A statistical investigation of feasible network plans with compatibility matrix

Abstract

When a project network consists of activities that have many alternatives and pairwise compatibility relationships, the task of finding feasible project plans and then finding the optimal project plan is a difficult one. This paper employs compatibility matrix approach and derives statistical relationships for the estimation of the mean number of feasible alternative plans and the estimation of standard deviation of number of such plans using statistical sampling and simulation. The estimates are obtained as functions of parameters related to the configuration of compatibility matrices and are independent of specific problems. Many situations in practice are amenable to 'solution’ by the compatibility matrix approach. The method explained in this paper has been applied to real-world project planning problems. Capital budgeting, process planning, manufacturing and production policy are some of the other areas where the results obtained through this research will prove useful.