Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

“CRITICAL PATH METHOD & ITS SIGNIFICANCE

IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT “

PROJECT REPORT

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the

THE INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE MBA IN PROJECT

MANANGEMENT

By

DEEPA JUNNARKAR DEGWEKAR

UBI/MBA/IE/JULY12/ A00012416

Under The Guidance

Of

Prof. Amit Shirali

(JARO EDUCATION MUMBAI/ JULY 2012 BATCH)

JARO EDUCATION

PUNE

JANUARY 2013

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

DECLARATION

I, Ms Deepa Junnarkar Degwekar hereby declare that this project report titled "

Critical Path Method & its significance in project management

" submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the " International Executive

MBA in Project Management " is my original work and it has not formed the basis for

the award of any other degree.

Deepa Junnarkar Degwekar

Place: Pune , India

Date : 04-Jan-2012

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I feel fortunate to get the support of numerous sources and people in making this project

a success.

I take this golden opportunity to express my profound gratitude and thank to my

colleagues and seniors in DSP Design Associates for their valuable inputs, which

helped me in transforming my ideas into this project.

I would also like to thank Apoorv Talegaonkar and Sameer Degwekar for his

unconditional support during making of this report.

I would like to thank my project guide from JARO EDUCATION, Prof. Amit Shirali

for his valuable inputs and extended support during preparation of this project report.

Deepa Junnarkar Degwekar

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INDEX

PAGE
SR.NO PARTICULARS
NO.

01 INTRODUCTION 05

02 INDUSTRY PROFILE 29

03 COMPANY PROFILE 36

04 NEED FOR STUDY 39

05 LITERATURE SURVEY 44

06 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY 49

07 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 50

08 ANALYSIS 51

09 FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS 63

10 CONCLUSION 64

11 REFERENCES 65

12 FURTHER STUDY 66

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01 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 path 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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Illustration 1: Activity node diagram to understand concept of project management.

1.01 | WHAT IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT? 2

While its roots lie in business practices that began more than a century ago, it is only

in recent decades that project management has emerged as a vital component of

any serious business operation. It has also become a key to success in a global

business environment where companies constantly seek an edge over the

competition.

Unlike department or business managers, project managers are not limited to

overseeing just one aspect of an operation, nor are they constrained by the time

required to deal with personnel-related management issues.

Instead, project managers are tasked with a complex assignment: oversee all

aspects of a project, ensuring that it is done well, on time and within budget.

To succeed in the job, project managers must become adept at a number of tasks as

well as earn certifications that qualify them for this demanding career. They must

also demonstrate a blend of an analytical mind and the ability to be a people person.

For those who can master its complexities, project management can be a rewarding

career.

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1.02 | THE PROCESSES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Simply put, project management is the job of overseeing a project to ensure it meets

its goals, time line and budget. Clearly, however, this involves many processes once

it is applied to projects within large organizations and involving many people.

Among the first jobs for a project manager is identifying the scope of a project – in

other words, define in detail what the project is supposed to accomplish.

Next, a project manager must prepare a schedule, assigning tasks to team members

and setting deadlines for each task.

Along with the schedule, a project manager must also establish a budget and ensure

that it includes enough to cover unexpected contingencies without allowing

exorbitant cost overruns. As the project begins, the manager must make sure team

members have the necessary resources to accomplish their goals.

Project managers typically design plan using the Critical Path Method (CPM), a

formula used to determine the correct order in which to complete a project as

efficiently as possible. This can involve planning the project down to the hourly level.

Having initiated and planned the project, the manager must now communicate

progress to upper management, keep team members informed on what is expected

of them and ensure that the resources used by the team are the best available given

the budget.

1.03 | WHAT IS CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS?

Critical path analysis is an integral component of project management, as it

determines the duration of a project, as well as the sequence of key project tasks

which govern the project's completion time. With this information, the project

manager can focus on getting the critical tasks completed on time, while allowing

other tasks to slip their schedule if necessary, without jeopardizing the project's

deadline.

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“Critical Path method (CPM) is a method which determines a project's

duration. Also, for each task in the project, it will report the earliest start time

and the slack, which is the amount of time the task's completion can be

delayed without delaying the entire project.”

The critical path method (CPM) is based on an algorithm for scheduling a set of

project activities. It is an important tool for effective project management. It is part

of project management, which relates to the effective use of schedules such

as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project

environment.

1.04 | BASIC TECHNIQUE & TERMS

THE PROJECT PLAN AT FIRST GLANCE 1

As part of the MS Office suite MS Project uses a similar navigation as Word, Excel

etc. Underneath the toolbars the plan itself will be split into two areas. On left hand

side is a table view. Running from left to right you should see columns for tasks,

duration, start and finish dates and resources. There may be additional columns, but

these are the key areas. On the right hand side is the Gantt Chart view, named after

Henry Gantt. This views shows the project tasks as bars mapped to a calendar.

TASK IDS AND INDICATOR COLUMN

The grey column at the far left is the unique identifier for each task, similar to the row

numbers in Excel. Next to it is the Indicator field, which is used to show information

about a particular task. For example if a task has notes associated with it or contain

a hyperlink.

TASKS AND TASK DURATIONS

The Task Name column contains the description of each task. Tasks names should

be detailed enough so that you can clearly understand what each task will deliver.

Note that the tasks will be organized logically into Summary and sub tasks.
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Summary tasks are used to order groups of task. In the image below the Functional,

Technical and Design/artwork and specifications form a logical grouping

entitled Specifications and designs.

If you look across to the Gantt view you will notice that the summary tasks appear as

black lines illustrating the start and finish of the sub-tasks.

Next you will see the duration column. Durations can be entered in months, weeks,

days, hours and even minutes. The summary tasks will show the total duration for

the tasks beneath. Look out for ‘1 day?’ this is the default duration so you will want to

check if the duration is correct.

START AND FINISH DATES

The Start and Finish date columns follow. These are automatically calculated by MS

Project using the task duration, working times, resource allocation and task

dependencies. The Project Manager should avoid entering start and finish dates

manually as they will interfere with the calculation of the projects end date. I

mentioned constraints earlier. Constraints fix a task’s start or finish to a particular

date. When a start or finish date is set by the Project Manager a constraint will be

set. You can check for constraints by looking for this symbol in

the indicator column.

DEPENDENCIES

Finally there should also be a column for Predecessors and Resources.

Predecessors, aka task links or dependencies, are very important in project

planning. To calculate the end date of your project and to understand the Critical

Path each task should have a:

 Predecessor, a task that links to it, and a

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 Successor, a task that it links to.

 Ideally the first task on the plan is the only task without a predecessor and the last

task is the only one without a successor.

RESOURCES

 The Resources column records the people, teams or machinery that will complete

the task. Multiple resources can be assigned to a task. Some resources may work

part-time and Project handles this by allowing the Project Manager to adjust the

Units – percentage of a resource’s time assigned to a task. Check that the resource

column contains identifiable owners for the work. Generic terms like ‘Supplier’ or

‘Developer’ should be clarified and ideally replaced with a named resource.

GANTT/BAR CHART VIEW

 The Gantt Chart view is named after Henry Gantt who, in the 1910s, developed a

method of planning projects that showed tasks as rows with corresponding bars

showing the duration of each task against a calendar. Tasks are represented by

rectangular bars that correspond to the task duration. Depending on how you choose

to format your Gantt bar chart the resource names and task names may also by

shown.

WORKING TIME :

The project plan should take into account working days and hours. By default MS

Project assumes that working time is Monday to Friday 08:00 to 17:00pm with 1 hour

for lunch. Resources can have specific calendars so it is worth checking that your

resource aren’t scheduled to work during non-working time. If you have MS Project

you can check this via View > Resource Usage or View > Resource Sheet (double

click the resource). Finally check the Project Plan takes into account Christmas and

other holidays. This sounds obvious, but MS Project doesn’t contain holidays by
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default so it is well worth checking the plan doesn’t assume 100% working time over

Christmas.

CRITICAL PATH

The Critical Path is the series of tasks that must finish on time for the entire project to

finish on schedule. Each task on the critical path is a critical task. You can also think

of it as:

 the longest path from start to finish,

 or the path without any slack,

 or the path corresponding to the shortest time in which the project can be completed.

It should be easy to identify the Critical Path from the Gantt Chart view. Tasks on the

path may be highlighted in red.

The Critical Path drives the project end date. The project plan and predicted end

date may be inaccurate if the Critical Path is not correct. Task durations, links,

constraints, resources and working time all impact the critical path check you are

happy with each of these areas and if you can’t easily identify the Critical Path raise

this with the Project Manager.

GIST:

I hope you have found this guide to MS Project plans useful. This is a high-level view

we haven’t looked in any depth at resourcing, working and non-working time,

managing costs, % effort, reporting or many other areas of MS Project functionality.

However, this does arm you with the information you need to understand the key

parts of a MS Project plan and to identify areas that need deeper investigation. I

haven’t explicitly stated, but if you receive a plan that doesn’t show the areas

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mentioned here this should also be a flag for further discussion. To do lists or excel

spreadsheets with start and finish dates are not project plans!

The essential technique for using CPM is to construct a model of the project that

includes the following:

1. A list of all activities required to complete the project (typically categorized within

a work breakdown structure),

2. The time (duration) that each activity will take to completion, and

3. The dependencies between the activities.

Using these values, CPM calculates the longest path of planned activities to the end

of the project, and the earliest and latest 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). In project management, a critical path is the

sequence of project network activities which add up to the longest overall duration.

This determines the shortest time possible to complete the project. Any delay of an

activity on the critical path directly impacts the planned project completion date (i.e.

there is no float on the critical path). A project can have several, parallel, near critical

paths. An additional parallel path through the network with the total durations shorter

than the critical path is called a sub-critical or non-critical path.

Although the activity-on-arrow diagram ("PERT Chart") is still used in a few places, it

has generally been superseded by the activity-on-node diagram, where each activity

is shown as a box or node and the arrows represent the logical relationships going

from predecessor to successor as shown here in the "Activity-on-node diagram".

Activity-on-node diagram showing critical path schedule, along with total float and

Critical path computation.

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Illustration 2: Activity-on-node diagram showing critical path schedule, along with total float and
critical path drag computations

In above diagram, Activities A, B, C, D, and E comprise the critical or longest path,

while Activities F, G, and H are off the critical path with floats of 15 days, 5 days, and

20 days respectively. Whereas activities that are off the critical path have float and

are therefore not delaying completion of the project, those on the critical path will

usually have critical path drag, i.e., they delay project completion. The drag of a

Critical path activity can be computed using the following formula:

1. If a critical path activity has nothing in parallel, its drag is equal to its duration.

Thus A and E have drags of 10 days and 20 days respectively.

2. If a critical path activity has another activity in parallel, its drag is equal to

whichever is less: its duration or the total float of the parallel activity with the least

total float. Thus since B and C are both parallel to F (float of 15) and H (float of

20), B has a duration of 20 and drag of 15 (equal to F's float), while C has a

duration of only 5 days and thus drag of only 5. Activity D, with a duration of 10

days, is parallel to G (float of 5) and H (float of 20) and therefore its drag is equal

to 5, the float of G.

These results, including the drag computations, allow managers to prioritize activities

for the effective management of project completion, and to shorten the planned

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critical path of a project by pruning critical path activities, by "fast tracking" (i.e.,

performing more activities in parallel), and/or by "crashing the critical path" (i.e.,

shortening the durations of critical path activities by adding resources).

1.05 | HOW TO USE CPM IN PROJECT SCHEDULING AND DETERMINING PROJECT

MILESTONES

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS AND MEANINGS

1.05.01 | PROJECT SCHEDULE/PLANNING:

In project management, a schedule consists of a list of a project's terminal

elements with intended start and finish dates. Terminal elements are the lowest

element in a schedule, which is not further subdivided. Those items are

often estimated in terms of resource requirements, budget and duration, linked

by dependencies and scheduled events. Now a day’s soft ware’s like Microsoft

project / Primavera etc are used for making project schedules .

Project Schedules can be represented in many formats/ways like calendar, Network

Diagram, task usage, tracking gantt etc.

1.05.02 | GANTT CHART

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart, developed by Henry Gantt, that illustrates

a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal

elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary

elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Some Gantt charts

also show the dependency (i.e., precedence network) relationships between

activities. Gantt charts can be used to show current schedule status using percent-

complete shadings and a vertical "TODAY" line as shown

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Illustration 3: Grantt Chart showing for Preliminary schedule for a corporate Interior Fit-out
project.

here.

Although now regarded as a common charting technique, Gantt charts were

considered revolutionary when first introduced. Recognition of Henry Gantt's

contributions, the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal is awarded for distinguished

achievement in management and in community service. This chart is also used in

Information Technology to represent data that has been collected.

1.05.03 | CRITICAL TASKS:

CRITICAL tasks are the task's which are most important tasks to achieve target

milestones , if critical tasks are completed with priority the project completion can be

achieved without delaying the entire project. To understand more, if in a project plan

if many tasks are dependent or linked with few task, which are going to play a major

role in determination of Target completion / milestones they are called critical tasks.

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For example in case of an interior fit out projects, Task of False ceiling cannot be

closed before above ceiling services like electrical conduiting, sprinkler system, Air-

conditioning works are finished so these service’s tasks become critical tasks to

achieve task of closing / finishing final false ceiling.

Illustration 4: Grantt chart represented with Critical tasks and Milestone activities

ANOTHER EXAMPLE, in above ( Illustration 3 ) project Grant chart tasks marked in red

color bar are critical tasks as project milestones like virtual completion and Final

completion cannot be achieved without finishing these tasks. Fit out works (Refer

task ID 17) cannot be started before Completion of base building works and

handover of site to interior fit out team ( Refer task ID 13) , Hence task 13 is a one of

the crucial and critical tasks , all other milestones would be delayed in case of delay

in the critical task.

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Illustration 5: Different Bar Styles for different type of tasks/ progress bars/
milestones/summary tasks.

1.05.04 | PROJECT MILESTONES:

Within the framework of project management, a milestone is an event that RECEIVES

special attention. It is often falsely put at the end of a stage to mark the completion of

a work package or phase. But milestones are rather to be put before the end of a

phase so that corrective actions in case of problems can still be met and

the deliverable can be completed in time.

1.06 | UNDERSTANDING CRITICAL TASKS & MILESTONE

During making of a project Grant Chart report, Selection of Bar styles should be

made very carefully to understand Critical activities and Milestones of a project. In

above bar style selection tab Critical tasks have been marked in Red color and the

entire Milestone are set in Fuchsia (magenta color) so that critical tasks and

milestones are can be distinguished from each other.

