Monitoring Transferable Work-load Projects for the optimization of duration and cost

Abstract

Progress measurement, in an environment where remaining work can be transferable from one resource to another, is hard to perform due to the ambiguities and complexities involved in the nature of these projects. This paper discusses the environs of Transferable Work-load project, the realization of which is transferable among different departments of a same company or in different parts of the world. Project management and operational research literature is reviewed for discovering various planning, management, monitoring, and forecasting techniques applicable to such projects. This paper presents a problem related to pharmaceutical industry which involves the determination of the effectiveness of a given medical treatment, applied to patients in a given number of countries. In this problem patients are first recruited then their treatment starts. The great number of variables involved increases the complexity of this problem. The main objective of the problem is to analyze the effectiveness of a particular solution, for the recruitment of patients, in different situations such that a shorter project duration and in turn a lower project cost can be achieved.