100% found this document useful (2 votes)
199 views5 pages

Critical Path

The document discusses the critical path method for determining the duration of a project. It provides the following key points: 1) The critical path method uses a forward and backward pass to calculate activity start/finish dates and float. Activities with zero float are critical path activities whose delay will impact the project duration. 2) The critical path is the longest sequence of activities in the network diagram determining the minimum project duration. Non-critical paths have float allowing delays without impacting the schedule. 3) The process involves creating a network diagram, estimating durations, performing forward/backward passes to determine early/late starts and finishes, and calculating float to identify critical path activities.

Uploaded by

Erin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
100% found this document useful (2 votes)
199 views5 pages

Critical Path

The document discusses the critical path method for determining the duration of a project. It provides the following key points: 1) The critical path method uses a forward and backward pass to calculate activity start/finish dates and float. Activities with zero float are critical path activities whose delay will impact the project duration. 2) The critical path is the longest sequence of activities in the network diagram determining the minimum project duration. Non-critical paths have float allowing delays without impacting the schedule. 3) The process involves creating a network diagram, estimating durations, performing forward/backward passes to determine early/late starts and finishes, and calculating float to identify critical path activities.

Uploaded by

Erin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

5th Edition PMBOK GuideChapter 6: Critical Path Method

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Jerome Rowley


1. Introduction
The critical path method is one of the techniques used in the process 6.6 Develop Schedule. The
procedure of using a forward and backward pass to calculate the early start, early finish, late start, and
late finish of the activities is the standard way to find out which activities are on the critical path. The
difference between either the late start and the early start, or the late finish and the early finish, give
the float of each activity. If the float is 0, then this means that the activity cannot be delayed
without delaying the successor activity. If the float is some positive number, say 3, this would
mean that the activity can be delayed 3 time units (days, weeks, or whatever your network
diagram is using as units of time) before the successor activity is delayed.
2. Critical path method illustration
To determine how long a project will take, you need to find out the critical path, that is, the sequence of
activities in the network diagram that is the longest. Other paths along the network will yield
sequences of activities that are shorter than the critical path, and they are shorter by an amount equal to
the float. This means that activities that have float could be delayed by a certain amount
without affecting the schedule. Activities along the critical path have a float of zero. This
means that any delay along the critical path will affect the schedule.
Heres an outline of the critical path methodology.
a. You create a network diagram of all the activities.
b. You label each activity with the duration derived from process 6.4 Estimate Activity Durations.
c. You do a forward pass to determine the early start and early finish date of all activities, from the
start of the project to the end of the project.
d. Once at the end of the project, you do a backward pass to determine the late start and late finish
date of all activities, from the end of the project to the start of the project.
e. For each activity, you use the results of c and d to calculate the float of each activity.
f. All activities that have 0 float are on the critical path for that project.
Lets take a look at the methodology in general.
Step 1. For each activity, create a matrix which will contain the duration, the early start, the early finish,
the late start, late finish, and float for a particular activity.
Activity Number
Duration
Early Start Early Finish
(ES)
(EF)
Late Start
Late Finish
(LS)
(LF)
Float
Here are the meanings of the numbers in the boxes:
Activity Number: you can label them A through Z, or 1 through N, just as long as each activity has a unique
identifier.
Duration: this is the number that you should get as an output of the 6.4 Estimate Activity Durations
process.
Early Start (ES): The Early Start is the number you begin the analysis with to do the forward pass. It is
defined as 0 for the first activity in the project. The Early Start for subsequent activities is calculated in one
of two different ways, which will be demonstrated below.