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Illustration 6: A typical Gantt chart denoting all normal tasks, milestones and critical activities

It is important to understand the difference between milestones and critical

tasks. Critical tasks are the task's which are most important tasks to achieve target

milestones , if critical tasks are completed with priority the project completion can be

achieved without delaying the entire project. A typical Gantt chart denoting all normal

tasks, milestones and critical activities is illustrated below for understanding.

In addition to signaling the completion of a key deliverable, a milestone may

also signify an important decision or the derivation of a critical piece of information,

which outlines or affects the future of a project. In this sense, a milestone not only

signifies distance traveled (key stages in a project) but also indicates direction of

travel since key decisions made at milestones may alter the route through the project

plan.
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Milestones are frequently used to monitor progress, but there are limitations to

their effectiveness. They usually show progress only on the critical path, and ignore

non-critical activities. It is common for resources to be moved from non-critical

activities to critical activities to ensure that milestones are met. This gives the

impression that the project is on schedule when actually some activities are being

ignored.

HOW TO DETERMINE CRITICAL PATH WITH MS PROJECT:

1.06 | DETERMINING CRITICAL PATH WITH MS PROJECT 3

Creating a realistic schedule is a key responsibility of any project manager. This

schedule must be updated regularly throughout the duration of the project to ensure

that the project manager is aware of any issues or delays that might affect the

product delivery date. Too many delays can lead to additional expense, customer

dissatisfaction and project failure.

The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a widely-used technique developed by project

managers to enable close analysis of the factors affecting the project schedule.

Through Critical Path Analysis (CPA), project managers are able to make more

accurate schedules and estimations.

The popular project management software, MS Project, includes various tools to

facilitate creating and managing a CP. This article considers how MS Project can

make developing and using a CP a simple, step-by-step procedure.

1.06.01 | CREATING A CRITICAL PATH USING MICROSOFT PROJECT

Microsoft Project allows users to create and manage a CP using the Gantt chart

capability. A Gantt chart represents the tasks necessary to complete a project. The

MS Project Gantt Chart represents task dependencies (when one task cannot be

started until another is complete), task duration (including ’slack’ - the number of

days a task can run over schedule) and also summary tasks (groups of subtasks).

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The MS Project Gantt Chart view is automatically displayed at the start of any

project.

The Critical Path describes the shortest possible sequence of tasks that are

essential to successful project closure. The tasks on a project’s Critical Path will be

interdependent: that is, one task is a pre-requisite for carrying the next. When the

last task on the Critical Path is complete, the project can close. Any task that is not

necessary for carrying out another task, or for project closure, is not part of the CP.

1.06.02 | MS PROJECT ‘CRITICAL TASKS’

A critical task is a task which has no ’slack’. This was earlier defined as the number

of days that a task can run over schedule. In the context of the Critical Path, it means

more specifically “the amount of time that a task can slip before it affects another

task or the project’s finish date.” The MS Project CP is therefore made up of tasks

locked end-to-end in task dependency.

1.06.03 | DISPLAY YOUR CP WITH MS PROJECT

The quickest way to view your project’s CP is to open the View menu, click on More

Views, select Detail Gantt, and then click Apply. This displays all the tasks necessary

to complete a project. Critical tasks are displayed as red bars along a horizontal axis

measured in project time. The ‘filter’ function can then be used to display critical (or,

if required, non-critical) tasks only.

1.06.04 |SHORTEN THE CP WITH MICROSOFT PROJECT

Sometimes the project manager needs to bring forward the finish-date of the project.

This can be achieved using MS Project through the following activities:

 Shorten the duration of individual tasks

 schedule overtime

 break a task down into smaller components that can be worked on simultaneously

 assign additional resources to a task

 Create a more flexible schedule

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 revise or remove task dependencies

 change task constraints

1.06.05 | UNDERSTANDING THE CP METHOD

The Critical Path Method is an essential technique for any professional project

manager. Mainstream project management software such as MS Project enables

project managers to easily create and manage a Critical Path, and maximize the

accuracy and benefits that CPA brings to a project or program

1.07 | IMPORTANT TERMS:

CRASH DURATION

"Crash duration" is a term referring to the shortest possible time for which an activity

can be scheduled. It is achieved by shifting more resources towards the completion

of that activity, resulting in decreased time spent and often a reduced quality of work,

as the premium is set on speed. Crash duration is typically modeled as a linear

relationship between cost and activity duration, however in many cases a convex

function or a step function is more applicable.

EXPANSION

Originally, the critical path method considered only logical dependencies between

terminal elements. Since then, it has been expanded to allow for the inclusion of

resources related to each activity, through processes called activity-based resource

assignments and resource leveling. A resource-leveled schedule may include delays

due to resource bottlenecks (i.e., unavailability of a resource at the required time),

and may cause a previously shorter path to become the longest or most "resource

critical" path. A related concept is called the critical chain, which attempts to protect

activity and project durations from unforeseen delays due to resource constraints.

Since project schedules change on a regular basis, CPM allows continuous

monitoring of the schedule, allows the project manager to track the critical activities,

and alerts the project manager to the possibility that non-critical activities may be

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delayed beyond their total float, thus creating a new critical path and delaying project

completion. In addition, the method can easily incorporate the concepts of stochastic

predictions, using the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and event

chain methodology.

Currently, there are several software solutions available in industry that use the CPM

method of scheduling. The method currently used by most project management

software is based on a manual calculation approach developed by Fondahl of

Stanford University

1.08 | HOW TO CRASH THE CRITICAL PATH

The third technique can be employed in those cases where activity overlap is

unacceptable. Crashing critical path activities is the practice of reducing their

duration while allowing them to remain in series, essentially the “F-S arrangement.”

By reducing the duration of a critical path activity it may be necessary to apply

additional resources such as personnel, extra equipment, or supplementing with

outsourced resources. Because this technique requires additional resources it

should be practiced only when time is more important than cost. In other words,

crashing should be practiced only when the project schedule completion date is of a

higher priority than the project cost. The priorities should therefore be clearly

delineated in the authorizing project charter.

Crashing the critical path is the process of reducing an activity’s duration while

examining the resulting increase in cost due to adding resources. Critical-path

activities which produce the greatest reduction in project duration for the lowest cost

increase are crashed first. This is accomplished determining the crash ratio for each

critical path activity then selecting those having the lowest ratios.

1.09 | FLEXIBILITY/LIMITATIONS

A schedule generated using critical path techniques often is not realized precisely,

as estimations are used to calculate times: if one mistake is made, the results of the

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analysis may change. This could cause an upset in the implementation of a project if

the estimates are blindly believed, and if changes are not addressed promptly.

However, the structure of critical path analysis is such that the variance from the

original schedule caused by any change can be measured, and its impact either

ameliorated or adjusted for. Indeed, an important element of project postmortem

analysis is the As Built Critical Path (ABCP), which analyzes the specific causes and

impacts of changes between the planned schedule and eventual schedule as

actually implemented.

1.10 | STEPS TO FIND /DETERMINE/SHOW CRITICAL PATH IN A GANTT CHART

STEP 1:

Identifying and writing all activities as per their sequence in a project schedule,

assigning them durations, linking them by predecessors, successors by ( Start to

Start, Finish to Start, Start to finish etc arrangements ), defining all task information

of each task such as Task ID, task Name, type of task ,lag time , duration,

predecessors, resources, notes , custom fields etc.

