Time-constrained project scheduling

We propose a new approach for scheduling with strict deadlines and apply this approach to the Time-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (TCPSP). To be able to meet these deadlines, it is possible to work in overtime or hire additional capacity in regular time or overtime. For this problem, we develop a two stage heuristic. The key of the approach lies in the first stage in which we construct partial schedules. In these partial schedules, jobs may be scheduled for a shorter duration than required. The second stage uses an ILP formulation of the problem to turn a partial schedule into a feasible schedule, and to perform a neighborhood search. The developed heuristic is quite flexible and, therefore, suitable for practice. We present experimental results on modified RCPSP benchmark instances. The two stage heuristic solves many instances to optimality, and if we substantially decrease the deadline, the rise in cost is only small.