Support for problem solving in manpower planning problems

In this paper we describe the construction of problem solving strategies in the context of a well-defined decision situation in which various problem situations are of interest, such as in manpower planning situations. The problem solving component of the system consists of a set of basic mathematical algorithms that can be combined to solution strategies to the stated problems. An analysis process is needed that converts the stated problem to a set of subproblems that can be solved by the available mathematical algorithms. The analysis process consists of an aggregation stage and a decomposition stage. The aim of aggregation is to decrease the size of the problem by neglecting the irrelevant information. The aim of decomposition is to be able to solve rather complex problems by the separation into sets of subproblems.