Systems, methods and computer program products for compact scheduling

A method of allocating resources in a plannable process, a predetermined number of resources being used for executing an order comprising a chain of related activities to be executed on the predetermined number of resources, the method comprising:

• identifying an order execution start date for executing a first activity in the order and inputting the order execution start date as a preceding activity execution start due date in a scheduling routine;
• running the scheduling routine for succeeding activities in the order, comprising:
• scheduling an activity execution date according to a just-in-time criterion in correspondence with the preceding activity execution start due date;
• and
• inputting the scheduled activity execution date as an activity execution start due date for scheduling a succeeding activity in the scheduling routine;
• identifying an earliest order execution finish date for executing a last activity in the order that is scheduled according to the scheduling routine;
• setting the last activity execution finish due date to the earliest order execution finish date;
• and
• reversely running the scheduling routine for preceding activities in the order, comprising:
• scheduling an activity execution date according to a just-in-time criterion in correspondence with the succeeding activity execution finish due date;
• and
• inputting the scheduled activity execution date as an activity execution finish due date for scheduling a preceding activity in the scheduling routine.

A method of allocating resources in a plannable process, a predetermined number of resources being used for executing an order comprising a chain of related activities to be executed on the predetermined number of resources, the method comprising, for each order:

• identifying a first order execution start date for executing a first activity in the order and inputting the first order execution start date as a preceding activity execution start due date in a first scheduling routine;
• running the scheduling routine for succeeding activities in the order;
• identifying a scheduled order execution finish date for executing a last activity in the order from a scheduling routine;
• setting, when the scheduled order execution finish date is earlier than an order execution finish due date, the order execution finish date to the order execution finish due date;
• inputting the order execution finish date as a succeeding activity execution finish due date in a second scheduling routine;
• backwards running the second scheduling routine for preceding activities in the order comprising:
• scheduling an activity execution date according to a just-in-time criterion in correspondence with the succeeding activity execution finish due date;
• and
• inputting the scheduled activity execution date as an activity execution finish due date for scheduling a preceding activity in the scheduling routine;
• identifying a latest order execution start date for executing a first activity in the order that is scheduled according to the scheduling routine;
• setting the first activity execution start due date to the latest order execution start date;
• and
• forwards running the scheduling routine for succeeding activities in the order, comprising:
• scheduling an activity execution date according to a just-in-time criterion in correspondence with the preceding activity execution start due date;
• and
• inputting the scheduled activity execution date as an activity execution start due date for scheduling a succeeding activity in the scheduling routine.

A method of allocating resources in a plannable process, a predetermined number of resources being used for executing an order, the method comprising:

• identifying a pair of activities of the order having a non-subsequent relation;
• providing a predecessor/successor relation between the pair of activities and providing a predefined scheduling constraint to the predecessor/successor relation;
• and
• running a scheduling program for scheduling the activities in the order, the scheduling program comprising a genetic scheduling algorithm that is evaluated in accordance with the predefined scheduling constraint to schedule the the pair of activities in accordance with the scheduling constraint to the predecessor/successor relation.

A system for allocating resources in a plannable process, the system comprising a module for representing a predetermined number of resources to be used for executing an order comprising a chain of related activities to be executed on the predetermined number of resources, the system further comprising:

• an input module for identifying a first activity execution due date for executing a predetermined first activity in the order;
• a scheduling module for scheduling an execution date for each activity according to a just-in-time criterion in correspondence with an activity execution due date of a related activity;
• an identification module for identifying a second activity execution date from the scheduling module for executing a predetermined second activity in the order, the identification module being adapted to submit the identified second activity execution date to the scheduling module, and the scheduling module being adapted to schedule in reverse an execution date for each activity according to a just-in-time criterion in correspondence with an activity execution due date of a reverse related activity, wherein the second activity execution date is kept fixed as identified by the identification module;
• and
• an output module for outputting a scheduled order to a user interface.

A system for allocating resources in a plannable process, the system comprising a module for representing a predetermined number of resources to be used for executing an order comprising a chain of related activities to be executed on the predetermined number of resources, the system further comprising:

• a scheduling module for scheduling the activities in the order, the scheduling module comprising a genetic scheduling algorithm that is evaluated in accordance with a number of scheduling constraints provided to the scheduling module to schedule activities in accordance with the scheduling constraints;
• a module for identifying a pair of activities of the order having a non-subsequent relation;
• and
• providing a predecessor/successor relation between the pair of activities and providing a predefined scheduling constraint to the predecessor/successor relation to be scheduled by the scheduling module.