STEP 2:

Fill task information bar..

Typical task information bar ( MS project ) is as below

STEP 3:

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A Go to Gantt Chart wizard, select options as per your requirement for presentation.

B SELECT Critical path …

C Custom information which is to be displayed along with task bars of Gantt chart

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D Select option for showing link between dependent tasks…

E Select option Format it

F Last step is to EXIT THE WIZARD

1.11 | HOW TO COMPRESS PROJECT SCHEDULES 4

There are times when the project schedule duration must be shortened

(compressed) either to meet market opportunity dates, to meet the desires of key

stakeholders, or when the project completion date slips. In these cases the project

manager must find ways to reduce the amount of time it will take to complete all

remaining activities, especially those on the critical path.

Three such schedule compression techniques can be employed under these

conditions, all of which are to be applied to the critical path activities. These are: 1)

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optimizing activity lead-lag times, 2) fast-tracking, and 3) crashing. It must be pointed

out that if the critical path is compressed enough, other paths may become the

actual critical path, and must then be compressed.

1.12 | HOW TO OPTIMIZE ACTIVITY LEAD-LAG TIMES

Optimizing lead-lag times along the critical path is one of the best ways to reduce the

project’s duration. When activity sequencing is established the default configuration

is the “finish-start” (F-S) arrangement. This means that an activity begins only after

the previous activity is completed. In actuality, subsequent activities can begin prior

to the completion of its previous activity with no resulting risk. When this is possible,

one of three other arrangements can be selected. These are: 1) start-start (S-S), 2)

start-finish (S-F), and 3) finish-finish (F-F). Which arrangement to use will be

determined by the nature of the activities being optimized.

Examples are as follows:

 S-S Example: At least 5 days are required from the start of the electrical hook up, to

the start of employee move in.

 S-F Example: The contract requires the phase out of old system to be finished 25

days after the start of testing the new system.

 F-F Example: It will take 5 days to finish the final editing of the user manual after the

new product design is finished.

1.13| HOW TO HIGHLIGHT THE CRITICAL PATH

You can show the critical path in the Detail Gantt view.

1. On the View menu, click More Views.

2. Click Detail Gantt, and then click Apply.

You can also show the critical path with the Gantt Chart Wizard.

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.

2. Click Gantt Chart Wizard .

3. Follow the Gantt Chart Wizard instructions to format the critical path.

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By default, the critical task Gantt bars (Gantt bar: A graphical element on the chart

portion of the Gantt Chart view representing the duration of a task.) and link lines

(link line: On the Gantt Chart and Network Diagram, the line that appears between

two tasks to indicate a task dependency.) are red.

NOTE : This format change overrides any direct formatting changes that you might

have already made to bar styles or individual bars. This formatting of critical tasks

only applies to the current Gantt Chart view in the current project. To save this

formatting, use the Organizer (Organizer: The tabbed dialog box in which you can

copy custom views, tables, filters, grouping definitions, calendars, reports, forms,

toolbars, maps, field attributes, and VBA modules to other documents and to other

users.) on the Tools menu to copy the formatted Gantt Chart to another file.

1.14 | SHOW ONLY THE CRITICAL PATH

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.

2. In the Filter list, click Critical.

To display all tasks again, in the Filter list, click All Tasks.

TIP: To quickly see the list of tasks on the critical path, in the current view, on the

Project menu, point to Group by, and then click Critical. The critical path tasks are

listed together under the heading Critical.

1.15 | HOW TO FAST-TRACK THE CRITICAL PATH

Another schedule compression technique is called “fast-tracking” the critical path,

and on paper looks identical to lead-lag time optimizing. The primary difference is

that with fast-tracking the activity overlap results in some degree of acceptable risk.

In other words, critical path activity overlaps are “forced” in order to gain valuable

schedule compression time but with known and acceptable resulting risks.

An example would be where an architect might authorize the pouring of a new

building’s foundation before the client gives final approval of the building design. In

such cases, the project manager has enough confidence that client approval is close

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enough to finalization so that the first stages of construction can begin. The risk lays

in any last minute design changes that might require reworking the completed

building foundation.

Another example might be with the design of a hardware product which is about to

be finalized. In order to gain valuable schedule time the project manager may begin

procurement of needed off-the-shelf parts before final design approval. The risk

would be sunk costs associated with discarding any parts that may not be needed

after final design approval.

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02 | INDUSTRY PROFILE

I am implementing my project analysis in Architecture and Interior Design

Industry.

This Industry comprises of Design consultancy of Architecture and Interior

Designing projects Pan India and worldwide. Sub categories of projects includes

below:

 Corporate Real Estate (Architecture)

 Corporate Real Estate (Interiors)

 Residential (Architecture)

 Hospitality (Architecture + Interiors)

 Retail (Architecture + Interiors)

 Industrial (Architecture)

 Commercial (Architecture)

The Client from one of the above category or assortment above segments appoints

an Architect / Interior Design consultant who can work closely with the project and

provide a core team of professionals, fully supported by head office specialists, to

lead the delivery of the project. The project manager will assume the lead consultant

role for the design, delivery and completion of the project.

The scope of work of design team generally includes below:

 Planning of fit out ,

 Design and execution of Services like Electrical, HVAC, Security works

(FAS,ACCESS CONTROL, CCTV, FM 200), AUDIO VISUAL Equipments ,

Kitchen Equipments, Landscaping , Plumbing

 Project management Services

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 3D visualization ( Walk through, 3D views of designed areas)The client then gives a

brief guideline about the project requirements in form of RFP (Request for proposal )

to Architect/s under consideration / competition .

Illustration 7: important extracts from Request for proposal ( RFP ) of a client ( Citibank) are as below:

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METHOD ADOPTED IN INDUSTRY

Based on the requirements in RFP, The Architect then appoints a project manager

exclusively assigned to oversee this project from the time of receipt of this order till

handing over. Your project manager shall be a single point contact with the client for

all matters pertaining to this order.

Several agencies will be working on this project simultaneously. You will therefore be

required to carry out your work at every stage in close co-ordination with each of

these agencies and as per schedule and sequence that may be decided upon by

client .

It is very evident that project management is a very significant part of the above

mentioned industry.

MY JOB PROFILE

I am working on the role of Project Engineer (Quantity survey and project

coordination and management) since last 10 years in the Architecture and Interior

Design Industry.

CPM tool is an important weapon of a project manager while initializing project at

preliminary stages as well as while determining critical activities during progress of

project in construction stage.

SIGNIFICANCE OF CPM IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CPM has a very significant role in project management. It is one of the Effective

Approaches to Project Prioritization.

‘The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities’-

Stephen R. Covey

Most of us have a tendency to attend to tasks that interest us the most, especially

when I am expected to deliver on multiple projects within the same time frame. The

problem here is that, what interests me the most may not necessarily be the most

important thing that needs to get done. Effective Approaches to Project Prioritization
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by Critical path method during scheduling a project helps us direct our attention to

activities that give us the greatest value as individuals while organizational priorities

are intended to focus more on teams and on matters that provide optimal value to

the organization. Without organizational priorities, individuals will set their own

priorities (like doing what they like), hence the important stuff doesn’t get done on

time. Conversely, clear organizational priorities guide us better to make decisions

that are ‘directionally’ correct.

