Sharif Digital Repository

In this thesis a project management methodology for research projects is presented. Generally, implementing research projects is so complicated because of uncertain attributes of this type of projects. So far, no project management methodology has been developed for research projects. In this thesis first, the main attributes of research projects are identified by considering research projects problems in some organizations. The consideration involves studying documents of research projects, interviewing with project managers, using questionnaires and applying statistical analyses. Then, stakeholders’ expectations of a research project methodology are recognized and characteristics of the... 

In this research we investigate one of the heuristic algorithms of scheduling, Squeaky Wheel Optimization (SWO) in order to solve an RCPSP problem with minimization of Makespan as the objective function; and we will implement this algorithm on Primavera which is one of the most popular software systems in Project Management. The main purpose of this project is to prepare a way to implement the scheduling algorithms on one of the popular Project Management Software Systems. Hence, we have created an application which can interact with this kind of systems, gets data from their databases, run a scheduling algorithm on it, and updates the data in the databases. One of the main characteristics... 

PMBOK is a standard that is the subset of Project Management Knowledge and includes all areas. ITIL is a framework that allows IT organizations using best practices in IT Service Management. Both of them includes some process that during implementation and execution should act based on them. The goal of developing a methodology for implementing ITIL V3 based on PMBOK is executing a comparison mapping for connecting these two difference fields. IT managers know about ITIL implementation, but most of project managers are not familiar about it. If we guess that implementing ITIL V3 is a project, a project manager can do it based on PMBOK. With mapping these two fields, project managers are able... 

Foam concrete is a new covering layer that can be used for several purposes in civil constructions and because of its unique physical specifications, produces a light concrete in which is isolated against thermal conductivity ,with required strength and favorite quality.This cover is made of cement , sand ,water and foam(chemical substance that produces foam) . The foam is mixed with water in a special machine (mixer) with a high speed centrifugal rotation and produces very small stable bubbles called foam. While cement and sand are mixed in special mixer, makes a fluent concrete that can be used in place, metallic or plastic molds. After dehydration, in accordance with percentage of... 

Project scheduling is one of the branches in operations research and management sciences fields. Different goals have been considered in project scheduling, but financial goals are one of the most important criterions in this research area. The project with the conditions considered in this thesis is an NP-Hard problem and solving it in real size problems is only possible with heuristic or meta- heuristic methods. This research deals with the Project Procurement scheduling, considering warehouse space constraint. The purpose of this research is to minimize the total cost of this problem by determining the optimal activity start time and material ordering schedule subject to constraints. We... 

This research presents scheduling of several different projects in supply chain environment which activities of these projects are performed by some contractor companies. A new practical model for solving project scheduling problem in supply chain environment is present. Multi renewable resource presents in the model of research. The research proves that the model is NP-Hard. A genetic algorithm and a simulated annealing algorithm are proposed for solving the model. The parameters of genetic algorithm such as the number of steps, the number of mutation in each step, the number of crossover in each step, the number of generation phase and also the parameters of simulated annealing algorithm... 

In this thesis a multi-mode resource constrained project scheduling problem with considering project robustness,length of critical path and total quality of project is solved. Also we tried to propose a new mathematical model for this problem and we used both renewable and non-renewable resource constrained.The function is multi-objective so we couldn’t use classic optimization methods to reach globally or locally optimum solutions,then we used a multi-criteria optimization method to solve the problem.with respect to the computational complexity of problem we proposed a multi-objective metaheuristic (DE) algorithm to get to dominated optimal solutions.in our metaheuristic method particular... 

Resource investment problem is one of problems in project scheduling which concerns with gaining minimum cost for accomplishing a project in a given time. Tardiness permitted with penalty cost makes this problem close to real world. This dissertation studied constraint of resources by restricted resources and tried to gain optimal level of restricted resource and middle resources start and finish time. This problem also permits tardiness with penalty cost. In construction projects, beside renewable and Non-renewable resources, there are workshops in which part of the work to carry out an activity, is done. These workshops include welding workshops and forming workshops in piping projects,... 

Rewarding system is one of the most important and basic subsystem of human resources and it is one of the main concerns of the managers in any organization, since an appropriate bonus payment system increases motivation and efficiency of individuals and vice versa an inappropriate rewarding system provokes frustration in staff .Rewarding system is more important in project-oriented organizations because the most influential factor in the success and profitability of the organizations is motivated employees. The basic question in this study is that what kind of payment reward a project-oriented organization should have in order to get its employees motivation and ultimately make the... 

Knowledge is an organization asset that if used in the direction of organization’s strategic mission, can provide values for the organization. Therefore, many organizations such as NASA, Siemens; and Microsoft have invested in order to improve their knowledge management practices. Many organizations have not been successful in implementing appropriate knowledge management and incurred by huge expenses, while others can use and improve their locations among their competitors in the business. The reason behind many of these organizations were ignoring factor(s) that have direct undeniable effect on result from organization’s knowledge management.
The framework of knowledge management is a... 

