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Critical Path Method and Critical Chain Project Management

Project schedule plan is the main plan included in any Project Management Plan. Project schedule is responsible for bringing project time, cost and quality under control. Project schedule links resources, tasks and time line together. Once a Project Manager has list of resources, work breakdown structure (WBS) and effort estimates, he is good to go for planning project schedule. Schedule network analysis helps Project Manager to prevent undesirable risks involved in the project. Critical Path Method (CPM) and Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) are key elements of schedule network analysis. In the following sections we will explore these elements in details to understand their importance in keeping project on schedule to get increase in ROI.

Critical Path Method (CPM):

The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a schedule network analysis technique. CPM was developed by the DuPont Corporation in 1957.Critical path determines the shortest time to complete the project and it is the longest duration path through a network of tasks. Critical tasks (activities) are tasks (activities) on the critical path. To understand CPM further let's first understand nature of the task. According to PMBOK every scheduled task can be defined by the following four parameters. • Early Start (ES): Earliest possible point in time on which a task can start. • Early Finish (EF): Earliest possible point in time on which a task can finish. • Late Start (ES): Latest possible point in time on which a task can start. • Late Finish (EF): Latest possible point in time on which a task can finish. Early Start and finish dates are calculated by means of Forward Pass and Late Start and Late Finish dates are calculated by means of Backward Pass. Many Tasks have some amount of buffer added to them referred as Slack Time or Float. Float time is amount of time a task can slip before it delays project schedule. There are two common types of...