3.

Project Planning Tools

What exactly is Critical Path in Project Management?

Critical Path Method (CPM) is a mathematically-based algorithm for

scheduling a set of project activities. The essential technique for using CPM
is to construct a model of the project that includes the following:

 A list of all activities required to complete the project,

 The dependencies between the activities, and

 The estimate of time (duration) that each activity will take to

completion.

Using these values, CPM usually calculates the longest path of planned
activities to the end of the project, and the earliest and latest points that
each activity can start and finish without making 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 making the project
longer).

The CPM Process

CPM has several steps that can be summarized as follows:

a. Define the required tasks and put them down in an ordered

(sequenced) list.
b. Create a flowchart or other diagram showing each task in relation to
the others.
c. Identify the critical and non-critical relationships (paths) among tasks.
d. Determine the expected completion or execution time for each task.
e. Locate or devise alternatives (backups) for the most critical paths.

Reasons to Use CPM

Here are three more ways critical path can make project a success:
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1. Reduces Timelines: When the critical path method is displayed as a
bar chart, like a Gantt chart, it is easy to see where the tasks fall in the
overall timeframe. we can visualize the critical path activities (they are
usually highlighted), as well as task durations and their sequences. This
provides a new level of insight into project’s timeline, giving more
understanding about which task durations can modify, and which must
stay the same. If we want to complete the project in a shorter time
frame, it’s easy to see which tasks are the best candidates for duration
reduction.
2. Helps Manage Resources: With so much going on, the critical path
provides a clear direction of what must happen next and who needs to
do it. Once we have identified these critical tasks, there are no more
competing priorities or lack of direction. Everyone on the team is aware
of the tasks that need to take place and the project manager can better
allocate resources.
3. Compares Planned with Actual: The critical path method can also be
used to compare planned progress with actual progress. Throughout a
project, the PM can identify tasks that have already been completed, the
predicted remaining duration for tasks in progress, and any planned
changes to future task durations. The result will be an always updated
schedule which, when displayed against the original project timeline, will
provide a visual way of comparing planned with actual progress.

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CPM
Introduction
If you have been into project management, I'm sure you have already
heard the term 'critical path method.'

If you are new to the subject, it is best to start with understanding the
'critical path' and then move on to the 'critical path method.'

Critical path is the sequential activities from start to the end of a project.
Although many projects have only one critical path, some projects may
have more than one critical paths depending on the flow logic used in the
project.

If there is a delay in any of the activities under the critical path, there will
be a delay of the project deliverables.

Most of the times, if such delay is occurred, project acceleration or re-

sequencing is done in order to achieve the deadlines.

Critical path method is based on mathematical calculations and it is used for

scheduling project activities. This method was first introduced in 1950s as a
joint venture between Remington Rand Corporation and DuPont
Corporation.

The initial critical path method was used for managing plant maintenance
projects. Although the original method was developed for construction
work, this method can be used for any project where there are
interdependent activities.

In the critical path method, the critical activities of a program or a project

are identified. These are the activities that have a direct impact on the
completion date of the project.

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Key Steps in Critical Path Method
Let's have a look at how critical path method is used in practice. The
process of using critical path method in project planning phase has six
steps.

Step 1: Activity specification

You can use the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to identify the activities
involved in the project. This is the main input for the critical path method.

In activity specification, only the higher-level activities are selected for

critical path method.

When detailed activities are used, the critical path method may become too
complex to manage and maintain.

Step 2: Activity sequence establishment

In this step, the correct activity sequence is established. For that, you need
to ask three questions for each task of your list.

 Which tasks should take place before this task happens.

 Which tasks should be completed at the same time as this task.
 Which tasks should happen immediately after this task.

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Step 3: Network diagram
Once the activity sequence is correctly identified, the network diagram can
be drawn (refer to the sample diagram above).

Although the early diagrams were drawn on paper, there are a number of
computer softwares, such as Primavera, for this purpose nowadays.

Step 4: Estimates for each activity

This could be a direct input from the WBS based estimation sheet. Most of
the companies use 3-point estimation method or COCOMO based (function
points based) estimation methods for tasks estimation.

You can use such estimation information for this step of the process.

Step 5: Identification of the critical path

For this, you need to determine four parameters of each activity of the
network.

 Earliest start time (ES) - The earliest time an activity can start once
the previous dependent activities are over.
 Earliest finish time (EF) - ES + activity duration.
 Latest finish time (LF) - The latest time an activity can finish
without delaying the project.
 Latest start time (LS) - LF - activity duration.

The float time for an activity is the time between the earliest (ES) and the
latest (LS) start time or between the earliest (EF) and latest (LF) finish
times.

During the float time, an activity can be delayed without delaying the
project finish date.

