Decentralized multi-project scheduling

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the decentralized resource-constrained multi-project scheduling problem (DRCMPSP), which is characterized in that individual involved decision makers pursue individual goals, whereas some overall coordination mechanism is needed to resolve conflicts due to the interdependencies between multiple projects. The connection between activities from these projects may result from temporal and resource-orientated constraints. In general, there may be two kinds of autonomous decision makers, on the one hand those that control individual projects, and on the other hand those that control globally available resources. After providing a more detailed description of such kinds of problems and the resulting peculiarities of decentralized decision making, a classification of respective problem types is provided, which leads to related requirements for solution procedures. Overall, there are two basic solution approaches, namely auctions and negotiations. These methods are described in connection with a review of the related literature.