Tight lower bounds for the Workflow Satisfiability Problem based on the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis

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Abstract

The Workflow Satisfiability Problem (WSP) asks whether there exists an assignment of authorized users to the steps in a workflow specification, subject to certain constraints on the assignment. The problem is NP-hard even when restricted to just not equal constraints. Since the number of steps k is relatively small in practice, Wang and Li (2010) [21] introduced a parametrisation of WSP by k. Wang and Li (2010) [21] showed that, in general, the WSP is W[1]-hard, i.e., it is unlikely that there exists a fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithm for solving the WSP. Crampton et al. (2013) [10] and Cohen et al. (2014) [6] designed FPT algorithms of running time O⁎(2k) and O⁎(2klog2⁡k) for the WSP with so-called regular and user-independent constraints, respectively. In this note, we show that there are no algorithms of running time O⁎(2ck) and O⁎(2cklog2⁡k) for the two restrictions of WSP, respectively, with any c<1, unless the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis fails.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)223-226
Number of pages4
JournalInformation Processing Letters
Volume116
Issue number3
Early online date1 Dec 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2016

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