Applying fuzzy multi-objective linear programming to a project management decision with nonlinear fuzzy membership functions

This paper investigates a multi-objective project management problem where the goals of the decision maker are fuzzy. Prior research on this topic has considered linear membership functions to model uncertain project goals. Linear membership functions, however, are not much flexible to model uncerta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neural computing & applications Vol. 28; no. 8; pp. 2193 - 2206
Main Authors: Ehsani, Ehsan, Kazemi, Nima, Olugu, Ezutah Udoncy, Grosse, Eric H., Schwindl, Kurt
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Springer London 01.08.2017
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Artificial Intelligence
Computational Biology/Bioinformatics
Computational Science and Engineering
Computer Science
Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery
Decision making
Functions (mathematics)
Fuzzy sets
Image Processing and Computer Vision
Linear programming
Management decisions
Mathematical models
Mathematical programming
Multiple objective analysis
Original Article
Probability and Statistics in Computer Science
Project management
Project planning
Exponential membership function
Nonlinear fuzzy membership function
Project management
Weighted max–min approach
Fuzzy multi-objective programming
ISSN:0941-0643, 1433-3058
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This paper investigates a multi-objective project management problem where the goals of the decision maker are fuzzy. Prior research on this topic has considered linear membership functions to model uncertain project goals. Linear membership functions, however, are not much flexible to model uncertain information of projects in many situations, and therefore, fuzzy models with linear membership functions are not suitable to be applied in many practical situations. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to apply nonlinear membership functions in order to develop a better representation of fuzzy project planning in practice. This approach supports managers in examining different solution strategies and in planning projects more realistically. In doing so, a fuzzy mathematical project planning model with exponential fuzzy goals is developed first which takes account of (a) the time between events, (b) the crashing time for activities, and (c) the available budget. Following, a weighted max–min model is applied for solving the multi-objective project management problem. The performance of the developed solution procedure is compared with the literature that applied linear membership functions to this problem, and it is shown that the model developed in this paper outperforms the existing solution.
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ISSN:0941-0643
1433-3058
DOI:10.1007/s00521-015-2160-0