Criteria-directed task scheduling

Abstract Scheduling complex problem solving tasks, where tasks are interrelated and there are multiple different ways to go about achieving a particular task, is an imprecise science and the justification for this lies soundly in the combinatorics of the scheduling problem. Intractable problems require specialized solutions, perhaps even a cadre of different specialized techniques. We have developed a new domain-independent approach to task scheduling called Design-to-Criteria that controls the combinatorics via a satisficing methodology and custom designs, schedules to meet a particular client's goal criteria. In Design-to-Criteria, criteria directed focusing, approximation, and heuristics, in conjunction with soft goal criteria are used to make the scheduling problem tractable. We describe the interesting facets of the Design-to-Criteria approach and give examples of its power at reducing the complexity of the scheduling task while designing custom satisficing schedules.

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