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CPM - Critical Path Method

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CPM - Critical Path Method

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tgbstech
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CPM - Critical Path Method

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CPM - Critical Path Method

In 1957, DuPont developed a project management method designed to address the


Site Information challenge of shutting down chemical plants for maintenance and then restarting the
Home plants once the maintenance had been completed. Given the complexity of the
process, they developed the Critical Path Method (CPM) for managing such
About
projects.
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Reprints CPM provides the following benefits:
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Provides a graphical view of the project.
Predicts the time required to complete the project.
Shows which activities are critical to maintaining the schedule and which are
not.

CPM models the activities and events of a project as a network. Activities are
depicted as nodes on the network and events that signify the beginning or ending of
activities are depicted as arcs or lines between the nodes. The following is an
example of a CPM network diagram:

CPM Diagram

Steps in CPM Project Planning

1. Specify the individual activities.


2. Determine the sequence of those activities.
3. Draw a network diagram.
4. Estimate the completion time for each activity.
5. Identify the critical path (longest path through the network)
6. Update the CPM diagram as the project progresses.

1. Specify the Individual Activities

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CPM - Critical Path Method

From the work breakdown structure, a listing can be made of all the activities in the
project. This listing can be used as the basis for adding sequence and duration
information in later steps.

2. Determine the Sequence of the Activities

Some activities are dependent on the completion of others. A listing of the


immediate predecessors of each activity is useful for constructing the CPM network
diagram.

3. Draw the Network Diagram

Once the activities and their sequencing have been defined, the CPM diagram can be
drawn. CPM originally was developed as an activity on node (AON) network, but
some project planners prefer to specify the activities on the arcs.

4. Estimate Activity Completion Time

The time required to complete each activity can be estimated using past experience
or the estimates of knowledgeable persons. CPM is a deterministic model that does
not take into account variation in the completion time, so only one number is used
for an activity's time estimate.

5. Identify the Critical Path

The critical path is the longest-duration path through the network. The significance
of the critical path is that the activities that lie on it cannot be delayed without
delaying the project. Because of its impact on the entire project, critical path
analysis is an important aspect of project planning.

The critical path can be identified by determining the following four parameters for
each activity:

ES - earliest start time: the earliest time at which the activity can start given
that its precedent activities must be completed first.

EF - earliest finish time, equal to the earliest start time for the activity plus
the time required to complete the activity.

LF - latest finish time: the latest time at which the activity can be completed
without delaying the project.

LS - latest start time, equal to the latest finish time minus the time required
to complete the activity.

The slack time for an activity is the time between its earliest and latest start time,
or between its earliest and latest finish time. Slack is the amount of time that an
activity can be delayed past its earliest start or earliest finish without delaying the
project.

The critical path is the path through the project network in which none of the
activities have slack, that is, the path for which ES=LS and EF=LF for all activities in
the path. A delay in the critical path delays the project. Similarly, to accelerate the
project it is necessary to reduce the total time required for the activities in the
critical path.

6. Update CPM Diagram

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CPM - Critical Path Method

As the project progresses, the actual task completion times will be known and the
network diagram can be updated to include this information. A new critical path may
emerge, and structural changes may be made in the network if project requirements
change.

CPM Limitations

CPM was developed for complex but fairly routine projects with minimal uncertainty
in the project completion times. For less routine projects there is more uncertainty
in the completion times, and this uncertainty limits the usefulness of the
deterministic CPM model. An alternative to CPM is the PERT project planning model,
which allows a range of durations to be specified for each activity.

Operations > CPM

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