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03 | COMPANY PROFILE

HEADER DETAILS OF MY EMPLOYER

NAME : DSP DESIGN ASSOCIATES

LOGO :
DSP DESIGN ASSOCIATES PVT. LTD.
DSP
Architects , Interior Designers
Master planners, Architects, Interior Designers

FOUNDED : 1989 by Yatin Patel

REGIONAL : Pune Office : 5th Floor, 66,Varsha Court, Lane#2,

OFFICE Anand Park, Aundh, Pune 411 007.

INDUSTRY : ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGNING

WEBSITE : www.dspdesign.co.in

DIRECTORS : Yatin Patel, Mehul Shah & Bimal Desai

ABOUT DSP DESIGN ASSOCIATES

 The firm is a single window agency offering Master Planning , Architecture and

Interiors with complete collaboration between the teams . This gives us an edge over

other competitors.

 Continual training on different aspects of design and management.

 Peer review system at various internal levels.

 Pan India presence viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai

 Extensive experience of dedicated personnel in Corporate Interiors , architecture

design and Master Planning.

 We work regularly with International Architects, thus have global exposure.

 Process driven systems to assure flawless delivery system.

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 Dedicated in house team for QS review and cost control review.

 A large 200 + staff strength of Architects & Interior Designers

 Work experience with cutting edge technology and software.

We are very strong in Green design and have an inherent understanding of LEED

USGBC ratings, having worked on numerous projects on Architecture & Interiors.

VISION, APPROACH & PHILOSOPHY

To give a personalized & total quality effort focusing our ability to deliver exceptional

service to exceed Clients expectations. We work with international architects and

design studios as required .

OUR STRENGTH & CAPABILITIES

Single Window Consultancy for all Aspects of the Building Construction Industry

Master Planning

Architecture

Space Planning & Interiors

Carefully Selected Network of Consultants

 Structural

 Electrical

 HVAC

 PHE

 Landscaping

SERVICES OFFERED

 Evaluation of prospective spaces & sites

 Conceptual planning

 Presentation of design alternatives

 Project specification & cost estimation

 Project optimization through material selection

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 Design of HVAC, Electrical and Communication systems

 Floating tenders and appointing contractors

 Detailing of accessories and peripherals

 Design Management

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

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04 NEED FOR STUDY

04.01 |TO AVOID COMMON MISTAKES WHILE MAKING CRITICAL PATH DIAGRAMS

Network diagrams are like a sort of flow diagram of the tasks in a project so you can

see the running order of what depends on what. You can use a computer but post-its

are best. Normally they are drawn across the page, left to right. The objective is to

find the longest path, or ‘critical’ path, which tells you how long the project will take.

Common mistakes made by people doing network diagrams with post-its (or on a

whiteboard):

4.01.01 VERTICAL LINES. This is a sin because it’s not clear whether the line is going

up or down. Lines should always go diagonally across – makes the diagram much

easier to understand. Sometimes vertical lines are used to show that the tasks

happen together – but in this case the two tasks should both feed from the one on

their left and into the one on the right.

4.01.02 ARROWS GOING BACKWARDS (or forwards then backwards then forwards) –

you must move the boxes so the arrows always flow to the right. It makes it much

easier to see the flow of the project. Similarly arrows which cross over make the

project much harder to “see”, though very occasionally these cannot be avoided.

4.01.03 DANGLE. Every task should have at least one arrow coming into it and one

coming out of it. If it has no arrow coming out of it then why are you doing it? At the

very least, the arrow should go to “end”.

4.01.04 ARROWS COMING OUT OF THE START OF A BOX, OR INTO THE END OF A BOX. This

is confusing – they should be drawn coming out of the end of one box and into the

beginning of the next, from left to right. Yes I know you might want to show lag, e.g.

we want to start the next task half way through this one, but see next sin:

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4.01.05 NOT GRANULAR ENOUGH. If you want to start the next task half way through

this one, then you need to break the first task into two. Then, after the first half, you

can show arrows going to the second half, and also to the next task.

4.01.06 REDUNDANT ARROWS. This is getting tricky to describe in words alone, but I

hope you’re still with me! If you can’t pour the tea until you’ve boiled the kettle, and

you can’t boil the kettle until you’ve filled it, you don’t need another arrow from fill

kettle to pour tea. Redundant arrows are often easy to spot since they form a

triangle.

4.01.07 LOOPS. You can never have arrows that go backwards (ie right to left) and if

you do then you run the risk of having an infinite loop.

4.01.08 ONE TASK MUCH TOO BIG. If most of the tasks are a couple of weeks and there

is one that is 8 months, then you probably need to granulate the big one: break it into

smaller bits.

4.01.09 TASKS OF ONE DAY I don’t believe anything happens that quickly. Especially

not several in a row.

4.01.10 MIXED UNITS if you have some durations in days and some in weeks, or

months, the adding up will probably go wrong. The whole point of the network

diagram is to make the project instantly visible.

4.01.11 TOO SERIES OR TOO PARALLEL After a while you just know when a critical path

chart doesn’t look right. It should be a mix of parallel and series tasks. Too liner = too

slow, too parallel = too risky and needs too many resources.

4.01.12 “ONGOING”. All tasks must have a start and a finish. If you can’t do this for a

task and you find yourself wanting to say the forbidden O word then it needs to be

broken down further.

04.02 | TO SKETCH KEY METRICS TO SUPPORT THE VISION, MISSION, AND GOALS

In recent times of Globalization and privatizations product companies found that

developing a scorecard they could use to measure the performance in their

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distribution network required understanding the disparate metrics across their key

client accounts. Since each customer scorecard was different, they struggled to

manage the overall business. As a solution, they created a set of metrics to use

themselves to help consistently monitor the operations and ensure that

improvements, shown on their scorecard, were also illustrated in those of their

customers.

The main reason pre-packaged metrics are ineffective is the uniqueness of each

organization, as defined in their vision, mission, and goals. The more directly you

align your metrics to these aspects, the more meaningful they will be. Individuals will

then clearly understand how the metrics, measuring the performance of the

processes they execute, correlate to and support the overall company’s results and

objectives.

In addition to the reality that pre-packaged metrics rarely work, there’s not much

chance any person or team would have the visibility or understanding required to

create the right set for an organization. As such, an iterative process of defining,

refining, and revising is valuable. This approach increases the likelihood that your

metrics are relevant. It also gets more people involved in the development process,

which results in more of your team having buy-in and insight into the meaning of the

metrics.

04.03 | TO UNDERSTAND THE CAPABILITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION TO CAPTURE AND

REPORT PERFORMANCE

As you’re going through the iterative development process, it’s a good idea to

conduct reality checks against the capabilities of the organization to capture data,

perform calculations, and report against the metrics. The best, most applicable

metrics in the world won’t help if you can’t first accurately capture the data required

to calculate the performance or if there is no method to report that performance in a

timely, meaningful manner. This is usually where Information Technology (IT) can

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help. IT should be able to assist in identifying systems, functionality, and data

elements which may provide what is needed. They may also inform you that the data

simply doesn’t exist. In this case, you need another iteration of the development

process to retool, redefine, or replace metrics.

