An Adaptive Multi-agent System for Project Schedule Management

A multi-agent system is established for project schedule management, considering the need for adaptive and dynamic scheduling under uncertainty. The system is realized using Java. In the proposed system, three types of agents, namely activity agents, resource agents, and a monitoring agent, are designed. Duration and resource requirement self-learning operators are developed for activity agents in order to model the self-learning and adaptive capacities of an agent in its local environment; moreover, a monitoring operator is also presented for the monitoring agent. The system allows the user to set up simulation parameters or scheduling rules according to their own preferences. Simulation results from an example showed that the system is effective in supporting users’ decision-making process.