A Data Envelopment Analysis Method for Finding Robust and Cost-Efficient Schedules in Multimode Projects

2020-05-01
The execution of industrial projects is subject to uncertainties that cause deviations from the designated project schedules. Therefore, it is desired to generate robust schedules in the sense of being insensitive to project disruptions, such as deviations in activity durations. Beyond that, efficient schedules that offer high robustness at a low cost are preferred. This paper focuses on the discrete time-cost tradeoff problem and develops a new method for identifying and ranking efficient schedules. First, a large schedule pool with robust schedules is generated. Efficient schedules are then identified and ranked by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) with a particular super-efficiency model. An extensive evaluation based on a project testbed and an example construction project shows that the proposed method finds and ranks efficient schedules, that can be suitably presented to a project manager for decision support.
IEEE Transactions On Engineering Management

Suggestions

A Fuzzy delay assessment tool for construction projects
Ghaziani, Aydin; Dikmen Toker, İrem; Birgönül, M Talat; Department of Civil Engineering (2012)
It is a known fact that construction projects do not often complete on time due to several reasons related with the unexpected changes in the project conditions, external factors or performance of project participants. Since construction projects are unique and limited information is available at the beginning of the projects, prediction of delays is a difficult task. However, if the delays can be assessed at the early stages, their impacts might be minimized, some of the delays can even be eliminated. This...
A genetic algorithm for resource leveling of construction projects
Iranagh, Mahdi Abbasi; Sönmez, Rifat (2012-01-01)
Critical path method (CPM) is commonly used in scheduling of construction projects. However, CPM only considers the precedence relations between the activities and does not consider resource optimization during scheduling of projects. Optimal allocation of resources can be achieved by resource levelling. Resource levelling is crucial for effective use of construction resources particularly to minimize the project costs. However, commercial scheduling software has very limited capabilities for solving the re...
An Integrated regression-bootstrap sampling scheduling method for probabilistic duration range estimation of construction projects
Barış, Özgür; Sönmez, Rifat; Department of Civil Engineering (2019)
The estimation of project duration is important in construction projects, since it directly affects the costs and the success of the projects. Schedule risks can be determined along with the duration estimations in order to assess the possibility of delay penalties and additional costs. Therefore, the accuracy of the estimation of project duration range is very crucial in construction industry to assess the schedule risks. This thesis presents an integrated approach of non-parametric bootstrap sampling meth...
A Hybrid genetic algorithm for multi mode resource constrained scheduling problem for large size projects
Gürel, Mustafa; Sönmez, Rifat; Department of Civil Engineering (2015)
Just like in all industries, some of the available resources, in order to finish a project on time, are constrained in construction industry. To be able to finish the project on time has high importance both for the contractor and for the owner. Project scheduling in which resources are limited for a particular time are called as resource constrained project scheduling problems (RCPSP) and occupies a significant place in construction management. Especially for large scale projects, little success has been a...
A Mixed integer programming method for integrated discrete time-cost trade-off and manpower resource leveling problem
Tatar, Ali Can; Sönmez, Rifat; Atan, S. Tankut; Department of Civil Engineering (2016)
Construction projects have to meet all of the objectives of scope, quality, schedule, budget simultaneously. These objectives, however, cannot be considered as independent of each other. For example, an increase in direct resources will usually lead to shorter activity durations. A shorter project duration results in lower indirect costs, whereas the additional resources cause an increase the project’s direct costs, in general. This phenomenon is defined as time-cost trade-off problem (TCTP). Nevertheless, ...
Citation Formats
K. V. Schmidt, “A Data Envelopment Analysis Method for Finding Robust and Cost-Efficient Schedules in Multimode Projects,” IEEE Transactions On Engineering Management, pp. 414–429, 2020, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8611174.