This book deals with dynamic and stochastic methods for multi-project planning. Based on the idea of using queueing networks for the analysis of dynamic-stochastic multi-project environments this book addresses two problems: detailed scheduling of project activities, and integrated order acceptance and capacity planning. In an extensive simulation study, the book thoroughly investigates existing scheduling policies. To obtain optimal and near optimal scheduling policies new models and algorithms are proposed based on the theory of Markov decision processes and Approximate Dynamic programming. Then the book presents a new model for the effective computation of optimal policies based on a Markov decision process. Finally, the book provides insights into the structure of optimal policies.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Analytical and Stochastic Modelling Techniques and Applications, ASMTA 2019, held in Moscow, Russia, in October 2019. Methods of analytical and stochastic modelling are widely used in engineering to assess and design various complex systems, like computer and communication networks, and manufacturing systems. The 13 full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 22 submissions. The papers detail a diverse range of analysis techniques, including Markov processes, queueing theoretical results, reliability of stochastic systems, stochastic network calculus, and wide variety of applications.

The topic of this book is known as dynamic scheduling, and is used to refer to three dimensions of project management and scheduling: the construction of a baseline schedule and the analysis of a project schedule’s risk as preparation of the project control phase during project progress. This dynamic scheduling point of view implicitly assumes that the usability of a project’s baseline schedule is rather limited and only acts as a point of reference in the project life cycle. Consequently, a project schedule should especially be considered as nothing more than a predictive model that can be used for resource efficiency calculations, time and cost risk analyses, project tracking and performance measurement, and so on. In this book, the three dimensions of dynamic scheduling are highlighted in detail and are based on and inspired by a combination of academic research studies at Ghent University (www.ugent.be), in-company trainings at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School (www.vlerick.com) and consultancy projects at OR-AS (www.or-as.be). First, the construction of a project baseline schedule is a central theme throughout the various chapters of the book, and is discussed from a complexity point of view with and without the presence of project resources. Second, the creation of an awareness of the weak parts in a baseline schedule is discussed at the end of the two baseline scheduling parts as schedule risk analysis techniques that can be applied on top of the baseline schedule. Third, the baseline schedule and its risk analyses can be used as guidelines during the project control step where actual deviations can be corrected within the margins of the project’s time and cost reserves.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th EuropeanWorkshop on Computer Performance Engineering, EPEW 2017, held in Berlin,Germany, in September 2017. The 18 papers presented together with the abstracts of two invited talks in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 30 submissions. The papers presented at the workshop reflect the diversity of modern performanceengineering, with topics ranging from advances in Markov models; advances in quantitative analysis; model checking; and cyber-physical systems to performance, energy and security.

This volume includes papers presented at SOCO 2017, CISIS 2017, and ICEUTE 2017, all conferences held in the beautiful and historic city of León (Spain) in September 2017. Soft computing represents a collection of computational techniques in machine learning, computer science, and some engineering disciplines, which investigate, simulate, and analyze highly complex issues and phenomena. These proceeding s feature 48 papers from the 12th SOCO 2017, covering topics such as artificial intelligence and machine learning applied to health sciences; and soft computing methods in manufacturing and management systems. The book also presents 18 papers from the 10th CISIS 2017, which provided a platform for researchers from the fields of computational intelligence, information security, and data mining to meet and discuss the need for intelligent, flexible behavior by large, complex systems, especially in mission-critical domains. It addresses various topics, like identification, simulation and prevention of security and privacy threats in modern communication networks Furthermore, the book includes 8 papers from the 8th ICEUTE 2017. The selection of papers for all three conferences was extremely rigorous in order to maintain the high quality and we would like to thank the members of the Program Committees for their hard work in the reviewing process.

Perspectives and Techniques for Improving Information Technology Project Management discusses the variety of information systems and how it can improve project management and, likewise, how project management can affect the growth of information systems. Using new frameworks, technologies and methods, this comprehensive collection is useful for professionals, researchers and software developers interested in learning more on this emerging field.

Due to the increasing importance of product differentiation and collapsing product life cycles, a growing number of value-adding activities in the industry and service sector are organized in projects. Projects come in many forms, often taking considerable time and consuming a large amount of resources. The management and scheduling of projects represents a challenging task and project performance may have a considerable impact on an organization's competitiveness. This handbook presents state-of-the-art approaches to project management and scheduling. More than sixty contributions written by leading experts in the field provide an authoritative survey of recent developments. The book serves as a comprehensive reference, both, for researchers and project management professionals. The handbook consists of two volumes. Volume 1 is devoted to single-modal and multi-modal project scheduling. Volume 2 presents multi-project problems, project scheduling under uncertainty and vagueness, managerial approaches and a separate part on applications, case studies and information systems.

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Due to the increasing importance of product differentiation and collapsing product life cycles, a growing number of value-adding activities in the industry and service sector are organized in projects. Projects come in many forms, often taking considerable time and consuming a large amount of resources. The management and scheduling of projects represents a challenging task, and project performance may have a considerable impact on an organization's competitiveness. This handbook presents state-of-the-art approaches to project management and scheduling. More than sixty contributions written by leading experts in the field provide an authoritative survey of recent developments. The book serves as a comprehensive reference, both, for researchers and project management professionals. The handbook consists of two volumes. Volume 1 is devoted to single-modal and multi-modal project scheduling. Volume 2 presents multi-project problems, project scheduling under uncertainty and vagueness, managerial approaches and a separate part on applications, case studies and information systems.