Project scheduling maximizing the fuzzy net present value influenced by the decision maker attitude

In this paper a fuzzy version of a procedure for project scheduling is proposed to maximize the fuzzy net present value of projects with fuzzy cash flows. The algorithm uses the information about the fuzzy cash flow linked to each project activity to prioritize the activities. The prioritization takes into account not only the cash flow of each activity, but also of the activities which follow it. Then the schedule is constructed in such a way that the highest priority activities, together with their predecessors, are scheduled first. As comparing fuzzy numbers is not unequivocal, a large part of the paper is devoted to this problem. It is indicated how much the order of the fuzzy priorities of the activities depends on the attitude and preferences of the decision maker. Various ranking methods of fuzzy priorities are presented, for various types of decision makers, and it is shown how the final project schedule depends on the project manager attitude. The procedure is then applied to an example (for various decision maker attitudes) and results are discussed in conclusions.