btheisen@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Barb Theisen) (05/30/91)
My company is planning to automate several administrative and operational
activites associated with the studies we run. A major requirement of this
automation is to have software assisted scheduling. The type of scheduling
we need is similar to resource leveling done by project management software,
but we want to be able to add intelligence and put a user interface on
the scheduling module. Much of the data involved in the scheduling will
reside in an Ingres database.
We have been looking for some software package that we can use. We have
as list of requirements for such a product which (in summary) say we are
looking for something modular, open, and extendible (links to Ingres,
run under Unix). We have been considering products in the EIS and
Project Management categories, but what we really want is a very smart
scheduling module that can be made to interface with our database.
If anyone has any ideas about products, or any advice about developing
such software (ie any notable publications I can reference or algorithms
I should look into) I can be reached via email at:
btheisen@macc.wisc.edu
by phone at:
Barbara Theisen, 608 241 4471
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbara Theisen btheisen@macc.wisc.edu
DBA
Hazleton Wisconsin
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------jgb@prism.gatech.EDU (James G. Baker) (05/31/91)
In article <1991May30.135005.2616@macc.wisc.edu> btheisen@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Barb Theisen) writes: >If anyone has any ideas about products, or any advice about developing >such software (ie any notable publications I can reference or algorithms >I should look into) I can be reached via email at: I recently attacked a consulting job involving scheduling. Although it pales to what Delta airlines has to do, it was quite involved: It was to schedule a two-day "career fair" so that 30 companies and 60 people could all see each other for different interviews, lengths of interviews, company- defined schedules, each candidate with about 12 interviews, etc (ad nausium) :-). Does your application approach an "NP-complete" problem? You can quickly reach the "lifetime of universe" run-times if not careful. Often, it is reduced to letting the computer to the "best it can" and then allow for some manual playing. My scheduling gets it down to about a 6/200 ratio of problems. The computer "could" do it, but would have to try all combinations potentially. It also does it in about 45 seconds (a nervous 45 seconds, that is :-). Mine was on a PC for cost's sake. If it is simple precedence, the computer should be able to attack it and assign times, etc and allow a change to one item and automatically changing others. Just some thoughts.... Good luck. -J Baker -- BAKER,JAMES G - Undergraduate Lab Instructor, School of Electrical Engineering ____ _ _ Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 | | _ |_) uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!jgb (_|. |_). |_). Internet: jgb@prism.gatech.edu, jgb@ee, jgb@eecom, jgb@cc
dwells@fits.cx.nrao.edu (Don Wells) (05/31/91)
In article <30248@hydra.gatech.EDU> jgb@prism.gatech.EDU (James G. Baker) writes: ... Does your application approach an "NP-complete" problem? You can quickly reach the "lifetime of universe" run-times if not careful. Often, it is reduced to letting the computer to the "best it can" and then allow for some manual playing. My scheduling gets it down to about a 6/200 ratio of problems. The computer "could" do it, but would have to try all combinations potentially. It also does it in about 45 seconds (a nervous 45 seconds, that is :-). Mine was on a PC for cost's sake. Anyone who needs to solve scheduling problems which verge on NP-complete should be aware of the SPIKE system which is used to schedule the Hubble Space Telescope, a *very* difficult case. SPIKE uses a neural net approach, with remarkable success. The key developer is Mark Johnson at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD. A knowledgeable contact in Europe is Hans-Martin Adorf at the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, located at the European Southern Observatory in Garching bei Muenchen. -- Donald C. Wells Associate Scientist dwells@nrao.edu National Radio Astronomy Observatory +1-804-296-0277 Edgemont Road Fax= +1-804-296-0278 Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-2475 USA 78:31.1W, 38:02.2N