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

Illana Bendavid, Boaz Golany

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)429-442
Number of pages14
JournalAnnals of Operations Research
Volume186
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2011

Keywords

  • Cross-entropy
  • Flexible commitment
  • Gates
  • Intervals
  • Stochastic project scheduling problem

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Decision Sciences
  • Management Science and Operations Research

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