Solving scheduling problem in operations management using a temporal constraint reasoning system

This paper discusses the application of using temporal constraint satisfaction in solving the scheduling problems from the operation management domain. The Logos constraint reasoning system implements the constraint propagation paradigm to solve the temporal constraint satisfaction problem. We will show that temporal relationships provide a richer model to express the scheduling constraints than the precedence relationship. Furthermore, temporal constraint system can model the dynamic perturbation of the events and their impact on the schedule. This paper presents examples that illustrate how Logos can model scheduling problems and how Logos can use this model to suggest rescheduling actions in response to schedule degradations. The domain model, expressed in Logos, recognizes the impact of the schedule perturbations and generates candidate solutions to reduce the impact. We conclude that Logos provides a concise, expressive representation of operations management scheduling problems and that the temporal reasoning component of Logos is suitable to a wide variety of applications.