Due to the increasing importance of product differentiation and collapsing product life cycles, a growing number of value-adding activities in the industry and service sector are organized in projects. Projects come in many forms, often taking considerable time and consuming a large amount of resources. The management and scheduling of projects represents a challenging task and project performance may have a considerable impact on an organization's competitiveness. This handbook presents state-of-the-art approaches to project management and scheduling. More than sixty contributions written by leading experts in the field provide an authoritative survey of recent developments. The book serves as a comprehensive reference, both, for researchers and project management professionals. The handbook consists of two volumes. Volume 1 is devoted to single-modal and multi-modal project scheduling. Volume 2 presents multi-project problems, project scheduling under uncertainty and vagueness, managerial approaches and a separate part on applications, case studies and information systems.

Part X Multi-Project Scheduling; 31 The Basic Multi-Project Scheduling Problem; 31.1 Introduction; 31.2 Problem Description; 31.3 Literature Review; 31.4 Biased Random-Key Genetic Algorithm; 31.4.1 Overview; 31.4.2 Biased Random-Key Genetic Algorithm; 31.4.3 Chromosome Representation; 31.4.4 Decoding of the Activity Priorities; 31.4.5 Decoding of the Delays; 31.4.6 Decoding of the Release Dates; 31.5 Schedule-Generation Procedure; 31.6 Computational Results 31.6.1 Test Problems31.6.2 BRKGA Configuration; 31.6.3 Results; 31.7 Conclusions; References; 32 Decentralized Multi-Project Scheduling; 32.1 Introduction; 32.2 Problem Description; 32.2.1 Formal Problem Definition; 32.2.2 Decentralized Character of the Problem; 32.2.3 Application Examples; 32.3 Classification of Problem Types; 32.3.1 Basic Problem Structure; 32.3.2 Decision Makers and Distribution of Information; 32.3.3 Objectives; 32.4 Solution Approaches and Literature Review; 32.4.1 Classification; 32.4.2 Auction Approaches; 32.4.3 Negotiation Approaches; 32.5 Conclusions; References Part XI Project Portfolio Selection Problems33 Multi-Criteria Project Portfolio Selection; 33.1 Introduction; 33.2 Identification and Analysis of Key Aspects in Project Portfolio Selection; 33.2.1 Multi-Criteria Problem; 33.2.2 Interdependence Between Projects; 33.2.3 Project Planning; 33.2.3.1 Justification of the Simultaneous Project Selection and Planning Processes; 33.2.3.2 Contributions to Project Selection and Planning in the Literature; 33.3 Evolution from the Previous Proposals: A More General Mathematical Model; 33.4 Conclusions; References 34 Project Portfolio Selection Under Skill Development34.1 Introduction; 34.2 Skill Development: General Models and Applications in Staffing and Scheduling; 34.2.1 Learning Curves in Management Science; 34.2.2 Integration of Learning Models in Staffing and Scheduling Decisions; 34.3 Project Portfolio Selection Under Skill Development; 34.4 Analytical Results on Project Portfolio Investment over Time; 34.5 Other Recent Literature; 34.6 Conclusions; References; Part XII Stochastic Project Scheduling; 35 The Stochastic Time-Constrained Net Present Value Problem; 35.1 Introduction.