CRITICAL PATH METHOD

The Critical Path Method, abbreviated CPM, or critical path analysis, is a mathematically based algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. It is a very important tool for effective project management. It was developed in the 1950s in a joint venture between u!ont "orporation and #emington #and "orporation for managing plant maintenance projects. Today, it is commonly used with all forms of projects, including construction, software development, research projects, product development, engineering, and plant maintenance, among others. $ny project with interdependent activities can apply this method of scheduling. The essential techni%ue for using "!& is to construct a model of the project that includes the following' 1. $ list of all activities re%uired to complete the project (also )nown as *or) brea)down structure+, ,.The time (duration+ that each activity will ta)e to completion, and -.The dependencies between the activities. .sing these values, "!& calculates the longest path of planned activities to the end of the project, and the earliest and latest that each activity can start and finish without ma)ing the project longer. This process determines which activities are /critical/ (i.e., on the longest path+ and which have /total float/ (i.e., can be delayed without ma)ing the project longer+. In project management, a critical path is the se%uence of project networ) activities which add up to the longest overall duration. This determines the shortest time possible to complete the project. $ny delay of an activity on the critical path directly impacts the planned project completion date (i.e. there is no float on the critical path+. $ project can have several, parallel, near

critical paths. $n additional parallel path through the networ) with the total durations shorter than the critical path is called a sub0critical or non0critical path. These results allow managers to prioriti1e activities for the effective management of project completion, and to shorten the planned critical path of a project by pruning critical path activities, by / fast tracking/ (i.e., performing more activities in parallel+, and2or by /crashing the critical path/ (i.e., shortening the durations of critical path activities by adding resources+. 3riginally, the critical path method considered only logical dependencies between terminal elements. 4ince then, it has been e5panded to allow for the inclusion of resources related to each activity, through processes called /activity0based resource assignments/ and /resource leveling/. $ resource0leveled schedule may include delays due to resource bottlenec)s (i.e., unavailability of a resource at the re%uired time+, and may cause a previously shorter path to become the longest or /resource critical/ path. $ related concept is called the critical chain, which attempts to protect activity and project durations from unforeseen delays due to resource constraints. 4ince project schedules change on a regular basis, "!& allows continuous monitoring of the schedule, allows the project manager to trac) the critical activities, and alerts the project manager to the possibility that non0critical activities may be delayed beyond their total float, thus creating a new critical path and delaying project completion. In addition, the method can easily incorporate the concepts of stochastic predictions, using the !rogram 6valuation and #eview Techni%ue (!6#T+ and event chain methodology. "urrently, there are several software solutions available in industry that use the "!& method of scheduling, see list of project management software. 7owever, the method was developed and used without the aid of computers. $ schedule generated using critical path techni%ues often is not reali1ed precisely, as estimations are used to calculate times' if one mista)e is made, the results of the analysis may change. This could

cause an upset in the implementation of a project if the estimates are blindly believed, and if changes are not addressed promptly. 7owever, the structure of critical path analysis is such that the variance from the original schedule caused by any change can be measured, and its impact either ameliorated or adjusted for. Indeed, an important element of project postmortem analysis is the $s 8uilt "ritical !ath ($8"!+, which analy1es the specific causes and impacts of changes between the planned schedule and eventual schedule as actually implemented *hat is the CPM CPM9 Critical Path Method (CPM ! is a procedure for using networ) analysis to identify those tas)s which are on the critical path' ie where any delay in the "ompletion of these tas)s will lengthen the project Timescale, unless action is ta)en. :or all tas)s off the critical path, a degree of tolerance is possible (e.g. late start, late completion, 6arly start, etc.+.;etwor) charts and "!& analysis used to be carried out by hand. 4oftware is now available which re%uires the user only to enter the tas)s, duration of each tas) and dependencies upon other tas)s< a networ) chart and "!& is then automatically created. *hy "!&9 The CPM formally identifies tas)s which must be completed on time for the whole project to be completed on time Identifies which tas)s can be delayed for a while if resource needs to be reallocated to catch up on missed tas)s It helps you to identify the minimum length of time needed to complete a project The "!& determines both the early start and the late start date for each activity in the schedule. The "ritical !ath &ethod ("!&+ is one of several related techni%ues for doing project planning. "!& is for projects that are made up of a number of individual /activities./ If some of the activities re%uire other activities to finish before they can start, then the project becomes a comple5 web of activities. "!& can help you figure out'

how long your comple5 project will ta)e to complete which activities are /critical,/ meaning that they have to be done on time or else the whole project will ta)e longer

