Abstract
This paper proposes a real-time resource allocation algorithm for minimizing the completion time of overall workflow process. The jobs in a workflow process are interrelated through the precedence graph including Sequence, AND, OR and Loop control structure. A resource should be allocated for the processing of each job, and the required processing time of the job can be varied by the resource allocation decision. Each resource has several inherent restrictions such as the functional, geographical, positional and other operational characteristics. The algorithm suggested in this paper selects an effective resource for each job by considering the precedence constraint and the resource characteristics such as processing time and the inherent restrictions. To investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm, several numerical tests are performed for four different workflow graphs including standard, parallel and two series-parallel structures. In the tests, the solutions by the proposed algorithm are compared with random and optimal solutions which are obtained by a random selection rule and a full enumeration method respectively.