Project scheduling models with resource constraints and multi-mode activities aims to create a schedule for carrying out activities considering precedence constraints and available resources in order to minimize the project duration. In the real world, we face uncertainty related to projects, where there are no historical data, hence, we should rely on the experts' judgements to estimate activity durations. For this purpose, in this paper, the 99-simulation method is used to deal with uncertainty. The exact mathematical programming model is presented in this paper and the hybrid algorithm based on Genetic Algorithm is used to solve this type of project scheduling problem which finds the near-optimal solution in a short computational time. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed model is examined with a numerical example.

Every nation in the globe endeavours to achieve sustainable growth in its various industries. The construction industry has an enormous contribution to the economy primarily for the developed nations experiencing urgent demands to develop and expand their infrastructure. While this expansion is taking place through projects, it is essential to find the factors affecting completion of project premium. This paper investigates the main time delay and cost overrun causes in construction projects within Oman related to clients, contractors, and consultants. Through a comprehensive literature review, reasons for delays and cost overrun are determined and a survey targeting 100 project managers was conducted to indicate top causes among them. The findings may help the government develop better policy and construction firms to modify criteria procedures to avoid such drawbacks.

The main issue for portfolio managers is to find a feasible schedule that guarantees the availability of the resources required by the activities at the dates they are scheduled, which is the classical objective of the Resource-Constrained Multi-Project Scheduling Problem (RCMPSP). This paper goes one step further and presents an algorithm that solves the RCMPSP where each project has a different priority for the organization. With this information, the algorithm uses a market-based mechanism to determine what activities should receive preferential treatment during the scheduling process. Therefore, among the multiple possible schedules that comply with the resource constraints (i.e. the solution provided by classical approaches to RCMPSP), our approach allows obtaining a schedule for the portfolio in which, beyond minimizing the duration of the portfolio, the activities are scheduled considering the portfolio manager’s priorities.

Resource-Constrained Project and Multi-Project Scheduling Problems (RCPSPs and RCMPSPs) have been essential topics of study over the last three decades. Both prob-lems consist of activities that must be scheduled subject to precedence and resource constraints. This paper surveys studies of RCPSPs and RCMPSPs under consideration of four categories of project activities, simply recorded as categories A, B, C, and D. Category A refers to activities can be performed using fixed resources along The Y-axis over fixed durations along The X-axis, and cannot be interrupted. Category B applies to activities that can be performed using the same type of resource in category A but can be interrupted. Category C refers to activities that can be performed using flexible resources over flexible durations and cannot be interrupted. Category D refers to activities can be performed using flexible resources over flexible durations and can be interrupted. Many algorithms have been developed to solve the RCPSPs and RCMPSPs when activities are classified individually under category A, B, or C. However, in practice, welding, cutting or assembly activities in a manufacturing projects for an oil cargo can be under a new category so-called D. The project manager can speed up or slow down these activities by allocating or removing more resources, and these activities can be interrupted or can be resumed at any time. From the perspective of activity categories, we intend to review the literature on RCPSPs and RCMPSPs and to obtain the new research directions for solving the problems.

Project stakeholder management deals with managing and fulfilling stakeholder expec-tations and has tended to focus on the stakeholders of the organization or the project viewpoint. The thematic, spatial and temporal objects of the research were to analyze the stakeholders and projects portfolio determination based on key stakeholders of a public university in Iran in 2019. In first step, stakeholders are identified. There are 12 stakeholder groups involved the university under study. In the second step using the power/interest matrix, stakeholder categorization and positioning was performed. In the following, a mathematical model for optimizing the portfolio of projects was presented and solved. This model was developed to maximize college profit while simultaneously considering the expectations and the requirements of four key stakeholders - the board of trustees, faculty members, researchers and the Ministry of Science. These findings may mainly reflect the strategic decisions at the university.