Patent ID: 8533023

Claim:
A method of allocating resources in a plannable process, a predetermined number of resources being used for executing an order comprising a chain of related activities to be executed on the predetermined number of resources, the method being executed by a processor and comprising: scheduling an activity execution date for each activity of the related activities according to a just-in-time criterion in correspondence with an activity execution due date of a related activity; identifying a first activity execution due date for executing a predetermined first activity in the order; identifying a second activity execution date for executing a predetermined second activity in the order that is scheduled according to a scheduling routine; selecting a predefined scheduling constraint defining a relation between the predetermined first activity and the predetermined second activity; associating a dummy activity with at least one of the predetermined first activity and the predetermined second activity; determining a minimum lead time based on a sum of (i) a minimum wait time associated with at least one of the predetermined first activity and the predetermined second activity and (ii) a minimum execution time associated with at least one of the predetermined first activity and the predetermined second activity; determining a maximum lead time based on a sum of (i) a product of the dummy activity and the minimum lead time and (ii) an offset value; and reversely scheduling, by using the processor, the activity execution date for the each activity of the related activities according to the predefined scheduling constraint, the maximum lead time, and the just-in-time criterion in correspondence with an activity execution due date of a reverse related activity, wherein the second activity execution date is kept fixed.