Robust Preemptive Resource Assignment for Multiple Software Projects Using Parameter Design

Project preemption allows resources flow passively from one project or task to another. Due to high-cost and high-risk characteristics of software development, project preemption might have a significant impact on the ultimate completion time of a software project. This article examines the feasibility of the Taguchi’s parameter design to achieve robust resource assignment for multiple software projects with different preemptive rules. Two examples of software projects is employed to demonstrate the design process of the parameter design applying in the project scheduling problems. The first project illustrates a preemptive single software project. Project preemption occurs when resource vacations are considered. The second example considers problems of preemptive multiple project scheduling. The parameter design with preemption rules and scheduling heuristics are employed to solve the problem. The results show that the parameter design can achieve robust resource assignment by minimizing the effect of task variation.