An efficient cost-based scheduling method called incremental cost-based scheduling, iCBS, maps each job, based on its arrival time and SLA function, to a fixed point in the dual space of linear functions. Due to this mapping, in the dual space, the job will not change their locations over time. Instead, at the time of selecting the next job with the highest priority to execute, a line with appropriate angle in the query space is used to locate the current job with the highest CBS score in logarithmic time. Because only those points that are located on the convex hull in the dual space can be chosen, a dynamic convex hull maintaining method incrementally maintains the job with the highest CBS score over time.