An iterative scheduling technique for resource-constrained project scheduling

This paper presents a new procedure for scheduling projects where the availability of resources is constrained. Under the procedure, a project is scheduled forwards and backwards iteratively until there is no further improvement in the project completion time. During the iterative process, successive improvements on the project completion time are achieved through the incorporation of the merits of a backward schedule into its succeeding forward schedule. Backward scheduling has the merits of using resources as late as possible and thus keeps project financing down. Thus the method attempts to produce schedules that are both short and cheap. A series of comparative tests is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the model. The test results indicate that the new procedure outperforms the chosen heuristic rules, and also demonstrates that it can generate near-optimal schedules.