On the Advancement of Project Management through a Flexible Integration of Machine Learning and Operations Research Tools

Project Management is a complex practice that is associated with a series of challenges to organizations and experts worldwide. Aiming to advance this practice, this paper proposes a hybrid approach that builds on the synergy between contemporary Machine Learning and Operations Research tools. The proposed approach integrates the predictive orientation of Machine Learning techniques with the prescriptive nature of Operations Research algorithms. It can aid the planning, monitoring and execution of common PM tasks such as resource allocation, task assignment, and task duration estimation. The applicability of our approach is demonstrated through two realistic examples.