4.04 | TABLE : INFORMATION TO BE DISPLAYED IN THE TASK DRIVERS PANE ( AS

APPLICABLE)

Heading Description Example

Actual Start If actual data was entered You plan a task to start on March 1, and you
and for the task, the actual start assign Jim to the task. Jim begins work and
Assignments date is displayed, along reports 40 hours of actual work for March 1
with the data that initiated through March 5. The following week, you need
the task. to revise the plan for the task to accommodate
a later start date. After trying to move the start
date to a later date, you review the Task
Drivers pane to see what is causing the
scheduling conflict. Jim's assignment and actual
start date are displayed.

Leveling If you applied leveling to Your task is continually delayed as resources

Delay help balance the resource are leveled across the project. You review the
workload, your tasks may Task Drivers pane and see that your task is
be delayed to prevent delayed 10 days while you wait for the assigned
overallocation. The Task resource's availability. Based on this, you
Drivers pane displays the decide to assign the task to another resource
amount of time by which so that the task can be completed without the
the selected task is delay.
delayed because of
resource leveling.

Constraint The Task Drivers pane You recently received a new set of tasks to
Type and displays the type of manage. The person who previously managed
Date constraint that is currently the tasks already entered them into Project. As
placed on the task, you modify one of the tasks to reflect a change
including the date in one of the task's dependencies, you run into
associated with the trouble trying to extend the schedule by two
constraint. weeks. You review the Task Drivers pane and
find that the task has a Finish No Later Than
constraint, set to a date that falls in the middle
of the two-week extension.

Summary If you have constraints Your project start date is March 1. You create a
Task placed on a summary task summary task with several subtasks and set a
that affect the dates of the Start No Earlier Than constraint on the
subtasks, the summary summary task with a date of March 10. The
task will be listed in the Task Drivers pane shows the summary task for
Task Drivers pane when the subtasks, because their start dates are
the subtask is selected. being driven by the Start No Earlier Than
constraint on the summary task, as opposed to
the project start date.
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Heading Description Example

Predecessor If you linked your tasks, the Two of the tasks in your project plan are Test
Tasks predecessor tasks will be and Release. You set up your project plan to
displayed in the Task reflect that the Release task begins 5 days after
Drivers pane with their the Test task is completed, to allow for some
constraint types and the time to watch for anomalies in the product
amount of lag time or lead before releasing it to customers. When you
time built in. You can click review the Task Drivers pane for the Release
the name of a predecessor task, you see the link to the Test task, with a
task to see its drivers. Finish To Start constraint and a lag time of 5
days.
Subtasks If you selected a summary Your plan has summary tasks representing
task, the Task Drivers each phase of the project. Under each
pane displays the subtasks summary task are several subtasks, to reflect
and summary tasks that the work being done during each phase. When
are driving the schedule. you review the Task Drivers pane for a
summary task, you see a link to the earliest
subtask that is driving the start date for that
phase.
Calendars If the working time that is You are planning a project with a start date set
outlined on the calendar for to March 1. Your project plan uses a default
the selected task is calendar that only accounts for Monday through
affecting the task's Friday as working time. March 1 falls on a
schedule, the name of the Saturday. As you create tasks in the project by
calendar is displayed in the using the default calendar, the tasks are
Task Drivers pane. You automatically delayed to begin on the first
can click the calendar working day of the month, March 3. To figure
name to display out why the task start date is March 3 instead of
information about its March 1, you review the Task Drivers pane for
working and nonworking the tasks. A link to the default calendar is
time. displayed.

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05 | LITERATURE SURVEY

Project management began to evolve in the latter half of the 20th century, partially

because of the strategies used by military personnel in World War II to oversee

large, complex projects involving thousands of people, such as weapons

manufacturing.

The roots of project management can be seen in the large government projects of

the late 19th century, particularly the transcontinental railroad. Started in the 1860s,

the railroad project required the efforts of thousands of people and used tons of raw

materials brought in from various locations.

By the early 20th century, Frederick Taylor had revolutionized industrial businesses

by introducing the concepts of managing every phase of a work day for laborers.

Rather than simply asking employees to work harder and longer, Taylor developed

strategies for working smarter and thereby improving efficiencies.

Henry Gantt, an associate of Taylor’s, studied ship construction during World War I

and developed the idea of using bars and charts to graph when certain tasks, or a

series of tasks, were completed.

Gantt’s work led to project management becoming a separate discipline within the

workplace, as well as studies into industrial psychology, marketing and human

resources management. By World War II, military and industrial leaders began to

employ more detailed management processes and strategies to get the most from

the labor force, including network diagrams and the Critical Path Method.

Soon, these practices spread across industries. Although the details have changed

depending on the era and the industry, the overarching philosophy has remained the

same: In order to succeed, all the various personnel and systems within a business

must work harmoniously to achieve goals and successfully complete projects.

The Critical Path Method, known under its acronym CPM, is a way of optimizing the

sequence of scheduled activities, or tasks, in a project. This is a management tool

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designed to ensure a project’s completion on time. Since its conception in the 1950s,

CPM has been adapted to the Theory of Constraints and Critical Chain concepts

devised by Israeli physicist Eliyahu Goldratt, but project management itself dates

back to ancient times.

EVENTS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

ANCIENT EGYPT

The origins of project management tools like the Critical Path Method can be traced

back to ancient civilizations. Over 5,000 years ago, the Great Pyramid of Giza, which

stands close to Egypt’s capital city Cairo, was built using over two million blocks of

stone. Each of the blocks weighed around two tons. Archaeologists infer from

ancient Egyptian records of the period that thousands of skilled workers were

organized into four construction teams, one for each face of the pyramid. The 20-

year construction project required sophisticated planning and organization in order to

find the correct stones, and then to cut, transport, and set them in place, according to

Lew Ireland, president of the American Society for the Advancement of Project

Management.

GANTT CHART

The use of project management as a modern tool dates from the 1900s with the

creation of the Gantt chart. American mechanical engineers Henry Gantt and

Frederick Taylor designed a graphic method for planning and controlling a work

schedule and recording its progress. The Gantt chart is a type of bar chart where

varying lengths of horizontal bars represent each activity's time span, and the vertical

axis lists the separate activities making up the project. It was used in the 1931

Hoover Dam construction project. Gantt charts are still in use today because they

are easily understood by the whole project workforce. The shortcomings of a Gantt

chart are that it does not show the interrelationships between the activities within a

work sequence, or the constraints they may impose on one another.

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CRITICAL PATH METHOD

The critical path method (CPM) is a project modeling technique developed in the late

1950s by Morgan R. Walker of DuPont and James E. Kelley, Jr. of Remington

Rand. Kelley and Walker related their memories of the development of CPM in 1989.

Kelley attributed the term "critical path" to the developers of the Program Evaluation

and Review Technique which was developed at about the same time by Booz Allen

Hamilton and the US Navy. The precursors of what came to be known as Critical

Path were developed and put into practice by DuPont between 1940 and 1943 and

contributed to the success of the Manhattan Project.

CPM is commonly used with all forms of projects, including construction, aerospace

and defense, software development, research projects, product development,

engineering, and plant maintenance, among others. Any project with interdependent

activities can apply this method of mathematical analysis. Although the original CPM

program and approach is no longer used, the term is generally applied to any

approach used to analyze a project network logic diagram.

