What is a fixed requirement constraint?

Capacity

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

Time constraint
Scope constraint
Cost constraint

Hard (default)

Soft

By default, the system schedules finitely during optimization.

However, you can also specify that resources should be scheduled finitely in accordance with the entries in the master data, or as of a specific finiteness level.

In the optimization profile, for multiresources, you can specify a capacity on a period basis that is different from the one specified in the master data. During optimization, the system loads the multiresource up to the value of the capacity defined in the optimization profile. You can, for example, define reduced capacities, thus reserving capacity in the optimized schedule for last-minute special orders.

If you have specified in the optimization profile that optimization should schedule infinitely, optimization does not take the capacity into consideration.

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You can use the optimization to optimize the schedule according to the costs that are associated with the delayed completion of orders or activities. The following optimization criteria are available:

The sum of the delay costs in the optimization horizon
The maximum delay costs

There is a delay when:

The order priority and the duration of the delay determine how much the delay of a single order or activity costs. This is calculated as follows:

Delay costs = Costs dependent on priority x Duration of delay in seconds

You maintain the priority-dependent costs depending on the order priority. As the priority decreases, the costs must either decrease or stay the same. The order priority can be determined by the sales order, the planned independent requirement or – depending on the product – by the product master. Depending on the planning version, you specify in Model and Version Management the source of an order’s priority. An activity inherits the priority from the order. The system uses the duration of the delay in seconds to calculate the delay costs.

During optimization, in order to reduce delay costs, the system tries to schedule orders and activities that have a high priority with the smallest possible delay (if necessary, at the expense of orders and activities with lower priority for which greater delays are not so crucial).

You have defined the priority-dependent costs depending on the order priority in the optimization profile or when calling up the optimization on the Costs tab page. If you do not enter any costs, the system uses default values.
You have weighted the delay costs in the optimization profile, on the Basic Settings tab page, in the objective function .

When a receipt delivers several requirements with a delay, the system uses the biggest delay for this receipt for one of the requirements.

If you have defined in the optimization profile that the order validity represents a soft constraint for optimization, the system also evaluates violations of this validity as delays.

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1. In a linear programming problem, the data cells do which of the following?

Time constraint: The time constraint refers to the project’s schedule for completion, including the deadlines for each phase of the project, as well as the date for rollout of the final deliverable.
Scope constraint: The scope of a project defines its specific goals, deliverables, features, and functions, in addition to the tasks required to complete the project.
Cost constraint: The cost of the project, often dubbed the project’s budget, comprises all of the financial resources needed to complete the project on time, in its predetermined scope. Keep in mind that cost does not just mean money for materials — it encompasses costs for labor, vendors, quality control, and other factors, as well.

Let's look at each of the three constraints in detail.

Time constraint

When it comes to time constraints, proper scheduling is essential. According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), the following steps should be taken for effective time management:

Planning: This includes defining the main goal(s) of the project team, how the team intends to achieve the goal(s), and the equipment and/or steps that will be taken to do so.
Scheduling: The project management team must plot out the realistic timeframe to complete each phase of the project.
Monitoring: This step occurs once the project is underway and requires the project team to analyze how the past stages of the project performed, noting trends and impacts on future plans, and communicating these findings to all relevant stakeholders.
Control: In the control step, the team must, upon communicating the results of each phase of the project, move forward accordingly. That means if things are running smoothly, the team must analyze the factors contributing to that positive outcome so that it can be continued and replicated. If there has been a derailment, the team must know how and why the derailment occurred and correct it for future actions.

A Gantt chart can help to visualize the project timeline and whether they are tracking to the proper constraints.

Scope constraint

Defined upfront, the scope of the project should be clearly and regularly communicated to all stakeholders to ensure that “scope creep” — the term used when changes are made to the scope mid-project, without the same levels of control — is avoided. To keep the scope in check, you can:

Provide clear documentation of the full project scope at the beginning of the project, including all requirements.
Set up a process for managing any changes, so if someone proposes a change, there is a controlled system in place for how that change will be reviewed, approved or rejected, and implemented if applicable.
Communicate the scope clearly and frequently with stakeholders.

Cost constraint

A project’s budget includes both fixed and variable costs, including materials, permits, labor, and the financial impact of team members working on the project. A few of the ways to estimate the cost of a project include: