A Multi-agent System for the Flexible Resource Constrained Project Scheduling

The resource constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) is extended to flexible resource constrained project scheduling problem (FRCPSP) in this paper. Resources are assumed to have certain capabilities demanded by project activities, but not necessarily all of them. Resource capability matrix (RCM) is proposed to represent flexible resources. A multi-agent system composed of resource agent, activity agent, and service agent is put forward as an information infrastructure to support flexible resource constrained project management in a highly distributed environment. The definitions of component agents and the strategies of flexible resource allocation are discussed.