Early Finish (EF): This is the next number you go to in the forward pass analysis. It is taken by adding the
number in the ES box plus the number in the Duration box.
Late Finish (LF): The Late Finish is the number you begin the analysis with to do the backward pass. It is
defined to be equal to the number in the Early Finish box for the last activity in the project. The Late Finish
for preceding activities is calculated in one of two different ways, which will be demonstrated below.
Late Start (LS): This is the next number you go to in the backward pass analysis. It is taken by subtracting
the number in the Duration box from the number in the LF box.
Float: Once ES, ES, LF, and LS are determined, the float is calculated by either LS ES or LF EF. Just
remember that a piece of wood will float to the top of the water, so the float is calculated by taking the
bottom number and then going upward and subtracting the number thats on the top of it.
Step 2.
For activity A, the first activity in the project, ES = 0.
A
0

Step 3.
Then EF for activity A is simply ES + duration. Lets say activity A takes 5 days. Then EF = 0 + 5 = 5.
A
5
0 5

Step 4.
The forward pass for activity A is complete. Lets go on to activity B.

Since activity B has only one predecessor, activity B, the ES for activity B is simply equal to the EF of
activity A, which was 5.
B
3
5

Then the EF for activity B is taken by adding the ES of to the duration of activity B or 3, giving EF = 5 + 3 =
8.
Theres one more situation that we have to discuss and that is if an activity has more than one
predecessor.

Lets assume the durations for each activity are as follows:


Activi
ty
A
B
C

Duration
5
3
6

Assume Activity A and Activity B are both done concurrently at the start of the project, and both need to be
done in order for Activity C to start. Well, before we do the formal forward pass analysis, what does logic
tell us. Activity A takes 5 days; Activity B takes 3 days. Both activity A and B have to be done before
Activity C can take place. In this case the start date of the project is considered to be 0. Can Activity C take
place on day 3, when activity B is done? No, because Activity A isnt completed yet, and you need BOTH A
and B to be done. The earliest possible start date for Activity C will be day 5, because only on that date will
both A and B be done.
So this illustrates the other way of calculating ES for an activity B. If there are multiple predecessors, then
the ES is equal to the LARGEST of the ES of the predecessor activities.
Step 5.
Now, lets assume we are at the end of the project at activity Z.
Z
5
9
5

100

EL = ES + duration gives us EL = 95 + 5 + 100. So the project will take 100 days according to our forward
pass calculation.
Now, we have the backward pass.
We start this out by stating as a principle that the late finish or LF date for the last activity in the project is
equal to the EF date.
Z
5
9
5

100
100

Then, of course, the late start date or LS = LF duration = 100 5 = 95.


Z
5
9
5
9

100
100

Step 6.
Now we go in the reverse direction towards the beginning of the network diagram, this time filling out the
bottom LS and LF boxes for each activity.
If the activity has one successor, then the LF for the predecessor activity equals the LS for the successor of
activity. But if there are more than one predecessor activity, then heres what you do. For the forward pass,
you take the highest EF of all predecessors.
For the backward pass, you take the lowest LS of all successors. Lets see how this works.

Lets assume the forward pass is done on A, B, and C. We do the backward analysis and we get to the
following point. What is the LF of activity A?
A
5

B
3

C
4

0 5 5 8 5 9
6 9 5 9

Well, activity B and activity C are both successors of A. In this case, activity B has an LS of 6 and activity C
has an LS of 5. The earliest LS is therefore 5, and so LS of activity A is 5.
A
5

B
3

C
4

0 5 5 8 5 9
0 5 6 9 5 9

Step 7.
What is the float? Take LF EF (or LS ES) for each of the activities.
A
5

B
3

C
4

0 5 5 8 5 9
0 5 6 9 5 9
0
1
0
So the float of B is 1, and the float of A and C are 0. Therefore A and C are on the critical path, and activity
B is on a non-critical path. If you needed to compress the schedule, you would do it with activities A and C
that are on the critical path. If you shortened B by one day, however, it would not shorten the overall
schedule at all, but would just reduce the float from 1 to 0.
3. Exam questions
Oh, PMI just loves giving questions on the critical path, and they can be time consuming. When taking a
test with 200 questions, every minute counts, so how can you answer questions on the critical path
without having to go through this long and time-consuming process? HINT: Most critical path questions

can be answered without the forward and backward pass methodology. How? Read the next post to find
out!
http://4squareviews.com/2013/04/16/5th-edition-pmbok-guide-chapter-6-critical-path-method/

You might also like