A Conceptual Framework for Project Scheduling with Multi-Skilled Resources

Abstract

The success of a project depends, mostly, on the ability to createmulti-skilled teams and to assign them to project's tasks, withoutcreating multi-tasking and over-allocation. In this respect, theMulti-skilled Work Force Scheduling Problem has attracted a greatinterest, both for academicals and practitioners. Unfortunately, most ofthe academic works produced so far, has not yet found its way intopractice, mainly because of a complex and rigid mathematicalformulation, which poses a serious constraint on the precision of theinput data. To solve this criticality, we abandon the over optimisticidea of a global optimum and we propose a hierarchical framework thatextends the well-known Dynamic Scheduling approach. The focus is on theresource assignment phase, with the objective to allocate multi-skilledresources in a quasi-optimal way, so as to assure project quality and aharmonious development of the workforce.