Modeling and Analyzing Project Performance with Timing Constraint Petri Net

Time Petri net and timed Petri net, in which transactions are constrained with time info, are widely used in task scheduling and performance analysis, whereas they are not effective enough for project performance analysis. Timing constraint Petri net (TcPN for short) is proposed in which places are endued with time delaying domain and time persisting domain simultaneously. Furthermore, all time constraints are based on global clock. Colored resource property is attached to backward flow relation for cost evaluation. The formal definition of TcPN and its firing rule are furnished. An algorithm is offered to calculate the time constraint. State class method is used for the cost space analysis. For proving its feasibility in analyzing project performance, an example is provided and variant performance problems (such as critical path, shortest period, cost control, and state space) are discussed.