Project scheduling: A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm that optimizes the effectiveness of human resources and the project makespan

Abstract

In this article, the project scheduling problem is addressed in order to assist project managers at the early stage of scheduling. Thus, as part of the problem, two priority optimization objectives for managers at that stage are considered. One of these objectives is to assign the most effective set of human resources to each project activity. The effectiveness of a human resource is considered to depend on its work context. The other objective is to minimize the project makespan. To solve the problem, a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is proposed. This algorithm designs feasible schedules for a given project and evaluates the designed schedules in relation to each objective. The algorithm generates an approximation to the Pareto set as a solution to the problem. The computational experiments carried out on nine different instance sets are reported.

Keywords:

• project scheduling
• human resource assignment
• multi-skilled resources
• effectiveness of human resources
• multi-objective evolutionary algorithms