Resource Constrained Multi-Project Scheduling Using Priority Rules: Application in the Deep-Water Construction Industry

The resource constrained multi-project scheduling problem (RCMPSP) has predominately been addressed in deterministic environment. Yet, uncertainty is inherent to real-life problems and the rise in adopting projects and portfolios in managing business organizations has initiated growing interest in considering stochastic aspects when developing a resource schedule. Priority rules (PR) is a common approach to solving the RCMPSP avoiding its computational complexity. Since the performance of PRs is highly dependent on project context, it is necessary to study the performance of PRs with real-life cases. The current study presents an application of 17 priority rules to a portfolio of deep-water construction projects. The results confirm previous results obtained from the literature and gives project and portfolio managers insights about the adequacy of different PRs with respect to schedule quality and robustness.