In this research a mathematical formulation is presented for project scheduling problem subject to non-renewable perishable resources where the objective is minimize the cost of ordering and maintenance of resources. We use the framework of a resource constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) with finish-start precedence relations between activities and resources will be perished after a determined duration and must be procured. Resource procurement have ordering and purchasing costs and excess resources must be stored and have maintenance cost. There is a unique way to perform the activities and preemption is not allowed.
This work employs Genetics Algorithms to solve the problem... 

This research deals with a realistic cyclic three-stage supply chin consisting of one supplier, one manufacturer and one or more retailers, in FMCG environment. Orders from retailers are supposed to iterate over cycles and parallel machines are available to process perishable jobs with given release dates, due dates and deadlines. To start process of he jobs, perishable raw material, supplied by an external supplier, is required. Jobs are subject to post-production shelf life limitation and must be delivered to retailers during the corresponding time window bounded by due dates and deadlines. Both early and tardy jobs are penalized by partial weighted earliness/tardiness functions and the... 

Successful Cost Management in projects has a key role in projects’ final success. Earned Value Management methodology (EVM) as a known management tool especially for cost control and cost management, provides for effective planning, controlling, evaluation and corrective actions in the projects through integration of scope, cost and time. Existing budgeting and cost control structures in local projects based mainly upon manufacturing companies’ models has continuously proved inefficient. The current effort has intended to find an appropriate solution based on EVM for cost management in Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC). Since September 2008 a planned activity... 

The subject of project scheduling is one of classic subjects in project management, and It contains the wide range of optimization problems. Using making changes in variables and constraints , it is possible to create new problems which seem better in the real world. Project tasks need resources for implementation. In some cases, it is considered that any time there are enough resources. In some other cases, it assumes, resources are limited, and resource optimum purchasing is the purpose, which this kind of issues is named resources investment problems (RIP). In this research it assumes, project necessary resources, are rented and renting costs depends on the time of owning. In standard... 

The multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem is one of the most complex and most widely used problems in the project scheduling knowledge area and operations research science. Recently, a new type of this problem which is called multi-skilled project scheduling problem has been introduced in the literature. The aim of MSPSP is to schedule the activities regarding the precedence relationships and multi-skilled human resource constraints in such a way that the need of each activity to a subset of skills should be met by the qualified employees. In this thesis, in addition to taking the constraints of the standard problem into account, we consider a state in which the... 

Manage time, cost and quality, project managers are a major concern for the violation of any of the causes to bring costs and fines will be detrimental. Collect all the main factors contributing to delays in construction projects to three main factors employer, contractor and external factors reached. An algorithm is presented in this study are presented in addition to the reasons and factors affecting the delay of engineering documents, the contribution of each factor in the delay of the project will help the project. Implementation algorithm In the Pargas farayand Company of Pakaging projects sulfur solidification  

The project scheduling problem is one of the classic problems in project management that includes a range of optimization problems. One of the limitations we face in project scheduling problem is the resource constraint limitation. In many studies in the literature review, problems are based on the false assumption that a resource can be transferred between activities of a project or different projects without spending time and cost. The resource availability method in many fundamental researches in the context of resource constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) is considered as resource investment problems (RIP); while in many real world projects resources are rented for projects and... 

Multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem (MRCPSP) is considered one of the most complex and most frequently applied problems in the science field of project scheduling and the science of operations research, which recently a new version of it called multi-skilled project scheduling problem (MSPSP) has emerged in research studies. The purpose of this new problem is to schedule activities with respect to precedence relationships and resource constraints of the workforce types with multiple skills, such that the requirements of any activity for a subset of skills must be met by the qualified members of the project. In this study, in addition to observing the constraints and... 

Process plants such as refineries and petrochemical plants are complex facilities consisting of equipment, piping systems, instruments, electrical systems, computers, and control systems. Process units design is mostly based on designer`s experience and design general criteria and standards. Using mathematical methods to optimize the design may have an effective role in cost reduction and it would give the designer some general view in case that the exact design is not applicable.
Optimization of Process units is described in this study. This optimization includes the exact location of each equipment, nozzle, pipe rack and also pipe route layouts. Mixed integer linear programming (MILP)... 

In this project, we present a mathematical model for preemptive multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem considering fast tracking (PMRCPSP-FT). The number of activity preemptions could be defined in the model. We used two types of resources in our model: Renewable resources and Non-renewable resources. Each activity can be accomplished in just one mode and each mode represents activity resource requirements, its duration and its maximum number of allowable preemptions. The objective is to minimize the project makespan. Considering the complexity of the problem, the exact solution is not achievable for big or real size problems. We use a genetic algorithm to solve the...