A Genetic Algorithm to Time-Cost Trade off in project scheduling

One of the key important issues in project management is trade off between cost and time in such a way that the project is completed in the shortest time and minimum cost. Genetic algorithm is a practical approach for such optimization problems. In this paper, an algorithm is presented to solve the time-cost tradeoff problem (TCTP) using genetic algorithm. In this algorithm in order to search the problem space two control variables are used. Also an intelligent mutation operator is presented to approximate to the projectpsilas optimal point. Comparing this algorithm with Siemens classical algorithm shows the higher speed of proposed algorithm because in this algorithm many computations of paths in projectpsilas network graph are not needed.