Resource-constrained scheduling in the engineering-planning phase of Civil Engineering Projects

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Project planning and project scheduling have been the subject of scientificresearch for many years. Yet it is still common to hear of projects that wildlyexceeded their budget and time estimations. Research indicates that largediscrepancies still exist between project management theory and project managementpractice. It seems that the theories and techniques developed byacademia have struggled to find their way into project management practice.There is a desperate need for industry specific research that can help bridgethe gap between project scheduling theory and project scheduling in practice.In very few industries are project escalations as commonplace and severeas in the civil engineering sector. Civil engineering projects that exceed theirdeadline and/or budget estimations seem to be the norm rather than the exception.This dissertation therefore focussed on project scheduling in the civil engineeringcontext. One specific phase of the engineering process received focus,namely the engineering-planning phase. The scheduling requirements of theengineering-planning phase were investigated, and the attributes of high qualitybaseline schedules defined. The dissertation took a critical look at whetherthe scheduling techniques used in practice, or the scheduling techniques proposedby academia can fulfil the rigorous demands of the engineering-phase.It became evident that both of these spheres fall short in this regard.Scheduling techniques used in practice are not optimised, and they ignoresome of the most important project constraints. Academic scheduling techniquesare not geared for projects of practical size, and the resulting schedulesoften lack resource-constrained critical paths. Neither of the two spheres pay much attention to the uncertainties that is inherent to the engineering-planningphase.A scheduling framework is introduced that aims to address these shortcomings.Two specific aspects required original work. Meta-heuristic schedulingtechniques had to be adapted for projects of practical size, and slack centricresource allocation algorithms had to be developed. The relationship betweenthe input parameters of meta-heuristics and project complexity is investigated,and a new slack maximisation resource allocation algorithm is presented.This dissertation therefore not only provides new insights into the schedulingrequirements of the engineering-planning phase, but it also offers projectmanagers with new tools and techniques to generate high quality baselineschedules.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University