A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Research Studies Project Report (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1985

This study presents a goal programming mod el for project crashing problem. A convex type nonlinear time -cost relationship is considered and approximated by piecewise linear relationship, each segment reflecting a surrogate activity . The goal programming mod el with piecewise linear segments is developed. The model considers four goals concerning both time and cost . These are < 1> meeting a new specified completion period, ( 2 ) ensuring that certain activities are not crashed for quality reasons, (3) confining the expenses to a specified budget, and (4) minimizing the total direct cost of crashing. The goal programming model with two piecewise linear segments is formulated and applied to a real - life project which is currently in progress. Th e model is solve d using Sequential Linear Goal Programming (SLGP) algorithm implemented via MPSX package. Optimal project crashing policy for the project is evolved . An extensive sensitivity analysis of the project crashing problem is reported to examine the effect of change d priority structure of project goals, and change s in unit cost of crashing. Effect of increasing the precision by introducing more number of segments on the optimal crashing schedule is examined using a hypothetical example .