A simulation-based approach to enhancing project schedules by the inclusion of remedial action scenarios

Project schedules are typically defined in relatively strict terms and often rely on well-defined task ordering. Commonly, each task has either a pre-determined duration, or, a minimum, a maximum and a most-likely duration length. In real-life, however, projects are subject to numerous uncertainties. They often impact durations of tasks and may lead to project re-scheduling. In such cases managers need to decide about some remedial action scenario (RAS) to limit the impact of uncertainty on the overall project success. They are usually left clueless on what the most appropriate action to take is. To solve this problem, we propose a novel approach to enhance project schedules by the inclusion of an optimal RAS to be followed when uncertainties occur. This defines the enhanced project schedule model. The particular RAS, modeled by a set of fuzzy rules and selected using proxel-based simulation, becomes an integral part of the enhanced project schedule.