If you put in information about the cost of each activity, and how much it costs to speed up each activity, "!& can help you figure out' whether you should try to speed up the project, and, if so, what is the least costly way to speed up the project. Acti"ities $n activity is a specific tas). It gets something done. $n activity can have these properties' names of any other activities that have to be completed before this one can start a projected normal time duration If you want to do a speedup cost analysis, you also have to )now these things about each activity' a cost to complete a shorter time to complete on a crash basis the higher cost of completing it on a crash basis "!& analysis starts after you have figured out all the individual activities in your project. CPM Analysis #teps! $y E%a&ple This document describes the steps for doing "!& analysis for this course. The steps will be illustrated by two e5amples. I recommend that you wor) through the e5amples, so that you can follow the steps yourself when you do the homewor). E%a&ple '( Acti"ities! precedence! and ti&es This first e5ample involves activities, their precedence (which activities come before other activities+, and the times the activities ta)e. The objective is to identify the critical path and figure out how much time the whole project will ta)e. E%a&ple ' #tep '( List the acti"ities "!& analysis starts when you have a table showing each activity in your project. :or each activity, you need to )now which other

activities must be done before it starts, and how long the activity ta)es. 7ere=s the e5ample'

Activity Description Required Predecessor Duration $ !roduct design (;one+ 5 months 8 &ar)et research (;one+ 1 " !roduction analysis $ , !roduct model $ 6 4ales brochure $ , : "ost analysis " > !roduct testing ? 7 4ales training 8, 6 , I !ricing 7 1 @ !roject report :, >, I 1 E%a&ple ' #tep )( Dra* the diagra& raw by hand a networ) diagram of the project that shows which activities follow which other ones. This can be tric)y. The analysis method we=ll be using re%uires an /activity0on0arc/ ($3$+ diagram. $n $3$ diagram has numbered /nodes/ that represent stages of project completion. Aou ma)e up the nodes= numbers as you construct the diagram. Aou connect the nodes with arrows or /arcs/ that represent the activities that are listed in the above table.

4ome conventions about how to draw these diagrams'

$ll activities with no predecessor come off of node 1. $ll activities with no successor point to the last node, which has to have highest node number.

In this e5ample, $ and 8 are the two activities that have no precedessor. They are represented as arrows leading away from node 1. @ is the one activity that has no successor, in this e5ample. It therefore points to the last node, which is node B. If there were more than one activity with successor, all of those activities= arrows point to the highest number node. 4tudents sometimes ma)e the mista)e of creating a diagram with several starting or ending nodes. Don't do this. The tric)iest part for me of building the above diagram was figuring what to do with activity 7. I had drawn an arrow for activity 8 coming off node 1 and going to mode -. I had later drawn an arrow for activity 6 coming off node , and going to node C. 4ince 7 re%uires both 8 and 6, I had to erase my first 6 arrow and redraw it so it pointed to the same node - that 8 did. 7 then comes off of node - and goes to node C. *hen designing these diagrams, wor) in pencil.

E%a&ple ' #tep +( #et ,p the CPM spreadsheet There are speciali1ed commercial programs for doing "!& analysis. #ather than purchase and learn one of those, we=ll leverage the spreadsheet )nowledge we already have. *e will use one freeware program written for this course and made available to you through the Internet. 4tart up a new blan) spreadsheet. If you are viewing this document on the web, minimi1e your browser window and then start Excel. That way you can switch from one to the other by pressing $ltDTab. In a blan) spreadsheet, type the word /$ctivities/ in cell $1. In row ,, type the names of the activities, or their letters. (To ma)e my spreadsheet screen shots fit better on these pages, I set the column widths to ?. Aou do not have to do this.+

In row -, type /;odes/. In row ?, type in each activity=s start node 00 where the tail of its arrow is. 8elow that, in row 5, type each activity=s end node 00 where the head of its arrow is. o this carefully. &ista)es here mess up everything that follows. To the right, in E, and E-, type the words /4tart/ and /6nd/ to label those rows.

In cell $C, type /Times/. In row F, type the time each activity ta)es. Then, select the range of cells containing the node numbers

and copy it to the clipboard. E%a&ple ' #tep -( .se Pathfind to get the paths !athfind is a computer program that helps you find and enter into the spreadsheet all of the possible paths through your diagram along the arrows from the first node to the last. Aou could do this by hand, of course. This diagram shows the four possible paths in this e5ample.

