| Abstract: | In this article we consider a cost-minimization model to investigate scheduling strategies for multistaged projects in a client-contractor environment. This type of environment is symptomatic of temporal changes in project definition and scope. At prespecified epochs the client conducts an external evaluation of the project and either accepts or rejects the contractor's current work. The resulting uncertainty from the client's review is modeled via monotonically varying acceptance probabilities. The model is designed primarily to address the interaction between earliest-, intermediate-, and latest-start options and project-crashing stragies for a broad range of penalty costs. Theoretical results are introduced, while numerical examples for both exponentially and polynomially based acceptance probabilities are discussed. |
