1 Introduction

The study of scheduling problems involves the identification of the problem, its modelization and finally its solution using appropriate techniques and tools. Within the scope of these researches, the work presented in this paper focuses on the identification of scheduling problems. Our purpose is to provide the modeliser with a decision support system to first describe the very problem to be dealt with and then to determine the theoretical problem to be solved. This work is part of a more ambitious project named e-OCEA that is currently under development at the Laboratoire d'Informatique de Tours. e-OCEA software ^[1] offers a platform to develop tailored algorithms to solve specific scheduling problems. The e-OCEA environment includes several interconnected modules, sharing common data standards. Among those modules, DeSAP enables definition of the physical structure of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS), then the definition of the product to be manufactured and finally the identification of the scheduling problem that has to be solved in order to find the best way to optimise production.

The next section gives a global presentation of the DeSAP module and points out its specificities within the e-OCEA environment. The third section recalls some principles of the underlying notation. Section four presents an enhancement of this initial description to integrate the products to be manufactured within the workshop previously described. The last section gives an example and presents the whole analysis that DeSAP software can provide. In conclusion future...