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Resource allocation in stochastic, finite-capacity, multi-project systems through the cross entropy methodology

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Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of resource allocation in a finite-capacity, stochastic (random) and dynamic multi-project system. The system is modeled as a queuing network that is controlled by limiting the number of concurrent projects. We propose a Cross Entropy (CE) based approach to determine near-optimal resource allocations to the entities that execute the projects. The performance of the suggested approach is demonstrated through numerical experiments and compared to that of a heuristic, rough-cut based method.

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Correspondence to Boaz Golany.

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Cohen, I., Golany, B. & Shtub, A. Resource allocation in stochastic, finite-capacity, multi-project systems through the cross entropy methodology. J Sched 10, 181–193 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10951-007-0013-0

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