%0 Conference Paper %1 Licht.2006 %A Licht, T. %A Schlick, C. %A Dohmen, L. %A Schmidt, L. %A Luczak, H. %B Proceedings of the 4th International Industrial Simulation Conference (Palermo 2006) %C Ghent %D 2006 %E Genco, A. %E Gentile, A. %E Sorce, S. %I EUROSIS-ETI %K Decision_Support_Systems mmspub Multiple_Project_Management Person-Centered_Simulation Petri_nets Research_and_Development %P 191–198 %T Improving Multiple Project Management Using Simulation %X When managing multiple projects with various task and resource interdependencies it is challenging to plan task assignments for personnel and to derive a realistic schedule. Existing models for simulating the organizational processes of product development projects have emerged, but are of no adequate help for project managers yet. In this paper a person-centered, actor-driven simulation approach is presented that can cope with highly parallel tasks and projects. The task execution sequence is determined by means of a bounded rational choice model accounting for the urgency of tasks. The simulation model considers task durations as output variables consisting of efforts spent and idle periods. It therefore naturally accounts for resource-induced interdependencies between tasks. The model creates a very realistic project dynamic using only a small number of input parameters. The project manager is, for instance, not forced to specify fixed predecessor-successor-relations. The most sensitive input parameters are the efforts (man hours) to be spent and the deadlines of tasks. A case study of a real product development project was conducted along with the model. Using Student's t-tests the simulated project durations showed no significant derivation from the empirically observed duration.

@inproceedings{Licht.2006, abstract = {When managing multiple projects with various task and resource interdependencies it is challenging to plan task assignments for personnel and to derive a realistic schedule. Existing models for simulating the organizational processes of product development projects have emerged, but are of no adequate help for project managers yet. In this paper a person-centered, actor-driven simulation approach is presented that can cope with highly parallel tasks and projects. The task execution sequence is determined by means of a bounded rational choice model accounting for the urgency of tasks. The simulation model considers task durations as output variables consisting of efforts spent and idle periods. It therefore naturally accounts for resource-induced interdependencies between tasks. The model creates a very realistic project dynamic using only a small number of input parameters. The project manager is, for instance, not forced to specify fixed predecessor-successor-relations. The most sensitive input parameters are the efforts (man hours) to be spent and the deadlines of tasks. A case study of a real product development project was conducted along with the model. Using Student's t-tests the simulated project durations showed no significant derivation from the empirically observed duration.}, added-at = {2023-12-11T16:15:47.000+0100}, address = {Ghent}, author = {Licht, T. and Schlick, C. and Dohmen, L. and Schmidt, L. and Luczak, H.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/26cca95ed5b9edb50ff313028727f6bfd/sdt}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 4th International Industrial Simulation Conference (Palermo 2006)}, editor = {Genco, A. and Gentile, A. and Sorce, S.}, interhash = {41c0dbf7269d218ce704c595c6ca2a95}, intrahash = {6cca95ed5b9edb50ff313028727f6bfd}, keywords = {Decision_Support_Systems mmspub Multiple_Project_Management Person-Centered_Simulation Petri_nets Research_and_Development}, pages = {191–198}, publisher = {EUROSIS-ETI}, timestamp = {2023-12-11T16:15:47.000+0100}, title = {Improving Multiple Project Management Using Simulation}, year = 2006 }