The four paths are $ > @, $ " : @, $ 6 7 I @, and 8 7 I @. *e=ll code them in the spreadsheet with a matri5 of 0=s and 1=s. #ather than do this all by hand, we=ll get !athfind help do it. To use !athfind, start up your Internet connection and your browser Goading this html file into your browser starts !athfind, which is a @ava applet that runs inside your browser. *hen !athfind is loaded' 1. "lic) in !athfind=s upper te5t area. ,. !aste the range you just copied from your spreadsheet into that upper te5t area. ("lic) in the te5t area and press "trlDH or 4hiftDInsert.+

-. "lic) on !athfind=s button. !athfind=s lower te5t area will give you a bloc) of numbers, all highlighted so you can copy them. ?. "opy the highlighted numbers to the clipboard for pasting later into your spreadsheet. ("trlD" or "trlDInsert copies what is highlighted.+ Aou can now close the !athfind web page, if you wish. E%a&ple ' #tep /( Paste the path infor&ation into yo,r spreadsheet *hen you=re done with !athfind, go bac) to your spreadsheet. &ove your cell selector to cell $B. Type /!aths/ in that cell. Then move the cell selector to $9, as shown here'

!aste

to

that

cell,

to

see

this'

The pasted cells are all 0=s and 1=s. 6ach row represents a path. The 1=s indicate which activities are in that particular path. :or e5ample, row 9 (cells $9'@9+ has 1=s under activities $, ", :, and @. This says that this path includes activities $, ", :, and @. This corresponds to

the path through the middle of the diagram that goes' 1 0$0I , 0"0I ? 0:0I F 0@0I B. The diagram above shows four paths from node 1 to node B. 4ure enough, !athfind gives you four rows of 0=s and 1=s, one row for each path. E%a&ple ' #tep 0( Calc,late the paths1 ti&es &ove the cell selector to E9. !ut J4.&!#3 ."T($9'@9,K$KF'K@KF+ in that cell. Luattro !ro' M4.&!#3 ."T($9'@9,K$KF'K@KF+.

This formula multiplies each entry in row 9 by the corresponding entry in row F. 8ecause the entries in row 9 are all 0=s and 1=s, this has the effect of selecting the times from row F that go with the activities represented in row F, and adding all those times. *hen you enter the formula, the number 11 should appear in E9. That=s the time it would ta)e to complete activities $, ", :, and @. Aou can verify that $ ta)es 5 months, " ta)es ,, : ta)es -, and @ ta)es 1, for a total of 11. (If you are doing a CPM proble of your o!n" odify t#e for ula so t#at t#e ranges cover t#e colu ns you actually #ave$ %#is advice applies to all t#e for ulas !#ic# follo!$& To fill in the other paths= times, copy cell E9, then paste it to E9'E1,. The K signs in the formula see to it that each path=s 1=s are multiplied by the corresponding numbers in row F.

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E%a&ple ' #tep 2( Identify the critical path The critical path is the path that ta)es the longest. In this e5ample, the critical path is the one in row 10, which ta)es 1- wee)s. The project will therefore ta)e 1- wee)s, if everything is done on schedule with no delays. The time a project ta)es is e%ual to the time of its critical path. The 1=s in row 10 tell us that the critical path is 1 0$0I , 0 0I ? 0>0I F 0@0I B. $s managers, we must be sure that activities $, , >, and @ are done on time. If any of those activities is late, the project will be late. 3ther paths are not critical because they can waste some time without slowing the project. :or e5ample, activity ", in row 9=s path, can ta)e up to two e5tra wee)s and not hold up the project. To ma)e it easier to see what activities are in each path, go to cell $1?. Type Jif($9J1,$K,,//+ there. The letter $ should appear in cell $1?. Luattro !ro' Mif($9J1,$K,,//+. This Jif($9J1,$K,,//+ function wor)s this way' Inside the parentheses are three e5pressions separated by commas. The first e5pression ($9J1+ is something that can be either true or false. If the e5pression is true, the second e5pression ($K,+ is shown in the cell. 3therwise, the third e5pression (//+ is shown in the cell.

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In $1?, the e5pression $9J1 is true, so the cell shows what is in $,, which is the letter /$/. If $9 had not contained a 1, the $1? would have shown a blan), which is what // means. "opy $1? to the clipboard. Then, starting in $1?, select a range of cells that goes over to column @ and down four rows. The selected range should be the same si1e as the space that the paths= 1=s and 0=s ta)e up. !aste. Aou should get this'

;ow you can see which activities are in each path. If your results do not loo) li)e the above, ma)e sure that there is one K in your formula, and that it=s in front of the , and not in front of the $. >o to cell @1- and type /&a5/. Then go to cell E1-. Type to display the longest path time.
=MAX(K9:K12)

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&ove to cell E1? and type JI:(E9JEK1-,/"ritical/,//+ there.

This will put the word /"ritical/ ne5t to a path whose time e%uals the ma5imum of all the path times. 3therwise, it will put in a blan), as it does here, because the 11 in E9 does not e%ual the 1- in E1-. "opy E1? to the clipboard. (It will seem strange to copy what appears to be an empty cell, but do it anyway.+ 4elect cells E1? to E1F, and

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paste.

Aou=re doneN Aou=ve found the time the project will ta)e, and you have identified the critical path, which tells you which activities must be done on time to ma)e the project finish in the least time.

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