IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/navres/v46y1999i8p912-927.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A metaheuristic scheduling procedure for resource‐constrained projects with cash flows

Author

Listed:
  • Dan Zhu
  • Rema Padman

Abstract

Resource‐constrained project scheduling problems with cash flows (RCPSPCF) are complex, combinatorial optimization problems. Many heuristics have been reported in the literature that produce reasonable schedules in limited project environments. However, the lack of a heuristic that dominates under differing project conditions can lead to a suboptimal choice of an appropriate heuristic for scheduling any given project. This may result in poor schedules and monetary losses. This paper reports on the application of the tabu search metaheuristic procedure for the RCPSPCF. Strategies for neighborhood generation and candidate selection that exploit the special features of the problem are combined with a simple multiheuristic start procedure. Extensive experimentation, with multiple data sets and comparison with an upper bound, indicates a significant improvement, both in project Net Present Value (NPV) as well as the number of projects, where the metaheuristic outperforms the best known heuristics in the literature. More specifically, this procedure produces the best schedules in over 85% of the projects tested, in contrast to the best single‐pass heuristics which have been shown to dominate in at most 20% of the same cases. This iterative, general purpose heuristic is able to adapt significantly better to the complex interactions of the many critical parameters of the RCPSPCF than single‐pass heuristics that use more specific information about each project environment. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 46: 912–927, 1999

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Zhu & Rema Padman, 1999. "A metaheuristic scheduling procedure for resource‐constrained projects with cash flows," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(8), pages 912-927, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:navres:v:46:y:1999:i:8:p:912-927
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6750(199912)46:83.0.CO;2-C
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6750(199912)46:83.0.CO;2-C
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6750(199912)46:83.0.CO;2-C?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward W. Davis & James H. Patterson, 1975. "A Comparison of Heuristic and Optimum Solutions in Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(8), pages 944-955, April.
    2. Robert A. Russell, 1986. "A Comparison of Heuristics for Scheduling Projects with Cash Flows and Resource Restrictions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(10), pages 1291-1300, October.
    3. Rema Padman & Dwight E. Smith‐Daniels & Vicki L. Smith‐Daniels, 1997. "Heuristic scheduling of resource‐constrained projects with cash flows," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 365-381, June.
    4. Fred Glover, 1990. "Tabu Search—Part II," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 4-32, February.
    5. James H. Patterson, 1984. "A Comparison of Exact Approaches for Solving the Multiple Constrained Resource, Project Scheduling Problem," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(7), pages 854-867, July.
    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. M. Vanhoucke, 2006. "A scatter search procedure for maximizing the net present value of a project under renewable resource constraints," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/417, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. Thomas Selle & Jürgen Zimmermann, 2003. "A bidirectional heuristic for maximizing the net present value of large‐scale projects subject to limited resources," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(2), pages 130-148, March.

    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. Drexl, Andreas & Salewski, Frank, 1996. "Distribution Requirements and Compactness Constraints in School Timetabling. Part II: Methods," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 384, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    2. Brucker, Peter & Drexl, Andreas & Mohring, Rolf & Neumann, Klaus & Pesch, Erwin, 1999. "Resource-constrained project scheduling: Notation, classification, models, and methods," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 3-41, January.
    3. Kolisch, R. & Padman, R., 2001. "An integrated survey of deterministic project scheduling," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 249-272, June.
    4. Rema Padman & Dwight E. Smith‐Daniels & Vicki L. Smith‐Daniels, 1997. "Heuristic scheduling of resource‐constrained projects with cash flows," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 365-381, June.
    5. 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.
    6. Drexl, Andreas & Juretzka, Jan & Salewski, Frank, 1993. "Academic course scheduling under workload and changeover constraints," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 337, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    7. Osman Hürol Türkakın & David Arditi & Ekrem Manisalı, 2021. "Comparison of Heuristic Priority Rules in the Solution of the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-17, September.
    8. Kolisch, Rainer & Sprecher, Arno & Drexl, Andreas, 1992. "Characterization and generation of a general class of resource-constrained project scheduling problems: Easy and hard instances," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 301, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    9. Yang, Kum Khiong & Tay, Lee Choo & Sum, Chee Chuong, 1995. "A comparison of stochastic scheduling rules for maximizing project net present value," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 327-339, September.
    10. Rainer Kolisch & Andreas Drexl, 1996. "Adaptive search for solving hard project scheduling problems," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 23-40, February.
    11. Anuj Mehrotra & Joseph Shantz & Michael A. Trick, 2005. "Determining newspaper marketing zones using contiguous clustering," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 82-92, February.
    12. Mohammad Javad Feizollahi & Igor Averbakh, 2014. "The Robust (Minmax Regret) Quadratic Assignment Problem with Interval Flows," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 26(2), pages 321-335, May.
    13. M. Vanhoucke, 2006. "A scatter search procedure for maximizing the net present value of a project under renewable resource constraints," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/417, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    14. Salewski, Frank & Schirmer, Andreas & Drexl, Andreas, 1996. "Project Scheduling under Resource and Mode Identity Constraints. Part II: An Application to Audit-Staff Scheduling," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 388, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    15. Schirmer, Andreas & Riesenberg, Sven, 1997. "Parameterized heuristics for project scheduling: Biased random sampling methods," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 456, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    16. Salewski, Frank & Nissen, Rüdiger, 1993. "Revidierende hierarchische Planung: Ein Konzept am Beispiel der Personaleinsatzplanung in Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaften," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 335, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    17. C N Potts & V A Strusevich, 2009. "Fifty years of scheduling: a survey of milestones," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(1), pages 41-68, May.
    18. Aristide Mingozzi & Vittorio Maniezzo & Salvatore Ricciardelli & Lucio Bianco, 1998. "An Exact Algorithm for the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem Based on a New Mathematical Formulation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(5), pages 714-729, May.
    19. Cazzaro, Davide & Fischetti, Martina & Fischetti, Matteo, 2020. "Heuristic algorithms for the Wind Farm Cable Routing problem," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    20. Tien-Fu Liang & Tien-Shou Huang & Ming-Feng Yang, 2012. "Application of fuzzy mathematical programming to imprecise project management decisions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 46(5), pages 1451-1470, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:navres:v:46:y:1999:i:8:p:912-927. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1520-6750 .

    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.