Critical Path Method
Critical Path Method (CPM) is a powerful project management technique offering a concept called critical path. Since a project consists of orderly, but not necessarily dependent activities, it can be viewed as a network diagram where activities are shown as branches connected at nodes immediately preceding and immediately following activities.
A path through the network is any set of successive activities, which goes from the start to the end of a project. Associated with each activity in the network is a number that best estimates the time that activity will consume. Differences in the way of computing this number distinguish major variants of the technique.
A critical path is one whose sum of activity time is longer than that for any other path through the network. This path is important because, if all goes according to schedule, its length gives the shortest possible completion time of the overall project.
In addition, a slack time is associated with each activity in the project. This is the difference between the latest possible completion time of each activity, which will not delay the completion of the overall project, and the earliest possible completion time based on all predecessor activities. Activities on a critical path have zero slack time and hence the importance of monitoring the critical path has zero slack time and hence the importance of monitoring the critical path.
The critical path and the associated slack times for a project are found by simply working forward through the network, computing the earliest possible completion time for each activity, until the earliest possible completion time for the total project is found. Then, by backtracking through the network, the latest completion time for each activity is found, the slack time computed and the critical path identified. This procedure is generally programmed into a computer for easy calculation and 'what-if' scenarios.
Computation of the critical path proceeds by first assuming a notional time for each activity. Activities on the critical path should be taken up for reduction in their time by infusing more resources for early completion. By successively relaxing activities on the critical path, a curve with total project costs versus time for completion can be obtained. Services: - Critical Path Method Homework | Critical Path Method Homework Help | Critical Path Method Homework Help Services | Live Critical Path Method Homework Help | Critical Path Method Homework Tutors | Online Critical Path Method Homework Help | Critical Path Method Tutors | Online Critical Path Method Tutors | Critical Path Method Homework Services