The critical path is the longest path of the network diagram. The activities in
the critical path have an effect on the deadline of the project. If an activity
of this path is delayed, the project will be delayed.

In case if the project management needs to accelerate the project, the

times for critical path activities should be reduced.

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Step 6: Critical path diagram to show project progresses
Critical path diagram is a live artefact. Therefore, this diagram should be
updated with actual values once the task is completed.

This gives more realistic figure for the deadline and the project
management can know whether they are on track regarding the
deliverables.

Advantages of Critical Path Method

Following are advantages of critical path methods:

 Offers a visual representation of the project activities.

 Presents the time to complete the tasks and the overall project.
 Tracking of critical activities.

Conclusion
Critical path identification is required for any project-planning phase. This
gives the project management the correct completion date of the overall
project and the flexibility to float activities.

A critical path diagram should be constantly updated with actual information

when the project progresses in order to refine the activity length/project
duration predictions.

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Types of Floats

There are a few types of floats in project management. I will

explain the difference between total float vs free float in this post.
PMP aspirants always get confused with these similar sounding
terms. To compound the confusion, this concept is not explained
well in many books. In addition to the difference, I will also answer
the following questions.

 What is the meaning and definition of different floats?

 What is the purpose of floats in project management?
 What are the important formulas to calculate floats?

Note: This post is written assuming that you understand the

concept of Project Network Diagrams. In addition, you have already
performed Forward Pass and Backward to arrive at critical path
method; you are familiar with Early Start (ES), Late Start (LS), Early
Finish (EF) and Late Finish (LF) dates.

Generally speaking Float is also referred to as Slack. In some

literature you might find these terms written as Total Slack and
Free Slack.

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Total Float
Total Float (TF) is sometimes simply written as Float.

It is the amount of time an Activity can be delayed

without impacting the Project Finish Date.
e.g. if TF for an Activity Alphais ‘n’ days, it means Activity Alpha can
be delayed by ‘n’ days without impacting the Project Finish Date. It
can be calculated by using either of the following formulas

TF = LF – EF

OR

TF = LS – ES

Both the formulas will produce same result. e.g. In the above
diagram TF for Activity P and Activity Q are 0 and 1 respectively.

In simple terms we can say that TF is the Flexibility is starting or

finishing of an Activity. Here are a few other pertinent points about
TF:

 There is difference between Buffer (Contingency Reserve) and

TF. These are not same.
 It is calculated separately for each activity in the project
network diagram. In the above diagram, TF is written in lower
middle box for its respective activity.
 It is calculated for each single activity and not for the entire
path.
 It is shared among the activities that are on the same path. If
one activity uses complete TF, the other activities on the
same path will have zero TF (i.e. no flexibility). e.g. On Path QY
if Q uses 1 unit of TF then Y will have n0 TF.
 In a project network, the activities on the Critical Path have
least amount of TF. Generally it is zero but it could be negative
also. In the above diagram PXZ is Critical Path.

Free Float
Free Float (FF) is another type of Float.

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It is the the amount of time an Activity can be delayed
without impacting the Early Start date of any of its
Immediate Successors.
e.g. Consider Activity Alpha & Activity Beta have a Finish to
Start relationship and Activity Beta is the Successor. If Activity
Alpha has a FF of ‘n’ days, it means Activity Alpha can be delayed
by ‘n’ days without impacting the Early Start of Activity Beta. It can
be calculated by using one of the following formulas.

FF = min(ES of Successors) – (ES of Activity in Question) –

(Duration of Activity in Question)

OR

FF = min(ES of Successors) – (EF of Activity in Question)

The first formula is a generic formula and will work everywhere but
the second one will work only if you have used 1 method to do
critical path analysis.

Refer to the above network diagram again.

FF for Activity X is 0 as any delay in X will delay ES of X.

FF Activity Q is 0 as any delay in Q will delay ES of Y.

FF Activity R is 4 as ES of Y will not be impacted till R is delayed by

4 days or less.

Here are a few other pertinent points about FF:

 Lag and FF are different.

 FF is useful when there is an imposed start date for a
Successor activity.
 All the Successor activities should be considered while
calculating the FF.
 TF and FF of an Activity can be different.
 The above formula for FF is applicable for Finish to Start
relationships only.

Interfering float (IFF)

Interfering float is the time available to delay an activity without delaying the
project’s estimated completion time, but delaying an activity into interfering
float will delay the start of one or more following non-critical activities.

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Interfering float n = late finish n – Smallest early start of succeeding
activity

The aggregate of free float and interfering float is equal to the total float.

Total float n = Free float n + interfering float n

IFF = LF – EF
Or
IFF = TF – FF

Independent floats (IDF):

Independent float is present if an activity is started at Latest starting time
but it can be finished before Earliest finishing time.

IDF = EF – LS – D

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