SCHEDULING TO MAXIMIZE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION - A PROJECT FOR THE SHADVALLEY PROGRAM

This paper describes a project that was done for the Shad Valley Progr am, where it was required to assign students to seminars so as to maxi mize 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 o n the Capacitated Transportation Problem and a network formulation is proposed to solve it. The second model is a two phase model whose firs t phase involves solving a Bottleneck Capacitated Transportation Probl em and the second phase solving a Capacitated Transportation Problem. A simple search algorithm is proposed that solves the second model. Im plementation of these models is described and the results obtained are discussed. Extensions to the two models are also proposed. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd