Two Approaches to Problems of Resource Allocation Among Project Activities? A Comparative Study*

TLDR: Two general approaches using linear programming in specific ways for solving a class of problems of resource allocation among project activities, where the resource requirements of each activity concern numbers of resource units from given finite sets for particular resource types.

Abstract: The paper deals with a class of problems of resource allocation among project activities, where the resource requirements of each activity concern numbers of resource units from given finite sets for particular resource types. Three categories of constrained resources are considered in a general model: renewable (only total usage at every moment is constrained), non-renewable (only total consumption over the period of project duration is constrained) and doubly-constrained (both usage and consumption are constrained). For every feasible combination of resource amounts, the performing time of each activity is known. Time and cost criteria are considered for project performance evaluation. For solving these problems, two general approaches using linear programming in specific ways are described. These approaches are different in nature, the difference being reflected in the range of problems solved by them and in their computational properties. This is shown by an extensive comparison of both approaches. This comparison also characterizes the state-of-the-art across the problems and points out desirable directions for further research.