DUPONT

Starting in 1956, a joint venture between the Dupont chemical company and

computer firm Remington Rand Univac devised the Critical Path Method to tackle the

interrelationships of separate activities within a project schedule. The critical path is

a sequence of individual activities of a project that must be finished on schedule so

that the whole project is completed on time. Activities along the path cannot begin

until a predecessor activity is complete. CPM provides a graphical representation of

the project and predicts its completion time. The original calculations were made on

the UNIVAC-1 computer. This method was first tested in 1958 on a project to

construct a new chemical plant, and again in 1959 during the maintenance shut

down of another plant at Louisville, Kentucky.U.S. Navy

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In 1958, the U.S. Navy’s Special Projects Office, together with aerospace company

Lockheed Missile Systems and consultancy firm Booz Allen & Hamilton, developed

Program Evaluation Review Technique, called PERT, for the Polaris missile

program. Like CPM, it was designed to tackle the interrelationship between the

different activities in a project. The research developed simultaneously with, but

independently of, Dupont and Remington's CPM analysis. PERT's aim was to control

over 3,000 contractors employed on the missile program. The calculations were

carried out on an IBM computer. PERT was essentially a project road map

identifying major activities and their interrelationships. Unlike Dupont’s CPM, it only

showed time constraints and did not deal with the cost and quality issues faced by

commercial organizations. The driver for PERT was political, not commercial. It was

a tool to ensure the completion the Polaris program during the Cold War when the

U.S. government was concerned about the Soviet Union’s growing number of

nuclear weapons.

THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS

The Theory of Constraints was developed in the 1980s as an improvement to CPM.

One of CPM’s limitations was that it did not consider non-critical activities that could

introduce risk to a project, such as labor issues over pay, for example. Neither did it

assume that a critical path may change during a project’s duration. In his Theory of

Constraints, Israeli physicist Eliyahu Goldratt wrote that a system can never be

better than its weakest part, so the improvement of a project and its schedule

depends on the identification of this constraint and its mitigation.

CRITICAL CHAIN

In 1997, Goldratt introduced the concept of the Critical Chain in a book with that title.

Previously, CPM calculations were based on a strict sequence in a project’s

activities, and a rigid project schedule. The Critical Chain method emphasizes the

resources required for a project, in particular costs, and the flexibility required in

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these resources to keep a project on schedule -- despite management's usual

reluctance to increase a project’s budget. Goldratt also incorporated uncertainty

"buffers" into project scheduling to allow for unpredicted problems arising.

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06 | OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

 To understand importance of Project scheduling

 To learn and understand Critical path method and its usage in project

management and scheduling

 To understand concept of Milestones and other task types

 To know advantages of CPM and its significance in project management

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07 | RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

PRIMARY RESEARCH:

 Wikipedia,

 PM Hut

SECONDARY RESEARCH:

 Qualitative & Quantitative research : Field study & Data from projects during

my tenure with DSP DESIGN associates.

 Inputs from Colleagues and acquaintances from my industry (Architecture &

Interior design, project management) based on survey questionnaire.

Survey form was created and was shared online ( on google, linkedin network,

project management groups and in my office ) for findings .

Link to the survey form is :

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dHJHOFV
Gd0ZfZEdDMWNkeENsOE5Oemc6MQ

50 Forms were analyzed for results (kindly refer next section).

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08 | ANALYSIS

Please complete the following questionnaire with specific regard to the above
enquiry, by placing a CROSS in the appropriate box

Q .1 Are you aware of the term “Critical Path method “?

a Yes

b No

c Don’t Know

d Not Applicable

Below are the responses received for each option.

Result: The majority of people 96% responded that they are aware of Critical Path
method.

Q.2 Have you ever worked on project schedule with Critical path method to
determine project milestones?
a Yes

b No

c Don’t Know

d Not Applicable

Below are the responses received for each option

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

Result: The majority of 54% said they never worked on CPM and 46% people said
they have worked on project schedule with Critical path method to determine project
milestones.

Q.3 Do you think that Critical path method is an important method of calculating
project duration/ & targeting milestones?
a Strongly agree

b Agree

c Uncertain / Not applicable

d Disagree

e Strongly disagree

Below are the responses received for each option.

Result: 14 % of the people strongly agree and majority of 78% have agreed that
“Critical path method is an important method of calculating project duration/ &
targeting milestones” . 2% responded that disagree and around 8% were uncertain .

Q.4 “Critical path method is most widely used method for project management”
a Strongly agree

b Agree

c Uncertain / Not applicable

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d Disagree

e Strongly disagree

Below are the responses received for each option.

Result: 14% of people Strongly agree and majority of people at 66 % of the people
agree that “Critical path method is most widely used method for project
management” . However 14% registered as uncertain/Not applicable, and 6 % of the
people disagree with the statement.

Q.5 How do you rate CPM method of project duration determination?

a Excellent

b Good

c Fair

d Poor

e Uncertain / Not applicable

Below are the responses received for each option.

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Result: 54% people rate CPM as a good method, 8% people rate it as Excellent
method of project duration determination, about 30% people rate it as fair method of
project duration determination and 6% people responded uncertain/Not applicable.

Q.6 What is one of the problems with project management software?

a The project manager manages the

software instead of the project.

b Project duration calculations are

sometimes approximate
c You cannot override project
management software decisions
regarding schedules

d It is expensive and difficult to use.

e Don’t know

f Not applicable

Below are the responses received for each option.

Result: 36% of the people believe “The project manager manages the software
instead of the project.”, over 24% of people under survey selected “Project duration
calculations are sometimes approximate”, 16% registered their answer as option
“You cannot override project management software decisions regarding schedules”.
Around 4% didn’t know about it and 6% of people under survey answered “Not
applicable”

Q. 7 Which of the following statements is true about Critical path method?

a It should not be compressed

b It allows for looping and branching

c The critical path technique is same

as PERT

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

d It’s the duration of all tasks with zero

float.
e Don’t know

f Not applicable

Below are the responses received for each option

Result: 4% of the people believe “It should not be compressed.”, over 8% of people
under survey selected “It allows for looping and branching”, 12% registered their
answer as option “The critical path technique is same as PERT”. Around 48%
responder “It’s the duration of all tasks with zero float.” 24% selected didn’t know
about it and 2% of people under survey answered “Not applicable”.

Q. 8 Do you think calculation of Project Duration often fails due to shortcoming of

CPM?

a Yes , its because of CPM loopholes

b No, it’s due to failure of one or few

task’s completion / Due to failure in
achieving the target by stakeholders

c You cannot override project

management software decisions
regarding schedules

d Don’t know

e Not applicable

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

Below are the responses received for each option

Result: 6% of the people believe “ It is because of CPM loopholes.”, over 74% of

people under survey selected “it’s due to failure of one or few task’s completion /
Due to failure in achieving the target by stakeholders”, 16% selected didn’t know
about it and 2% of people under survey answered “Not applicable”.

Q. 9 CPM determines The shortest time in which you can complete a project
a True

b False

c Don’t know

d Not applicable

Below are the responses received for each option

Result: 82% of the people answered true to “CPM determines The shortest time in
which you can complete a project”, about 8% of people under survey selected “
False ”, 6% selected didn’t know about it and 4% of people under survey answered
“Not applicable”.
Q.10 An effective Critical Path Analysis can make the difference between success and
failure on complex projects. It can be very useful for assessing the importance of problems
faced during the implementation of the plan.
a True

b False

c Don’t know

d Not applicable
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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

Below are the responses received for each option

Result: 86% of the people answered true to the question, 12% didn’t know about it
and 2% of people under survey answered “Not applicable”.

