Progressive Basic Decision CPM

Abstract

PERT and CPM are two valuable tools for the planning, scheduling and controllingof projects, but they do not on their own deal with the interdependence between planning resource utilization or direct cost expenditure and sclheduling with its overhead cost (penalty cost and/or reward bonus) implications. Several approaches to overcome this deficiency are possible, this paper dealing with one known as Decision CPM. The most recent approach to the Decision CPM problem known to the authors leads to relatively large integer programming problems which are solved as such. This paper considers a restricted formulation of the Decision CPM problem in an integer programming framework, and shows how it may be solved relatively easily witlhout resort to integer programming methods. Extensions of the restricted model are also considered briefly, some of which pose no difficulties, while others suggest the need for a hybrid of other approaches and that described here.