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Some appraisal criteria for multi-mode scheduling problem

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Abstract

Scheduling and managing projects are very important and hot topics in project management science. Multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem (MM-RCPSP) is a RCPSP with special features in which each activity may be executed in more than one mode. Each mode has different options of cost, execution time, resources availabilities, and resources requirements. There are many well known measuring criteria related to the complexity and performance measures for scheduling projects, especially for the single mode projects. In this paper, two selection criteria for dealing with multi-mode resource constrained projects were suggested. According to these selection criteria, some well-known complexity and performance measures were modified for dealing with multi-mode projects. Five single-mode projects and five multi-mode projects are considered as test problems for applying the modified complexity and performance measures based on the suggested selection criteria. The obtained results rendered by the suggested selection criteria for test problems are compared by the existing criteria measures and the results are in the same trend and very promising. Also, we proposed new complexity measures and performance measures for MMRCP. The proposed complexity and performance measures also applied to the test problems. The obtained results rendered by the proposed complexity and performance measures are tested against the results obtained by existing complexity and performance measures. The new results are also promising and having the same trends.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to praise the anonymous referees, Chief-Editor, and support Editors for their constructive suspensions and propositions that have helped a lot to improve research quality.

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Correspondence to Mohamed Abdel-Basset.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

1.1 Definitions

A

Number of activities in project

CP

Critical path length

CPmax

Calculation of project activities considering the modes providing max free float for those have more than one mode

CPmin

Calculation of project activities considering the modes having minimum times for those having more than one mode

DOCM

Degree of complexity measure

Mi

Number of modes of activity I

Mij

A parameters equal 1 for the single mode activities or M number of available modes for the activities

AMM

Number of multi-mode activities in the project

NPC

Number of parallel paths in network > 1

Ni

Number of modes for each multi-mode activity

PCM

Proposed complexity measure

PPM

Proposed performance measure

Ri

Is the maximum resource of type i available

Rt

Required resource for scheduling at time t

ti

The expected duration for activity i

Wi

The weight of resource type i

WN

The weight of resource type N

Appendix 2

2.1 Test problems

Five Single-Mode test projects will be converted into multi-mode projects based on some assumption these assumptions are

  1. 1.

    At least 27% of network activities are of multi-mode activities.

  2. 2.

    27% multi-mode is selected randomly; at least one of 27% of multi-mode is critical activity and selected randomly.

  3. 3.

    The modes of 27% of Multi-mode are ranges in their mode from 2 to 3 modes.

  4. 4.

    The activities of multi-mode have no relations among each other in their modes of execution.

  5. 5.

    The times and resources added to the activity as it represents the second or third mode for the activity may be less than or greater than the original times and resources of the activities, this means that there are no relationships between time multiplied by its resources for the different modes for the same activity.

2.2 Five single-mode projects are

Project # 1


Number of activities = 10

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 4

Resource 2 = 3

Act

Di

Res1

Res 2

Precedence

1

2

2

2

 

2

3

1

2

 

3

2

3

2

 

4

3

1

2

1

5

1

1

3

2

6

2

4

2

3

7

4

2

2

3

8

2

4

3

4

9

3

2

1

4

10

2

1

2

5, 6, 9

Project # 2


Number of activities = 11

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 4

Resource 2 = 3

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

1

2

1

 

2

5

2

3

1

3

2

2

2

1

4

2

2

1

2

5

2

3

4

2

6

2

2

3

3

7

3

3

3

3

8

2

1

2

5, 6

9

3

2

2

8

10

3

2

1

4, 9

11

2

2

1

7.10

Project # 3


Number of activities = 12

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 9

Resource 2 = 3

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

12

4

2

 

2

8

2

3

 

3

7

7

2

 

4

9

9

3

1

5

0

0

0

1

6

3

2

1

2

7

12

2

3

2

8

5

5

3

2

9

2

8

2

3; 8

10

7

1

2

5, 6

11

6

3

2

7, 10

12

10

2

3

9, 11

Project # 4


Number of activities = 13

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 5

Resource 2 = 3

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

2

2

1

 

2

3

3

1

 

3

1

1

1

 

4

4

5

2

2

5

5

5

3

1.4

6

2

3

1

1.4

7

6

4

3

2

8

4

2

2

2

9

3

4

2

6.7

10

3

2

2

6.7

11

7

1

2

3.8.10

12

3

5

2

9.11

13

2

4

1

5.12

Project # 5


Number of activities = 11

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 9

Resource 2 = 3

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

4

4

2

 

2

4

1

1

 

3

2

6

2

 

4

4

7

3

1

5

3

3

3

3

6

3

9

2

2

7

3

5

3

2

8

8

3

2

5.7

9

1

6

3

4

10

4

2

2

6

11

3

4

2

9.10

2.3 Five multi-mode projects based on the previous assumption

Project # 1


Number of activities = 10

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 4

Resource 2 = 3

Multi-mode activities 2, 7, and 9

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

2

2

2

 

2

3

1

2

 

2

3

1

3

2

3

2

 

4

3

1

2

1

5

1

1

3

2

6

2

4

2

3

7

4

2

2

3

2

4

3

6

2

1

8

2

4

3

4

9

3

2

1

4

1

3

3

10

2

1

2

5, 6, 9

Project # 2


Number of activities = 11

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 4

Resource 2 = 3

Multi-mode activities 2, 7, and 10

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

1

2

1

 

2

5

2

3

1

2

4

2

3

2

2

2

1

4

2

2

1

2

5

2

3

4

2

6

2

2

3

3

7

3

3

3

3

4

2

4

8

2

1

2

5, 6

9

3

2

2

8

10

3

2

1

4, 9

5

3

4

 

1

1

2

 

11

2

2

1

7.10

Project # 3


Number of activities = 12

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 9 and Resource 2 = 3

Multi-mode activities 1, 4, 7 and 12

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

12

4

2

 

8

5

3

14

4

1

2

8

2

3

 

3

7

7

2

 

4

9

9

3

1

5

6

3

5

0

0

0

1

6

3

2

1

2

7

12

2

3

2

8

4

3

8

5

5

3

2

9

2

8

2

3;8

10

7

1

2

5,6

11

6

3

2

7,10

12

10

2

3

9,11

4

7

2

Project # 4


Number of activities = 13

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 5 and Resource 2 = 3

Multi-mode activities 5, 7, 10 and 11

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

2

2

1

 

2

3

3

1

 

3

1

1

1

 

4

4

5

2

2

5

5

5

3

1.4

2

4

2

6

2

3

1

1.4

7

6

4

3

2

8

2

1

8

4

2

2

2

9

3

4

2

6.7

10

3

2

2

6.7

1

4

3

11

7

1

2

3.8.10

3

5

2

9

4

3

12

3

5

2

9.11

13

2

4

1

5.12

Project # 5


Number of activities = 11

Available resources = 2

Resource 1 = 9 and Resource 2 = 3

Multi-mode activities 2, 7, and 8

Act

Di

Res1

Res2

Precedence

1

4

4

2

 

2

4

1

1

 
 

1

6

3

 

3

2

6

2

 

4

4

7

3

1

5

3

3

3

3

6

3

9

2

2

7

3

5

3

2

 

1

7

2

 

8

8

3

2

5.7

 

11

2

3

 

9

1

6

3

4

10

4

2

2

6

11

3

4

2

9.10

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Abdel-Basset, M., Atef, A. & Hussein, AN. Some appraisal criteria for multi-mode scheduling problem. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 10, 1641–1654 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-018-0771-x

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