The Critical Path – Precedence diagram method Luise Lorenz Christina Mohr

Critical Path Method (CPM) Project planning technique Important tool for project management For any project with interdependent activities

CPM helps you figure out: how long a complex project will take to complete which activities are critical ◦ those needed to be done in time in order to follow the schedule

The model of CPM 1. A list of all activities required to complete a project 2. The duration of each activity has to be known 3. Analyze the dependencies between the activities

The model of CPM CPM calculates the longest path of planned activities to the end Earliest and latest date that each activity can start and finish Avoiding extension of the project Determining the ‚critical‘ activities Activities which have ‚total float‘ (delayed without making the project longer)

Critical path Series of project network activities which lead to the longest overall duration Shortest time to complete a project Delay of critical activity has an impact on the completion date Shorten the planned critical path by ‚fast tracking‘ (more activities parallel) or ‚crashing the critical path‘ (shortening activities by adding resources)

Precendence diagram method (PDM) Network diagram uses boxes to represent activities Connection with arrows to show the dependencies Early / late start date Early / late finish date Duration

Advantages of PDM Finding the critical path Defining the amount of time required Usage to crash projects To reduce resources Defining dependencies Identifying lead and lag times

Design I Operation Description ES (Earliest Start) EF (Earliest Finish) Float LF (Latest Finish) LS (Latest Start) Ref. No.Duration if the float equals zero it‘s considered critical

Design II ES LF EF LS Float Duration Operation Description if the float equals zero it‘s considered critical

Example

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