule-based forward-backward heuristic algorithm for resource levelling problem in construction project," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 64(8), pages 1106-1117, August.
    4. Farnaz Torabi Yeganeh & Seyed Hessameddin Zegordi, 2020. "A multi-objective optimization approach to project scheduling with resiliency criteria under uncertain activity duration," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 285(1), pages 161-196, February.
    5. Vanhoucke, Mario & Coelho, José, 2016. "An approach using SAT solvers for the RCPSP with logical constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(2), pages 577-591.
    6. Morteza Davari & Erik Demeulemeester, 2019. "Important classes of reactions for the proactive and reactive resource-constrained project scheduling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 274(1), pages 187-210, March.
    7. Morteza Davari & Erik Demeulemeester, 2019. "The proactive and reactive resource-constrained project scheduling problem," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 211-237, April.
    8. Kolisch, Rainer & Hartmann, Sonke, 2006. "Experimental investigation of heuristics for resource-constrained project scheduling: An update," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(1), pages 23-37, October.
    9. Bandelloni, M. & Tucci, M. & Rinaldi, R., 1994. "Optimal resource leveling using non-serial dyanamic programming," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 162-177, October.
    10. Dale F. Cooper, 1976. "Heuristics for Scheduling Resource-Constrained Projects: An Experimental Investigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(11), pages 1186-1194, July.
    11. Rieck, Julia & Zimmermann, Jürgen & Gather, Thorsten, 2012. "Mixed-integer linear programming for resource leveling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(1), pages 27-37.
    12. Čapek, R. & Šůcha, P. & Hanzálek, Z., 2012. "Production scheduling with alternative process plans," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 217(2), pages 300-311.
    13. Vacharapoom Benjaoran & Wisitsak Tabyang & Nart Sooksil, 2015. "Precedence relationship options for the resource levelling problem using a genetic algorithm," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(9), pages 711-723, September.
    14. Neumann, K. & Zimmermann, J., 1999. "Resource levelling for projects with schedule-dependent time windows," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 591-605, September.
    15. Kolisch, Rainer & Sprecher, Arno, 1996. "PSPLIB - a project scheduling problem library," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 396, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    16. Hongbo Li & Li Xiong & Yinbin Liu & Haitao Li, 2018. "An effective genetic algorithm for the resource levelling problem with generalised precedence relations," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(5), pages 2054-2075, March.
    17. Bianco, Lucio & Caramia, Massimiliano, 2012. "An exact algorithm to minimize the makespan in project scheduling with scarce resources and generalized precedence relations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(1), pages 73-85.
    18. Massimiliano Caramia, 2020. "Project management and scheduling," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 285(1), pages 1-8, February.
    19. Hongbo Li & Erik Demeulemeester, 2016. "A genetic algorithm for the robust resource leveling problem," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 43-60, February.
    20. Neumann, K. & Zimmermann, J., 2000. "Procedures for resource leveling and net present value problems in project scheduling with general temporal and resource constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(2), pages 425-443, December.
    21. Servranckx, Tom & Vanhoucke, Mario, 2019. "A tabu search procedure for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with alternative subgraphs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 273(3), pages 841-860.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hongbo Li & Hanyu Zhu & Linwen Zheng & Fang Xie, 2024. "Software project scheduling under activity duration uncertainty," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 338(1), pages 477-512, July.
    2. Ilia Tarasov & Alain Haït & Alexander Lazarev & Olga Battaïa, 2024. "Metric estimation approach for managing uncertainty in resource leveling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 338(1), pages 645-673, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hartmann, Sönke & Briskorn, Dirk, 2022. "An updated survey of variants and extensions of the resource-constrained project scheduling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 297(1), pages 1-14.
    2. Cédric Verbeeck & Vincent Peteghem & Mario Vanhoucke & Pieter Vansteenwegen & El-Houssaine Aghezzaf, 2017. "A metaheuristic solution approach for the time-constrained project scheduling problem," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 39(2), pages 353-371, March.
    3. Servranckx, Tom & Vanhoucke, Mario, 2019. "Strategies for project scheduling with alternative subgraphs under uncertainty: similar and dissimilar sets of schedules," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 279(1), pages 38-53.
    4. Servranckx, Tom & Vanhoucke, Mario, 2019. "A tabu search procedure for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with alternative subgraphs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 273(3), pages 841-860.
    5. André Schnabel & Carolin Kellenbrink & Stefan Helber, 2018. "Profit-oriented scheduling of resource-constrained projects with flexible capacity constraints," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 11(2), pages 329-356, September.
    6. Hartmann, Sönke & Briskorn, Dirk, 2010. "A survey of variants and extensions of the resource-constrained project scheduling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(1), pages 1-14, November.
    7. Hartmann, Sönke & Briskorn, Dirk, 2008. "A survey of variants and extensions of the resource-constrained project scheduling problem," Working Paper Series 02/2008, Hamburg School of Business Administration (HSBA).
    8. Hongbo Li & Erik Demeulemeester, 2016. "A genetic algorithm for the robust resource leveling problem," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 43-60, February.
    9. van der Beek, T. & Souravlias, D. & van Essen, J.T. & Pruyn, J. & Aardal, K., 2024. "Hybrid differential evolution algorithm for the resource constrained project scheduling problem with a flexible project structure and consumption and production of resources," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 313(1), pages 92-111.
    10. Kreter, Stefan & Schutt, Andreas & Stuckey, Peter J. & Zimmermann, Jürgen, 2018. "Mixed-integer linear programming and constraint programming formulations for solving resource availability cost problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 266(2), pages 472-486.
    11. V. Van Peteghem & M. Vanhoucke, 2009. "Using Resource Scarceness Characteristics to Solve the Multi-Mode Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 09/595, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    12. Guo, Weikang & Vanhoucke, Mario & Coelho, José, 2023. "A prediction model for ranking branch-and-bound procedures for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 579-595.
    13. Ilia Tarasov & Alain Haït & Alexander Lazarev & Olga Battaïa, 2024. "Metric estimation approach for managing uncertainty in resource leveling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 338(1), pages 645-673, July.
    14. Farnaz Torabi Yeganeh & Seyed Hessameddin Zegordi, 2020. "A multi-objective optimization approach to project scheduling with resiliency criteria under uncertain activity duration," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 285(1), pages 161-196, February.
    15. Carvalho, Andréa Nunes & Oliveira, Fabricio & Scavarda, Luiz Felipe, 2015. "Tactical capacity planning in a real-world ETO industry case: An action research," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 187-203.
    16. Kolisch, R. & Padman, R., 2001. "An integrated survey of deterministic project scheduling," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 249-272, June.
    17. Qingyou Yan & Qian Zhang & Xin Zou, 2016. "A Cost Optimization Model for Multiresource Leveling Problem without Project Duration Constraint," Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, Hindawi, vol. 2016, pages 1-8, July.
    18. Carvalho, Andréa Nunes & Oliveira, Fabricio & Scavarda, Luiz Felipe, 2016. "Tactical capacity planning in a real-world ETO industry case: A robust optimization approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 158-171.
    19. Messelis, Tommy & De Causmaecker, Patrick, 2014. "An automatic algorithm selection approach for the multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 233(3), pages 511-528.
    20. Simon Emde & Hamid Abedinnia & Anne Lange & Christoph H. Glock, 2020. "Scheduling personnel for the build-up of unit load devices at an air cargo terminal with limited space," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 42(2), pages 397-426, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:321:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10479-022-04797-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.