Title: Optimising project performance: the triangular trade-off optimisation approach

Authors: Baruch Keren; Yuval Cohen

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, SCE-Shamoon College of Engineering, Bialik/Basel Sts., Beer Sheva 84100, Israel; Department of Management and Economics, The Open University of Israel, Ravutzki 108, Raanana 43107, Israel. ' Department of Management and Economics, The Open University of Israel, Ravutzki 108, P.O. Box 808, Raanana, 43107, Israel; Department of Industrial Engineering, Tel-Aviv Afeka College of Engineering, Tel-Aviv, 69107 Israel

Abstract: It is generally accepted that the three major dimensions of project success are time, budget, and quality. Most of the research in project planning is focused on the time-cost trade-off, and only a few papers have considered the three dimensions together. This paper describes the evolution of formulations for optimising project time-cost and quality, and continues by developing a new, non-linear optimisation formulation that better reflects the triangular trade-off structure between time, budget, and quality. In particular, the Cobb-Douglas formula is adopted and its use is illustrated. The model is discussed, and the structure of the trade-off is analysed and illustrated.

Keywords: project management; project scheduling; project performance; project trade-offs; Cobb-Douglas function; project planning; time; budget; quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEME.2012.048610

International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics, 2012 Vol.3 No.1/2, pp.152 - 170

Published online: 15 Apr 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article