Network programming in project management

The method of network programming was developed to give exact or approximate solutions for multi-extremal (in particular, discrete) optimization problems. The idea of the method is based on reduction of the problem in hand to a superposition of simpler problems. The scheme of reduction is conveniently represented in the form of a network (the, so called, network representation), with nodes being the sub-problems. Simple optimization problems are solved at each node, while the solution at the terminal node of the network delivers the upper (or lower) bound estimate for the initial problem. For the tree-shaped network representation the solution at the terminal node of the network delivers the exact solution of the initial optimization problem. This paper surveys applications of the network programming method to the several problems of project management.