This "readme" file explains the naming and file format for the instance files provided in this repository.

All problem instances originate from the PSPLIBj120 data set and are augmented with shared due dates. 

If using these instances, please consider citing the paper:
W.R. Strahl and C.E. Gounaris (2023), "A Priority Rule for Scheduling Shared Due Dates in the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem"
Computers & Industrial Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2023.109442

The name of each problem instance is j120##-#_phi###_DD###.txt,where:
-- "j120##-#" is the number assigned in the original j120 data set
-- "phi###" gives the value of the tightness parameter*100 (e.g., 125 --> 1.25)
-- "DD###" indicates the number of shared due dates on the instance

Explanation of the file format:
The format follows closely the standard RCPSP format, with clear indications for each field. Note that shared due date information is the only characteristic specifically added; we include the entries for the shared due dates prior to the last line of the instance file, which is reserved for resource availabilities.

The format for the shared due dates field is as follows:
Due Date Type | Earliness Penalty | Tardiness Penalty | Due Date Value | Number of Activities Assigned to Due Date | List of Activities Assigned to Due Date
where:
-- Due Date Type: string: Type of due date (in our instances, we use keyword "soft" for all due dates)
-- Earliness Penalty: float: The penalty for being early (in the instances, this is "0" for all due dates)
-- Tardiness Penalty: float: The penalty for being late (in the instances, this is "1" for all due dates)
-- Due Date Value: integer: the value of the shared due date
-- Number of Activities Assigned to Due Date: integer: [self explanatory] (an entry of "1" would correspond to a regular due date)
-- List of Activities Assigned to Due Date: list of integers: [self explanatory]

For example, let the following shared due date entry as a line in the file:
soft 0 1.000000 40 6 23 44 59 83 67 95
Here, the number 6 indicates that there are 6 activities assigned to the due date, and the following 6 entries, (23 44 59 83 67 95), in the list of activities are those activities. 

##################################
### COMPLETE RCPSP FILE FORMAT ###
##################################
First line of the file:
Number of Activities (NumActivities) | Number of Renewable Resources | Number of Nonrenewable Resources | Number of Mixed Resources

Next NumActivities lines:
For each activity:
Activity Label | Activity Mode | Number of Successors | List of Successors | [Weight on Arc to each Successor]

Next NumActivities lines:
For each activity:
Activity Label | Activity Mode | Activity Duration | List of Resource Consumptions

Shared due date information:
Shared due date lines, 1 line for each shared due date:
Due Date Type | Earliness Penalty | Tardiness Penalty | Due Date Value | Number of Activities Assigned to Due Date | List of Activities Assigned to Due Date

Last line of the file:
List of Resource Availabilities