Heuristic scheduling of resource-constrained, multiple-mode and repetitive projects

An alternative heuristic method for scheduling repetitive projects in which resources are limited and activities may be executed with multiple modes of resource demands associated with different durations is proposed. Unlike general heuristic methods that separately analyze each competing activity and schedule only one at a time, the proposed heuristic algorithm ranks possible combinations of activities every time and simultaneously schedules all activities in the selected combination leading to minimal project duration. All alternative combinations of activities in consideration of resource constraints, multiple modes and characteristics of the repetitive projects are determined through a permutation tree-based procedure. The heuristic method is implemented based on the corresponding framework. An example is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed heuristic method. The study is expected to provide an efficient heuristic methodology for solving the project scheduling problem.