Exact Delivery Under Resource Limits: Logic-Driven Project Scheduling

Exact Delivery Under Resource Limits: Logic-Driven Project Scheduling | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Exact Delivery Under Resource Limits: Logic-Driven Project Scheduling Abhijit Gaikwad This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8658891/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Project leaders frequently confront strict precedence dependencies and scarce renewable capacities; this paper presents a decision-support approach that computes optimal schedules minimizing completion time under binding resource limits for real-world projects. The method models precedence as difference constraints and captures resource usage with compact Boolean formulations that exploit natural at-most-one structures in project networks, enabling highly efficient solving by modern logic engines. Two complementary designs are provided—time-indexed and activity-indexed—augmented by preprocessing for extended precedences, energy-based lags, and feasible time windows to tighten the search space and improve tractability. Evaluated on diverse benchmark portfolios, including multi-mode activities and time-varying capacities, the approach consistently solves more instances and certifies optimality or infeasibility faster than leading exact techniques, while improving upper bounds in many challenging cases relevant to portfolio governance. For practitioners and PMOs, the contribution yields robust resource-feasible baselines, transparent trade-offs between modeling choices, and repeatable, audit-ready schedule decisions that generalize across project types without reliance on heuristics. Project scheduling Resource constraints Satisfiability modulo theories Optimization Exact methods Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8658891","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":578059393,"identity":"e0ed7269-8342-4ef0-a56b-3e3b23899bc1","order_by":0,"name":"Abhijit Gaikwad","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABJUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCR6GAxIGQAYzG5Bgq5GTZ28AMgwsCGkxgGk5ZmzYcwCkRQKvFpAKkHIQZk5kuJEAFsepg39278EDFgV/7Prb2dIkfpSxJTDOfH51w48CCQb+9u4ErJbcOZcAcljyjMNsxyR7zsnksUvnlN3sATpM4szZDVituZFjANbCcJi97QZvG1sx4+yctBs8QC0GErlYtcjDtMgDtdz828ac2HDzTNrNP3i0GEC12BkAHXabF6TlBvux2/hsMbxzBqTFOMHwMFv6b5lzoEDOYbstYyDBg8svcrd7jD9L/JGzlzsPVP2mDBSVx5/dfPPHRo6/vRe794GAGRgHiQ0IPo8BmMSlHAQYPzAw2CPx2R/gUz0KRsEoGAUjDwAAW0lmPPslwZsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abhijit","middleName":"","lastName":"Gaikwad","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-21 11:26:34","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":true,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8658891/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8658891/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101183277,"identity":"6acfd074-6394-41f4-baed-d0afb0eaaf61","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-27 05:00:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":185119,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ExactDeliveryUnderResourceLimitsLogicDrivenProjectScheduling.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8658891/v1_covered_1022aa45-d910-41f3-b537-065d2134d7b9.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eExact Delivery Under Resource Limits: Logic-Driven Project Scheduling\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Lamar University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Project scheduling, Resource constraints, Satisfiability modulo theories, Optimization, Exact methods","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8658891/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8658891/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eProject leaders frequently confront strict precedence dependencies and scarce renewable capacities; this paper presents a decision-support approach that computes optimal schedules minimizing completion time under binding resource limits for real-world projects. 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