Resource-constrained multi-project scheduling problem: A survey

Abstract

Project Management is becoming increasingly crucial in competitive environments such as manufacturing and the service industries. The Resource-Constrained Multi-Project Scheduling Problem (RCMPSP) consists of assigning start times to jobs corresponding to two or more projects that must be executed simultaneously while respecting the precedence between jobs and limited resources. The existing rise in the study of the RCMPSP resulted in numerous works on the topic while proposing different problem features. This research analyzes different variants of the problem based on aspects related to jobs, projects, relationships, resources, and time management. Moreover, based on the problem variants considered in the collected works, a taxonomy allowing (i) the identification and positioning of each RCMPSP variant and (ii) the analysis of the current state-of-the-art of the problem is proposed. In addition, the solution methods proposed to solve RCMPSPs are classified and analyzed, together with the benchmarks used to validate such approaches. Finally, this review paper discusses the RCMPSP connection to practice and provides future research opportunities in light of recent advances.