A Comparison of Heuristic and Optimum Solutions in Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling

TLDR

The study addresses scheduling project activities to minimize duration under multiple limited resources, reviews prior heuristic sequencing rules, and notes the lack of comparisons to optimum solutions. The paper compares eight heuristic scheduling rules to an optimum solution. The comparison includes rules previously identified as most effective in earlier research. Results are presented for 83 multi‑resource problems.

Abstract

The problem addressed is that of scheduling the activities of a project network to minimize project duration under conditions of multiple limited resource requirements and availabilities. Various heuristic sequencing rules have been applied to this problem, and the effectiveness of these rules relative to one another has been previously compared in the literature. However, there have been no previous comparisons of the effectiveness of these rules relative to an optimum solution. This paper makes such a comparison of eight different heuristic scheduling rules, including those found most effective in previous research on this problem. Results are presented for a total of eighty-three different multi-resource problems.