A method is provided for allowing process overruns while guaranteeing satisfaction of various timing constraints. At least one latest start time for an uncompleted process is computed. If an uncompleted process does not start at its latest start time, then at least one of the predetermined constraints may not be satisfied. A timer is programmed to interrupt a currently executing process at a latest start time. In another embodiment, information about ordering of the end times of the process time slots in a pre-run-time schedule is used by a run-time scheduler to schedule process executions. Exclusion relations can be used to prevent simultaneous access to shared resources. Any process that does not exclude a particular process is able to preempt that particular process at any appropriate time at run-time, which increases the chances that a process will be able to overrun while guaranteeing satisfaction of various timing constraints.