Q.11 By definition, the Critical Path consists of the activities that have no float (or slack)
and as such (again, by definition) a delay in any of these activities will cause a delay
to the project’s planned completion date.
a True

b False

c Don’t know

d Not applicable

Below are the responses received for each option

Result: 78% of the people answered true to the question, about 2% of people under
survey selected “False”, 16% said they don’t know about it and 4% of people
under survey answered “Not applicable”.

Q.12 One of the benefits of CPM is “Few tasks although not marked as forming part of the
critical path, there are other tasks on our schedule that if delayed, will cause a delay
to the project’s completion date”.
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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

a True

b False

c Don’t know

d Not applicable

Below are the responses received for each option

Result: 32% of the people answered true to the question, about 40% of people
under survey selected “False”, 26% said they don’t know about it and 2% of
people under survey answered “Not applicable”.

Q.13 Critical Path Method (CPM) is a network analysis technique used to predict project
duration by analysing which sequence of activities (which path) has the least amount
of scheduling flexibility (the least amount of float). Early dates are calculated by
means of a forward pass using a specified start date. Late dates are calculated by
means of a backward pass starting from a specified completion date (usually the
forward pass’s calculated project early finish date).
a Strongly agree

b Agree

c Uncertain / Not applicable

d Disagree

e Strongly disagree

Below are the responses received for each option

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

Result: 10% of people strongly agree and majority of people at 52 % of the people
agree that “Critical path method is most widely used method for project
management”. However 36% registered as uncertain/Not applicable.

Q.14 In order to ensure that the project does not miss its deadline, project managers are
encouraged to protect the Critical Path by monitoring progress against plan and
taking corrective and/or mitigating actions in order to ensure critical path activities are
complete on time. In this process enhanced critical path definition is “The Enhanced
Critical Path consists of all the activities with either a ‘0’ float or a ‘0’ Task Resource
Float”.
a True

b False

c Don’t know

d Not applicable

Below are the responses received for each option.

Result: 56% of the people answered true to the question, about 2% of people under
survey selected “False”, 32% said they don’t know about it and 10% of people
under survey answered “Not applicable”.

Q.15 Please Rate Critical Path Method (CPM) in regards to below aspects

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

S Criteria

Excel

Good

Poor
Fair

Uncertain
lent

/ NA
#

a Reliability 8

Result:
Excellent 8%
Good 62%
Fair 24%
Poor 0%
Uncertain /NA 6%

b Effective approach to
project prioritization

Result:
Excellent 10%
Good 66%
Fair 18%
Poor 0%
Uncertain /NA 6%
c Effective Role in
optimal decision
making during
preliminary stage of
project.

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

Result:
Excellent 10%
Good 68%
Fair 16%
Poor 0%
Uncertain /NA 6%

d Awareness of CPM in
project management
groups

Result:
Excellent 6%
Good 60%
Fair 26%
Poor 4%
Uncertain /NA 4%
e Role in Project
tracking during
execution of project.

Result:
Excellent 6%
Good 46%
Fair 38%
Poor 2%
Uncertain /NA 8%

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09 | FINDINGS,RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the interview sessions and survey results, CPM is a widely used method in

project management groups, its significantly important and play a major role in the

management of projects.

Below are the recommendations to handle the most identified challenges

during requirement gathering and analysis.

These recommendations are based on the inputs collected from various

Project managers /Engineers and people working on relevant field across the

countries & companies; based on the responses of interview and survey questions:

 CPM is an extensively used method amongst project management field

worldwide.

 Most of the people in this field have used the method as a planning tool and

they rate the method a first-class technique while determining milestones and

deadlines for projects.

 Most people agree that an effective Critical Path Analysis can make the

difference between success and failure on complex projects. It can be very

useful for assessing the importance of problems faced during the

implementation of the plan.

 One of the major setbacks of the method which is sited during my analysis is

“The project manager manages the software instead of the project”

 When trying to get the job done, our role is to work with the client to develop

the best Decisions relying on the accuracy of the reports we generate so

execution to the critical path meets the objective. There are times when a

frank discussion among the project leaders is necessary to realign the

objectives of the project with the direction given to the team. Sometimes, the

management team here in Detroit provides that leadership. 6

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 Resource-framed. Finally, you need a goal that is resource-framed. How

much time and budget do you have to accomplish the project? Is there any

flexibility in the Dead-line? Is there any flexibility in the resources available for

the project? This goes back to looking at what is attainable. You want to set a

deadline that is reasonable, given the resources available and the amount of

knowledge and experience you have with this type of project. In addition, you

want everyone involved in the team to clearly know the resource constraints

and deadline so they can act in an empowered fashion to help get the job

done on time, within budget, and with high quality. Clarity about resources is

critical to project success.

 DETERMINING THE GOALS OF CLIENTS

Major part of this strategy is to understand the business goals of clients/

companies who assign people to the project. While you may not get anyone

to say he wants to see you fail, it is important to recognize that he or she only

cares about your success if it affects his or her definition of success.

Therefore, you need to identify the hidden agendas of the people who are

critical to the project. This is an issue of reading the personalities of the line

managers.

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10 | CONCLUSION

While the need for project management and Critical path method are not new

concepts, recent advances in both technology and project management

methodologies have advanced the use of these portals. Many companies have seen

the benefits of a Project scheduling with methods such as CPM, enabling them to

optimize project delivery across their enterprises. This method has allowed them to

effectively plan and manage critical task of projects with priority, delivering the right

information to the right people at the right time for maximum collaboration and

control. With such an immense and measurable impact on projects, CPM will

undoubtedly continue to play a major role for organizations worldwide in the years to

come, transforming business.

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11 | REFERENCES

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_path_method

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart

 http://www.pmhut.com/how-to-analyze-an-ms-project-plan

 http://www.pmhut.com/what-is-project-management-2

 http://www.pmhut.com/critical-path-with-ms-project

 http://www.pmhut.com/effective-approaches-to-project-prioritization

 http://www.pmhut.com/how-to-compress-project-schedules

 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/history-critical-path-method-55917.html

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Critical Path Method & its significance in project management JARO EDUCATION

12 | FURTHER STUDY

S.N AUTHOR NAME BOOK/ JOURNEL NAME

1 Project Management Institute A Guide To The Project Management

(2008) Body Of Knowledge (4th ed.). Project
Management Institute. ISBN 1-
933890-51-7.

2 Klastorin, Ted (2003) Project Management: Tools and

Trade-offs (3rd ed.). Wiley. ISBN 978-
0-471-41384-4.
3 Heerkens, Gary (2001) Project Management (The Briefcase Book
Series). McGraw–Hill. ISBN 0-07-137952-5.

5 Kerzner, Harold Project Management: A Systems Approach to

(2003) Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling (8th
ed.). ISBN 0-471-22577-0.

6 Lewis, James (2002) Fundamentals of Project

Management (2nd ed.). American
Management Association. ISBN 0-
8144-7132-3.

7 Milosevic, Dragan Z. Project Management ToolBox: Tools

(2003) and Techniques for the Practicing
Project Manager. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-
471-20822-8.

8 O'Brien, James J.; CPM in Construction Management,

Plotnick, Fredric L. Seventh Edition. McGraw
(2010). Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-163664-3.

9 Woolf, Murray B. CPM Mechanics: The Critical Path

(2012) Method of Modeling Project Execution
Strategy. ICS-Publications. ISBN 978-
0-98-540910-6.

~End of document~
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