PLAN-IT-2: The next generation planning and scheduling tool

PLAN-IT is a scheduling program which has been demonstrated and evaluated in a variety of scheduling domains. The capability enhancements being made for the next generation of PLAN-IT, called PLAN-IT-2 is discussed. PLAN-IT-2 represents a complete rewrite of the original PLAN-IT incorporating major changes as suggested by the application experiences with the original PLAN-IT. A few of the enhancements described are additional types of constraints, such as states and resettable-depletables (batteries), dependencies between constraints, multiple levels of activity planning during the scheduling process, pattern constraint searching for opportunities as opposed to just minimizing the amount of conflicts, additional customization construction features for display and handling of diverse multiple time systems, and reduction in both the size and the complexity for creating the knowledge-base to address the different problem domains.