Scheduling to maximize customer satisfaction: A project for the shad valley program

This paper describes a project that was done for the Shad Valley Program, where it was required to assign students to seminars so as to maximize the satisfaction of the students with their assignments. We begin by describing the problem, its inputs and constraints. Two models are proposed to determine optimal assignments. The first model is based on the Capacitated Transportation Problem and a network formulation is proposed to solve it. The second model is a two phase model whose first phase involves solving a Bottleneck Capacitated Transportation Problem and the second phase solving a Capacitated Transportation Problem. A simple search algorithm is proposed that solves the second model. Implementation of these models is described and the results obtained are discussed. Extensions to the two models are also proposed.