An evaluation of due date, resource allocation, project release, and activity scheduling rules in a multiproject environment

This research examines the performance of due date, resource allocation, project release, and activity scheduling rules in a multiproject environment. The results show that workload sensitive due date rules always provide better due date estimates than workload insensitive due date rules. In contrast, the performance of due date sensitive resource allocation rules is severely affected by due date nervousness. When due date nervousness is not mitigated, the due date insensitive First In System First Served (FISFS) resource allocation rule performs better than the due date sensitive resource allocation rules. Project release rules can, however, mitigate the effect of due date nervousness. Using a simple project release rule, the results show that the due date sensitive Minimum Project Due Date resource allocation rule performs better than FISFS and two other due date sensitive resource allocation rules in many project environments.