How to make OR-results available: A proposal for project scheduling

This paper addresses the question of how to make available and how to get realistic insight into the behavior of hard algorithms for application fields such as scheduling. A typical situation in this context is the availability of hundreds of algorithms for special subclasses of certain problems where one of the main difficulties is to handle these algorithms simultaneously and make available knowledge about when and how to apply a particular algorithm, using statistical information on the suitability of certain algorithms under appropriate conditions. Major questions concern ‘accounting problems’ when particular algorithmic tasks are required to apply special methods but might also be useful for other methods. In particular, the question of finding adequate software-engineering strategies and software-development environments for such work is addressed. Also, the paper reviews recent developments at the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing (FWA) in Ulm and describes a method base for scheduling algorithms built within the framework of a cooperative effort between FAW and the Technical University of Berlin.